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How you decide to feed
your baby will have a profound effect on your child’s hunger
patterns, sleep patterns, and general disposition. When I talk
about PDF, I’m not talking about letting the clock rule when you
feed your baby, but using a flexible schedule. This generally
serves both baby & mother and takes much of the guess-work
involved in feeding and parenting out of the equation. It’s my
experience that both mommy & baby do better when the baby’s life
is guided by this flexible schedule.
PDF is a middle-ground
between hyper-scheduling (letting the clock rule your feeding
routines) and demand-feeding (every time your baby cries, you
feed him). This method is child-oriented (not child-centered or
mother-centered); the mother cooperates with her baby’s needs,
and her baby learns to cooperate with his mother’s guidance.
Much of parent-directed
feeding requires some common sense and a commitment to not be
ruled by the clock and The Rules. No one who practices PDF will
tell you that you should not feed your baby if he is hungry;
your role as a mommy is to meet his needs, and that includes
adequate nutrition. Additionally, no one who uses this method
will tell you that you must let your baby wait if he’s
hungry—that’s being a slave to the clock, and not being
responsive to your baby’s needs. Instead, you will meet your
child’s needs without being enslaved to them or someone else’s
ideas of how you should feed your baby. That’s the freedom that
PDF can bring to your life and the life of your baby!
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