When to transition from a 3 hour to 4 hour routine?

[nugget13]

Hi,

I'm curious when people transitioned their babies to a four hour EASY. It seems that my baby is not eating a lot at the 3 hour mark and I'm usually the one who has to get him to eat. Is that the biggest sign? I'd heard that it was too soon to transition a 12-wk old breast fed baby (DF is formula) from 3 to 4 hours.

Thx.

[jessmum46]

There's some good information in the link here: Time to Transition - 3hr, 3.5hr or 4hr EASY

Any time from around 12-13 weeks onwards is usually the start of the transition from a 3h to 4h routine.  It's not 'all or nothing' - you just gradually extend A times until feeds are spaced further apart.  So yes it's totally possible your LO might need a bit more A time just now, but probably not all the way up to 2h A time and a 4h EASY all at once. 

Let us know if you have more questions.

[lehoc27]

I am having trouble with this as well. my daughter is 13 weeks, 4 days old and im thinking i should start transitioning from the 3 hr routine so that she isnt completely shocked when i try to do the 4 hour routine at 4 months.

The thing is she is having trouble staying awake  longer and so it seems like a bad idea to just start extending her nap times right? She could definitely sleep longer in the day if I wanted, as opposed to waking her after 1.5 hrs.

Also, If i do extend everything by a little bit, does it eliminate a feeding at the end of the day? or do i just make it less? does Top  up just mean a little bit?

Im so nervous to change her schedule since the 3 hr routine works so well. That said, I go back to work at 5 months and definitely cannot pump 3x a day...

any advice is appreciated.
Thanks!

[jessmum46]

Lehoc - if she's doing well on the 3h routine you could just stick with that for now.  When she starts showing signs of needing more A time then that's the time to start transitioning.  There isn't a magic switch at four months which means you have to go to a 4h EASY - be guided by her . Some LOs will be on a full 4h EASY at 3.5 months, some may still be on a 3.5h EASY at 4.5 months. 

Yes with feedings as you extend A times your last two feedings of the day will get closer together and eventually one will disappear.  As feeds are more spread out LO should take more at each feed so the total milk intake for the day stays the same.

[Sarah - Enfys' Mum]

Medi is twelve and a half weeks and ebf. She's on about 3.5hour routine at the moment. Her third nap was getting shorter and the fourth one just wasn't happening most days. She didn't really need to drop a feed but she needed the increased a time

[nugget13]

Thanks for the tips. I'll take a look at that post in more detail and see how to implement it. He's already doing 3.5 hours after his morning feed so it's a matter of extending the rest.

Thx!