Scheduling Feedings and sleep

For the past month my DD has been stretching out her day feedings.
Along with this she has been waking and feeding more at night. She
has been waking every 2 to 3 hours. At some point I know that she
will start sleeping through the night again, but I was wondering if
part of the problem is that she isn't on any kind of schedule yet.

I am feeding on demand, and she will nurse anywhere from every hour to
every four hours during the day. Sometimes this coincides with a nap,
sometimes not. Usually she naps for about 30 minutes when she does
nap, which can be every 2 to 4 hours.

Does anyone have any suggestions, or comments about scheduling, or
will this just work itself out?

Thanks for you help


--
Sapphire Spiral
Mom to Cassie 9/9/03

Although I guess some people do, I cannot imagine keeping a baby
waiting for milk in order to keep a schedule, but you could offer
really frequently during the day.

KC

"Sapphire Spiral" wrote in message . com...
For the past month my DD has been stretching out her day feedings.
Along with this she has been waking and feeding more at night. She
has been waking every 2 to 3 hours. At some point I know that she
will start sleeping through the night again, but I was wondering if
part of the problem is that she isn't on any kind of schedule yet.

I am feeding on demand, and she will nurse anywhere from every hour to
every four hours during the day. Sometimes this coincides with a nap,
sometimes not. Usually she naps for about 30 minutes when she does
nap, which can be every 2 to 4 hours.

Does anyone have any suggestions, or comments about scheduling, or
will this just work itself out?

Thanks for you help

"Sapphire Spiral" wrote in message
om...
For the past month my DD has been stretching out her day feedings.
Along with this she has been waking and feeding more at night. She
has been waking every 2 to 3 hours. At some point I know that she
will start sleeping through the night again, but I was wondering if
part of the problem is that she isn't on any kind of schedule yet.

I am feeding on demand, and she will nurse anywhere from every hour to
every four hours during the day. Sometimes this coincides with a nap,
sometimes not. Usually she naps for about 30 minutes when she does
nap, which can be every 2 to 4 hours.

Does anyone have any suggestions, or comments about scheduling, or
will this just work itself out?

Thanks for you help


--
Sapphire Spiral
Mom to Cassie 9/9/03



With little ones I found that the best way to get onto some sort of routine
during the day is to try to keep to a particular order of doing things. So
rather than trying to feed have naps etc.. at certain times you try to make
sure things always happen in the same order. This is much more flexible than
trying to stick to a timetable.

For example with my first baby we used to do feed, play, and at the end of
playtime we would have a rocking singing time and then into bed. When he
woke I'd feed him again and start the cycle. The feeds soon seemed to fall
into their own pattern.

With my second the pattern is different he sleeps well after a feed so he
has feed, sleep, then when he wakes up he has a play. This works well for
him and he is now in a really predictable pattern.

Neither baby was ever made to wait for a feed. The key is the pattern. Baby
soon begins to learn what comes next. It's great for you too because you can
begin to plan your day a little more. Of course there are always days when
it all goes totally out the window. Those days you just need to relax and
back in to the cycle when/if you get a chance.

Hope that helps

Judy

Sapphire Spiral wrote:
For the past month my DD has been stretching out her day feedings.
Along with this she has been waking and feeding more at night. She
has been waking every 2 to 3 hours. At some point I know that she
will start sleeping through the night again, but I was wondering if
part of the problem is that she isn't on any kind of schedule yet.

You don't say how old she is. If she's between 4-6 months, it's very common
for sleeping patterns to change, often due to the beginning of teething or a
growth spurt.

Having a routine is one thing, and many people (babies and adults alike) do
better when they do approximately the same things in the same order at
around the same time. But scheduling in the sense of "eating every X hours
then sleeping for X hours" is not good for anyone, and especially not babies
who are growing and changing at a phenomenal rate.

--
tristyn
www.tristyn.net
"i have heard the mermaids singing, each to each.
i do not think that they will sing to me."

"iphigenia" wrote in message
...
Sapphire Spiral wrote:
For the past month my DD has been stretching out her day feedings.
Along with this she has been waking and feeding more at night.
She
has been waking every 2 to 3 hours. At some point I know that she
will start sleeping through the night again, but I was wondering
if
part of the problem is that she isn't on any kind of schedule yet.

You don't say how old she is. If she's between 4-6 months, it's very
common
for sleeping patterns to change, often due to the beginning of
teething or a
growth spurt.

Having a routine is one thing, and many people (babies and adults
alike) do
better when they do approximately the same things in the same order
at
around the same time. But scheduling in the sense of "eating every X
hours
then sleeping for X hours" is not good for anyone, and especially
not babies
who are growing and changing at a phenomenal rate.

--
tristyn
www.tristyn.net
"I have heard the mermaids singing, each to each.
I do not think that they will sing to me."



Thanks, you make some good points.

I guess that I should clarify: She is 5 months, and while I know that
sleep patterns change around this age, she has never had a predictable
pattern of nursing or sleeping. I am still nursing on demand, it's
just really hard to know when she will want to nurse. For
example,yesterday she nursed twice every three hours, and then 1/2 an
hour after the last feed, she was screaming because she was hungry
again, and silly me thought that it had to be something else because
she just ate a really good meal.

During the night she will get up every 2 hours or sleep for 5. My
sleep has been really suffering, but while her night sleep has never
been predictable either, she used to go for longer stretches. I guess
that I am hoping that if we can get a routine going, it would make
life easier for the both of us.

"Kereru" wrote in message
...

"Sapphire Spiral" wrote in
message
om...
For the past month my DD has been stretching out her day feedings.
Along with this she has been waking and feeding more at night.
She
has been waking every 2 to 3 hours. At some point I know that she
will start sleeping through the night again, but I was wondering
if
part of the problem is that she isn't on any kind of schedule yet.

I am feeding on demand, and she will nurse anywhere from every
hour to
every four hours during the day. Sometimes this coincides with a
nap,
sometimes not. Usually she naps for about 30 minutes when she does
nap, which can be every 2 to 4 hours.

Does anyone have any suggestions, or comments about scheduling, or
will this just work itself out?

Thanks for you help


--
Sapphire Spiral
Mom to Cassie 9/9/03



With little ones I found that the best way to get onto some sort of
routine
during the day is to try to keep to a particular order of doing
things. So
rather than trying to feed have naps etc.. at certain times you try
to make
sure things always happen in the same order. This is much more
flexible than
trying to stick to a timetable.

For example with my first baby we used to do feed, play, and at the
end of
playtime we would have a rocking singing time and then into bed.
When he
woke I'd feed him again and start the cycle. The feeds soon seemed
to fall
into their own pattern.

With my second the pattern is different he sleeps well after a feed
so he
has feed, sleep, then when he wakes up he has a play. This works
well for
him and he is now in a really predictable pattern.

Neither baby was ever made to wait for a feed. The key is the
pattern. Baby
soon begins to learn what comes next. It's great for you too because
you can
begin to plan your day a little more. Of course there are always
days when
it all goes totally out the window. Those days you just need to
relax and
back in to the cycle when/if you get a chance.

Hope that helps

Judy




Thanks. The routine really makes sense. I will have to work on
making things more predictable.

Sapphire Spiral wrote:

During the night she will get up every 2 hours or sleep for 5. My
sleep has been really suffering, but while her night sleep has never
been predictable either, she used to go for longer stretches. I guess
that I am hoping that if we can get a routine going, it would make
life easier for the both of us.

Are you co-sleeping? It makes these periods of unpredictability and frequent
waking much easier to handle.

--
tristyn
www.tristyn.net
"i have heard the mermaids singing, each to each.
i do not think that they will sing to me."

"iphigenia" wrote in message
...
Sapphire Spiral wrote:

During the night she will get up every 2 hours or sleep for 5. My
sleep has been really suffering, but while her night sleep has never
been predictable either, she used to go for longer stretches. I guess
that I am hoping that if we can get a routine going, it would make
life easier for the both of us.

Are you co-sleeping? It makes these periods of unpredictability and
frequent
waking much easier to handle.


Personally I find the opposite. At least with baby in his own room I could
totally get away from him for a while and have a deep sleep myself. But
that's just me, each to his own.

Judy


--
tristyn
www.tristyn.net
"i have heard the mermaids singing, each to each.
i do not think that they will sing to me."

"Sapphire Spiral" wrote in message . com...
For the past month my DD has been stretching out her day feedings.
Along with this she has been waking and feeding more at night. She
has been waking every 2 to 3 hours. At some point I know that she
will start sleeping through the night again, but I was wondering if
part of the problem is that she isn't on any kind of schedule yet.

I am feeding on demand, and she will nurse anywhere from every hour to
every four hours during the day. Sometimes this coincides with a nap,
sometimes not. Usually she naps for about 30 minutes when she does
nap, which can be every 2 to 4 hours.

Does anyone have any suggestions, or comments about scheduling, or
will this just work itself out?


yes, it will. She doesnt' need you to set a schedule for her, and
doing so is a lot of work for you. She'll get to be predictable and
then you'll find she's on a schedule around the time she starts 1st
grade. or maybe not. :-)

=====
Kate, http://www.cs.colorado.edu/~kolina/a...f-formula.html
Mom to Ursula (9!), Sage (6.5), Benno (3!!) Nature's way is
straight
and unerring, foursquare and calm, great and tolerant. Everything is
accomplished without the necessity of fabricated purpose. Man's way is
equally self-evident. His internal
principles are correct; his external acts are righteous; his results
are certain. ~ I Ching (B.C. 1150?) Chinese Book of Changes
http://listserv.uts.edu.au/mailman/listinfo/parent-l
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Just-Moms/ :-)

"Sapphire Spiral" wrote in message . com...
For the past month my DD has been stretching out her day feedings.
Along with this she has been waking and feeding more at night. She
has been waking every 2 to 3 hours. At some point I know that she
will start sleeping through the night again, but I was wondering if
part of the problem is that she isn't on any kind of schedule yet.

I am feeding on demand, and she will nurse anywhere from every hour to
every four hours during the day. Sometimes this coincides with a nap,
sometimes not. Usually she naps for about 30 minutes when she does
nap, which can be every 2 to 4 hours.

Does anyone have any suggestions, or comments about scheduling, or
will this just work itself out?


yes, it will. She doesnt' need you to set a schedule for her, and
doing so is a lot of work for you. She'll get to be predictable and
then you'll find she's on a schedule around the time she starts 1st
grade. or maybe not. :-)

=====
Kate, http://www.cs.colorado.edu/~kolina/a...f-formula.html
Mom to Ursula (9!), Sage (6.5), Benno (3!!) Nature's way is
straight
and unerring, foursquare and calm, great and tolerant. Everything is
accomplished without the necessity of fabricated purpose. Man's way is
equally self-evident. His internal
principles are correct; his external acts are righteous; his results
are certain. ~ I Ching (B.C. 1150?) Chinese Book of Changes
http://listserv.uts.edu.au/mailman/listinfo/parent-l
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Just-Moms/ :-)