Transition to 4 hour easy with breastfeeding...pls. help!

[amazingjen78]

Hi there- I'm new here- I'm a huge fan of the baby whisperer and am a breastfeeding mom. I'm trying to help my sweet 4month old baby girl move to a four-hour easy routine...but many of the breastfeeding experts I've talked to tell me this isn't good for the baby- and that breastmilk is digested too easily to help her do this- that she realyl needs to demand feed, cluster feed etc, and basicallly really discouraged me from trying to move her to a four hour eating schedule. Is this really possible with a breastfed baby? why are they so adamant against it?? anyone have success stories? I appreciate any advice I can get- thank you.. Jennifer

[annamum]

Hi,

There is a lot of truth in what you heard but what is important is that you follow your baby's signs. I know that there are babies who just don't want to nurse more often at that age, they nurse very efficiently and are happy on such schedule. But there are also many babies who don't do well on a 4 hour routine till they are much older. My dd was demand nursing till she was 2.5 months, then I read BW and I tried to implement a 3 hour routine. Dd didn't really take well to it, she was hungry every 2.5 hours so I fed her that often. I still kept EASY going, I just had shorter cycles. She was able to extend her feeds at around 5 months old to 3-3.5 hours and I was happy with that.

Basically, some babies are not able to go that long between feeds until they are older, I think 4 hour routine works better for formula fed babies. Another thing to consider is how your baby is napping, if she has long naps she can probably do better than a baby who has 45minutes naps, if you kwim. A good time, in my opinion, to move to a 4 hour routine is when you start your baby on solids.

Also, for women who have problems with low milk supply, scheduled feedings affect it negatively. This is something to seriously consider if you have struggled with supply issues.

[Erin (redstarfalling)]

I eventually transitioned to a 4 hr EASY, but it wasn't at 4 months.  I think it was closer to 5 months and some parts of the day (towards afternoon) stayed closer to 3 or 3.5hrs between feeds.  I agree with Monika - depends a lot on the naps and your lo's tummy capacity.  Some "demand-fed" babies just naturally move towards 4 hrs!

[deenz]

With my dd1 I 'demand fed' her until around 3.5m... then I read the BW book, and was noting down what she was doing... at this time she 'naturally' moved to 4hrly feeding (a big help was that her naps extended from 40min).  A friend of mine's daughter seemed to naturally feed 4hrly almost from birth (she was a large baby too).  My dd2 (4m) sometimes feeds 4hrly, sometimes still 2hrly, it depends greatly on her naps which are mainly 40min ones!  I do feel that she feeds better at 4hrly, but if she's awake I will often offer her the breast, and she'll take it for a bit, but not what I would feel is a good feed.

[JacobMarksMummy]

Hi, my DS transtioned from 3 to 4hour easy by himeself but not until he was about 6months old, I did try for a short while to make him go longer but he just howled and was deffo hungry and in the end he just naturaly did it himself.  BF babies seem to have shorter periods between feed than FF I think BM is easier to digest or something. It isnt vital that you are on four hour easy I would carry on as you are as I am sure you are doing great. Also as monika says if you have had issues with supply it is best to follow your babies demands as it can lead to probs. if you dont feed her on demand. HTH

Nome
X