10.5 mo breastfed baby routine overhaul! ready for one-nap? plus weaning...

[rashope]

Hi all,

Lately we've kind of got a few things going on, and I'm not sure how to handle it.  The gist of it is, my daughter has always eaten a lot of solids.  I was afraid it was crowding out her milk, and after speaking to the lac. consultant decided to throw in a couple more breastfeedings.  So I'm bf 6 times a day since about 8 months.  I intended it to be just until around 10 months, but we took a two week trip five-hours east, and wanted to wait until she was over her jet lag, etc. before radically changing things, and then she cut some teeth.  But now I'm ready to get rid of these extra feedings first and gradually working down to 2 or 3 breast feedings which I'm happy keep until she weens herself off. 

In addition, she has been having a very short first nap.  she usually has one 40-minute one, and one 1:15 one.  I've been inching her morning nap back a bit, but she still doesn't want to sleep long in the mornings these days, so I wonder if she's getting ready for one nap?  I plan to move her first nap back further, but then how to work it into food times?

Plus she has just cut her third tooth, and is working on her fourth.  This has been happening the past week and a half, causing her to have some night wakenings, and though she usually puts herself back to sleep fine, I know it has made her a little more tired.  Last week she had a couple of really hungry days, and I started giving her snacks and upped her cereal from 1/4 to 1/3 cup, before her snacks were all bf.

She's very happy when she's awake.  Almost never complains, so I'm pretty sure she's getting the right amount of sleep, just a matter of one nap or two?

Here's her routine for the past few days:

7:00 - 7:30 am wake and bf
7:45 - 8:00 breakfast (1/3 cup dry baby oats with a large jar of fruit and formula mixed in, plus a few cheerios)
9:15 bf
9:30 quiet time in her room
10:00 nap (up to 45 minutes usually - occasionally as little as 20 minutes, or as much as an hour and 15 minutes)
11:30 - 12:00 bf
12:30 lunch (jar of puree meat, plus a large jar of veggies, plus either another large jar of a different veg or fruit or cooked veggies as finger food)
2:00 snack (biter biscuit or chopped pear or cheerios, something like that)
2:15 bf (this seems to be one of the bigger ones - she complains if she misses it and won't nap without it - unless she's in the car, but then wakes up hungry after a short nap.)
2:30-ish nap an hour and 15 minutes usually (if we're in the car around 2, she'll fall asleep, but usually only for 40 minutes or so)
4:30 bf
5:00 dinner (1/3 cup dry baby oats with a large jar of veg and formula mixed in, plus usually another large jar of veg or fruit, depending on how hungry she is)
6:30 bath and bf
7:00 asleep

I think if we included more fats and proteins into her diet she wouldn't miss the bf so much, but since her daddy has milk allergies, we're steering clear of all dairy until after 12 months.  I plan to give her tofu for the first time tomorrow.  I wish I could offer her some cheese.  She doesn't seem keen on avocado. 

Can anybody offer any suggestions on how to cut back her milk feedings and whether she may be ready for one nap?

Thanks so much!!!

Becky

[KathrynK]

hi Becky

I am going through a similar thing to you with the naps. Until recently dd was still sleeping 90 mins in am and 90 mins in pm. I have had to cut these back as we had 3 weeks of 5.30am wakings due to too much daytime sleep. Dd is now sleeping 45 mins am and 1hr 15  in pm- sounds just the same as your lo! I think from reading loads about the 2-1 nap transition on these boards that this amount of sleep is completely normal at this age. All the advice seems to be that the morning nap needs to be shorter (around 30-45 mins) in order to get a decent pm nap. I would hesitate to try to change to 1 nap too early- they do say that under 12 months most babies still need 2 naps, even if one is short. They need to be able to stay awake for 5 hours comfortably to have only 1 nap a day- I know there is no way dd would cope with this at the moment, and probably not for quite a while yet.
I kept dd off dairy until 10 months due to allergies in the family. She was ready to cut out a bottle by 8 months and I worried about her milk intake so I introduced some soy yoghurt and she loved it- just a thought
k x

[rebecaq]

Hi Becky,

Things aren't as bad as you think they are.   

I think that the extra bf sessions are playing a large part in why her naps are shorter. I belive that if you get back on 4 hour EASY with 4 feed during the day things should start improving. My ds also was a big solid eater and it did not affect my milk. I would just make sure that bf was an hour before his meal of solids.  The important thing is the wet diapers, that will be the tell-tale sign that she's drinking enough milk  Is she gaining weight well?

Also, believe it or not, try putting her to bed for her nap a little bit earlier. Sounds real strange, but it works with babies. I think a 10am nap time is too late and she's missed her sleep window. Try putting her down between 9 and 9:30.  I think she's too young to make the 1 nap switch.

She does sounds to be quite happy with everthing else and her routine, except for the short naps, looks good.

Keep up the good work!

- Beca

P.S I used to mix the avocado with breast milk and ds seemed to like it more that way. 

[rashope]

Hi Kathrynk and rebecaq,

Thanks for your responses. 

Kathrynk:

I like the soy yogurt suggestion, I'll give it a try   And thanks for the tip about her needing to be able to go 5 hours, that's a good rule of thumb.  My dd would stay awake all day with only a little whining in the evening if I kept her occupied... She's just too inquisitive to want to nap.

Rebecaq:

Sophie has never done well in a standard 4-hour e.a.s.y.  She's doing better now with napping than she has ever done, which is why I'm hesitant to make too many drastic changes.  But of course I don't think she needs these extra feedings, so I want to eliminate them, but cause as few changes as possible to her napping.  I'm pretty happy with the amount she is sleeping now, because she gets her requisite 14 hours (12 at night and 2 during the day) and goes down fairly easily.

As for cutting out the feedings, I'm not sure where to begin.  I thought I would begin with the one at 4:30, because whenever she's with my husband at this time and he feeds her from a bottle she only takes 2 oz or so.  But maybe I should start in the morning with the 9:15 one?  Because this one may be causing her to not take much at 11:30 which causes her to be extra thirsty at the 2:15 one.  If I leave off the 9:15 one I think she will need a solids snack... Is that how it's usually done?  Because most baby's schedules I have seen have mid-morning snack at around this time, and I'm afraid in the past she hasn't napped well because she's been hungry. 

One of the reasons I was considering whether she needs to go to a one-nap routine is that we're looking at putting her in a daycare part-time (I'm very concerned about her napping in a daycare!)  and a few of them have said that in her age group they're trying to work them towards what the toddlers are doing, which is one nap after lunch which is at 11. 

Sophie started out her first 4 months at 75th percentile, but after putting her on E.A.S.Y.  at 4 1/2 months she dropped down to 50th.  We started her on solids just before 6 months.  At around 8 and 9 months she was at the 35th or so.  That's why I was concerned with her milk intake and I started adding the extra feedings.  Since then she's gone up closer to 50th percentile.  The doctor wasn't overly concerned because she was starting to pull herself up at around 9 months, and was getting more active, but the lactation consultant told me she had a similar concern about her own boy who ended up weaning himself at 9 or 10 months because he was such a big eater.  She said when she had her daughter at the same age she was extra vigilant between 8 and 10 months and breast fed her past a year.  As for wet diapers, she seems to have as many bm as plain wet ones some days I don't know how many wet ones she's expected to have at her age, but her diaper's never completely dry when I go to change it, and and I change them 6 - 8 times a day.  Sound about right?

THanks!!

Becky