5 1/2 month old was on 4 hr easy, but doesn't want to eat every 4 hrs

[Trishwa]

Hi.

I have a baby boy who is 5 1/2 monthes old.  I have him in the 4 hr EASY, and most days it goes pretty well, others it doesn't.  My question or concern is that he does not want to eat every 4 hrs.  It is more like he wants to eat every 4.5-5 hrs.  I don't want to fight with him to try and feed him every 4 hrs if he won't fully eat every four hrs.  What should I do?  Should I keep him on 4 hr EASY?  Keep him up a little longer, try to get him to nap longer?? Any suggestions would be great.  He has also started eating cereal at dinner time.

[Erin M]

Is he sleeping well at night?  How many feeds are you doing in a 24 hour period?  It's hard to force a baby to eat when they don't want to, so as log as he's getting enough feeds in, it's ok to push them past the 4 hour mark.  I'd find that mine would do that and then have two closer together later in the day so we'd get enough feeds in.

[Trishwa]

This is what the schedule looks like, although the past
Two weeks he hasn't been mapping or sleeping right.


E-7-715
A-730-730
S-9-sometimes until only 940, if I'm lucky until 10
E-11
A-1130
S-1-again if I'm lucky 130-2ish
E-300
A-320-330
S-5-only sometimes will sleep for 30-45 mins
530-600-solids-cereal
7-bath,book,night routine and feed
8-sleep
1030-DF

Some nights he will wake up at 1130-1,3 and then 7...if I'm lucky he will only
Wake up once between 230-4.
And sometimes at night he won't eat when he wakes up a lot....

[Trishwa]

Oh and with his solids he does get BM as well.

[Erin M]

You can definitely push him past 4 hours then if he won't eat properly at the 4 hour mark -- you probably won't have to go far, and what will happen is that you'll end up with the first few feeds spread apart and the last two closer together because you'll run out of time for them to be spaced far apart.  You also might be due for an A time increase, especially if his naps and night sleep are off.