OK everyone with any mommying experience! Here is the question I need help with. We are feeding Aaron on a schedule and he loves it - it's about every 3 hours during the day and he sleeps through the night, which means he's eating 6 times a day. Here's my dilemna. I don't want to start feeding him solid foods quite yet - I would love to wait until at least 6 months, BUT I don't want my baby to starve either!
According to some scheduling sources, you are gradually supposed to drop the late night feeding and stretch out the time between feedings...but I would be afraid that if I am not introducing solids, this would not be a good idea, since milk is so easily digested (equalling hungry baby). I also want to make sure to keep up my milk supply, and am a little concerned that fewer than 6 feedings might have a less than desirable effect.
Anybody out there ever delayed solids while feeding on a schedule? Or do I pretty much need to pick between the two? And, if you have delayed solids, what did you do with spacing out feedings?
15 comments:
I didn't breast feed but we were always on a schedule I waited till 5 mo for Caleb and 6 mo with Titus to start baby food but I introduced cereal into thier bottle before bed to make it stretch. I never dropped the feeding before bed we just gradually moved it up - sometimes being adjusting the schedule earlier in the day. hope that helps.
Well, in my vast experience...
Oh wait, I don't have any experience. :) Good luck on the adventure though. :)
Give Aaron a little bit of Rice cearl to get him threw the night that will help out big time. Also do not be afarid the put the cearl in his Bottle during the day. That might help him not to want to eat every three hrs.
I was never able to breastfeed. I always kept a feeding right before bed. Victoria had cereal in her night time bottle when she was just about 1.5 months old...I know...that is REALLY early...but she was eating like crazy. Once I introduced her to cereal we were able to get onto a wonderful schedule. I started her on baby food when she was about 5 months old...I think anyway.
What matters is that you do what you think is best for your baby!! I did...and she is perfectly healthy today!!!
LOL, Sandra's comment made me giggle! :D
Well, I answered your question on my blog re: this topic, but I don't know if you would have gotten to read it yet . . . Anyway, I've always demand fed, so I don't have experience w/scheduling, but I would think probably you might want to keep up the late-night feeding till you start him on solids, just to ensure a good milk supply. But hopefully you'll hear from someone else who's actually "been-there, done-that." :) BTW, even though Julia's not scheduled, and probably eats a few more times a day than Aaron, some of those are more like snacks, not full feedings. And she does sleep through the night (as in 6-8 hours) quite often, though not 100% of the time. So her milk-intake may be pretty similar to Aaron's. I would think as long as he's gaining weight consistently, you can probably hold off on solids for a little while. Just my 2 cents . . hopefully some other moms will have more advice for you. :)
hey---i did feed both my boys on a schedule and did not introduce food until 6 mo with Noah and 5 mo with Zachary---i was able to get them on a 4 hour feeding schedule with the last feeding at 8pm and sleeping until 8am--i did not put any cereal in their bottles. Noah didn't go to the 4 hour schedule as quickly as Zachary--so i kept up with a 3 hour for quite awhile-- but the last feeding was still at 8pm. best way to stretch them is by making them wait 5-10 min extra between each feeding--eventually they catch on and your milk supply will too. it will not diminish, most likely aaron will just eat more at each feeding in order to compensate for that dropped feeding. if you are concerned you could always pump that last feeding and store the liquid gold for use later...(drop it for aaron, but not for you). make sense?? from what i remember Noah didn't drop the late night feeding until 3.5-4 mo old. (late night i mean 11pm and up again at 8am) hope that helps!
Wow:
First of all I am impressed with how well these mom's remember the specifics...I'd have to look back at my records!! [the lack of remembering probably has something to do with the lack of sleep as well!] I would have to "a-men" marybeth's comments...just in that hers would be closest to what I did. Your milk should not decrease as Aaron will drink more at each feeding and your body adjusts to that. I really wanted to wait until 6 months just because I had heard a lot of research that babies introduced to solids before 6 months were more likely to have allergies...but of course, there are probably many who had it early and are fine. So, of course, you have to decide what's best for you and Aaron. I really, really encourage you to stay on a schedule...I did while delaying starting solids and it worked. It may just take a little bit of slow stretching a bit at a time...sorry, the details are kind of a blur right now. How old is Aaron now???
p.s. we just bought jack a BUMBO seat for christmas!!! i saw it first on your blog...thanks.
Hey there, I can't say that I stayed much on schedule, my kiddos demand fed, but that usually worked out to every 3 hours or so; however, they did nurse in the night for quite a while. That being said, I waited to give anything until 6 months with Ian and 7 months for Calvin because of the research that Erin mentioned. They certainly were not even close to starvation, so although I can't say much about the schedule, I can say that your milk supply will catch up to his nutrition needs, as long as you don't spread the feedings out too much.
I stuck to a schedule with Gavin. I dropped the late night feeding, but had to put cereal in his bottle. He was a big boy! I still pumped when he would have gotten that late night feeding, though. I didnt at frist but my milk did decrease and I had to add a couple of extra feedings for a week or so till my body caught back up. Everyone's body is different, so be careful when you do drop it. But I did wait to give Gavin any other solids till he was six months old.
I'm in the minority here as I started putting cereal in Chloe's before bedtime bottle at about 3.5 months and then solids at 4 months. I've actually heard the opposite of Erin; I've heard that the more foods you introduce early the less likely your baby is to being allergic - of course you still have to follow the regular rules with what foods to avoid and to introduce new foods individually for 3-5 days. I have a few friends who waited until 6 mos. or later to start solids and their kiddos had a difficult time leaving their milk-only diet. But every baby is different. My girl Chloe was a huge baby and she needed the extra substance otherwise she'd wake at night. Do what God leads you to do - I'm convinced that He gives us moms wisdom to do this crazy job!
Oh, and I did feed Chloe on a schedule - for my sanity and hers.
i was a scheduler too. and connor was vvvvery late in starting solids. 8 mos for cereal i think. partially b/c he was sick when my ped. told me to start introducing cereal. but he is a late bloomer in lots of things, and he's still happy and healthy. i slowly took away his late night feeding (he was about 4-5 mos), and i pumped "just in case". that worked out great (for my supply and always having a bottle for church :) if he ever did wake up, i could give him a little snack. he did ok through the night w/o cereal. but i echo the sentiments of other moms: God gives you common sense and a close knowledge of your baby. you will know very quickly what works for you and aaron. as far as your milk supply.....keep feeding/pumping and drink, drink, drink water. that really helped me.
I too was very interested to see the comments that people posted for you. We gave Audrey rice cereal on Thanksgiving day. As I'm sure a lot of moms would echo, Audrey didn't get very much, most of it went on the bib. I struggled to decide when to start solids. My struggle is that at times it seemed like Audrey wouldn't make it a full 3 hours, during the day; at night she still sleeps 9 hours, but she was sleeping longer. I haven't tried cereal since, but we just got home. . . I think I will try to slowly start the cereal thing in the next couple of weeks. We do the schedule thing too, it's the best thing!!! I echo the point about whatever God leads you to do is what is best for Aaron; every child has different needs. Keep us posted on how things go.
Well, Jenny, as if you need my comments here, it looks like everyone has this topic well covered, but I'll give ya my 2 cents. First and foremost, I echo the other moms that you are the authority and know what's best for Aaron. Esther has been on a schedule also since about 8 weeks. It's worked out great for us. Anyways, I moved the 10 o'clock feeding up 10 minutes every night for a couple weeks, so she was still getting the same amount of calories, etc. You have to decipher too if and when they wake up if it's a hunger cry, or "I'm used to waking up at this time every night cry". My pediatrician told me that "sleep is a learned art", and to a certain extent she's probably right. I think the extended night sleep is so helpful to the baby too, so they can get a good rest. I didn't have a problem with milk supply. I've had enough til now (11 months), and I'm just now starting to wean her. I wouldn't ever go longer than 4-5 hours during the day on a regular basis, but once she's started solids, it has given freedom to have her schedule match ours. I try to always nurse first before the solids too. She started on cereal at around 4 1/2 months and solids at 6. Although next time around I think I'll skip cereal and feed sweet potatoes first, which several sources have suggested since it's easier to digest. Esther had a hard time digesting the rice cereal and was grouchy a lot from being constipated!
I'm late in reading this post, but thought I'd comment anyway. I had a similar experience as few that have already posted. I nursed Luke, and didn't start him on any type of solids until after 6 months - he turned 6 mo. on Jan 2, and I waited till I got home from my Christmas travels. Nursing is SO much easier while traveling than having to lug out solid foods, spoons and bibs! Luke did fine until then with 4 feedings a day - breakfast, lunch, dinner, and bedtime.
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