How to get him to eat more at the BEGINNING of his easy schedule??

[stagemanager2]

Hey,

DS is 4mo (on thurs) and we are weaning the paci right now, it's been a great two days and we are hoping it gets better!

Right now he is having problems eating what I would think is a full feed for him at the BEGINNING of his easy- ie when he wakes.  We tried something different so today he will eat about half of his feed then want to be out of my arms.  So tummy time, baby stretches and coordination practice is next.  We then find him to be getting tired so we get him ready for bed but realize he didn't have his full feed so we give him the second half and then do winddown... we never feed to sleep. 

He doesn't seem to want to be in our arms to feed most times anyway and will only tolerate it for half the feed.  

the other times we feed him the other half while he is lying down on his boppy (as not to get an ear infection)... This happens throughout his A time and switches between feed and activities...

Routine:
(this is over the past two days as we have been weaning and it's messed our schedule up a bit)

Sunday morning-
5:30am: wake + feed 7oz, right back to bed

E 9am 6oz (over the course of A time)
A 9-11am
S 11am

E 11:45am 7oz (over the course of his A time)
A 11:45-1:45
E 1:45 2oz
S 2:30

E 3:30 7oz (over the course of his A time)
A 3:30-5:30
S 5:30

DF (sorta) 8 6oz

Monday:
5:45 wake feed 9 oz, right back to sleep

E 9am 4oz (in one sitting)
A 9-10:45am
E 10:45am 4oz (in one sitting)
S 11am

E 1 4oz (in one sitting)
A 1-2:15
E 2:15 4oz (in one sitting)
S 2:30

E 3:30 4oz (in one sitting)
A 3:30-4:30
E 4:30 4oz (in one sitting)
S 5

This is so far today... If we continue with the half at the beginning and half at the end will this lead to problems in the future???

(sorry for the novel, kudos if you have gotten this far ...)

[binxyboo]

That's more or less what I find us doing lately, only difference being Kate is breastfed. She is just so curious etc that it is hard to get her to focus on her feeds like when she was younger. So, I just go with it, not much else I can do really. Esp with a toddler running around as well!

I think when they get older, they just have their minds on other things. I liken it to adults....when I drink my coffee, I don't down it all in one go, I take a little bit, watch tv, have a chat with someone....I think it's the same for our children in some respects as well..

Kind of frustrating some days, but that's life with children, eh?

[binxyboo]

Another thought...are you waiting for hunger cues to begin feeding, or are you just feeding because it's E time according to the routine?

[stagemanager2]

no, we wait for hunger cues... definately!

[binxyboo]

I think it's fine then! He looks healthy and thriving!

[*Nicola*]

I agree with Michelle.

We found the same around the 4 month mark, Callie just got too interested in the world to feed for very long but would get into a snack/short sleep cycle if we didn't offer a second feed in one cycle.  So we just did a EAEASY for a while until she sorted things out. Feeding in a quiet, dim room often helped her take a bigger feed too. 

Having said that, we were also breastfeeding so I don't know if there are any other considerations when bottle feeding xx

[stagemanager2]

Alright I won't worry about it then... and yes he is very big... and heavy... there is no chance of starving him!

[October]

Hey,

Sorry to crash but I have this issue too with my 9 wk-old DD. She has reflux and sometimes that's an issue although he meds. are helping. What I find is that the paci wean (we dropped it cold turkey this time last week after sleep disruption (ours and hers !)) set in, has increased her need for the bottle in her wind-down time.

I'm hopeful I can get rid of that as she gets older and wants more of her bottle first-off. We don't get much activity in the A time at present as the feed seems to occupy most of it.

And yes, we have the toddler issue in ourt house too !

Deb

[stagemanager2]

It was strange today.  his second feeding he wasn't interested in his bottle at all... but we tried throughout his A time... ok so when we put him down he started to cry... I made more food for him and he chugged it then happily cooed/mantraed himself to sleep.

I'm afraid he is changing it to: AES...

[October]

Heather,

I'll butt in again but this time to offer a suggest. Maybe he needs to move to the 4-hr EASY ? Sounds like he's old enough to go 4 hrs. with his 2hr A time and all. Have you tried it ? My LO may be headed early to the 3.5hr-EASY but her sleep isn't settled yet so I'm not pushing it. Does he wake crying for food after his naps ?

If you haven't give it a go. 

Deb

[*Nicola*]

Totally agree, was just wondering what EASY he was on as I was re-reading thru your post.

[stagemanager2]

We are trying to be on a 4hr easy but he just gets too tired.  He ususally lasts 1.25 at most then over the past few days he has been mantra crying himself to sleep which when added to his wind down adds up to be about 20-30min... but our naps are hard to extend as he has never really done well with shpat but he seems to be waking and fussing back to sleep but only for about 20-30min more sleep time.... it goes like this:

A: 1.25hr
WD: 15-20min
MC: 5-10min
S: 1hr
MC: 20-30min
S: 20-30min
Wake- call for food!

don't know if that makes sense.  It's getting harder to get more then an hr and a half of S time... and that isn't even being asleep all the time.  Any ideas?

(I know this is a totally different question... )

[emmas]

Hello,

As one of the pp said, they do go through a stage where feeding is boring and the world is far more interesting - I think there is a sticky about it in the FAQ!  A darkened room helps - but I would offer the advice of being really careful not to keep offering feeds throughout the A time - it just teaches them to become snackers, and that will increase NW's.  It sounds a little like he is ready to increase his A time a little if he isn't having 1.5 hour naps, and going to 3.5 hour easy is a good sidestep until he is ready to make the leap to 4 hours.

HTH