What to do with BF with intro of 3-2

[Sokha]

Hello all,

DD is BF 4x a day (7am, 11am, 3pm, 7pm) with no NF. I am starting 3-2 but am very confused about what to do with the BF as the naps will overlap 2 of the 4 BF's. With 3-2, the first nap ideally is from 10am-11:30am: do I BF when DD WU? The second ideal nap is from 2:30pm-4pm. Do I start dropping a BF and make up the lost calories at other feeds?

[jessmum46]

We did BFs at WU, after nap 1, after nap 2 and bedtime.  That obviously means you go more like 4.5-5h between the first two feeds and then last two come closer together, but to be honest I never found it an issue.  As long as she got the four feeds DD seemed to be happy and that way you keep the EAS pattern.

I'm assuming your LO is around the six months mark as you mention the 3-2?  If it's an issue in that your LO can't last the 4.5-5h in the earlier part of the day, then the introduction of a bit of solids can help bridge that extra time gap or you could always offer a small top-up feed 30 mins or so before naptime if necessary.  I wouldn't drop a feed at this age - four breastfeeds is pretty usual until closer to a year, though I think we dropped the mid-afternoon one around ten months as DD wasn't very interested in it and was growing just fine.

[*Ali*]

I see from your other post that your dd is actually 8mo so as pp said it should be fine to go a little longer between feeds since she is well established on solids.

As PP says it is unlikely she needs to drop a BF at this age. I'd just move the feeds around a little if you need to.