Should I add another feeding or more milk?

[brooksieboy]

My 6 mo is eating 2 meals a day (veggies, fruit, and chicken with rice cereal mixed in) like a champ.  He is also bfeeding 4 times a day and he sleeps at least 8-9 hours at night.  After his first bfeeding in the morning he wants to sleep for another 2 hours which means he needs more sleep at night, right?  So how do I get him to sleep 10-12 hours without the wake-up at 6am?  Should I add another feeding at noon?  Use more rice cereal (I usually add 1 tbsp with the veggies and fruit)?  or add another bfeeding time?  I would really like to stop feeding before 7pm if possible.

Here's our schedule:
6:00 or 6:30 wakes up and bf
6:30 to 8:00 or 8:30 sleeps
8:30 solids (at least 4-5 cubes veggies or fruit with some rice cereal)
10:30 or 11:00 bf
2:00 or 2:30 bf
5:30 solids
6:30 bf
8:00 or 8:30 sleep

He's also only sleeping for 30 mins at a time, but that's another issue. 

Any suggestions?

[~ Vik ~]

TBH, looking at your EASY, I'm not sure what the problem is?  If you count that 630am feed as a night waking (which it is, really, if he goes back to sleep right afterwards) he is having a balanced 12h day/night (wake up at 8am, bedtime at 8/830pm).  And although he's sleeping for 8-9h straight at night, he's actually going 11.5-12 hours between breastfeeds (from 630pm until he wakes at 6/630am).

What are your ideal wake and bedtimes?  Are you happy with the 8-8/830 routine?

So how do I get him to sleep 10-12 hours without the wake-up at 6am?  Should I add another feeding at noon?  Use more rice cereal (I usually add 1 tbsp with the veggies and fruit)?  or add another bfeeding time?  I would really like to stop feeding before 7pm if possible.

I wouldn't add another breastfeed at noon, as that could just lead to snacking.  I honestly wouldn't even bother adding more rice cereal to his solids - at 6mo old he is eating quite a lot of solids, and rice cereal really doesn't add any calories anyway.  My best advice would be to shift your feed times - he is going 11.5-12h between breastfeeds, so you would just need to change the breastfeed times so that he gets fed right before bed.  Something like this:

6/630 wake and bf
back to sleep until 8
8 wake and bf (this is the change - by bfing on wakeup your resetting the rest of the feeds for the day.  This likely won't be a full feed just yet, but more of a top up from the 6am feed)
930 solids
12 bf
330 bf
530 solids
730 bf
8 sleep

What do you think?

[brooksieboy]

I will give it a try tomorrow to see how he does.  I guess I was asking how can I get him to sleep until 8am without the 6:30am wake-up.  Maybe I am being selfish and should appreciate the fact that my LO sleeps a solid 9 hours at night and he eats so well.
I was also worried that by letting him fall asleep after the 6:30am would interfer with his schedule and then he would not be on an EASY routine, so its good to know that its okay to start his schedule after that 8am feed. 
Also, when is a good time to do a solid feeding at noon?

I'll let you know how our day goes tomorrow.

[First Time Mom]

I would also be tempted to delay the 6:30 bf until closer to bed, he shouldn't really need that feed seeing as he's having solids just prior.

Have you tried to delay the 6am feed? Does he take a paci? When he wakes at the 6am feed does he feed and go right back to sleep or is he staying up? If he's feeding and going right back down then I would be tempted to delay the evening feed and then work on the 6am wake by offering him a paci (if he takes one) or doing W2S to get him to sleep past the 6am. But as Vikki mentioned, it's long for him to go from 6:30pm so you would need to get that evening feed delayed.

[brooksieboy]

I never thought about going from 6:30p to 6:30 am.  Good point.  Sometimes I don't see things because I'm so focused on something else.  He does take a paci, but it doesn't help him in the morning.  I think I will start bfeeding him closer to bed time.

Thanks!

[brooksieboy]

Yeah!  He slept till 7 this morning after going down around 7:45 and having his last feed at 7:30.  We are trying this again tonight.  Thanks for helping me see what I had overlooked.

Also, when is a good time to introduce a third feed and sippy?

[~ Vik ~]

Yay!!!

we introduced the last meal at 7 or 7.5mo if I remember correctly. And we started offering a sippy of water at the same time we introduced solids. Just at meals to get him used to it

[brooksieboy]

I am currently offering the sippy at both meal times, but of course he doesn't know what to do with it (except throw it  ). 

Because he woke at 7am I just started the schedule.  He didn't seem interested in going back to sleep plus I heard cooing sounds instead of the usual scream.  What a pleasant sound to wake to.  I don't know if it's the 8hours of uninterrupted sleep or the cooing that made getting up today so delightful.

Now I just have to get him to sleep longer than 30 minutes at nap.

I will continue to update.  Thanks for the help.

[~ Vik ~]

We had a lot of throwing and shaking at first too     I found that by helping my ds get it to his mouth he started to get the idea.  It took a few weeks, but he started regularly taking sips when I gave it to him.  Sometimes it all came back out, but baby steps, right?

And it's so, so nice when they wake happy!

Good luck with the naps!  If you haven't already, you should start a thread on the naps forum.  Lots of lovely mommies to help you out!