Should A Newborn Be On-Demand Or On A Schedule?
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jsmith123
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For newborns, I would follow their lead 100%
In my (limited) experience, both my children scheduled themselves. They went from cluster feeding from 7 to 10 to suddenly falling asleep for the night at 7 basically overnight at around 3 months. I didn't do anything to make that happen. They were just ready for it. By 6 months, they were taking 3 fairly regular naps a day. That said, I did find general routines to be helpful. So things like wake, feed, play, sleep that repeated throughout the day. |
Anonymous
| It’s a little creepy how you say he’s a good baby. Ummm all newborns are good babies |
Anonymous
There is nothing creepy about it. Many people use “ good” as to say their baby doesn’t cry much and sleeps and eats well. No baby is good or bad, but there isn’t a nothing wrong with OP saying what she said. Stop being dramatic. |
Anonymous
Everyone but the baby. Bad mother. |
Anonymous
| OP here. He is 4 weeks old. |
Anonymous
OP here. He is 4 weeks old and has already gained 2lbs. |
Anonymous
| On demand, but encourage routines. Have naps in a consistent place and with a consistent routine. I always fed on demand but tried to offer naps and bedtime on a schedule. So sometimes there would be an extra or early feeding, but I followed a consistent nap time. By offering a nap in our case it was nursing or a bottle in a dim room, followed by rocking to sleep. My kids nearly always napped when bedtime cues were given, taking me up on the offer, and then feedings eventually fell in a predictable pattern around naps. So while feedings were always on demand eventually they followed a reasonable schedule. IMO the nap offering is a kinder way to get into a routine than attempting to schedule feedings. |
Anonymous
| To me on demand meant but within those other time constraints….meaning yes wake him from napping after 2 hours during the day, then feed “on demand” while awake. I for sure would wake during the day, but not at night unless told otherwise by the dr. |
Anonymous
+1 but from an on demand parent. Whatever works well for you and your family. |
Anonymous
| On demand. Go with the flow and he will be healthy. |
Anonymous
| On demand with encouragement toward a schedule by 12 weeks. Then I’d do schedule from there on out. We’ve been on a schedule since then and it’s been wonderful. |
Anonymous
I have a 5 week old who has also gained 2 lbs by 4 weeks. I followed her lead the first few weeks but by 4 weeks we were feeding every 3 hours during the day and still are. I think it has helped her nap better and maybe sleep longer stretches night. My first was a slacker and getting him to a schedule later on was a nightmare, so I started earlier this time. |
Anonymous
Lol, I meant my first was a snacker, not a slacker 😂 |
Anonymous
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I did E-A-S as the “schedule” and capped daytime naps in the beginning because the ped said to. But otherwise on demand (so I guess fed always after waking but also for any hunger cues during cluster feeding? It’s kind of a blur. Certainly I always fed the baby if she seemed hungry at all. And I started the nap process based on wake window length but that always came with sleepy cues too.
E-A-S and wake windows really helped me to just have a handle on the day but I wouldn’t call it a “schedule” and it was still responsive to the baby. It just helped me to have a sort of plan. It worked great except for the witching hour, but I guess that was also on our “schedule” and I would just plunk down on the couch with snacks and TV on mute. |
Anonymous
If this is like “eat, play, sleep” then we did the same thing. |