help with feeding schedule

[legend_018]

this is hard, because she's fairly different every day. Usually during the day, she just won't eat more than 3oz at a time. If she's hungry, this doesn't matter if she goes 2 hours or 4 hours between feedings. She is almost 7 months old.

My problem? I don't know...I think her schedule is shifted a bit and it's been like this for awhile. I dont know what to do to change it.  I started keeping track at 6:30pm last night. Note night time bottles are in her sleep and she always tends to do better when she is in a sleepy mode. She also goes right back down. She gets SO SO SO distracted during the day and I can't hide from my 2 year old. I know I need to keep track a little bit more.

but wondering if you see anything wrong with this picture? OH and ONE more note, yesterday, she wouldnt take a late afternoon nap and stayed up for a LONG time!!!!. She finally ended up going to bed VERY early..like 5:30pm ish. It isn't normal for her to go THAT long without napping, but it happened. Part of it was my fault, because I gave up trying to get her down.

Last NIGHT:

Prior to 6:30pm, a whole 4oz jar of Mixed Veggies (pretty thick) and some formula before bed. She was too tired to really drink too much plus she had her dinner.

6:30pm - woke and wanted 3oz
8:30pm - woke and wanted 3oz
11:00pm - woke and wanted 30z
3:15am - Woke. I only gave 2 oz, possibly a little more. She was mad and acted like she wanted more and NOT just her pacifier. I gave her some water.
Somewhat unsettling off and on from 4am to 6am.
UP 5:30/6:00am
6:45am - 2oz
7:45am - solids. Almost the entire jar of level #2 mixture of fruits
9:30am - 10:40am NAP which is actually pretty good for her
11:15am - 3oz

Last note: Another scenerio would be a lot of nights she'll be sleeping by 6:30/7:30pm. Will take a fairly decent bottle before bed and than will wake 1) sometime between 10 and 11pm for a 4-6 oz bottle and 2) somewhere between 2 and 3am where I try to limit it to 2/3oz.

Is she drinking more at night or what?
Any thoughts?

[oilerbaby]

Definitely drinking more at night.  I would really try to work at getting that middle of the night feed out of there too.  So what time are you putting her to bed at night.  Waking every 2 - 2 1/2 hours to eat only 3 oz seems to me like she's just used to having a full tummy and is looking for a top up.  Do you bath her before bed?  For me personally, I would try to push the bed time closer to 7:30.  Bath, bottle them bed.  Maybe a dream feed around 10/10:30 but then she shouldn't need to eat anything after that until she gets up in the morning.  Bottle when she wakes up (and she should be drinking more without the 3am feed) and then some breakfast a bit after that.  Bottle around 11am then solids a bit after.  Bottle around 3:30/4:00, solids/supper at 4:30ish.  Bedtime bottle at 7:00, then bath and bed.   Once she gets going pretty good at that you can slowly wean down the dream feed and drop it as well.  I'm not the big expert or anything but I did bottle feed all three of mine and this is pretty much the schedule they all followed (give or take a bit).  Hopeully someone else can give you more insight as well...

[*Natasha*]

I think the reason she isn't eating alot for her day feeds is she is eating so much at night. I would try giving a dreamfeed and see how she goes for the rest of the night. What happens if you try and resettle her rather than feed her?

[legend_018]

resettling works sometimes, but usually she becomes extremely mad even with her pacifier and has this look on her face of extreme hunger LOL

Quote: Last note: Another scenerio would be a lot of nights she'll be sleeping by 6:30/7:30pm. Will take a fairly decent bottle before bed and than will wake 1) sometime between 10 and 11pm for a 4-6 oz bottle and 2) somewhere between 2 and 3am where I try to limit it to 2/3oz.

10/11pm would be sort of like a dreamfeed right?

There has been a couple times she managed to only eat between 10 & 11pm and not again until morning AND STILLL woudnt drink more than 3oz come morning. I had even at one point gave solids first as she normally does well on solids. She has lessened her solid intake in the morning though....but always eats most of her supper solids. supper solids are usually start between 4:30 and 5:15pm

Today I really tried to hold out until she was hungry to see what would happen. Since sometimes during the day she;ll only take in 2oz. She drank 3oz at every feeding and 4oz before bed. she had a little less solids than usual. I thought she did OK today and was curious to what she;ll do tonight. So far.....4oz bottle down at 11:30pm.

She was sleeping by 7:20pm but I started the last bottle and bed time process at 6:30pm

[oilerbaby]

Little muchkin is keeping us all guessing...  how does she do with her sippy cup?  Perhaps she just isn't into her bottle anymore (happened to me when I as a baby Mom says).  Not really sure why she is all over the place for you!  Let us know how she did last night...

[legend_018]

After the 11:30 4oz bottle, she had a 2 oz bottle at around 3am, could of been 3:15am. I limited it to 2oz and she did go back to sleep. As always...she woke about an hour after going back down and I brought her into bed with me because 3 times a night is just a bit much for 6 1/2 months. She woke a little earlier than usual (5:30am) and I managed to keep her in the bed although awake until close to 6am. I tried feeding her when I came downstairs just to see what she would do, but she didn't want it. She instantly becomes so distracted when she is awake. So at 6:45am, she downed 2oz. My 2 year old was playing and I even went into the dark bathroom. At around 7:30am, she had some of her solids. 2 tablespoons of oatmeal mixed with some fruit and about 1/2 of the level #2 fruit jar. Going to aim for a nap soon.

By the way: Yesterday it was like this

6:45am 2oz
7:45am solids
9:20 - 10:40am nap
11:15am - 3oz
1:10-1:53 nap
1:53 - 3oz
3:30-4:10 nap
4:15pm - 3oz
4:50 - solids.
6:30pm 4oz
sleeping by 7:20pm
eat 11:30pm and 3am.
up 5:30am.
eat 2oz at 6:45 and some solids at 7:30

[oilerbaby]

I just wanted to ask if you're okay with the way things are going now?  Some babies just don't drink large quantities of formula or milk so this may be totally normal for her.  If you're just worried she's not getting enough formula but are happy with her schedule then I personally wouldn't worry too much about it because b the time you get it sorted out she'll have switched something else up on you!  The only thing I would really want to work on is getting rid of that middle of the night feed so it doesn't become a habit (and so you can get some solid sleep too!).  Just looking at your schedule and I would probably also try to extend her A time inbetween nap 1 and nap 2 thinking she might sleep longer for you in the afternoon and you can eliminate that third nap?  I am definitely not the expert though - there are tonnes of way more experienced women in terms of the BW book on this site than I am... hope things are going good for you tonight!

[legend_018]

Well today I thought i made some progress, but not sure if it will really change anything. I worked on trying to get her to eat approximately every 4 hours. She did drink between 4 and 5oz three times today. unless my 2 year old staying at her nana's has something to do with it. But her overall intake still wasnt a lot and she will want to have some of those calories during the night. I think it went like this:

2oz
4oz
5oz
dinner
5oz
bed

Those are approximates.

[legend_018]

this is unbelievable. when she wakes to eat at say 3am, she goes right BACK to sleep after eating.
tonight she woke at 11pm and had a bottle. she than woke at 3am. out of habit, I tried feeding her but at first she didn't really seem hungry so I thought ahhhhhh it's time for mommy to work on resettling instead of feeding. so there she lied in her crib for 45 MINUTES. not really fussing, but did want her pacifier. I had to pick her up a few times. Than she started crying like she was starving!!! (me picking her up or not). SO I tried 1oz of formula mixed with 1oz of water. She's back lying in her crib. Its now been an entire hour. IF I fed her at the beginning she would be sleeping and so would I. This is worse. I have to get up with my 2 year old.
Who knows what is going to happen for here. maybe I didnt' give her enuf and she'll stay up for even longer and eventually cry again that she is still hungry. why do I have a funny feeling I'm making a huge mistake here.
She really wasn't fussing or crying though until after she had been awake for 45 minutes. I even tried rocking her with her pacifier when she all of a sudden started acting like she was hungry. She just got mad until I gave her that 1oz formula/1oz water. I just hate giving in and giving a full bottle when I'd really like some of these night habits (waking to eat at least 2 times....and usually wakes around 4:4:30am where I give up and bring her into bed with me).

but staying up for an hour (so far) at 3am in the morning is wayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy worse for me as far as my sleep is concerned. waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

[legend_018]

ok afterwards but after being awake for almost an hour and a half as she still woulnt settle back down on her own, I took her into bed with me. she than woke at 6am (7am with clock change)

[legend_018]

double frustration. after having 4oz at 11pm and 1oz mixed with 1oz of water around 3/3:30am...she is still acting the same way she does everyyyy morning, she will only take about 2oz of her formula. I started at 6:45am and have been trying for 45 minutes. I think she ended up drinking 2 1/2 oz of formula. I think it is key for her to start drinking decent size bottles starting in the morning so she can have a certain amount of decent size bottles during the day soooo she isn't waking hungry multiple times a night. So up for an hour and half last night and same ole morning as if I had fed her 2/3 oz at 3am.