Feeding times & routine??

You would think I would know by now about all if this lol. As I cant breastfeed fully this time I have to bottle fed..I am going to see if I can breastfeed maybe the 2 morning feeds though. Anyway I was reading on the formula tin that babies have 7 feeds...so I was thinking maybe every 3 hours? I cant remember but how many times are your new babies feeding & sleeping..etc?? Are they all over the place or on 3 or 4 hours & how long does it take to settle them? I am in wishful thinking mode as I wrote a plan lol...so I would get in the 7 feeds but also get some sleep..I forgot how time consuming babies will be xo

 MO4Bs

I would suggest getting a book called Save Our Sleep by Tizzie Hall - you can get it at Kmart - I am a major routine addict and it really helped.You may even be able to borrow it from the library. I also bought it for my best friend and she says it helped her. It has routines for the different ages for breastfeeding and bottlefeeding and I think she has suggestions on combining the two as well. She goes from two weeks right up til 12months from memory.

You are very organised getting your routines sorted before the baby comes! Good on you.

Kritti 

I combined bottle and breast and the girls seem to eat so erratic still but anywhere from 2-5 hours.  They eat more frequently during the day and at night I can sometimes get 4-5 hours stretches out of them.  But the first 2 months they were fed every 3 hours and I would even wake them to nurse or bottle since I had to keep their weight up since they were preemies.    Overall the girls get more bottles than breast and I just look at the nursing as complimentary and a supplement.  They got off to a rough start so tnursing them completely was not possible due to NICU stay and low birth weight.  However, I am surprised at how well the bottle and nursing actually go together-  I never would of thought that considering my boys were exclusively breastfed until about 8-9 months.    Good Luck! TJ

Kritti....I will have to invest in that book...thank you.xo

tk3boys..you are amazing. I wouldn't dare try breastfeeding with 3 lol. I was thinking on the same lines as you...at first 3 hourly then 4 hourly. Did you breastfeed your older kids? Do you find formula settles them for longer? All my boys were never great sleepers so it will be interesting to see if bottle feeding helps..xo

Minime....so how many feeds do you breastfeed for? I was not sure if the baby/babies..would get confused. I was thinking maybe some morning feeds then bottle ones....your little girls are gorgeous! xo

Hi and thank for the compliments on my girls.  I nurse about 4-6 times a day -- each baby.    They are pretty quick now and can empty a breast in 10 minutes.   Some days I nurse more than others depending what is going on for the day.   The rest are 4oz bottles -- if they get enough on the breast they will only take like an 1oz or 2oz.  At night if they seem fussy I even nurse after I give the bottle just to settle them.  They are not confused at all.  They had sucking issues due to prematurity that definitely made the first month awful but overall they never really got confused.  Plus, I use pacifiers too in order to keep everyone happy as you can imagine 2 crying infants can send the household into a frenzy.  They are smart little cookies and have amazed me at how well they can go between breast and bottle and even pacifier with no issues at all.   The first month was awful but overtime it got bettter and better and they got quicker and quicker!! In the beginning I was pumping, nursing, and bottle feeding.  I could only nurse them 3x/day and had to pump the rest doctors order since they put the girls on this high calorie formula to help get their weight up so that really made things crazy for me in the beggining.    Either way this has taught me to be more flexible and just roll with it.   good luck, TJ

Thank you Minime..sorry to hear it was so hard at the beginning..but your girls look great so everything must be working out perfectly now...have fun with them & the rest of your beautiful family xo

Hudson is 12 days old and from birth he has been on four hourly feeds, sometimes he goes five-six hours during the night but he usually is right on cue at 4 hourly feeds during the day. As soon as his little tummy is full and he has been burped and changed he's right back to sleep again until the next feed.