Creating a Breastfeeding Schedule for You & Your Baby

I’ll tell you up front that I’m in the second camp – I’m a fan of breastfeeding schedules, and I feel that they are highly beneficial not only in setting up solid routines for your baby (which he craves), but also for helping you and your family adjust well to adding a new family member.

I’m not slamming anyone who does on-demand feeding – every mom has to do what she feels is right for her baby, herself and her family, and sometimes that means going with the flow (no pun intended) and nursing whenever your baby wants to nurse.

My feeling is that babies become part of your family, and that while you will (of course!) attend to his needs, the little one can – and should – ease into the family’s activities and interests, including a breastfeeding schedule and set sleep schedule, to make everyone feel happy and secure. If you feel the same way, read on!

Planning Out Your Breastfeeding Schedule

(I also highly recommend reading this book – a few times – BEFORE the baby arrives; I read this when my daughter was seven weeks old, and my raging hormones and sleep deprivation sometimes made it difficult for me to understand exactly what I was supposed to be doing. Make sure your husband reads it, too, so that he can take over and back you up as you’re both setting the schedule.)

Important note: I was not paid to review this book – it just made such a difference for me and my family that I personally recommend this book to every new or expectant mother I meet, as I feel it is a truly important resource in child-rearing and breastfeeding.

According to the Babywise method, you can begin your baby on a schedule as early as two months of age; before that, it’s best to let your baby set the schedule, since they are growing so rapidly and you’re both still learning about each other. Plus, this will give you an opportunity to see how what your baby naturally defaults to in terms of nursing frequency, sleeping habits, and more.

The goal of the Babywise system is to establish a set pattern of eating, awake time and sleeping (in that order), in order to establish proper hunger and sleep patterns. In other words, it helps stabilize your baby’s internal clock so she knows when it’s time to eat, when it’s time to play, and when it’s time to sleep. This has the added benefit of creating the soothing rhythm of routine for your baby (and, to some extent, for you too).

As you gear up to the two-month mark, start keeping track of when you’re nursing your baby with a breastfeeding log. (You might already be doing this for reporting back to your pediatrician, or just for your own knowledge.) How often is your baby crying to be fed? Every two and a half hours? Three? As you keep track, you’ll probably see a pattern emerge. This will give you a good starting point and help you determine the time for your baby’s first feeding of the day (the book will explain this).

(By the way: The book will give you guidelines for how often to nurse your baby at each age point, so you’ll have plenty of guidance along the way.)

Now, I’m a list person, so it was extremely helpful for me in my (again, hormonally-charged and sleep-deprived) state to write out exactly what was supposed to happen, and at what time – and then post several copies around the house (usually wherever I nursed her). So here’s what my daughter’s breastfeeding schedule looked like at almost three months of age:

7:45-8:15 a.m. = feed
8:15-8:45 a.m. = awake time
8:45-10:15 a.m. = sleep

10:15-10:45 a.m. = feed
10:45-11:15 a.m. = awake time
11:15 a.m. -12:45 p.m. = sleep

And so on.

Now, does this mean that if my daughter was still nursing after 30 minutes, I would force her off? No. The most important elements are making sure she was nursing every two and a half hours, and getting several 90-minute naps throughout the day; if that meant we had to cut down her awake time because she nursed a little longer or because she was tired earlier, then that’s what we did.

Babywise gives you all the guidelines and suggestions you need, but there’s lots of flexibility in their plans to allow for your own intuition. (Can you guess why I like the book so much? That’s pretty much the whole concept of this site!)

The book also provides some excellent information on how to handle nighttime feedings (and at which age ranges), as well as suggestions for awake-time activities and helping increase your child’s boundaries and independence little by little. The authors are also extremely pro-breastfeeding, and I love that everything they suggest is built around breastfeeding needs.

Need proof that this method works? My daughter began sleeping through the night at six months of age (it could have been sooner, but I kept offering her a nighttime feeding for a while because I just felt it was the right thing for her), and she has slept through the night every night ever since.

Some parents like to tell us that we’re so lucky to have a baby that sleeps so well, but my husband and I know better – it’s because it all started with setting and using a breastfeeding schedule.

I hope you’ll consider establishing one yourself – I think you will be very pleased with the results!

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