Author Topic: Do you have to feed every 3 hours?  (Read 1578 times)

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Offline Lauraclare007

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Do you have to feed every 3 hours?
« on: May 15, 2013, 08:14:32 am »
Hello,

I'm new to this forum and this is my first post so apologies if I have posted incorrectly.
I have read the BW book and understand the schedule for a 6 week old but I don't understand a few things (I have tried to search for these subjects but I can't seem to use the search facility)

1) Do you need to feed every 3 hours during the day? Even if baby showing no signs of hunger or is asleep? I don't want to over feed my baby or if I feed her when she is not really hungry, will I only risk her not taking as much to see her through the next 3 hours?

2) If she wakes before the next feed is due then do I play with her? I know the order is meant to be E-A- S or should I be encouraging her to only eat, then activity then sleep until next feed?

3) At night, currently feed then baby goes to sleep straight away in cot then usually sleeps until she wakes on her own for a feed at 10ish where we change her and feed her, then she'll sleep straight away until she wakes for a feed in the night which can be at any time.  Is this ok? If she falls asleep after her night feed, i'm not sure how to rouse her before putting her in her cot (we'll read to her after feed some nights as advised but she'll normally sleep through this).  Also, should we be aiming for her to not wake in the night? She'll settle straight away after.  I'm not sure if we should be moving to tank feeding and dream feeding if she is reasonably settled at night already and if I should be rousing her after her night bottle before sleep?

Thanks for any advice you can give me.

Offline *Kara*

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Re: Do you have to feed every 3 hours?
« Reply #1 on: May 17, 2013, 05:01:02 am »
Hello and welcome to BW!

Given that she is really quite little, we often just suggest you follow a basic EAS pattern and don't worry too much about the details :)

1. I would offer if she is awake and it has been 3 hrs.  If she is sleeping, leave her be.  She will wake if she is hungry.

2. I would play with her until the next feed time, unless she is showing hunger signs sooner - then go ahead and feed.  When they are this little, feeding on demand is important too.

3. I did exactly what you are doing at night... no clustering, no dreamfeed.  I fed her and put her to bed, fed when she woke.  Don't worry about feeding to sleep during the night as much as during the day... no way would I attempt to rouse in the middle of the night!  You might wake her up enough to want to play ;)

Sleeping through the night is a developmental thing, not something to be forced.  It's common for a  baby to have a feed then bedtime, the a DF plus up to 2 night feeds before waking for the day until 3-4 months of age, then many drop to one night feed (and keep a DF), going down to just the DF around 6 months...   She is doing great now!

Congrats on the new wee person :)  Follow those instincts and keep BW on your mind and you will do just fine.  Many moms find that BW really falls into place well around 3 months of age.



Offline Lauraclare007

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Re: Do you have to feed every 3 hours?
« Reply #2 on: May 18, 2013, 08:58:26 am »
Thank you so much, your reply is really encouraging and helped put a lot in place for me, thanks again :)

Offline *Kara*

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Re: Do you have to feed every 3 hours?
« Reply #3 on: May 18, 2013, 20:37:56 pm »
Trust those momma-instincts ;)