Easy routine or length of feed more important?

[Jbroomer]

Like many others on here my baby (3.5 months) has only ever napped for 45 mins unless held.  Since she is now able to go to sleep independently in her crib we don't do that anymore.  Her awaketime of 1h30min plus a 45min nap does not equal 3 hours.   

 I guess my question is, is it better to maintain EASY routine or to have her eat at the 3 hour mark?  So far I've been sticking with EASY, but that means she often eats at 2.5 hours or less.  On the days when I stretch her, the feeds end up being all over the place and some end up before a nap.  Also, we are still on 5 short naps a day.  I've tried to get it to 4, but then her awake times are too long and the naps end up being only 30 mins or less. 

Thoughts?!

[Katet]

Hi it’s a bit of a juggling act when they don’t do long naps as shorter time between feeds often runs the risk of snacking, which increases the risk of short naps but trying to feed at 3 hours can result in feeding right before a nap and feeding to sleep and that’s another complication.

Also at 3.5months they can often be moving towards 4 hours so 2.5 hours would definitely be snacking.

Have you tried resettling after a 45 min nap, I know for me taking my youngest on a walk in the stroller or in a carrieroften extended the sleep  so the feed could be later. I also got one long nap from him in the middle of the day (matched his brothers nap so sometimes it did become catnap feed catnap catnap feed long nap kind of patterns. 

I think overall it’s how it impacts night sleep that I felt was most important, if feeding at 2.5 hours has her waking lots at night, then I’d risk feeding before a nap to stretch it out, but if night sleep is going well, I’d go with whatever works.

[*Ali*]

Current advice is to feed babies on demand rather than trying to do so at set intervals so I wouldn't worry about the timing between feeds if she's looking for a feed. Most babies at this age, especially if breastfed will want to eat more often than 3hrly.

You could try wake to sleep to extend the naps.