Author Topic: HELP with daytime feeding of 5.5mo please!  (Read 1251 times)

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Offline alarose

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HELP with daytime feeding of 5.5mo please!
« on: August 18, 2011, 14:15:39 pm »
Hi everyone,

I'm really struggling with bottle feeding my 5.5mo ds. He has been bottlefed from the get-go, but lately things have been really wonky.

Here is what a typical day looks like:

5am: 3oz and diaper change
8:30am: 3oz rice cereal and 2-3oz formula
12:00pm: 4-6oz formula
4pm: 4-6oz formula
6pm: 3oz formula (Trying to get rid of this cluster feed...not sure how to)
8pm (Bedtime): 8oz, sometimes 10oz!
11pm: 6oz

So as you can see, he is 5.5mo and still 7 bottles a day! My issues are: 1) How do I get the bottles more consistent? During the day he seems full after 4oz, but at bedtime he chows down 8oz! and 2) How do I get rid of the cluster feed, and the 5am bottle? I would love to see him go from 11pm dream feed to 7 or 8am...

Help please!

Offline ~Sara~

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Re: HELP with daytime feeding of 5.5mo please!
« Reply #1 on: August 18, 2011, 14:56:28 pm »
Hi! :)  At this age, feeds are about 4 hours apart, so that would bring the number down to 5 (4 during the day plus the DF).  It would look something like this:

E: 8:30am, bottle; solids 1h later
A:
S:
E: 12:30pm, bottle
A:
S:
E: 4:30pm, bottle
A:
E: 8pm, bedtime bottle
S:
DF: between 10-11pm

That shows you how to just drop the cluster feed...it doesn't seem like he's taking as much then anyways.  You could try just going cold turkey with dropping it, or slowly phase it out by dropping an ounce every 3 days.  I can't say for sure that he won't have any night feeds after the DF, but that will come in time :)

HTH a bit!  I think you're really close to where he needs to be, just some slight tweaking involved :)
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Offline creations

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Re: HELP with daytime feeding of 5.5mo please!
« Reply #2 on: August 18, 2011, 21:26:18 pm »
Hi.  Just wanted to say my LO was still on 3 hr EASY (5 feeds plus DF making 6 total) at 5.5 months as he never could go longer (silent reflux so couldn't take more) so I didn't push for the 4 hrs.  You're closer than we were at that point as some of your feeds are 3.5 hrs.  He also took the most (6 oz) at the BT and DF as he was most relaxed then and could feed better.
I introduced solids at 5.5 months just the odd thing for the first week or so but he rapidly wanted 3 meals per day and this automatically changed his milk feeds without me needing to try to do anything.  He is now on the 4 hrly feeds.

So just wanted to let you know you're not the only one whose had a LO taking more feeds and chances are it will even out with either a little push or with more solids coming in in a few weeks time.


Offline alarose

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Re: HELP with daytime feeding of 5.5mo please!
« Reply #3 on: August 19, 2011, 19:03:31 pm »
Just an update:

Yesterday I tried to encourage 4hr feeds and my LO took a good 8oz at his 430pm feed! Which also meant that I was able to cut out the 6pm mini-bottle and he was carried through until the 8pm bedtime bottle. So yesterday went something like this:

8:30am: cereal followed by a small bottle (3oz)
12:30pm: 7oz
4:30pm: 8oz
8pm: 8oz
11pm DF: 8oz
5am: 2oz (Next to be cut out)

So now we are going to wait a few days and tackle removing the 5am bottle which is now just more of a habit than anything.

Thank you SO much for the support!

Offline ~Sara~

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Re: HELP with daytime feeding of 5.5mo please!
« Reply #4 on: August 19, 2011, 21:52:52 pm »
That's a great update!  Well done :)  I completely agree with waiting a few days before seeing if you can cut the 5am bottle.  I'd do the 1oz reduction with that, too.  He might still need it, but at least you know you're getting close to being able to drop it :)
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Offline *Kara*

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Re: HELP with daytime feeding of 5.5mo please!
« Reply #5 on: August 20, 2011, 04:16:32 am »
One thing to change as well - at his age, bottles should ALWAYS come before solids.  Give a bottle first and let him fill up with that in the morning... an hour later, offer solids.  It really is not important at all, just for learning :)

Otherwise: FANTASTIC progress!  Good job momma!