Author Topic: night to day feeds  (Read 1257 times)

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Offline Gemmaj

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night to day feeds
« on: August 12, 2011, 08:01:37 am »
Hi,

My 9 mo was able to sleep through most nights till 3/4 in the morning sometimes even 5am before she needed a feed when she was about 7 months!! but then my husband and I split so I spent a few weeks at my parents, and she cut her first tooth at the time and since then has refused to drink her bottles during the day and drinks majority of her milk during the night waking 2 or 3 times a night!!  it is wearing her out and it is wearing me out!!

She has never been one for taking much milk anyway.  she would only take about 4 oz max at each feed and was told as long as i can get yoghurts and cheese into her this isnt a problem!!

My question is how to I get her drinking her milk during the day again and sleeping through at night?

Offline Lolly

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Re: night to day feeds
« Reply #1 on: August 12, 2011, 08:07:54 am »
Can you post your routine so we can get a better picture of what is happening? Give us a 24 hour sample so we can see how the nights are working (or not ;)) too.

So, post in terms of

Eat - what times, how much
Activity - how long for
Sleep - what times and how long for

Laura


Offline Gemmaj

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Re: night to day feeds
« Reply #2 on: August 12, 2011, 08:22:32 am »
wake between 4:45 and 6:30 am (try to get her to go back to sleep till 7 but doesnt always work)
breakfast around 7am - either a slice of toast or a weetabix as much of as she will eat.
bottle 8:30
nap 9 - try to aim for hour and half but may only get 30 mins.
lunch between 11/11:30 - half to 3/4 a jar or a small amount of what we eat such as jacket potato
bottle 12.30
nap 1.30 - again try to aim for hour and half but may not get that
bottle 3:30
dinner 4:45 - again some jar or what we eat
5/5:15 bath
bottle 5:30/5:45
bed 6
bottle between 9:30 and 11:30
bottle between 1:30 and 3
bottle between 4:45 and 6:30

The night bottles I try and get her to sleep on the dummy first and resist giving the bottle as much as possible.  The bottles during the day I try and get her to take as much as possible but she just sips them and then refuses and makes up for it at night instead.

is it possible that she is just too interested in what is going on around her to be interested in her milk during the day? I turn the tv off at meal times so there is less distraction so she will focus on her solids - should I try doing something similar for her milk?

the routine I would like is similar to above but without so many night feeds.

she was 10 days early and weighed 7lb 8oz if that helps?

Offline Lolly

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Re: night to day feeds
« Reply #3 on: August 12, 2011, 11:21:52 am »
I think she is probably not taking much at her day bottles because of the solids. Until you get the night wakings sorted out why don't you change the bottles back to before solids to see if you can increase her intake. They still need milk as their primary source of nutrition until a year so if she isn't taking much in the way of solids it isn't a big deal.

I would do milk first at wake up then breakfast an hour later, do bottle where you do lunch then lunch at 12.30. Her 3.30 bottle is fine, then a bottle the very last thing before sleep, if you make tea at 4.30 if possible it gives her longer to get hungry again for her bedtime bottle.

I would keep the first night bottle for now, which would be at dreamfeed time but if she wakes before 4 hours after her last feed try and resettle first. With the next bottle if you can't resettle feed, but work on dropping that bottle by reducing the oz by 1oz every 3 nights (and again make sure it's at least 4 hours from the last bottle). When that bottle gets down to a couple of oz just offer water if she wakes and resettle. You will need to be strong and you will have some tough nights especially when it gets to the water stage but she will adapt.

With the 4.45 - 6.30 bottle I would resettle if the waking is before 6am (but you may not be able to for long) but anything after 6am I treated as wake up time, got them up and bottle fed them. If she is going to bed at 6pm then a 6am wake up isn't really an early wake up as it has been 12 hours since bedtime. If you can get more calories in her during the day and better nights you should be able to push bedtime back and eventually get a later wake up.
 
What do you think?

Laura


Offline Gemmaj

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Re: night to day feeds
« Reply #4 on: August 14, 2011, 20:18:27 pm »
She has done better the last two days - and I did switch the bottles back to before food today - I also found even though she is mobile that she still needs a quick burp too!!  she has never taken big bottles and am lucky if I can get her to take 2/3oz at a feed. but at least she is taking more during the day now so fingers crossed night will follow.

what do I do when she is teething though as she will only settle on the bottle as wont use gels!! do I give in and let her have a bottle??

Offline Lolly

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Re: night to day feeds
« Reply #5 on: August 14, 2011, 20:20:52 pm »
That's a very small feed- has she always fed like this? What's her 24 hour intake like? Does she have any digestive issues like reflux?

Have you tried pain meds for teething?

Laura


Offline Gemmaj

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Re: night to day feeds
« Reply #6 on: August 14, 2011, 20:45:18 pm »
yes she has pretty much always been this way!! we did manage to get her to 5/6oz feeds for a week or two and then dropped them again.  the nurse practioner at my local GP said that was ok as long as she was getting cheese and yoghurts - but she isnt always getting these either!!

she had colic and she reacts to cheese and tomatoes but docs wont test for intollerances unless she has a full on allergic reaction!!

she wont take gels and I have already given her calpol tonight so cant give more yet!!