I try not to let books or friends influence me too much with how I am raising Scarlett. And yet, I continue to read the books and talk to my friends. Just for comparison??? Scarlett is 8 months old. She loves her breastmilk and she loves her solids.
When Scarlett was born I was told to feed her every 2 hours based on her weight. I guess old habits die hard because she is still feeding every two hours (except she sleeps through the night). One of the books that I requested from the library months ago finally became free - "The Baby Whisperer Solves All Your Problems." I didn't really think I had any problems but I decided to start reading it anyway. Apparently, a healthy baby should not need to eat more than every 4 hours. Am I overfeeding Scarlett? Although I eat every hour and I'm underweight. I'm going to post a sample schedule of her feeds:
6am - breastmilk
7:45am - breakfast - cereal with 4 tbsp of fruit followed by breastmilk
8am - nap to 10am
10:30am - breastmilk
12:30pm - lunch - 4 tbsp veggies, 2 tbsp yogurt mixed with 1 tbsp fruit followed by breastmilk
1pm - nap to 3pm
3:30 - breastmilk
4:30 - half an arrowroot cookie for snack
5:30 - dinner - 5 tbsp pureed chicken or fish or lentils mixed with veggies, 2 tbsp veggies, 2 tbsp fruit followed
by water
7:00 - breastmilk
So I am feeding Scarlett every 2 to 3 hours. She never seems under or overfed. I was giving her breastmilk at dinner too, but I eliminated it about a month ago and began giving her water. I figured she was having milk right before bed anyway. I am going back to work in 4 months. I am not sure if I will continue breastfeeding a morning and night feed at a year, but I am going to have to end the breakfast and lunch milks in any case. I am thinking I should try to eliminate the lunchtime milk and substitute it with water for now. I know that I've followed my instincts so far and things have worked. But I can't help but wonder if the "experts" are right. Or am I just being selfish b/c I enjoy breastfeeding my baby and don't want to lose that connection?
The 4 hour schedule is a bunch of hooey for formula fed babies. My mom BF all of my siblings and I, and we ate every 2 hours till we were weaned!! I am BFing my 6M old daughter and she's ate every 2.5 hours since she was a few weeks old. Your baby will eat when she's hungry, just trust her - and yourself!
ReplyDeleteIf you are ok with the schedule and it's working for you and S than the schedule is ok! I nursed on demand and at that age my son was nursing that often too. We gradually worked down to where we are now at 18 months
ReplyDelete- morning, naptime and bedtime. It wasn't something that I did intentionally it's just how it has worked out because as he got older he got busier and stopped asking to nurse as often. It goes by much too fast so enjoy all the snuggly BF time now while you can!
Those 'experts' are just trying to sell more books. YOU are the expert on what your baby needs!
My formula-fed baby also fed every 2-3 hours, she just ate less at one time. She also had reflux, and it's actually recommended that reflux babies eat less volume more often. Non-reflux babies may also benefit from this kind of schedule. Even once the baby is eating all or mostly solids, you'll still be feeding them every 2-3 hours, because they usually need a mid-morning and mid-afternoon snack between meals.
ReplyDeleteI sometimes wonder if the recommendation to go longer between feedings is purely for the convenience of the parents, since feeding every 2-3 hours can be difficult sometimes. And even if there are good reasons for recommending longer times between feedings, all babies are different, and not all will follow the same schedule.
As for the so-called "experts", if you read several books you'll find several, and often conflicting, opinions.
As long as you and Scarlett are fine with the current schedule, there's no need to change anything - you're doing just fine!
- Tashia
I'm going to agree with everyone else - if Scarlett is happy then you're doing the right thing!
ReplyDeleteIf it's working for you & Scarlett, then I say stick to it. I've found that for every expert opinion, there's another expert with a contradicting opinion...you have to do what's right for you both.
ReplyDelete