4 hours

when do u make the switch to feed every 4 hours instead of every 3 hours?

 

For us, we did 4 hours at 6 months. Our feeding schedule was a big mess prior to 6 months!

eta- I dont know what the suggested time is though (what the books say).

 

Mine came home from the hospital on a 4 hour schedule. So I would say that when you feel they can stretch to 4 hours, go for it.

 

We were on the later side, at 8 months.

 

Mine go 4 hours on occasion but I try for 3 1/2 hrs to be sure I get enough feeds and ozs in so they STTN. We go 3 1/2 during the day, last feed at 6 or 6:30pm, late night at 10 or 10:30 and 1st feed at 5 or 5:30.
Once they start food, I will switch completely to 4 hours.

 

At the 2 month appointment our pedi said we could feed them every 4 hours if we wanted to. But she also said that at 4 months when they start solids we'd have to go back to every 3 hours. So I decided to just keep the every 3 hours for now, but I know that at 2 months it's okay with my pedi to go every 4 hours.

 

Never. My babies are frequent eaters. When they were on all bottles we barely made it to 3 hours during the day. It felt like constant feeding when they were younger because they ate frequently but took so long to polish off their bottles. But in the end it worked out well because they ate so much during daylight hours that they started going 12 hours without a bottle at night at 12 and 12.5 weeks.

 

At 2 months they started eating every 4 hours and have been since. They have eaten at 8-12-4 and 8 for over 4 months now. I really lov ehow predictable their feedings have become.

 

QUOTE(Tammy Fine @ Jan 12 2008, 10:52 PM) [snapback]570067[/snapback]
At 2 months they started eating every 4 hours and have been since. They have eaten at 8-12-4 and 8 for over 4 months now. I really lov ehow predictable their feedings have become.


Same here, at 2 months. Sometimes they are about 30 minutes off but they seem to stick to this exact schedule 8/12/4/8. If you want to have them at every 4 hours try to hold them off in 30 minute increments. Like start feeding every 3.5 hours. When they get used to that then go to 4 hours.

 

Somewhere around 4 months.

 

We are still on three hours and trying to move to four hours at 7 mos. I basically just make sure that I wait at least three hours and then wait until they start asking for it. I find four hours confusing with naps, etc...

Amy

 

We stayed at 3 hours until they were about 7 months old, when we started introducing more solids. Mine were still waking to eat at night so they were making up for it.

 

Mine also came home from the hospital on a 4hr schedule. In fact, the nurses goal was to get them on the 4hr schedule before they came home. We have kept it, but there are some times where they get hungry around 2 1/2 to 3 hours and I feed them. With 2 of them it is nice to stretch out the time inbetween feedings as mucbh as possible.

 

I'm not sure we ever did -- and my girls are 5 years old!

Our big move was from 2 hours to 3 hours, beginning around 9 weeks. I took the month before I went back to work to shift them to that. They were fed at 7 am. 10 am, 1 pm, 4 pm, 7 pm & 9 pm, with some adjustments in the evening to fit their mood and our schedule ( out to dinner or church or whatever), and as they started eating solids.

They still get breakfast, a morning snack, lunch, an after school snack, and supper - which you can see corresponds very closely to eating every 3 hours. We only dropped a bedtime feed after they were eating food for meals and snacks, and stopped nursing at bedtime (13 months).

 

We are still on a 2.5-3 hour schedule, the babies just won't make it any longer, they eat alot too 6 and 7 ounces respectively. But they are sleeping longer at night now, so I figure they need to cram those calories in during the day.

Typically they eat at 8, 11, 1:30, 4:00, 6:30, 10:30 and DD sometimes at 4 a.m.

 

ours moved themselves to a 4 hour schedule at 6 months. i think it helped that we introduced solids. the 4 hour stretches are GREAT & so much easier to get the nap timing down. i am nursing so it is great to be on a 4 hour schedule now with 12 hours at night!

 

ours moved themselves to a 4 hour schedule at 6 months. i think it helped that we introduced solids. the 4 hour stretches are GREAT & so much easier to get the nap timing down. i am nursing so it is great to be on a 4 hour schedule now with 12 hours at night!