Does Anyone Else Do A.E.S. For The Last Evening Feed??

[albertasweetpea]

I know, according to the BW methods, we are not supposed to feed our LO's right before sleep time, so as not to associate eating with sleeping...BUT...what about at night time??
My DD is 11 weeks old and been on EASY since 7 weeks. Our daytime routine is working out well, we are sticking to the 3 hour E.A.S.Y. fairly consistently. I do not feed her before her naps, always after her naps, before Activity time.
My problem is that I want to put Molly down to bed no later than 7 or 7:30 pm. If she wakes from her evening catnap after only 45 minutes or so, she is not hungry enough to take a full feed, more often than not she won't even take half a feed. Her bottles are normally 4 oz. When she wakes (usually around 5:30 or 5:45 pm) we let her play awhile, then do her bath etc...then feed her. She does not fall asleep at the bottle, but is very drowsy when we put her down. 
Will this create a problem down the line, or is it OK to let her relax and have her last bottle right before bed??
The other problem we are having is that she fusses so much when she eats that by the end of the day when she is tired and ready for bed she eats so much better! 
Any advice on whether this is OK, or a bad habit to get into??
Thanks!

[Isom'smom]

Personally, I think that as long she doesn't fall asleep on the bottle, I wouldn't worry about it.  Isom is almost eight months now, and he gets solids at six or six-thirty, then some play time, then a bath, then a cuddle and his last bottle at 7.30.  He burps like a sailor, and I tell him have a good sleep, and I lay him down.  He's super tired, and kinda scoots around in his crib for ten minutes and passes out with barely a whimper most nights.  No problems thus far, he just prefers to go to bed with a full tummy.  But then he would never eat when he wasn't hungry.  Our three hour schedule varied as to how many calories he burned.  I digress.....

If she's eating around 6.45, then she's having an afternoon bottle about 3.45, so there is bo reason to expect her to be hungry an hour earlier.  Does that even make sense?  Anyhow, HTH.

Crystal

[Deb_in_oz]

Both my klids are BW - and both have always had the last cycle as start feed / activity / bath / finish feed in dim light / bed.

IMO i really think this is fine.

[cazao]

same here. just don`t let her consistently fall alseep during that last feed (every now and then can`t be helped) and you`ll be fine. in one of the BW books Tracey says it`s OK to do it this way round for the bedtime routine, particularly for babies who get very woundup during bathtime. it`s worked out great for us.

[Johno & Aurelias Mum]

Yes, same here.  Its the falling asleep whilst feeding that you need to avoid.  Plus since you don't do it the rest of the day, you aren't really backing up that habit.

[Taylor's Mommy]

glad to hear you all think this is okay as I have been wondering it as well.  taylor gets very wound up after her bath and can't imagine trying to put her down right after that w/o a feed to calm her.

[branwen]

Oh yes! I do this too at bedtime.  lo gets worked up with bath (Tracy mentions this in new book) that sometimes some babies have problems winding down after a bath and feeding helps them.  She says it's fine to reverse them actually as long as the baby isn't falling asleep while eating. I bf my baby after bath and put her in while still awake and say good night.  It just helps her relax and settle after a stimulating experience!

[Gigismom]

we do this too.  she usually falls asleep at the feed, but on the times i put her down awake, she goes down fine.  so i think it is no problem.

[Oakley's Mom]

DS gets solids when he wakes up for the last cycle, then after a bath he gets a bottle before story time.  Even before solids, he had a bottle when he woke up and one before story.  This is based on Tracy's suggestion of 'tanking up' for the night.  i don't limit the last bottle either, i fill it up and let him drink as much as he wants - which ends up being anywhere from 4 to 7 oz... then the same amount at DF.  Again, to make sure he's not using the bottle to fall asleep, I give it to him BEFORE story and songs and bedtime.

[mamaof2]

My LO is 7 weeks and I had been trying to do EAS at bedtime but it wasn't working, bedtime was a disaster of crying & screaming...then I did read, in the new book I believe, that to switch it at bedtime was OK and now we bath then eat and sleep...again not asleep at the breast just dozy & cozy and ready for sleep.  This has worked much better for us.

[jrmom]

Glad to read that other people are doing this.  I've been doing the same thing at bedtime (bath, change, bottle, bed).  I read the BW first book, not second, so glad to know that this is OK.

[calebs mommy]

My son is 10 months and we do that too.  I use to do it the other way, when bathtime would be calming for him.  Now that he is so active, bathtime is just so much fun for him, that we use the bottle as our calming time before bed.  He goes to sleep fine on his own, so when he does fall asleep on this bottle (which isn't every night) I don't worry about it.

[*Mona*]

we have always been doing bath-bottle-bed routine as well. but I just made sure, even when still BFing, that dd doesn't fall asleep at that feed. she's drowsy as well but still awake.
so I personally think it's very much ok

[shanlbc]

How do you keep your babies from falling asleep while bf?  It seems like a narcotic for my 7 week old ds at night.  Maybe a diaper change if he falls asleep while nursing?