Help! 11 mo. with erratic milk intake and subsequent early morning wakings

[hayleysmum]

My DD just hit the 11 month mark and like most mums I am concerned about the amount of milk she consumes especially as she's allergic to cow's milk and is on liquid calcium to supplement her calcium intake.

Her daily formula intake is greatly varied (anywhere from 12 - 20 oz) and it's a battle every evening to get her to take in more than 4oz.  The problem is, she is now waking around 5am at least once or twice a week wanting a bottle.  Having had the luxury of her generally sleeping through until 7am I'm getting rather frustrated at having to crawl upstairs in the middle of the night now to get her a bottle... 

Her morning bottle is consistently 7-8oz and bedtime consistently 4oz but the afternoon bottle is the most varied.  She'll drink anywhere from 2-8oz hence why I'm reluctant to cut it out.  Although when I have eliminated the afternoon bottle it doesn't make a difference to her bedtime intake.  I've also tried increasing the length of time between supper and her bedtime bottle but 4oz seems to be the max no matter what...

I'm not particularly concerned about her overall fluid intake as she's never been constipated to date and is so regular I'm envious! 

If anyone else has been in the same boat and found a solution I'd love to hear about it!

Thanks,

Steph

[LŠuren]

Steph

Can you please give us your routine with amounts of formula and solid food and snacks included?  We can help you further if we have all that information.

It could actually be the middle bottle IS impacting on the bedtime bottle in some way...

lauren

[hayleysmum]

Hi Lauren

Our current routine is as follows:

Wake 7-7:30am - 7-8oz bottle
8am - breakfast - cereal with 2 oz formula
9-10:30 - nap
10:45 - light snack (raisins/rice cakes/fruit)
12/12:30 - lunch (protein, veg, carbs and fruit for pudding - typical amt would be 1/3 chicken breast, 1/2 slice of bread or small handful of pasta, 1-2 broccoli or cauliflower florets and 1/3 of a  banana)
1 - 2:30 - nap
3:00 - offer bottle (amount varies drastically and isn't tied to how much she ate for lunch)
3:30/4:00 - light snack (raisins/rice cakes/fruit)
5:30 - dinner (usually a mix of carbs & veg although if she's had vegetable protein for lunch she has a bit more protein for dinner also followed by fruit for pudding)
7:00 - bottle (max 4oz) and bed

I eliminated the afternoon bottle for several days and it didn't change how much she would drink at bedtime.  When she's had 4oz she pushes the bottle away and doesn't want anything further to do with it.

When she does wake in the early morning I give her very watered down formula (2 scoops to 5 oz water) as she refuses to settle when offered plain water or nothing at all.  She then goes immediately back to sleep and is happy to have her 7oz bottle when she wakes again around 7:30.

Thanks!

Steph

[KathrynK]

Hi Steph

My lo has always been a good sleeper and has been funny with her bottles lately due to teething- over the last 2 weeks some nights she has only had 2oz before bedtime! She has still slept all night long though and I think it is because now she is older her solids are what fills her tummy. How much do you give your lo at dinner time?
Also could she be having a growth spurt? How long has this been going on?
kathryn x

[hayleysmum]

She's been consistently drinking 4oz or less at bedtime for probably close to two months.  But it's really only been in the past month that she's been waking up more frequently in the early morning.  She does go back to sleep so at least she's not ready to play at 5:30-6 but I'm not enjoying the interruption to my sleep!

I let her eat as much or as little as she wants.  She's a fabulous eater and enjoys a wide variety of foods.  Generally speaking, she seems to eat a smaller quantity for dinner than she does for lunch.  I have paid attention to what she's had for dinner assuming that what she's eaten might metabolise at a different rate hence causing her to wake up hungry some mornings.   However, I found that I can serve her the same thing two nights in a row and one night she sleeps through without a hitch while the next she's waking up. 

Last night she ate a decent dinner and actually managed to drink 6 oz before bed but was still awake at 5:30 this morning...

So needless to say I'm stumped!  It's not the end of the world but it is frustrating as she's always been such a great sleeper at night.
 

[KathrynK]

Sophie often wakes at about 5- 5.30am, has a sing-song and a chat with herself and after about 15 mins goes back to sleep until around 6.45ish. (I used to think it was cute, now I just groan and pull pillow over my head! Dh doesn't even stir, grrr) Do you think she will settle herself if you leave her?
I always wonder with these sort of things whether it's hunger or thirst waking her. Have just read another post where someone suggested that if she is a bit congested she could be thirsty due to breathing through her mouth all night long. Is this worth considering? I always get bunged up if we have the heating on at night.
Is it worth giving her more for dinner to see if she will eat more? It might impact on her bedtime bottle but if she's not having it anyway then might be worth a try.......

[LŠuren]

Hi Steph

I finally get time to answer you.... 

Right.....  my first impression it that;

1.  She is playing with her afternoon bottle and therefore indicating she couldn't care less for it.
2.  She is possibly eating dinner too late - enough for it to be interfering with her bedtime bottle, I tend to not offer Calum anything heavy past 5pm (same kind of thing that you offer, inc pudding) and he goes to bed 1930/2000 . Also if you offer her water/juice, it could be needlessly filling her up giving it this late.

If it were me I would drop the 2nd bottle, I didn't see any increase in his bedtime bottle for a while. If you are hesitant about doing this, offer 2 -4 oz in a sippy/straw cup rather than a bottle and don't make a big thing out of it if she doesn't take it or finish it - at this age 2 bottles is fine and I am sure if you move back the dinner then eventually she will start to take more in her bedtime bottle.

Here is a link to a chapter in Tracey book https://babywhispererforums.com/index.php?topic=67983.0


Look to change the 2 things above and then we will see about the night wakings? Is she waking every night for a feed?  Is it randon times or habitually the same time?


Lauren

[hayleysmum]

Hi Lauren,

Thanks for the suggestions - I hope to get rid of the afternoon bottle in the near future although I met with our dietician on Wednesday and have been advised not to drop the afternoon bottle at this point.  (DD has MFPI and can't tolerate any dairy or soya products)  Her calcium intake is far too low and so until she's able to have dairy products, I've got to get her to drink as much formula as I can as that is her primary source of calcium.  Although she is happy to drink water from a sippy cup it's a couple of sips at most so I'm reluctant to switch her afternoon milk to a cup just yet.

I do try feeding her dinner as close to 5 as possible although we're rarely home from her afternoon activities before then making it a challenge to move it any earlier.  I'm not sure how to tackle this one any differently.  I do try to give her a decent snack after swimming/gym/etc. so eventhough she's having dinner at 5:30ish she doesn't have a huge meal given that she's still full from her snack.   I only offer her watered down juice at breakfast and she drinks a couple sips of plain water at lunch.  I don't give her anything to drink with her dinner.

She only wakes 1-2 times per week at most and it can be anywhere from 4:30 - 6:00.  We have tried pu/pd on several occasions instead of giving her watered down milk and while it does settle her very quickly she then wakes again within 20 minutes.  Whereas if she is given the watery milk she goes back to sleep until 7 and still wakes up wanting her full bottle in the am. 

Fingers crossed that she can soon tolerate dairy and her calcium intake won't be as much of a concern.  Hopefully a permanent drop of the bottle will yield in a better bedtime intake...

xo S.