does this feeding routine look ok for 7 month old

[makka]

HI there just a question regarding bottle feeding routine for my lo. My lo is a great sleeper during the day and night but just wanted to work out if the feeding side of things is ok, as she is now on 3 bottles a day. here is how i think her routine should go and how i have been doing it.

7.30am wake feed 225ml formula
9am breakfast, 2tsp rice creal mixed with fruit puree or sometimes 2 tsp yoghurt (15ml yoghurt). sipp of water from sippee cup
10.30am sleep (1 hour 30 min nap)
12pm wake
12.30pm lunch, 2tbsp sweet potato mixed with pumpkin and sometimes apple puree. sipp of water from sippee cup
1.45pm - 2pm feed 225ml, will feed between this time depending on when she is hungry after her solids
3pm sleep (1 hour 30 min nap)
5pm wake
5.30pm dinner, 2tbsp pureed chicken, pea, potato, or whatever i have. sipp of water from sippee cup
7pm feed 250ml

DOes this feeding routine look ok? when she wakes up at 5pm, i give her her solids after at about 5.30pm, shouldi maybe give it to her at 6pm as she doesnt seem that hungry at that time, then bottle the same at 7pm? or is this too close to her bottle at 7pm

thanks kirsten

[~Emma~]

 I think it looks just fine, personally we were still on 4 bottles a day at this age but if your LO is coping well on 3 then why change it. Does she wake in the night for a feed?

 I would keep dinner where it is for the moment, the milk is more important at this age and you sont want to spoil her appetite for bedtime bottle.

 

[makka]

HI Emma

well you might have been right about the 4 bottles, im going back to the 4 bottles, its just that where do i fit 2 bottles in after 5pm? do i just feed her a bottle as soon as she gets up at 5pm and then her solids at say 6pm and then her last bottle at 7pm?

last night was awful, as my lo was been STTN since she was 3 months old. im not too sure why she woke, but yesterday was out and about and she didnt have her afternoon 1 half hour nap until 4pm instead of 3pm and she woke at 5.30 which meant she was only up for 2hours, as she had her dinner then bottle at 7.15pm and in bed soon after. THen she decided to stir around 4.20am was a winging not a cry, off and on. Must of went back to sleep for about 15 or 20 min then again around 5ish, so my DH went in to check her and she was not wet through or cold, so he left the room. Then she started again soon after, and this went on for another 45 min off and on, then around 6ish it more or less turned into a wingy cry, but it wasnt constent. My lo has never been a cry baby, always been content, so then around 6ish i went in and she stoped winging, so left her again and soon after around 6.15 she went to sleep and she woke up around 7.45am.

Im thinking she now that she might have been hungry, i feel terrible but im going to re introduce the extra bottle, and give it to her when she wakes at 4.30pm straight after her last pm nap, and then feed her her dinner at say 5.30pm? or shall i feed it at say 6pm? and then her bottle at 7pm?

i kick myself because since she has been on 3 bottles she has been stiring early in the mornings but only for a few minutes and goes back to sleep but then wakes again, so she might need more calories during the day. Only reason i stopped her bottle at 4.30pm was because at 7pm she would bring it all up, not all the time but yeh i thought only because shed had that bottle at 4.30pm. Will try again thought, maybe i dont give her a full bottle at 4.30pm? maybe i just give her  say 100ml? and then her full bottle of 250ml at 7pm

what do you think?

thanks kirsten

[ajjanzen]

I am kind of dealing with same thing with my little guy who is just about 6months.  Since he has dropped the cat nap, I let him sleep from 130 until 330 or 400.  I don't wake him because he can't handle 3+ hours before bed and  early bed times don't agree with him and late cat naps result in very early wake ups!  So I am trying to deal with squeezing in the bottles and his 'meals' before bed but I don't want to sacrifice his bedtime bottle.  He has been STTN for a long time.  Nothing seems to have gone wrong yet but I am wondering how to fit it all in!!!  I'll keep looking in for more advice.

[makka]

Yeh ok, well my lo can handle about 3hours but that has to be she is in bed on the 3hours. My lo hasnt taken the catnap for over a week now. I too have the same issue, my lo doesnt like early bedtime either and i think the nap that my lo had yesterday at 4pm was too late, and waking at 5.30 which may have caused the early wake up at 4.15am, i just dont know but im going to switch my lo routine back from this see below

7.30am wake feed 225ml formula
9am breakfast, 2tsp rice creal mixed with fruit puree or sometimes 2 tsp yoghurt (15ml yoghurt). sipp of water from sippee cup
10.30am sleep (1 hour 30 min nap)
12pm wake
12.30pm lunch, 2tbsp sweet potato mixed with pumpkin and sometimes apple puree. sipp of water from sippee cup
1.45pm feed 225ml, will feed between this time depending on when she is hungry after her solids
3pm sleep (1 hour 30 min nap)
4.30pm wake
5.30pm dinner, 2tbsp pureed chicken, pea, potato, or whatever i have. sipp of water from sippee cup
7pm feed 250ml

As you can see ive been giving her 3 feeds and the lunch time feed been giving her lunch first then bottle, and the dinner time feed there is no bottle just the 7pm feed, so im going to re introduce the late arvo feed and also switch my lo routine around with how it was before as she was not waking up stiring like she does now on this routine. This is how im going to do it. Does this look ok?

7.30am wake feed 225ml
9am cereal
10.25am sleep (1hour 30)
12pm wake, not that hungry so wil try 30 min later, which is why i switched solids first then bottle
12.30pm feed, will try for 225ml
1.30pm lunch
3pm sleep (1hour 30)
4.30pm wake feed 100ml, will give enough to get through as found a full bottle, solids, then full bottle at 7pm lo was spitting up
5.30pm dinner
7pm feed 250ml, then in bed by 7.30pm

if my lo has a 2hour first nap it will still be the same lunch feed, its just that the pm nap will be 1hour and sleep at 3.30pm to 4.30pm so same thing but just different time if you know what i mean.

do you think i should give it a go, and put it back the way it was?

How much formula does you lo consume a day?
thanks kirsten

[elf]

Hi Kirsten...  Just following along as similar things here with DS at 6 months.  With the 3 hour activity and the 2 naps, our feeding routine needs changing also.  I was doing Milk then solids an hour later, but am trying something different tomorrow - following some advice from my health nurse today so will let you know if it's successful.  One thing you could try is full bottle in the morning then a half feed after both naps, then full bottle in the evening - that way she's getting the same amount but still hungry for her lunch and dinner.  And after that half bottle, give lunch an hour later and dinner an hour later.  That was something I did with DD1 when solids become just as important.  May be something I will do with DS as well.  I'm also in Australia, Perth...

[~Emma~]

 It can be very frustrating at this point trying to fit in bottles, naps and solids. (((((hugs)))))

 If your LO is waking earlier that usual it could well be down to hunger. Do you DF?

 I think what you have written down looks fine and was pretty much the way we did things at that age. I know alot of mums as Elf says do split bottles around naps when the timings get difficult which could also be an option.

 

[twogirlsmommy]

Our schedule is a lot like that now.  The ped wanted us down to 3 bottles and we were there and then dd got sick so now we are back to 4 because she is not a water drinker and I want to make sure she gets enough fluids.  Here's what I followed that seemed to work for her.

Breakfast: 7:30 (cereal and pureed fruit)

Bottle:@ 9 (8 ounces when using 3 bottles, 6 ounces when on 4 bottle schedule)

Lunch: @ 12 (pureed fruit and veggies)

Bottle: @ 1/ 1:5


Snack/Bottle: @ 4 ( right now we are on 4 bottles so its another 6 ounces, when on 3 bottle schedule this is usually finger snacks like cheerios or puffs and some water)

Dinner @ 5:30

Bottle @ 7

This schedule works for us both ways and she has been sleeping thru the night from 7:15 -7:15 am. (sometimes a little whinging somewhere around 5/6:30 am but if I go in and give blanky she usually goes back to sleep or plays contently until 7am)

Hope this helps

[ajjanzen]

I was wondering about going to three bottles with my LO, but because he is 6 months I thought it might be to early.  He's not waking early....unless he has a cat nap late in the day.  He's definitely not interested in drinking more than 24 ounces at this point.  We are fighting a bit of cold and he just came off a major growth sprut where he was drinking about 40-45 ounces per day  plus solids (mostly cereals and veggies).  He's a large boy so I know he's gaining weight and growing well.  I'll see how he does over the next week or so on the four bottles.  I know the mid morning and afternoon bottles have dropped from 8-9  ounces to 5 or 6 ounces.  They can be so hard to figure out.  Isn't nice when you get to that 11/12 month mark and the naps reduce to one and the day just seems to flow a little better.  It's exhausting trying to fit it all in short period of time!!!

[twogirlsmommy]

Yes it is exhausting I feel like if I'm not fighting a nap then I am shoveling some sort of food in her throughout the day   My dd is going to be 8 months in about a week.  We gradually stepped down the bottle and introduced food in its place.  I would just follow your little ones cues.  Once you figure out how much they need to drink that makes them happy just go with the flow

[makka]

i havea question, at what age can you give solids before milk, im finding my routine needs tweaking when it comes to giving the bottle at what time and the solids at what time, as im finding the 3rd bottle cramed in, esp when my lo wakes from her pm nap around 4.30-5pm, so have to get in 3rd feed then dinner then 7pm bottle, everytime i give her a bottle at 5pm then the one at 7pm she spits up, im currently down to 75ml in her 3rd feed. Can i offer this in her sippy cup after i give her her dinner that way she has had some milk, and to get her through until 7pm, cos by 7pm she is wanting her bottle asap. I know at her 3rd bottle she would drink a full feed, but then come the 7pm feed she wont have it cos she is still full from the 3rd feed. This is what happened yesterday

7.25am bottle feed 210ml
9am solids
10.25am sleep 1 hour 40
12.05pm wake
12.30pm bottle feed 225ml
1.30pm solids
3.15pm sleep 1 hour 20
4.35pm wake
4.45pm bottle feed 75ml, had to give straight away so there was time between this feed and 7pm feed and fitting in dinner
5.30pm solids, 5ml milk in food
7pm bottle 200ml,

im opting to switch it around so it will look like this but i just thought milk was the main source before solids, but then someone said that to cut back on the milk as they need there solids

7.30am bottle
9am solids - breaky
12.30pm solids - lunch
1.30pm bottle
5.30pm solids - dinner, and offer sippee cup with some milk, or put some milk in her vegies?
7pm bottle.

would this be ok?

[elf]

Hi Kirsten...  will also reply to this thread later

[Lolly]

Hi Kirsten

The routine you have suggested for today is pretty much what we do like I posted on your other thread. As long as she is getting at least 600mls a day then I think it's fine. IMO it would be better to drop to three bottles she can keep in rather than feeding too close together and her throwing the milk back up. By all means offer milk in a sippy cup at meal times - it will help her get used to it ready for switching from bottles later!

As for switching milk after solids it's usually around 9/10 months that solids come before milk but I think you need to follow your baby. Like I said, as long as she is getting the minimum she needs - and milk in food counts as well - and is having wet/ dirty nappies, is gaining weight, meeting milestones and content then she is getting what she needs.

Laura