BabyWhispererForums.com
EAT => Bottle Feeding => Topic started by: becky1969 on August 06, 2006, 01:14:58 am
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My LO is 7 months old. We've been doing the DF since 11 weeks. I want to drop it, and started by moving it up earlier. I need to reduce the amount too. Anyway, I've been wondering if I can drop it cold turkey. LO is taking about 35-45 oz. per day in formula, with most days around 37-40. The last 2 days I've been able to increase his solids intake by 2-3 Tbs per day. We're doing fruits and veggies, no cereals (b/c he can't digest them).
Do you think I still need to do the slow weaning? The reason I'm trying to skip that is b/c right now my DH can't do dream feeds because of work conflicts, and I'm exhausted trying to stay up that late. I have chronic migraines, and nights are my worst times. Plus, I take preventative medications that make me SUPER sleepy. In order to be coherent at 7 am when LO wakes up, I have to take my meds at 7 pm, which means I'm out like a light at 9 pm. Staying up until 10-10:30 is killing me! I'm also having to work more hours during the day right now (I work at home), so I'm just barely getting thru the days right now.
I'd like some encouraging cold turkey stories! I'm thinking of just dropping it tonight and seeing if he wakes for a feed. He's been sleeping really well the last few days, so I'm hopeful he'd sleep on thru!
Routine:
Wake 7:00
7:30 bottle (6-8 oz)
8:30 solids (usually 2-3 Tbs total with 2 foods)
10:00-11:30 nap
12:00 bottle (8 oz)
1:00 solids (again, 2-3 Tbs with 2 foods)
2:30-4:00 nap
4:15 bottle
6:15 bath, bottle, books, song
7:00 bed
have been doing 10:30-11:00 dreamfeed. Last 2 nights we moved it to 10:00, but last night he wouldn't take the bottle AT ALL, so we gave it to him at midnight when he started stirring. We may have gotten away NOT giving it to him then, but we were chicken! He took 6 oz. Before this past week, dream feed was always 7-8 oz. We've had one day of 4.5 and 2 days of 6 oz this week, which suggests we may be able to drop?
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I went cold turkey with dropping the dream when my little boy was about 3.5 months and it didn't make any difference with his sleep at all, he still woke up at the same time for his night feed.
Go for it girl, drop that feed! The worst that could happen is that he'll wake up in the night for a feed which might be better for you to at least get a few hours sleep than to force yourself to stay awake until 10.30pm
Let us know how it goes
Sally
x
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I went cold turkey. We decided to give it a try without it because DD started waking at night because she needed to be changed. She would be soaked. So we stopped and she stopped waking. I think in a lot of cases LO's let you know when they are ready.
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Hey Becky.
If when you do not give the DF and he wakes an additional time in the night and takes a full feed, that may be his way of telling you he still needs those calories? One of the reasons you wean slowly is to take those DF ounces and put the in the daytime bottles. You don't just get rid of all them, or he may be a hungry, hungry hippo! My other observation is that he takes a bottle at 415, and then again at 615pm - He probably isn't taking a full feed at the last bottle and that could be setting yourself up for a nightwaking for hunger?
Owen is just about 7 months. He does:
Bottle, 8oz at 7a, 11a, 3p, 630p. (we weaned the df last week as he started refusing it) Solids at 8am, 12pm, 4pm (tiny - 1T to make sure his tummy get full of formula at the last bottle - and we started this 2 days after we took the DF away) bed is a 7pm.
What I did was simple (I think anyhow lol) Night 1 1030pm - removed 2 ounces from DF put them in the next days am bottle making it 8oz. Night 2 same. Night 3 1015pm removed 2 more ounces from DF put them in next days 11am bottle, making it 8oz. Night 4 same. Night 5 10pm - removed 2, put in 3pm bottle making it 8oz. Night 6 same. After that he refused, which was fine because his 630pm bottle was 8oz anyhow.
So perhaps you could do something like that? Start at 10pm if you need to. I personally wouldn't just remove it, I think he showed you by needing the ounces at 12am that he needs it weaned, maybe? Maybe put some of those ounces in the daytime or he may miss them and wake at night hungry. He may not take a full 8oz at every bottle in the daytime at first - but it's there if he needs it.
Sorry it's not a cold turkey success story, but I wanted to add my two cents anyhow cause what I did was so easy, maybe it could work for you too! If not ignore me! LOL
Zoe
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Thanks everyone! Last night I skipped the dream feed. But he woke at 1:30 am. I'm not sure if he would have woken if it weren't for the fact that we are also weaning the swaddle. He went down with 1 arm out, but by 1:30 his 2nd arm was out and messing with him. I went ahead and fed him since he was wide awake and I didn't want to risk him going to sleep without bottle and THEN having wake-up an hour later! He took the whole bottle of course, but it's messing with AM feed. He took morning bottle 1.5 hours later than normal. Just refused it outright until then. Then drained it.
Zoey: He takes 8 oz at both 4:15 and 6:15! My problem is that he rarely doesn't finish a bottle, so I don't know where to add the calories in. If any bottle is small, though, it IS that AM one. But half the time he drains that one too.
Stacy: I like your faster plan! I think I'll try it!!! My problem, like I said to Zoey, is finding places to add calories since every bottle is 8 oz already, with the possible exception of AM bottle. Should I then offer him a 2nd bottle with 1-2 oz. in it? I was just going to try to increase solids, but calorie wise it's hard to give him enough solids to make up for the formula loss.
I have a BIG boy. He's already over 21 lbs at 7 months. He's in the 100+ percentile for height! At his 6 month appt, he was the height of a 14 month old! so, it's hard getting him all the food he needs/wants. I hate that Dr. Brown's bottles only come in 8 oz. I think a 10 oz. bottle would work better in our case!
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LOL Becky he love to eat!! Do whatever you feel is right, and if things go all wonky, try a different way!
What did the Pedi say about the choking stuff?? I've been curious.
Zoe
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Stacy - I do add it to his food. I have ANOTHER little 4 oz. bottle that I use to smooth out his solids! He doesn't like thick food yet. ::) My little dude LOVES his milk!
Zoey - yes, I have a little eater! He's hilarious because he loves ANYTHING you take by mouth; he practically jumps for joy when I give him Mylicon and his Prevacid! ;D
Thanks for asking about our ped appt! I was going to reply back on my original thread, but kept forgetting to look for it!
The Ped and I figured out that the worst choking started happening after we halved his Prevacid dose. At our 6 month appt, the ped wanted us to start cutting back on Prevacid since most baby's reflux get better after 6 months. So, i started doing that and soon after we noticed this choking stuff. She's thinking maybe the reflux is irritating his throat and causing him to start choking. He has laryngomalacia, which is a soft voice box - so the flap in the back of his throat causes him problems. He used to do a weird panting thing. He's grown out of that, but now he's constantly trying to clear his throat. So much so, that he's stopped nearly all other vocalizations!
He's supposed to grow out of this problem, but 6 months is typically the worst period with improvement afterwards. Ped just wants us to go back up to normal Prevacid dose and watch him. If no improvement, then we're going back to the ENT specialist who diagnosed the laryngomalacia to make sure there's nothing bad going on there. She's reluctant to order more tests for my LO because the first 4 months of his life were hellish with blood draws, upper GI tests, cat scans, etc. when we were trying to figure out why he was breathing funny (it was the kind of breathing they see with CF and heart problems, so we were all concerned).
Yesterday he vomitted a great deal in the afternoon. We're not sure why. I think he's just having a bit of trouble right now with the reflux and his voice box. Hopefully the Prevacid will help that!
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Goodness I hope so too. Could be why he loves to eat too - soothing to his throat! Keep me update if you would about this choking. I'll be thinking about you.
Zoey
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I didn't know there was such a thing! We're using Gentlease for his reflux and gassiness. I'm a little worried about trying something else. We still need Gripe Water and Mylicon with every feeding or he gets intestinal cramps. :P
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Thanks Stacy. I've been thinking too that 32 oz. should be OK. I didn't know I could start yogurt! Perhaps that would be a good way to increase solids/decrease formula. I think Zoey is probably right, and some of his guzzling is due to the reflux. When he was 6 days old, he was downing 4 oz at a go!
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Oh Yogurt!!! Owen loves yogurt!!! I think they say the whole milk kind is the best. I give him more yogurt then cereal ::) :-\ Tell us how he likes it! I get the plain stoneyfeild farms brand and add fruit puree or veg to it - its a hit!
Zoe
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Thanks Stacy & Zoey!!! I'm going to pick some up this week. I like the idea of yogurt because we go soooooo slowly introducing foods (every 7 days!), that he only has 4 foods he's doing. Yogurt would add some variety. We have peaches & banana for fruits so far. Hopefully I can get some more added soon. I'll check my Super Baby Food book for some other fruits we can try!
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Avacado rocks! We mash it with some banana and he loves it and it is SO good for them. Perhaps try some?
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Dominic is a big baby and he's on hungy baby formula. Apparently it has a different protein in to normal formula that is heavier so sits in their tum longer before being digested therefore making them feel fuller for longer. With a reflux baby don't know whether it would help or not, it might be good because it's heavier so not as easy to get back up but if it stays in their tum longer is it more likely to be brought back up?
Sal
x
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Thanks SallyDom- how do you find hungry baby formula? I'm going to ask my ped about it, just in case we need it, but....
He skipped the DF last night!!! I dutifully stayed up until 10:15 and made him a 7 oz. bottle. Was going to offer that for 3 days, then go 30 minutes earlier and 1 oz lighter. But, I tried and tried and tried but he wouldn't take it! We did 3 meals of solids yesterday, so don't know if that made the difference. He woke at 2 am and I was really scared he was going to need a feed b/c when he eats that late, the AM bottle is very small and that would be going backwards. But I think he was just hot (my fault-I turned the AC off too early), and after 45 minutes of chatting - no crying! - he went back to sleep. Yahoo! He slept until 7:15 am which wiped out ANOTHER worry - the 5 am bottle call! I have no idea if this is an anomaly, but I'll keep doing 3 solid meals and see how he does!
Zoey: I've been thinking of trying avocado next! Will Owen eat it without banana? Or should i just mix 'em right from the get go?
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Lol he will eat it, but he prefer it with banana - I am all for tying plain first, then mixing. Good luck - its yummy stuff
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OK, I'm starting to wonder what I do for tonight. Do I just skip even trying the DF since he went last night without it?? I'm worried it's a 1 time thing, and then I'll end up with a 1 am feed, which makes his AM bottle small.
So, do I worry enough do you think? About everything? LOL!
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Stacy - I'm a chicken too! I think I will try again tonight and see what happens. Hopefully 3 solid meals will keep him happy!
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DO YOU FEEL LUCKY
Lol - I am too a chicken *Bock bock bock* about night wakings!! Good luck with your wean! Have you prayed to the sleep Gods recently? :P
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Zoey - is there some special sacrifice I can make? Like burning a pillow?
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By the way, we haven't had any more choking (I've increased his prevacid back to normal dose), but he's been having fountain spit-ups a lot lately. He vomitted copious amounts all over his poor grandfather (my dad felt so bad because Owen cried like crazy). I really think his reflux is acting up because we haven't seen this kind of thing for several weeks. He also is acting like he's teething, so I have to wonder if teething is what is making the reflux bad. Poor lamb!
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It does make it worse - all that dam drool.
I took Owen to the doctor today, we were switched from zantac to prevacid. My poor baby - our poor babies. I really hope this works for him, he is suffering so.
I am glad Owen isn't choking, that musta been really scarey!
Yes, burn a pillow - rofl rofl - you are hysterical
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Isn't your Owen near the 6 month mark too? Why are our babies suffering so when they are supposed to be getting better?????
Well, I have another success to report! No DF last night either! I offered it at 9:30 (which was way early, but I was really really tired), and he refused it. I wasn't too surprised, but was really scared he'd want a feed later. He did wake at 1 am, but was able to go to sleep without a bottle.
It was so funny b/c yesterday he FINALLY rolled over on his own! And at that 1 am wake-up, it was like he was rolling over in his sleep! His eyes were closed, but he kept arching his back and half rolling over, then crying. It was sort of sad but cute! After about 45 minutes of that he fell back to sleep and slept totally without a peep until 6:30 this morning! He was REALLY hungry when he woke up, which is a good thing!
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Another success! Last night I threw caution to the wind and didn't even offer him a DF. And he didn't need it! He's now taking 32 oz. of formula and about 8.5 Tbs of solids. I'm going to try increasing the solids a bit more and offer him yogurt too.
He had a couple of brief wake-ups last night due to trying to roll over in his sleep. Poor little guy! I just shush him and put my hand on his chest when he cries out of frustration. Eventually, he stops trying and falls into a deeper sleep. I'm hoping in a few more days rolling over will be 'old hat', and he won't want to practice anymore in his sleep!