Time to Pay the Piper.(kinda long, lots of questions)

[nursekat]

Wow, you have made GREAT advances since your first post!!  Time to give yourself a HUGE pat on the back!     

For the amount of feeds, it depends on his weight.  I'm not a huge expert on bottle feeding but check out the FAQs page on how much he should eat.  My dd is somewhere around 16lbs (7.4kg) and takes only 5-6oz a feed as well.  She's a petite thing.  Generally if he can make the 4hrs, he is getting enough.

Things here are going very well.  I love this age that Bethany is at.  Although we are dealing with teething crazies...but there's always something, isn't there? 

[hoosiermama]

Well, Owen is 17.4 pounds and is wearing 6-9 month clothes already he's a big boy.  Today we were not real succesful extending naps yesterday or today.  Will he just outgrow that one day, or do I need to work on it more?  He is teething already, but not severely.  Here is my next question.  The other night we put him to bed at 6:30, he woke up at 9:30 and we got him back to sleep (at 10:30) and then he slept until 3:45.  So I know he can go that long without eating at night, should I be pushing for that?  Usually he gets up at around 12-12:45 and then again at 3:45-4:30ish.  He usually takes a full feeding (6-8 oz) at the first wake, but only 2-3 oz. at the second one.  Sorry so many questions, but you are so incredibly helpful!  Thank you so much!  My first son was a lot of fun at 9 months too!  When he started walking was when it started getting stressful.

[nursekat]

Yes, 45min naps are generally outgrown at 6mos.  I believe that it is good to continue to try to extend them, as you will have some successful days like you already have...AND your ds will learn good independent sleep skills.  Some moms, however, have little success and with having a second child are unable to put a ton of effort into it and they outgrow the 45min nap monster just the same.  I would say to try as much as you can, but it's obviously up to you. 

If he proved that he can make that longer stretch, then yes it might be time to push him a bit more with those night wakings.    Especially since he doesn't take a full feed at the second waking, so he really isn't horribly hungry.  If he's waking at the same times each night it most likely is habitual.  Hopefully if he did it on his own the previous night, he'll continue to do that.  I'm a whimp at night so I'm always grateful that my dd extends nights all on her own.  BUT...if you aren't that lucky the next step is either PU/PD or shh/pat during the night wakings or W2S.  Try to sort out if he is truly hungry or just waking and expecting a bottle.

Ask away!  I enjoy helping!    And again, I am highly impressed with how far you have come, congrats!!!!!   

[hoosiermama]

Ok. So if I don't manage to extend his nap, about how much activity time should I reasonably expect before he'll need another nap?  Right now my schedule is more like AEASASE as he is not really hungry when he gets up in the morning until he has been up for a little while (today he got up at 6:15, but wasn't hungry until 7).  Should I try to feed him as soon as he gets up?  Or is that a question for another board?  Thanks again.

[nursekat]

Here is my "chunk" theory:  the way I look at it, is you have 4hr "chunks" of time, which "by the book" consist of EAS and you have 2hrs A time and 2hrs nap time for each "chunk."  If you are going to try going with the EASAS bit (which some moms have success with), make sure your total A time and total S time for that one chunk still equals 2hrs each.  Let me know if I need to clarify.

The thing I did when I had the 45min monster issue, was when she got up, just play quietly in her crib for 10-20mins and then put her back down.  For her it worked b/c even when she woke, she was often tired and often too tired to really get all the way up. 

Work on it and see what works best for you and your ds.

As far as the morning feed, you will probably have to experiment with that one and see what works.  You may find as you decrease his night feeds, he will get more hungry in the morning - in fact that is often a sign that he doesn't need as much as night if he is not hungry in the morning.  That being said, though, my dd isn't very hungry in the morning and she can now go all night without a feed.  So it could just be he's not a breakfast person. But you might have to experiment to see where it makes his next feeds fall, if he can make it without getting too hungry and have it mess up his naps, etc.

[hoosiermama]

I see.  That makes a ton of sense to me!
Just an update!  Last night was terrible and we are not sure why, but we are working on it.
Today we managed to extend his first nap (only took dh 2 min, but I suspect there was some bouncing going on! ) to an hour and 45 min.  Then this afternoon I managed to extend his nap (took 20 min of rubbing his head and patting) to 2 hours!  He is eating every 4 hours and is staying awake for 2 hurray!  Now we have to work on getting rid of the binkie, but that is a project for next week!

[nursekat]

You are making HUGE progress!  Go back and look at your first post and think of how far you have come, bravo! 

[hoosiermama]

Thanks!  I did go back to the first post it is pretty amazing.  It doesn't seem like I am making any progress while I am in the throes of it KWIM?  Last night we put him to bed at 7:00.  He woke at 12:00 and took his binkie and went back to sleep.  Then he woke at 1:30 and I feed him.  Then he got up at 4:30 and 5:00 for his binkie, then up for the morning at 6:00!  I know I had to re-plug him a couple of times, but he only had to eat once!  Hurrah!  Next week we are going to work on the binkie thing. To be honest, I am scared to death!

[nursekat]

That is great news!  We did the binkie wean at about Owen's age and it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be.  You can do it.