Should I wait to transition to 4 hr easy if lo is EBF?

[nossi]

DD is 4 mo but I'm hesitant to implement 4 hr easy.  With DS, the transition at 4 mo made my supply drop and made him lose weight.  It made things really tough (needed to supplement, then pump, then ultimately start solids earlier than I would have liked).  So now I'm hesitant to do it this early with DD.  she does 4 hours on her own in the morning because her morning nap is her only long nap.  but the rest of the day, she's eating every 2.5 to 3 hours.  Sometimes its a full feed, sometimes not.  But im less worried about her "schedule" than i am about not having enough milk.  what were other people's experiences with lo's who are BF at 4 mo?

[brownc623]

I found the answer to your question while I was going through the FAQ. I'll quote it for you here

PLEASE REMEBER:

breastfed babies sometimes never make it till 4 hrs between the feeds which doesn't mean they can not be on 4hrs EASY when they're ready for the increase of their activity time.

EASAEAS... pattern is very common and not at all wrong so if you breastfeed your baby and he/she starts fighting naps, waking at night and showing other signs of being ready for the transition but is not ready to eat less often than every 3 or 3,5 hrs, don't worry, follow your baby's cues and adjust the EASY routine so that you and your baby are both happy

eat, activity, sleep routine is the guideline, reality can be different sometimes.
what's important is to know your baby and respond to his/her needs. so be it EAS or EASA, it doesn't matter as long as you have a good routine

Hope this helps!

ps. FWIW it totally depends on the LO as to whether they'll stimulate your supply enough when they only eat every 4 hours. You could try the transition if you like and then if you found that your supply was dropping you could do nipple stimulation for 10 min after every feed to bring your supply back up, either hand expressing milk or pumping would work.

[eva026]

Mine couldn't last more than 3h between feeds till we started solids so I'd BF upon WU then do a top up before nap time, just making sure I didn't feed to sleep.

[Erin M]

Totally agree with PPs, it really varies -- if you feel like your LO needs to eat more often, then by all means feed her!  You can try going to a 3.5 hour EASY for a bit if that helps too, some people stay there until closer to 6 months.

[nossi]

Thanks for all the info.  I've been trying the top off before nap too, although she often falls asleep so I have to time it exactly right.  I'll get there!