Moving to 3 combined with A time??

[kirstym]

Could anyone please help me! For the last week or so she will only drink 2 or 3 oz at the most 4 if j really try with her at her 11am bottle and now only drinking a few ozs at her 3 pm feed us she ready to move to 3 bottles a day she has just turned 9 months and is a healthy 22lbs?? Also at this age she should be able to stay awake for at least  3 hours but can only ever handle 2 1/2 even only 2 hours in the morning should I try and extend this slowly to make the 3 bottles and EASY work??

Thank you just want to be on track again x

[Lolly]

Definitly extend the A times, they do get to a point where their bodies learn to be tired at a certain point so they need to be "re-taught" to be tired at a different time. The first A time is often the shortest, but you can extend them by 10/15 mins for a few days, then another 10/15 mins until you get them where they "should" be for her age.

My DD did 3 bottles from about 8 months because she was refusing milk (refluxer ) so we did a wake up bottle, one around 2/ 2.30 just before her nap and then a bedtime bottle. She was napping 9.30 - 11ish and then 2/2.30 until 4pm, we did lunch around 11.30 and she was ready for the bottle before her nap then - just make sure you don't feed to sleep if you do bottle before nap!

HTH!

Laura

[kirstym]

Hi ty so much for your post really appreciate it! She def needs to move to 3 a day. In the forum it says for 3 a day to do wake up bottle, then the next at 11.30/12 lunch at 12.30/1 snack at 3ish dinner at 4 ish milk at 6.30/7 would thus be better so she is having milk when she wakes? do you think she should def start having longer A time? An try and keep her up a little more everyday but won't she get OT and then only hVe short naps I'm lucky if she sleeps more than an hour now!! Which now means she's always up for a lon time before her bottles and due a sleep just after?? Sorry to ramble on x

[*Kara*]

Could you post a day's typical EASY Kirsty?

She should easily handle 3 - 3.5 hrs of A time now..

[kirstym]

At the moment we are having a couple of NW and early starts this morning half 5!! Not sure if this is a growth spurt and teething all combined? Used to sleep straight through so I'm guessing yes. before a typical day would look as follows

E 6.30
A
S 8.30-9 about an hour normally
E 10.30
A
S 12 ish anywhere from 1-1.5 hours
E 2.30
A
S 5-5.30 about 30 mins or an hour
E 6.30
A
S 7.30

I really am stuck in how to change things please can anyone give me there experiences xx


E

[Lolly]

I would think your early starts are probably bacause of the cat nap she is still having, she is probably a bit UT going to bed so she isn't sleeping so long.

Have a look here http://babywhispererforums.com/index.php?topic=164253.0 and you will see routines that others have done for LOs your DD's age. You will see that A time for 9 months is averaging at 3.5 hours with 2 naps. You really need to push those A times to get decent length naps of at least 1.5 hours (less than 2 sleep cycles isn't restorative enough really). I think I would try for 3 hour A times and an early bed time for a few days (she can do 2.5 hours looking at your routine) and then push the A times out a further 15 mins for a few days and then again.

What do you think?

Laura

[*Kara*]

Looking at your EASY, I completely agree with Laura.  That CN has to stop if you want her to sleep well at night.  Push her A times over the course of a week to get her to a 3.5 hr time...

[kirstym]

Hi thank you so much this morning she woke up at 6.30 and she fell asleep at 9.15 and slept just over 2 hours which is so rare! So j think your right def need to push A to nearer 3 hours and drop CN I'll see how thus week goes? And let you know thank you again what happens when I'm leaving her to the 4.5 hour mark and only drink 3-4 ozs do I give her just the 3 bottles or give her 4??

[kirstym]

Hi I would just like to say that she woke after first nap just over 2 hours!!! Omg!! And then her A time was just over 3 hours then she slept for 1.5 hours!! Woo hoo!!!! No CN and she had had just 3 bottles not 4 and her BT bottle a full 7 oz and straight to sleep!! I think now I know she needs mord A time and 3 bottles s day thank you very much cx

[Lolly]

Yeah! Well done both of you! They do need a bit of a push now and then to keep them on track! Glad you have had a good day, fingers crossed for a quiet night!

Laura

[kirstym]

Thank you I hope so!! Still woke up last night at 3.30 surely GS should be over after 5 or more nights or is she now waking cos she knows she gets her bottle or maybe because j was giving her 4 a day but at each not taking very much? X

[Lolly]

At this age it's probably a habitual waking, especially if it's at the same time. You may need to activly wean that feed, we did it with DD at 8 months by reducing the bottle by 1oz every 3 nights. When she got down to about 3oz she slept through one night so we just offered water after that.

Laura

[kirstym]

Well woke just now 11.45 and drank a full 6ozs?? Does this mean I should go back to offering 4 feeds a day? Can't understand why she waking now? After sleeping through til morning? GS should be over?

[*Kara*]

That would be a hunger waking for sure... could be a bit for her to adjust to the 3 feeds a day... I would carry one, she will adapt her daily intake and start STTN again

Great naps!!!

[kirstym]

Thank you I will stick with 3 a day as she has only took a few ozs at both her 2nd and 3rd bottle let's see how this week goes if she only takes a few ozs and her 2 nd one at the 4.5 hour mark say 11.30 shall I push her to 5 hours? Hope this makes sense! She woke today at 6 am but no middle of the night feed so that's good!