A day in the life: tick tock, combi bottle feeding by the clock
I’m a routine kind of gal; I like to have my days planned and organised and if it’s not in the calendar, it doesn’t happen! Before having my wee one I read a few parenting books and the ones that spoke to me were more routine based. Now I know this type of advice gets bad press, but for me and my wee family, it was right up our street. Don’t get me wrong (and don’t listen to everything you hear) nobody is advocating for rigid feeding times, it’s more about having a rough guide routine to help you through the day based on your babies cues.
In the end, my wee one was born prematurely and had feeding issues requiring a week long stay in NICU, where the feeding times were pretty routine (and fairly rigid I must say). We were advised to keep waking him at 3 hourly intervals to ensure he was getting enough nourishment and this set us up for the routine we would continue for years. It won’t be everyone’s cuppa, but that’s the best thing about parenting (and feeding), there’s no one size fits all and we are free to work out our own ‘best’!
Here’s how it worked for us on an average day:
7am: I always thought of this as the first feed of the day and it was a good one for me because Daddy did it before he went off to work. In the early days when I was pumping milk, I’d get up and pump at all the feeding times (and sometimes in between), but once I stopped I was able to stay in bed while the boys bonded over a bottle. Bliss.
10am: Around 10am the wee one would stir for his next feed and I’d get up with him and have my breakfast after he had his!
1pm: Lunchtime! Having experienced the NICU routine, my wee one pretty much stuck to a 3-hour feeding window, although we were never rigid about it; if he was hungry before the three hours were up then obviously we would feed him. Flexibility is your friend when you have a small person to take care of.
4pm: Mums last feed before Dad got home. I always enjoyed this one, especially on the tough days as I knew backup would soon be coming. After the feed I would get him ready in his pram for Dad, who couldn’t wait to head off for a walk after getting home from a hard day (i.e. a break!) in the office.
7pm: Dad is back in charge for the evening feeds. We would give any breastmilk I had managed to express over the previous 24 hours (between 1-5 ounces, I had very low supply) before bath and then finish the feed with formula afterwards. While Dad was taking care of that I’d be washing bottles and prepping the next days feeds before heading off to bed
10pm: Dads still on duty for this one and usually I’d be in bed. I’d often hear him talking to the wee one while he snuggled in for the feed and my heart would be totally melted.
1am: My turn again! I took the nightshift and let Dad get a sleep before work in the morning. The night feeds ranged from quiet dark and blissful, to noisy, unsettled and exhausting but if I was struggling The Huz would get out of bed to help. He also did all of the night feeds on a Friday night to let me get one blissful uninterrupted nights sleep every week. He’s definitely a keeper!
4am: Me again, and by this time I’d be knackered! But thankfully the night feeds decreased at 6 weeks. We stopped waking the wee one at night when he was 6 weeks old and he dropped a feed, so the 1am and 4am feeds merged into one feed between 2 and 3am. This one disappeared at around 12 weeks which unsurprisingly was when I stopped feeling so much like a zombie!
7am: here we go again……
Although we had some feeding issues to start off with, I loved feeding my wee one and I know my husband did too. There’s something so special about looking in to your wee one’s eyes while they feed. Formula feeding really worked for us because it meant Dad was just as involved as me from day one and we shared the load, and I got to sleep! Having a rough guide routine helped too as both of us always knew what the programme was! If we’re lucky enough to have another baby we would choose to formula feed using a rough guide routine again as it worked perfectly for our wee family.
My top tips:
Be flexible. A routine worked well for us but only because we were flexible. If the baby is hungry, feed them. If not, don’t force it.
Share the load. If your baby is bottle fed, Dad, siblings, grandparents, the Postman (okay, maybe not the last one, unless you know them well) will all relish the chance to have a bottle bonding session with your wee bundle. And bottle or boob, let people know how they can help in other ways (i.e. point them in the direction of the kettle and the washing machine!)
Preparation. We found that preparing bottles for the next day really worked well for us. But make sure you follow good hygiene, preparation and storage guidelines. Gathering your comforts (and the remote control) before sitting down to a feed also helps!
Enjoy. It can be a struggle at times – man, do I know that – but when you get the chance, enjoy those snuggly feeding moments as much as you can. You’ll miss them when they’re gone…. sometimes!
Erin x
