What are parent-led schedules?

What are parent-led schedules?

As the name implies, parent-led scheduling means that you set the daily agenda – typically a very specific timetable for when your baby eats, plays, and sleeps. Parents who operate on this kind of schedule rarely deviate from it. Many say that timing things (sometimes down to the minute) and being extremely consistent help their baby regulate her internal clock and gives her the structure she needs to thrive.

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What's the thinking behind parent-led schedules?

Experts who recommend specific parent-led schedules say these routines are based on years of observation of babies' natural rhythms and are appropriate for their development at various ages. When babies' days are very structured and predictable, advocates say, they fall into regular patterns more easily and sleep through the night sooner.
The best-known advocates of parent-led scheduling – author Gary Ezzo and British maternity nurse-turned-childcare expert Gina Ford – say their advice is a middle ground between the strict four-hour feeding schedules of yesteryear and the on-demand feeding and baby-led schedules of today.
Both Ezzo and Ford advise against purely on-demand feeding, in which you follow your baby's cues to decide when it's time for a meal. Instead they say to rely on their guidelines – as well as your baby's hunger cues and your common sense – to determine feeding times.
On-demand feeding is a problem, they say, because inexperienced new parents may interpret nearly every baby cry as "feed me" rather than looking for other causes. Then both the baby and parents fall into an exhausting routine of constant feedings that last far beyond the newborn stage.
Babies end up getting smaller snacks of breast milk rather than full feedings that include rich, satisfying hind milk, these advocates say. (Note: This directly opposes the theories of baby-led schedulers.) They may also get less sleep because they're still waking so often to nurse. Meanwhile, worn-out new moms may give up breastfeeding altogether.