Stopping Cluster Feeds

[salpea]

My LO is coming up to 8 weeks and I would like to stop her cluster feeds.  She has a feed at 6pm and one at 8pm.  I have a problem as I would like to feed her at 7pm BUT as I cannot bath her I cannot draw out bath time in order to get to 7pm!  She has a harness on so we cannot bath her.  She has a feed at 4pm and often will not take a catnap and as I have a 4 year old I cannot take the time to settle her into one, always struggled with the catnap with my previous anyway!  So 6pm comes round and she wants to feed, as I cannot bath her it only takes 15mins tops to wash and get her changed for bed so shes feeding at around 6.15pm taking a full 4oz and then she takes 2oz somewhere between 7.30 and 8pm (don't think she really wants this), however my real issue is getting 2 feeds to one and getting that one feed nearer to 7pm!   

[Lolly]

Can you post your full days EASY for us please? It will help if we can see the whole day in terms of

Eat - what times and how much
Activity - how long for
Sleep - what times, how long for

How much is she taking at each bottle and is she draining her bottles?

Laura

[salpea]

7/7.30am E
A
S 9am due  to other child and school run
Y
E10/10.30am
A
S11/11.15am
Y
E 1/1.30PM
A
S2pm
Y
E4/4.30pm
A
S 5pmCatnap (struggle to get her down with this one so depends if she'll take it)
Y
E 1st cluster feed 6pm
A Wash cannot bath due to harness
S
y
E 2nd cluster feed 8pm


Takes 4oz, mainly drains each feed but sometimes might only be 3oz.  I put the 8pm feed down to 2oz as she wasn't taking anymore than that.  She is up once in the early hours at around 4am although yesterday she slept through!  Activity is usually around half an hour. :-)

[Lolly]

There are a few things you can try!

1. Increase her feeds, there should be enough in the bottle so that she can stop because she is full and not just because the bottle is empty - there should be a bit left in the bottle. If she is draining the majority of her bottles she needs another oz in them.

2. Increase her A time a bit - by 8 weeks she should be able to do 1hour+ A time. If you increase her A time it should give you longer naps (if she does shorter naps for some of the day - I'm not sure how long her naps are!) which pushes the day on and you should be able to get to an EASY that works for you. Have a look at this link http://babywhispererforums.com/index.php?topic=164027.0

3. The cat nap is a nap that you can do whatever it takes to get the sleep so if it's possible make it a nap in the pushchair for a walk or anything that works for you!

What do you think?

Laura

[salpea]

Thanks.  Her awake time is about that apart from the odd time when she just can't be coaxed into waking for anyone and would sleep on a washing line!!!!  I am looking at increasing her bottles but today she hasn't done well at all with any feeds.  I am out with her two to three times walking during the day with my dog and the nursery run etc and she does alot of her naps in her pram as did my older daughter!  I do try and get her to do the catnap but its a really awkward time.  How do I get rid of the cluster feeds though?