7 month old not eating enough food, and waking through the night...

[Tdotbaby]

Hello everyone,

We have a 7 month old baby who is not a napper (fights us), and wakes about 3-5 times during the night).  We have a problem of her not getting enough food during the day --- she gets about 18 to 22 oz day.  Leading up to 5 months she was eating well and alot of formula and breast milk.  But leading up to 6 months she started teething and it has been a struggle to even get her to drink formula.  We introduced her to solids as well.

So a typical meal for her during the day is 5 to 10 baby spoons of solids and 2 to 4 oz of formula.  This takes up to 1 hour to feed her and she's done (after a while, crying screaming).

Her appetite has gone down, from the teething we think, but how do we get her to sleep through the night if she's not getting enough food during the day?

She was born at 8 pounds, 15 ounces, so she is a larger and thicker baby.  Any ideas for getting her to eat enough food during the day?  We try to feed her every 3 to 3.5 hours. 

Please help... 

We are frustrated as rookie parents,

Tdotbaby

[Lolly]

How are you giving solids and milk? Is it at the same time or solids first then milk? If you are giving them together, the BW way is to give milk first and then solids during her A time about 1 hour after a milk feed.  Also what flow teat are you using at the moment? If you aren't on the fastest I would swap.

If she is teething have you tried giving her pain meds or teething gel just before a feed?

If you post your routine for us we can have a look and see if some tweaking will help.

Eat - what times, how much
Activity - how long for
Sleep - what times and how long for.

Laura

[Tdotbaby]

Thanks Lolly,

We give the solids first, then the formula during the same meal.  Currently we give solids during the morning and lunch.  We're using the Playtex fast flow nipples.

We've given her some baby tylenol about 4 times over the last 6 weeks when her pain was really intense.  It doesn't seem to bother her at night, just during the day.  Any suggestions on a brand?  We were concerned about over-medicating her, and since she wasn't crying or wining we didn't give any meds regularly. 

*She normally wakes between 4:30 and 5:30am., and most times we give her some good, then she goes back to bed.
*Then, the day officially begins begins between 7:00 and 8:30am. with solid and formula feed. 
*After that she has activity time for up to 2 hours.
*She gets drunk tired around 9/9:30am. but fights us to sleep and if she does it's up to 1 hour. 
*Then, we would feed her again around the 3 to 3.5 hour mark for early lunch. This would be around 10/10:30am. 
*After that she has activity time for up to 2 hours.
*She gets drunk tired around 1/1:30pm. but fights us to sleep and if she does it's up to 2.5 hours at this point. We would give her an early lunch to help her to nap.
*Then she has activity time for up to 2 hours after this.
*Then, we would feed her again around the 3 to 3.5 hour mark for late lunch. This would be around 3/3:30pm. 
*Then activity time after that.
*Around 6:00pm. we try to tank her up with feeding every two hours. 
*Her bedtime is 8/8:30pm. but she wakes throughout the night every 2 to 3 hours at night to feed or sometimes just to be picked-up and put-down. 

We're struggling with getting her to sleep for even four hours at a time during the night.  The feeding seems to be the hard part for us.  She is definately a spirited baby.  Should it take 50 to 70 minutes to eat 5 ounces?  Is there a faster nipple than the Playtex fast flow?  Perhaps she should use a sippy cup?

Thanks for any help:)

[Lolly]

Looks like you have afew things going on, I'll try and help the feeding - here is a link to some sample EASY routines that are age appropriate http://babywhispererforums.com/index.php?topic=164030.0

At her age she needs at least 4 hours before feeds, I think feeding her at 3/3.5 hours is leading to a bit of snacking so she isn't taking a full feed. Also keeping at a bottle feed for 50-70 mins is having the same effect. A bottle feed should be done with in about 20 mins, so let her feed and she will take what she wants in that time and stop the feed. If she is taking small amounts for over 1 hour she isn't getting a chance to get hungry again before the next feed.

I would swap to milk feed then some A then solids. So, if she is starting her day at 7am, give her a bottle (stop the feed after about 20 mins even if she hasn't finished the bottle ) then offer her solids about 8am ish. Her next milk feed would be due around 11am so she has time for a nap and a chance to get hungry! So, bottle around 11am and solids lunch at 12. Her next bottle would be around 3pm and solids tea around 4/4.30 and bedtime bottle at 7pm.

You need to aim for a 12 hour day/ night so it's worth trying to have a set wake up so you know when bedtime is and can space naps through the day. She is probably fighting you because she is overtired from the frequent wakings so you may need to shorten her A times for a few days to help her get caught up. Have a look at the link above to see what others did with their 7mo. Some are still on 2 naps and a catnap at this age, my DD was a high A time baby so had been on 2 naps since before 6 months old.

What do you think?

Laura

At this age milk is more important than solids so if she isn't eating a lot the that's not a problem. Milk has more fats and calories than early solids so you want her to take in more milk and then slowly take more solids until she is taking mostly solids and dropping milk around 1.

[Tdotbaby]

Laura,

This is all making sense.  You've filled in some missing pieces for me:)  I wasn't understanding the 'why' behind E.A.S.Y., and was confused about the bottle feeding/duration.

The sample schedules are helpful!  We'll start easing her into this today starting with the feeding/bottle.  My husband and I thought the solids were more important right now.  I'm thinking of trying this E.A.S.Y. schedule

* 7:00am --- formula
* 8:00am --- solids
* 9/9:30am --- morning nap

* 11:00am --- formula
* 12:00pm --- solids
* 1/1:30pm --- afternoon nap

* 3:00pm --- formula
* 4:00pm --- solids
* 6:00pm --- bath/massage

* 7:00pm --- bedtime

I imagine this will take a few days te become routine for her and us:)

Thanks so much!!!

[Lolly]

It will take a few days at least to get the hang of, so don't dispair if it's hard work at first EASY ain't always easy!

If you work on feeding and watching her cues with regard to naps that should help. If naps and night sleep are still a problem when you have tried the routine for a few days then post on the sleep boards, there is lots of help to be had there!

Lets know how you are getting on so we can help you tweak things or suggest other things to try.

Welcome to the boards by the way!

Laura

[Tdotbaby]

The good news is that after one day of trying your suggestions regarding feeding, we saw her eating slightly more, and going to nap easier.  So I'm hopeful in respects to feeding. 

But tonight is awful regarding crying --- difficult for me to hear and see:( She had her dreamfeed at 1:00am. and we will be trying to move that up to 11:30/12am as she eats more during the day. 

We're looking through the sleeping forums and absorbing in all the information to get help.

Thanks again. We're hopeful to post a success story!

[Lolly]

You need to do the dreamfeed between 10 and 11pm. The idea is that you tank them up when you go to bed to stop them waking in the early hours so you can all get a longer stretch, if you do the dreamfeed after 11pm it can disturb sleep more then it helps it.

Laura

[*Kara*]

I love the new routine, but I am a little worried about her last A time... it's about 4 hours (longer if she short naps).  Her other A times are less than 3 hours to help with the OT buildup... I would be concerned about that last A causing more OT.

[Tdotbaby]

Good point Kara,

My husband and I were just realizing this into our first full day on the new schedule. From 3:00 to 7:00pm. seems like an eternity for us.  She is hard to entertain and keep active, and seems very impatient and irritable.  So I think you are right about OT.  Funny thing... she fell asleep at 6:35pm yesterday for an hour, and fell asleep today at 6:20pm. 

What should we do???   She is exhausted from a night of pu/pd, but is beginning to eat more each feed within 30 minutes.

[*Kara*]

You could just try putting her to bed when she falls asleep any time after 6pm... just an early BT to get her caught up from the OT.  Then you will be able to push her first A time a bit and eventually the second one as well... At 7 months, she should be fine to do 3 hours.

If the early BT just gives you a corresponding early wake time (example - mine will never sleep 11 hrs... so putting her to bed at 6 would be a 5am wakeup at the latest!), start to push her first A time by 15 mins... she will seem really sleep since her body is used to napping after a shorter A time... just pick her up and walk around looking at the house - pictures on the walls were popular around here when pushing A times

[Lolly]

I agree with Kara about the A time. Another thing you could do is to APOP (accidentaly parent on pourpose) a short nap just to get her through. You will be able to stop this as her A times extend and the naps get later in the day. Basically use any means you have like walking in the stroller, a short ride in the car to get her to nap for 20ish mins about 5/5.30 then you could keep the 7pm bedtime. Don't let her sleep too long if you can get her to sleep.

Glad the feeds are getting better!

Laura

[Tdotbaby]

Thanks ladies, I will see how it goes