In the first year of my daughter’s life I had numerous questions, and the most challenging ones were all the many transitions we went through with eating and sleeping times. The first few months of feedings were alot about learning the cries of our daughter and evaluating her needs. We had learned about parent directed feeding in theory but there was definitely a learning curve. Most days it felt a little like a guessing game that I got just a little better at some days. It was when she was able to get on a 4 hour routine we really were able to relax and enjoy the consistency in our new family’s life.( For a more detailed explanation of Parent directed feeding please see Babywise or Along the Infant Way.)

Here’s an overview of the first feedings and an example of what the 4 hour routine looks like for our family.

Babies who are on a parent directed feeding routine begin life by taking a feeding every 2 and 1/2 to 3 hours, by the time they are 4-6 months moving to a 3 to 4 hour routine. Between 4-6 months rice cereal should be introduced once a day in addition to the liquid feedings.

Soon after baby foods are introduced, a new one every 3 days to watch for food allergies. It’s common for babies to take many weeks to learn how to take food into their mouth. Take your time and be patient.

Your goal should be to get your baby on an approximate four hour routine, again this takes time.

Here’s an example of how this worked for our family. These times are approximate within a half hour.

8:00am Bottle / Nurse
8:30am Rice cereal mixed with breast milk, Fruit baby food
10:00am Nap
12:00pm Bottle / Nurse
12:30pm Vegetable baby food, Fruit baby food
2:00pm Nap
4:00pm Bottle / Nurse
6:00pm Vegetable baby food, Rice cereal
Introduce solid finger foods while Mom and Dad eat dinner
7:45pm Bottle / Nurse
8:00pm Sleep for the night

Until your baby is a year breast milk or formula feedings are a must. Remember your baby has learned new physical skills by this time and will be needing the additional calories. Snacks are optional however we found them unnecessary until liquid feedings were eliminated at a year and our daughter was walking therefore requiring more calories.

My next post will cover transitioning baby from baby foods to solids.