6 months old EASY backwards

[trailqueen]

Hi have few questions. I have been struggling with EASY from last 2 months.
Alot of things have improved, thanks to you members!!
Q 1. My son  doesn't eat when he wakes up.
Here's his sample easy from last 2 days:
E. 4:30AM (4 oz)
S. 4:40-7:30
A. 7:30-8:30
E. 8:30 (Cereal with fruit)
A. 8:35-9
E. 9AM (2 oz)
A. Swaddle, sit quite for 15 mins.
S. 9:15-10:45
A. 10:45-12:30
E. 12:30 (2 oz, Is this the problem?? If i give him solids, he doesn't drink his milk)
E. 1:45 (Veggies  and cereal) + 3 oz formula
S. 2-3:30
E. 2 oz (I tried to feed him, but he wouldn't drink)
A. 3:45-5:30
E. 5:30PM (2 oz) he seemed very tired
A. 5:35-6:15
S. 6:15 - 7:30 ( I woke him up)
A. 7:30-8:00
E. 8PM Solids (home made porridge with butter)
A. 8-9:30 (massage, mat play, exercise and bath)
E. 9:30 (formula 5 oz)
S. 10PM - 2:30Am

Day 2___________________
When he woke up at 2:30AM, he had turned on his belly, I just flipped him and he went to sleep
4:30AM - he was eating his blanket, so i let me fall back to sleep
4:40 AM - he was screaming
E. 4:45 (3 oz) and went back to sleep
S. 5-7:15AM
A. 7:15-8:15
E. 8:15 (Cereal)
A. 8:20-8:30
E. 8:30 (4 oz formula)
S. 8:45-10:15
A. 10:15-11:30 (We went to the gym)
E. 11:30 (2 oz)
A. 11:30-12:30
E. 12:30 Solids + milk (5 oz)
S. 1PM ( he had milk before sleep).

Now what do I do, how do I get him to drink his milk before sleep.  is that really a problem or is it ok??
Thanks again!
Susan

[RachelC]

Ahh, you did post a new thread! 

Seems to me that he is not getting enough milk    Have a peek here:
http://babywhispererforums.com/index.php?topic=67569.0

Also, here are some feeding routines to work off of:http://babywhispererforums.com/index.php?topic=68458.0

Also, his A time is on the short side (and that is why you are getting a late bedtime)
http://babywhispererforums.com/index.php?topic=64158.msg689373#msg689373

You are still aiming for a 12 hour night at this point...

Try switching around the bottles and solids so the bottles are first thing upon waking, wait an hour for solids and scale them down a bit.  At 6 months solids are about experimenting and the main source of nutrition is still the bottles.

Did you ever get an answer about the reflux?

[trailqueen]

Hi Rachel,

The doctor gave me medication for reflux.  I just didn't think he had reflux.  I felt it was the Breast milk, because I was emotionally and physically drained.
I will definitely, check out the posts.  He has been sleeping for 2.5 hrs right now.  oh oh he's up!!
Thanks!

[trailqueen]

Hi Ladies,

I am struggling with 3 things:
1. Stopping the night time feeds ( I have a toddler who sleeps in the same room as me and my baby)
2. Nap times (any where from 1.5 hrs to 3 hrs, sometimes 2 naps and sometimes 3 naps)
3. Get my son to drink milk when he wakes up rather than when he goes to sleep.

I am noticing that he wakes up between 1-1:26AM everynight and than again around 4-5AM.

So far his schedule looks like this today:
E. 9PM (3 oz)
A.
S. 9:15-1:20 (He just cried and finally I gave him milk)
E. 1:45 (4 oz)
S. 2-5:30
E. 5:45 (4oz)
S. 6-7
A. 7am (poop, play on the mat (crawling in circles, he is very active)
E. 8:30 (2 tbls cereal with water and fruit)
A. 8:30-9AM
E. 9-9:30 (4 oz) (he took 2 ounces, looked tired so I put him in the crib awake, than he woke up 10 minutes later (Pooped), after cleaning 2 more Oz and put him in the crib awake)
S. 9:40- (Now he is sleeping).
Any help is greatly appreciated.
Thanks for the guidance so far.
Susan

[amayzie]

Hi susan! Unfortunately those night wakings look pretty typical to me. Most babies at 6 months still need night feeds at the times you describe or similar. At 6 months my guy was still having a dream feed at 11pm and then often would have a feed at somewhere between 4 and 6 am.

With the naps- how long are they generally? If they are 1.5 hours+ then that's perfect, nothing to fix- that's a good restorative nap... At 6 months you are probably in the middle of the 3-2 nap transition- can be a tricky time. YOu are aiming over the next few weeks to stretch the A times out to 3 hours and get rid of the 3rd nap. This helps early waking, late bed time and any night wakings where he is awake and happy- or a 'cot party'

What happens when you get him up in the morning and try to feed him?

[trailqueen]

Hi Amayzie,

I get confused when some mothers tell me that I should be aiming for 12 hrs (no feed) at night.
"Most babies at 6 months still need night feeds at the times you describe or similar"

"With the naps- how long are they generally? If they are 1.5 hours+ then that's perfect"
yes, his naps are perfect I am very happy there.  He wakes up at 6:45, solids at 8AM, milk at 9:30 than naps from 9:30-11 or 11:30.

"At 6 months you are probably in the middle of the 3-2 nap transition- can be a tricky time."
Yesterday he didn't take the 3rd nap.
Yesterday his routine was like this:

Awake 7AM
E. 8AM (Cereal)
A. 8-9:30
E. 9:30 (4 oz)
S. 9:40-11:50
E. (11:50 - he drank 2.5 ounces which he spit half of after an hour)
A. 12-2
E. 2pm Lunch
S. 2:30-4 (We were running errands so he slept in the car)
E. 4:30 (3 oz milk)
A. 4:30-6:15 ( he was tired, so I took him upstairs to feed)
E. 6:15 (4.5 oz) , he stayed in the crib but didn't really sleep, may
A. 6:45-7:30
E. 7:30 (dinner, cereal), than massage, bath
E. 8:30 (3 oz)
S. 8:30 - 1:30 (we patted him back to sleep)

_________Last night until now__________________
E. 3:30AM (4 oz)
S. 3:30-6:45AM (I tried to feed him, he took an ounce, he was too awake and wanted to play)
A. 7-8:30
E. 8:30 (Cereal with blueberries and milk)
A. 8:30-9:30 (Played in jumper, drove my daughter to day care, and walked outside for 5 mins)
E. 9:30 (3 oz)
S. 9:30-11 (he's still sleeping)


As you can see,he is ok with  two naps, should I move his bedtime to 8PM or 7:30??
His A time is about 3 hrs, it's his feeds, I am not sure how to do 4 hrs schedule.
Can someone send me their 4 hrs with the solids routine for 6.5 months old??
Susan


 YOu are aiming over the next few weeks to stretch the A times out to 3 hours and get rid of the 3rd nap. This helps early waking, late bed time and any night wakings where he is awake and happy- or a 'cot party'

What happens when you get him up in the morning and try to feed him?

[amayzie]

Looking at your EASY i'd try to move his bed time to as early as 7pm, as this gives you 3 hours till bed from the last nap which is a good run till bed. If you can't manage that then 7.30 is better- but he's possibly getting over tired on the way to bed.

Here's the info on dropping the cat nap and a sample EASY- its a sample, yours may look different

http://babywhispererforums.com/index.php?topic=64837.0

Our EASY at about 6.5 months was something like:

E: 7
Solids: 8:00 (SOMETIMES- usually one meal a day at 6 months)
A: 7-10
S: 10-12
E: 12
A: 12-3
S: 3-4.30
E: 4.30
Solids: 5:30 (Sometimes)
E: 7pm
S: 7pm
ANd we just dropped the dream feed at 6.5 months

HTH!

[RachelC]

This may help also
http://babywhispererforums.com/index.php?topic=68458.0

[~Sara~]

Hi!  Thought I'd pop on and offer my two cents...

Your original question was regarding getting the E (bottle) to come first in the EAS cycle.  What I mainly see happening is that last night feed throwing off his appetite for the first morning feed.  So, he'll eat at 3:30 or 4, and because he can go 4-4.5h in between bottles, he's not hungry when he wakes at 7am.  Does that seem like what might be happening?  We went through this with my son when he was 4-5mo.  It started as legit hunger from his growth spurt but then it became a habitual night feed and it threw his entire day off, eating-wise.  He was completely formula fed by this point, so we knew exactly how much he was eating and that he COULD go longer through the night without that last night feed (he DID have a DF at 10ish until he was 8mo).

Maybe you could try what we did: we reduced the amount we gave him for that last night feed by 1 ounce every 2-3 nights.  That shifted his appetite and calories back to the daytime, and he started sleeping through the night again (though he still had a DF).

I agree with Katy that 1-2 night feeds at this age is normal.  That can mean DF + 1 nf, or 2 nfs if you're not doing a DF.  Have you considered doing the DF?  I think that might really help you out!

So, while what he's doing is not outside the range of normal, it's obvious that his nighttime eating habits are throwing things off during his day.  And, when it comes to what time of day is better for them to get their calories, daytime wins, hands down   Looks like he's having some fun with solids now, which is great!  Since milk/formula is their main source of nutrition for the 1st year, I personally found it better--and easier--to do bottle first and then solids 1h later.  That way you know they're not filling up on the solids to the detriment of their milk. 

I can see that your LO is bottle fed, but is he formula fed?  Or do you give him ebm, too?

As for the naps and the catnap dropping, it sounds like he's sleeping well and starting to make that transition.  ITA with Katy that when A times are at 3h, the catnap can be gone!!  Woohoo (sorry, that was a big thing for us).

[trailqueen]

Thank you so much for your "million dollar" advice Sara.
My son LOVES the solids, he'd rather have the solids than the bottle.  Now I squeeze 2 ounces of milk in the solids
I will definately try the DF, he took two naps today  (1 hr each).  he has been up for 4 hrs and not even tired.  It is 6:30 now, so I'm going to put him in bed by 7:30 today.  Last night I did the wake sleep at 12 last night and it worked.
So I'm going to work on two things tonight:
DF and 1AM habitual waking. 
On question Sara What do you mean by "reduce by 1 ounce 2-3 night"?  Which feed is this one is it the nf?
He is stricktly on formula now.
To make things better, we are out of town for 2 days
Love you ladies!!!
susan

[~Sara~]

On question Sara What do you mean by "reduce by 1 ounce 2-3 night"?  Which feed is this one is it the nf?

Yes, sorry...it's the night feed, or the feed that you're trying to eliminate.

How have the past few days gone?

[trailqueen]

Hi Ladies,
We are back from being on the road from last two days.  Wow, my son is still sleeping.  I think he is really tired.
He was in bed by 8 last night had two feeds  last night one at 1:26AM (5oz) another at 5:30(5oz).  He is drinking more than he did before.
It seems to increase everytime we go on road trip.
I will go back to E.A.S.Y today, it was difficult since we were out shopping and stayed with another family.  It was family visit.
I will post back how things are going.
Meanwhile have a fantastic day, you know that your advice is always comforting and helpful to me.
Susan

[trailqueen]

Oh I am not sure what's going on.  He woke up 10 times last night.  At 6.5 months he is crawling, drooling and spitting milk out (1tsp) about 10x a day.
I hope today gets better.

[amayzie]

Coming back from holidays are always crappy- my guy is a pretty independent sleeper and STILL had heaps of trouble when we recently came back from a holiday. Just be consistent with your routines and strategies for a few days (it could take a week ) and you should see some progress. Let us know how it goes- Is he Teething? That could be causing some of the night waking.

[trailqueen]

Hi Ladies

Thank you for your responses.  We have a good enough routine now, but it's not EASY.  It's more of: AESY. I did the dream fed as Sara Suggested at 10:30PM, but he woke up soaking wet (That's another problem, his diapers always leak, I have changed many types of diapers, but still they leak).  At 2:30AM, I had to give him 4 ounces or he was going to wake up my 3 yrs old daughter as well.  Otherwise bedtime is 8PM and the nf is around 2:30 or 4AM.
Now the routine is as follows:
Awake: 6:30/7AM
E: (Solids) 8/8:30AM
A: 8:30-9:30AM
E: (5.5 oz) 9:30
S: 9:30/9:45AM - 11/11:15AM
A: 11-12
E: (Lunch) 12/12:30
A: 12-1:30/1:45
E: (6 oz) 1:30
S: 1:45/2PM - 3:15/4PM (This really thows things off for me, sometimes he is up in 1 hr other times he sleeps for 2:15 hrs)
A: 3:30/4PM - 5
E: 5PM (5oz), 6:30PM (Dinner), than massage and bath around 7/7:30, followed by bottle (5oz) and bed
S: 8PM - 2:15/4:15/4:30.
E: 4:30 (4-5 oz)

What am I doing wrong??
Thanks in advance!
Susan