Nursing schedule at 9 mos?

Hi all, my twins are almost 9 mos and EBF. We have a good napping schedule but no nursing schedule whatsoever. I sometimes feed on demand when they are fussy and act hungry, sometimes I feed when they aren't hungry, like just before we go out somewhere so they aren't hungry/fussy when we are out. And sometimes I think I may end up comfort nursing if they act clingy. I am returning to work end of January and would like to try to get on some sort of schedule so when I go back their caregiver doesn't have a hard time with them since I won't be here all day to nurse whenever they want - I am planning to pump and have them bottle fed.

They are down to one night feed.

Do you have a nursing schedule at this age? Or still on demand? Looking for any input! Thanks!

Jessica

 

My girls are semi on demand during the day. There's no set time that they eat but it does seem to be fairly consistent when they get up at the same time. They are almost completely on demand when I am at home. For them, I think drinking from the bottle is different enough that they don't have a problem switching back and forth between a mommy is at work way of doing things and a mommy is at home way. That being said, there's nothing wrong with getting them on a schedule now if you think that will be easier for everyone. I'm just not much help with how to do that.

 

I was at home with them, so I don't know if my schedule will help you, but at that age it was something like- wake up, nurse, nurse before nap, nurse after nap, nurse after that, nurse before next nap, nurse after nap, nurse again, nurse again, bedtime nurse again. Plus if we were going somewhere. LOL, guess that wasn't too much help. When are you planning on starting solids? I found that helped up get on a much more consistent nursing schedule.

 

Miriam, your nursing schedule sounds like mine. I like to always nurse before naps so they aren't waking up due to hunger. Mine are on solids but they don't eat too much. DD won't let me spoon feed her anything, but DS will so I do oatmeal/fruit puree mix for breakfast. I'm really trying to get them on finger foods so I don't have to feed them, and i've had mixed results so far. How did the solids get you on a nursing schedule?

 

My LOs were also 9 months when I went back to work. I established nap routines before but not nursing schedules although they were pretty consistent about some feeds (wake-up, mid-morning, pre-nap, pre-bedtime); other times of the day were more on demand.

This is the way it also worked for us. Mine also tended to take more from the bottle than while nursing so the tended to need fewer bottles than nursing sessions. Our caregiver established her own routine after a bit (consulting with us of course), and my LOs never had a problem with doing things differently with the caregiver than with me.

I also agree that starting them on solids helped establish regular meal and nursing times.

 

Mostly on demand when I home on the weekends and at night. My first was EBF and I was home more often with him and it was always on demand until he was over a year old, then I started limiting when he could nurse as we worked towards weaning (at 21 months).