Two questions : Cluster feeding and three hourly EASY

[LizB]

Hello, first off, I'm new to this board so want to say hi to you all and look forward to sharing tips and advice with all of you.   

My baby Rosa is 5 weeks old - got a couple of questions for you ...

1.  Three hourly feeds working well, but is it okay that the timings of her feeds vary every day depending what time she wakes up?  For example, a couple of days ago she slept until 5am, and woke again at 8 ... then today she woke at 2.45 and then again at 6am .... there is, at yet, no real pattern to her night times (though usually she wakes only once).  Can I just start her three hourly feeds from the time she wakes up, or should I be starting her day at say, 7am, regardless of how her nighttime went?  Am just aware that obviously, routine is important, and does this extend to more or less exact timings every day? .... also, will her nighttimes and morning wakings start becoming more routine if I cluster feed?

2.  Cluster feeding - am aware of how this works, feeding every few hours in the evening and then a df, but what's the form after you've fed them?  Do you do any activity with them as usual or do you put them straight back down after each feed?

Thanks in advance for your advice!
Elizabeth

[Erin (redstarfalling)]

Welcome!!  As to your questions:
1. It's really up to you.  The BW technique is more on a flexible schedule, but it's still a schedule.  SO the idea is that your baby should start the day at 7 or 7:30 latest with a feed and go from there.  That said, do what works for you!  I personally went 3 hrs from whenever the morning feed was.  Some babies just take a bit longer to settle into a routine.  It tends to be easier if you try to have it approximately the same times (within about an hour), but the important concept is the EASY - or basically not feeding right before sleep.

2. With the cluster feeding, if she's eating every 3 hrs during the day, try feeding every 2 hrs later in the afternoon/evening for about 3 feeds.  You're aiming for an early-ish bedtime, so from about 8pm on (I would guess!), just put her back down to sleep and skip the A.

HTH! 

[annamum]

I had similar problems with Anna. She would always wake up at different times, I never knew when we would start our day. I tried and decided not to wake her up, she doesn't like it, and neither I. If I woke her up at a set time, she was fussy and unhappy, I obviously broke her sleep in a wrong moment, and I can understand that, I still remember how I disliked being awaken by my mom.

So I just went with a 3 hours since she woke up. This gives you kind of a schedule, you can predict when her naps will be. But, because each day they are at different times, her body clock doesn't learn to go to sleep at certain times, this is more of a problem when she will get older. I started to be really annoyed by this when Anna was on one nap a day and still was having it all over the place. One day, she went for a nap at noon, the other at 2 pm. So it is basically up to you to decide what is the best for you and your dd.