night feeding issue

[DizzyKershaw]

my LO is 16 weeks old and feeds every 4 hours.  he sleeps really well from about 7.30/8pm when he has his last bottle (about 8oz of milk).  He then wakes at about 4.30/5 and takes a feed between 4 and 5oz.  He then goes back to sleep and wakes between 7 and 7.30am.

My problem is that when he wakes in the morning, he's not hungry, today he has just had about 2oz since getting up (it's around 9.30 now).

He has never really taken to the dreamfeed, but I wonder whether I  should try that again to help him get through the night?

His routine looks a bit like this (when it's working!!):

7/7.30am Wake up
9.30am sleep
11am eat
activity
1pm sleep
3pm eat
activity
5-6pm nap
7pm bath
7.30pm eat and bed
4.30/5am feed and straight back to bed

My question is - do I wake him earlier in the night to feed him so that he'll be hungry in the morning?  I don't like that idea but thought it might work.  OR a friend suggested I just start my 4 hour routine when he wakes in the night - but what about naps if I do that?  Do I simply change the eating time but not the sleep or activity time? OR is there some other suggestion you might have?

I think I might try the dreamfeed again, but last time we did that he woke more in the night 

Also he seems to take ages to take a bottle - sometimes an hour.  He is on the teat for his age and the milk does  seem  to come out ok, but he just doesn't seem to be the best eater in the world.

Thanks for any help

[Lolly]

How much is he getting at each bottle during the day - what is his total in 24 hours?

I would try the faster teat to be honest, an hour is way too long to be having a bottle feed and does then impact on the next bottle. If he is on the right size teat then he should be done in about 20 minutes.

You can leave his first bottle for a while and see if waiting for 30 mins/ an hour after wake up helps at all.

Laura

[DizzyKershaw]

Well at the moment he's only getting about 4oz each bottle but that's because he seems to be teething. Then he's been getting 24oz a day but that includes 2 night feeds.

Normally he gets anywhere between 5 and 7oz a bottle so probably getting about between 20 and 28oz in the day with an extra 4oz in the night.

Hopefully this bit of teething will pass by soon and we can get back to our routine and try to see if the faster teat or waiting in the morning helps.

Thanks for your reply :-)

Liz