Feeding a new born baby can be a little tiring for the first few days as the mother would still feel exhausted after the strenuous hours of labor. It is important to establish a pattern of feeding from the start so that the baby can adjust easily to a schedule. It would be best to consider several types of feeding patterns and then draw up your own chart. It is best to make a baby feeding and sleeping schedule before your baby is born as this is one thing less that you will have to worry about once your baby arrives.
It is also better to place your baby in his/her crib from the very beginning so that there are fewer changes for him/her to adjust to later. You can however keep your palm across your baby's chest while he/she is sleeping in the crib as this will assure your child of your presence.
A baby feeding and sleeping schedule is important for both the mother and child.
Many women feel guilty about trying to stick to a schedule because they feel they are not being fair to their baby. However, adequate rest and relaxation is important to both the mother and child and sticking to a schedule will actually be a healthy option in the long run. You can start with a 3 hour schedule where each feed is started 3 hours after the start of the last one. You can use this schedule for the first three weeks to a month and then slowly shift feed timings so that they are now four hours apart. This four hour schedule is an excellent baby feeding and sleeping schedule as it allows the baby adequate rest in between feeds. Keep up this 4 hour feeding schedule for the next three weeks to a month after which you can slowly merge the two night meals to form just one nightly feed. This will allow your child to sleep undisturbed for a longer period and this will aid in proper growth and development.
When following a baby feeding and sleeping schedule, it is important that you feed your baby whenever he/she is hungry. Make sure that you slowly introduce the schedule and after a while, you will find that your baby automatically gets restless when it is close to the next feed. If you find that your baby is crying way before the next feed is due it is very likely that your child is not crying because of hunger but due to some other discomfort.
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