how strict should i be on brestfeed schedule?

A newborn needs to be fed when they are hungry. This could be every 3 hours
(if you are lucky), but it could be much more frequently. They also go
through growth spurts, when they feed much more frequently for a day or so.
This is really restrictive on sleep. Sleep becomes this holy grail of
things, a thing from Before Kids. It does get better though, and it is only
for a few weeks. Those few weeks will feel like much longer though!

If you want a break, you could try pumping a bottle and letting someone else
feed baby. That way, you could feed baby, hand baby over to the other
carer, go to bed and stay there until the next feed that you have to give.
This doesn't work for everyone though, as not everyone can pump a bottle,
and not all babies take a bottle.

As others have said, it is important to look after yourself during this
'baby bootcamp' time. Sleep when baby sleeps. Don't worry about not doing
the housework. Accept any and all offers of help. You'll find that your
baby will settle into a routine pretty quickly. One good tip is to figure
out when your baby has a long sleep during the day, and make sure that you
get to sleep during that time. Then during the other shorter naps, you can
get things done.

Suzanne

wrote in message
ps.com...
i searched a bit in this newsgroup and found :
"A newborn needs to feed a minimum of 8 times
per day, with 10-12 feedings being the norm and 15 being not unheard "

thats 1 feed every 3 hours for my newborn.this is really restricting
getting any form of sleep.

my question is to how strict do you or your friends stick to the
clock?
also why every 3 hrs?i heard its related to blood sugar levels but i
dont fully understand?

also in nature, did ancient cave women feed every 3 hrs around the
clock?

thx

"Marie" wrote in message
...
On Tue, 22 May 2007 18:39:12 GMT, "xkatx" wrote:
I will lay down with DD2 beside me, on my side, her on her side and I kind
of curl my legs up into a bent position at my knees. She's quite a bit
longer now than what she was as a newborn, but I still lay the same way I
always did. She just will often put her legs on top of mine and lay like
that. I know she's done when she starts pulling off to smile and look at
me
and starts kicking my legs and scooting across the way

Oh man, I really miss this part! My "baby" is 4.5yrs now and doesn't
fit curled up with me. I just make do best I can lol.
Marie

This is, actually, one of my favorite parts. She is still at the age to
curl up, and in all honesty, I love curling up and having her curl up with
me - with her legs every which way on me (on my legs was always the way she
did it, but now, lately, I've noticed she likes on leg up on my hip. Almost
like if we were sitting up together, she'd almost be in a sitting/straddling
position on my lap.
It's nice when they're still this little. They're so easy to deal with!!

"Chris" wrote in message
ups.com...
On May 21, 3:59?pm, wrote:
i searched a bit in this newsgroup and found :
"A newborn needs to feed a minimum of 8 times
per day, with 10-12 feedings being the norm and 15 being not unheard "

thats 1 feed every 3 hours for my newborn.this is really restricting
getting any form of sleep.

my question is to how strict do you or your friends stick to the
clock?
also why every 3 hrs?i heard its related to blood sugar levels but i
dont fully understand?

also in nature, did ancient cave women feed every 3 hrs around the
clock?

thx

snipYou should never deny a baby a nursing session
regardless of how much time has passed. Some situations can
necessitate more frequent feedings, but you can deal with those if and
when you need to.

One thing that might come in handy for situations like this is the hands
free nursing...
There's times when I know I will be out and about when I know DD2 will want
to eat. Some things can't be avoided and some things can't be worked around
the baby's schedule.
Nothing is worse than a screaming, hungry baby while you're out and about
and a bit strapped for a place to sit down to feed or even an extra arm to
do what needs to be done. Nothing is better in this situation than hands
free nursing.
When DS was a newborn, I would try so hard to work my day around his
feedings. His feedings were so predictable, though. He would nurse every 3
hours during the day and every 4 hours at night. You almost could set a
clock to his schedule. This went on until he was right around 6 months. I
was young, extremely uneducated in BFing and had very little to go with
other than the support of my mom (who simply said the baby needs to eat when
he wants and needs to. Work your schedule around that and make sure you'll
be somewhere to nurse at his feeding time or just stay home.)
Now, though, with DD2, I think I have almost mastered the hands free nursing
idea. We can be shopping in the mall and I can wrap DD2 up and nurse while
pushing a stroller, dealing with the other older kids, have a hand free on
occasion to do some shopping. I can continue eating my meal while it's
still hot thanks to hands free nursing. I can go to DS's soccer games and
still have my hands and body free enough to stand up and cheer, AND chase
after DD1 if need be. I was almost tempted to put DD2 on my back to cut the
grass the other day, then I opted to take a break from cutting my parents'
lawn to sit down and relax to feed DD2 (mainly due to the loudness of the
mower, as well as all the extra and unnecessary stuff - dirt, grass,
whatever that comes with cutting grass) I also wasn't too sure how well I
liked the idea of *what if* I happened to trip or something with the mower -
fairly dangerous situation, seeing as our neighbour's son chopped his big
toe off cutting the grass a number of years ago.
So, really, I don't know if anyone else has suggested the hands free idea,
but I know that there were quite a few here who had pointed me in the right
direction for this not too long ago!

On May 21, 2:59 pm, wrote:
i searched a bit in this newsgroup and found :
"A newborn needs to feed a minimum of 8 times
per day, with 10-12 feedings being the norm and 15 being not unheard "

thats 1 feed every 3 hours for my newborn.this is really restricting
getting any form of sleep.

my question is to how strict do you or your friends stick to the
clock?

Not strict at all. I didn't watch the clock. I fed DD when she was
hungry.

also why every 3 hrs?

Because they're hungry.

i heard its related to blood sugar levels but i
dont fully understand?

Baby has a small tummy, they can't take in enough to last longer, and
BM is digested quickly, so they get hungry more often than adults do.

also in nature, did ancient cave women feed every 3 hrs around the
clock?

Probably more like every 1-2 hours, with occasional longer stretches.

i think the 3hr thing came in with formula, as babies can go a little
longer between feeds. In NICU DD was GI fed every 3 hours on the dot,
but she didn't have a choice in the matter and she didn't have to
latch. Once we started BF, she wanted to feed waaaay more often than
that, and if I waited that long (thanks to the nurses' insistence)
she'd be screaming and couldn't latch on.

wrote:
i searched a bit in this newsgroup and found :
"A newborn needs to feed a minimum of 8 times
per day, with 10-12 feedings being the norm and 15 being not unheard "

thats 1 feed every 3 hours for my newborn.this is really restricting
getting any form of sleep.

As other people have mentioned, you may be able to co-sleep - take the
baby into bed with you so that you can feed the baby and sleep at the
same time. This is an absolute lifesaver, but if you do this you MUST
know how to do it safely, so that you don't accidentally roll over on
your baby or obstruct his or her breathing:

DO NOT co-sleep if either you or your partner is a smoker. Doesn't
matter if you don't smoke in bed - if either of you smoke at all,
particles will cling to you and the baby will breathe them in if lying
in the same bed with you. Very bad for the lungs and has been linked to
an increased risk of cot death.

DO NOT co-sleep if there is any reason to suspect you may be less alert
than normal. Normally, even when a woman is asleep she is aware enough
of her baby to sense him and avoid rolling onto him. However, if you
have had any alcohol, are on any medication that might make you drowsy,
or are a very deep sleeper by nature, then co-sleeping may not be safe.

DO NOT get any heavy covers or pillows near the baby. Baby's face could
sink into them or get covered by them, causing smothering. When I
co-slept with my baby, I had warm pyjamas so that I only needed one
blanket, which I put over myself. The baby was snuggled next to me and
warmed by my body heat, so didn't need blankets. I had one pillow which
I kept tilted away from the baby. (Every time I turned over, I had to
drag the pillow and the baby across the bed to opposite sides, which was
a bit of a nuisance!)

DO NOT co-sleep on a couch, a waterbed, or a saggy mattress. ONLY
co-sleep on firm mattresses.

DO NOT wear anything with long ribbons while co-sleeping - they can
tangle around the baby's neck while you're asleep.

Finally, use common sense. It's impossible for a list like this to
cover everything. For example, there was a woman who used to post here
who had mild cerebral palsy and used to make jerking movements in her
sleep. That isn't going to be covered in any list of safe co-sleeping
rules as it's so unusual, but she recognised that she would be at risk
of kicking her baby accidentally out of bed if she jerked in her sleep.
If you have reason to believe that co-sleeping might be a particular
risk for you, don't do it.

also in nature, did ancient cave women feed every 3 hrs around the
clock?

Oh, no. They probably carried the babies with them all the time in
slings and fed them several times an hour while getting on with other
things. There are a number of tribes where they still do things this way.


All the best,

Sarah
--
http://www.goodenoughmummy.typepad.com

"That which can be destroyed by the truth, should be" - P. C. Hodgell

My baby, now 5 months old, never followed a "schedule". For the first
3 weeks, she fed every 1 1/2 hours. Sometimes she fed every 3-4
hours. She's still unpredictable.

I was more stressed when I tried to put her on my schedule than just
going along with whatever hunger schedule she had.

Babies eat when they're hungry and stop when they're full. They're
not looking at the clock and thinking "it's 12noon, I must be hungry
now". Go along with your baby's growing and changing hunger levels.
Every week is going to be different!

Keep in mind, this won't be forever, and you're teaching your baby
healthy eating habits... "eat when hungry, stop when full".

~Liz

i dont want to sound silly but co-sleeping sounds like the solution to
keeping eveyrone happy and sane in the first months. but worrys might
hold you back from doing it. why havent they invented a sort of anti
rollover device (like an incubator shaped box) which makes this worry
free?

do they exist? get i get one online? thanks

On May 26, 5:11 am, wrote:
i dont want to sound silly but co-sleeping sounds like the solution to
keeping eveyrone happy and sane in the first months. but worrys might
hold you back from doing it. why havent they invented a sort of anti
rollover device (like an incubator shaped box) which makes this worry
free?

do they exist? get i get one online? thanks

http://www.amazon.com/First-Years-Sa.../dp/B00012CHFI
However this only worked for the first 10-12 weeks or so, then she was
too long for it. But by then we (as in DH) were comfortable with her
in our bed and our sense of where she was so not going to roll over on
her.

In article .com,
says...
i dont want to sound silly but co-sleeping sounds like the solution to
keeping eveyrone happy and sane in the first months. but worrys might
hold you back from doing it. why havent they invented a sort of anti
rollover device (like an incubator shaped box) which makes this worry
free?

do they exist? get i get one online? thanks


I don't want to sound flippant, but I think it would be way overdone.
You would be surprised how alert you are to your baby's movements at
night. If you follow safe co-sleeping guidelines and don't smoke,
drink, or take drugs that make you drowsier, then you will be able to
wake whenever the baby makes any significant motion. You will also
learn to be aware of when they are rooting and latch them on in an
instant, and within a couple of weeks most mothers can learn to go
right back to sleep with the baby latched on.

Larry