frustrated at feedings

[doodle]

I need some help!  I just bought the latest book which is totally amazing!  I know that it will make a huge difference for my son Parker and my husband and I.  I am trying to put him on EASY - 3 hrs but there are some things that are confusing me.

First - sometimes when I feed him he only takes 1 1/2 oz and I can't get him to take anymore.  He will play for a bit and then I think he may be hungry again because he puts his fist in his mouth.  He is just 8 weeks old and was almost 8 lb when he was born (he is also gaining weight steadily).  Right now I don't feed him, I wait until 3 hrs has passed for the next feed time but I'm wondering if it would be bad to feed him a bit in the middle of the "A" or if that would mess up the routine.

Second -  I would like to do cluster feedings  regular basis to top him up for the evening.  If we are cluster feeding I'm not sure on the timing and when and how we should do it.
For example, the book has an E at 4:00 and 7:00 with bedtime at 7:30.  This is what we are trying to follow but if we are tanking him up it says to feed him either at 5 & 7 or 6 & 8 (p 94) but on page 34 where the routine is outlined us says cluster feed at 7 & 9. I'm confused!  I get that it's 2 hours apart but what I don't understand is that if bedtime is at 7:30 would a 9:00 feed be a dream feed and then we would do another dream feed at 11:00?  If I go by the other times they don't line up the schedule (the 5:00 is one hour late but the 7 works and neither 6 or 8 work)  am I taking things to literally?  Can we give him a feed after his bath just before bed?
Thirdly - the book says that if you want your baby to sleep better at night (the whole point I bought the book!) one option is to increase the amount he eats during the day - like adding an ounce to each feed. I can't get  my son to take more then 4 oz in a bottle (and sometimes not even that much as I mentioned in my first situation).  How would I get him to take more?  I don't want to do feeds more frequently because that would throw the routine off and would be working backwards.

Thank you for any help you can give me - I'm a new mom and I'm really struggling to make this work. :?

[GabrielleD]

My son is 3 months old and I only recently put him on EASY. He has a bedtime of 8 pm. We feed him at 6 pm and again after his bath at around 7:40 pm. Since he is already half asleep by the time he gets his bath, he wakes up enough from the bath to eat some more - so feeding him after his bath is working for us. Then we do a dream feed at 11 pm. I would think that if he has a 7:30 bedtime, then a dream feed at 9:00 might be a bit early.

By the way, I would also love to know how to get babies to eat more during the day. My son will only take 4 ounces of formula at a feeding and I have no idea how to increase that, either.

Gabrielle

[thitz]

Doodle, if you are trying to eliminate night feeds, I would decrease the one you want to eliminate by a little bit over a couple nights then stop feeding at that time.  This should get him to eat more during the day.  But 4 ounces at one bottle for an 8 week old sounds good to me.