Author Topic: cluster feeding before bedtime with 4 month old?  (Read 13505 times)

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

Offline brummum

  • Resident BW Chatterbox!
  • *****
  • Showing Appreciation 56
  • Posts: 1586
  • Location:
cluster feeding before bedtime with 4 month old?
« on: May 10, 2012, 18:32:47 pm »
Hi there,
I managed to transition my 4.5 month old to a 4 hr EASY a couple of weeks ago. I have found that he is never very interested in his first 2 feeds of the day. I thought this was down to him still having 2 night feeds (we don't dream feed) but he has recently dropped one of the night feeds and this has not changed things. It seems as if he would happily go longer than 4hrs in the morning but as the day progresses he appears to want to cluster feed. At present we are doing a 7, 11, 3, 6:30 pattern but to be honest I'm lucky if he makes it to 3pm without starting to grissle and we have a really fussy period when he wakes up from his cat nap (5:30) until his last bottle at 6:30. So my question is...... is it okay to change his EASY slightly so that he has a feed at 2:30, 4:30, 6:30 or should I be sticking to a 4 hourly routine?? Also, is this something other people have struggled with, is this common? At what age do they usually stop wanting to cluster feed?
Thanks!

Offline Lolly

  • Bottle Feeding, Discipline and Socialization
  • Moderator
  • Resident BW Chatterbox!
  • *****
  • Showing Appreciation 318
  • Gender: Female
  • Posts: 11227
  • Location: Neath, South Wales
Re: cluster feeding before bedtime with 4 month old?
« Reply #1 on: May 10, 2012, 20:17:59 pm »
How much is he taking at his feeds during the day? Is he draining bottles?

Cluster feeds are usually dropped at around 8 weeks, but some people find that splitting a feed before and after bath time helps to settle them for bed.

It is ok to adapt EASY to suit your family but if he is feeding too frequently you will find he may start snacking and then never taking full feeds which can become a problem.

Laura


Offline brummum

  • Resident BW Chatterbox!
  • *****
  • Showing Appreciation 56
  • Posts: 1586
  • Location:
Re: cluster feeding before bedtime with 4 month old?
« Reply #2 on: May 11, 2012, 07:32:09 am »
He was starting to only take 5oz (previously 7) but I have tried him with a level 3 teet today and he's back to 7! Will see how we go today and try the split feed see if that works for him. He was draining them until recently when he's started having less and getting very distracted during feedings but was wary of increasing it any further as he is already in 90th centile and was having 5-6 7oz bottles in 24hrs, do you think I should start giving him 8oz if he goes back to downing them with the new teet size??

Offline Lolly

  • Bottle Feeding, Discipline and Socialization
  • Moderator
  • Resident BW Chatterbox!
  • *****
  • Showing Appreciation 318
  • Gender: Female
  • Posts: 11227
  • Location: Neath, South Wales
Re: cluster feeding before bedtime with 4 month old?
« Reply #3 on: May 11, 2012, 08:51:13 am »
If he is draining bottles you do need to put more in them. With a bottle feed there should ideally by a bit left in the bottle so you know they have stopped because they are full and not just because the bottle is empty as a breastfed baby would. That could be why he's not lasting 4 hours between feeds sometimes because he wasn't quite full enough!

Changing the teat is definitly a good idea along with increased bottles - you may even need to be doing full 9oz bottles! Bigger babies do need extra oz too, the guides say they need 2-2.5oz per lb of body weight. Looking at my son's old charts I guess your LO is about 17/18lbs? If so, he could need up to 45oz on that ratio!

HTH!

Laura


Offline brummum

  • Resident BW Chatterbox!
  • *****
  • Showing Appreciation 56
  • Posts: 1586
  • Location:
Re: cluster feeding before bedtime with 4 month old?
« Reply #4 on: May 11, 2012, 09:25:08 am »
Yeah, 18lbs yesterday! Not sure how I can get 40+oz down him though! Will see how today goes, thanks for advice!

Offline Lolly

  • Bottle Feeding, Discipline and Socialization
  • Moderator
  • Resident BW Chatterbox!
  • *****
  • Showing Appreciation 318
  • Gender: Female
  • Posts: 11227
  • Location: Neath, South Wales
Re: cluster feeding before bedtime with 4 month old?
« Reply #5 on: May 11, 2012, 10:04:40 am »
He may well not need that much! That info was more to reassure you that he's not taking too much for his size! My DD was 91st centile pretty much from birth and she averaged only 25oz a day - there's got to be calories in fresh air!

Mind you, if he was having 5-6 bottles of 7oz he was having 35-42oz in 24 hours ;)

Let us know how things go!

Laura


Offline brummum

  • Resident BW Chatterbox!
  • *****
  • Showing Appreciation 56
  • Posts: 1586
  • Location:
Re: cluster feeding before bedtime with 4 month old?
« Reply #6 on: May 11, 2012, 16:13:23 pm »
Gosh, i hadn't added it up!! from his chart looks like he has just come out of 4 month growth spurt so hoping he will calm down a bit. I don't think I'd be so worried about his weight if he had started out in the 90's but he was only 7'4 at birth. He has had 1 7oz and 2 8oz bottles today since changing teet, I am waiting for him to wake up from cat nap and see what happens (i.e. whether he is his usual early evening cranky self!)

Offline brummum

  • Resident BW Chatterbox!
  • *****
  • Showing Appreciation 56
  • Posts: 1586
  • Location:
Re: cluster feeding before bedtime with 4 month old?
« Reply #7 on: May 12, 2012, 08:10:18 am »
okay, so he was a little less grouchy yesterday during bedtime lead up, yey! He woke up at 12:30 (not unusual), downed a 8oz bottle and then cried until we offered him another 4oz bottle (very unusual) after which he went spark out! He then slept til 6:30 (unheard of!). Usually if he wakes before 2 for a feed he will need another one in the early hours. Thinking maybe previously, because of the smaller teet he was tiring himself out getting the 7oz but really needed more than that?? Is it safe for him to be having that much in one go??!
Oh, and despite not eating since 12:30 he still flaffed about with his morning bottle!! Little tinker.

Offline Lolly

  • Bottle Feeding, Discipline and Socialization
  • Moderator
  • Resident BW Chatterbox!
  • *****
  • Showing Appreciation 318
  • Gender: Female
  • Posts: 11227
  • Location: Neath, South Wales
Re: cluster feeding before bedtime with 4 month old?
« Reply #8 on: May 12, 2012, 08:14:01 am »
Is it safe for him to be having that much in one go??!

Perfectly safe! Babies are very good at self regulating and will only take what they want/ need. If he took that much and it stayed down it's fine!

Glad yesterday was a bit better - hopefully the faster teat and bigger bottles will help today too!

Laura


Offline brummum

  • Resident BW Chatterbox!
  • *****
  • Showing Appreciation 56
  • Posts: 1586
  • Location:
Re: cluster feeding before bedtime with 4 month old?
« Reply #9 on: May 14, 2012, 08:37:07 am »
okay he's now having 1 feed occassionally 2 at night but it doesn't seem to have made a difference to his interest in the morning feed. Even if he eats at 1/2 then sleeps through he's still not bothered about the 7/7:30 bottle. I have been splitting this feed lately because I don;t want him skipping feeds during the day whilst still having 1/2 night feeds. But I don;t want to promote him snacking. Should I start leaving this bottle or persevere?? Even when he only takes 3/4oz he still seems to be able to make it to 11am with not a lot of difficulty. Any suggestions?

Offline Lolly

  • Bottle Feeding, Discipline and Socialization
  • Moderator
  • Resident BW Chatterbox!
  • *****
  • Showing Appreciation 318
  • Gender: Female
  • Posts: 11227
  • Location: Neath, South Wales
Re: cluster feeding before bedtime with 4 month old?
« Reply #10 on: May 14, 2012, 12:33:03 pm »
I'd keep offering the first bottle, have you tried leaving him for half an hour or so when he wakes before you offer the feed? He may just be a boy who isn't that hungry at the start of the day!

Laura


Offline brummum

  • Resident BW Chatterbox!
  • *****
  • Showing Appreciation 56
  • Posts: 1586
  • Location:
Re: cluster feeding before bedtime with 4 month old?
« Reply #11 on: May 14, 2012, 18:23:06 pm »
I have, he still isn't that interested. He can even be a bit funny with his 11/11:30 at the mo. Think he's probably just not a morning eater (his dads the same!)

Offline Lolly

  • Bottle Feeding, Discipline and Socialization
  • Moderator
  • Resident BW Chatterbox!
  • *****
  • Showing Appreciation 318
  • Gender: Female
  • Posts: 11227
  • Location: Neath, South Wales
Re: cluster feeding before bedtime with 4 month old?
« Reply #12 on: May 15, 2012, 20:26:40 pm »
Boys ::) ;D ;)

Laura


Offline brummum

  • Resident BW Chatterbox!
  • *****
  • Showing Appreciation 56
  • Posts: 1586
  • Location:
Re: cluster feeding before bedtime with 4 month old?
« Reply #13 on: May 16, 2012, 07:52:55 am »
hmmmm! too true! The last couple of nights I have only given him the one night feed (had reduced second to 4oz anyway on the nights he wanted 2 feeds to try and improve morning feed). Last night he slept through from 7 til 3 when he had 7oz bottle and then slept throught til 6:30. I then gave him til 7:30 before offering bottle and ....... he still wasn't bloomin interested! Do you think I should start very gradually reducing the remaining night bottle see if that makes a difference?? I'm happy to continue night feeds, don't get me wrong but I'm beginning to wonder whether he really needs/wants it. I should probably just be happy with what we have at the moment, it wasn't that long ago he was waking for a 11:30 feed and sometimes not going back to sleep at all!!

Offline Lolly

  • Bottle Feeding, Discipline and Socialization
  • Moderator
  • Resident BW Chatterbox!
  • *****
  • Showing Appreciation 318
  • Gender: Female
  • Posts: 11227
  • Location: Neath, South Wales
Re: cluster feeding before bedtime with 4 month old?
« Reply #14 on: May 16, 2012, 08:30:52 am »
Try reducing the bottle gradually by 1oz every 3 nights and see how he goes. You can keep going until it gets to maybe 4oz and see if that's enough for him. If he wakes again shortly after the bottle you will know he does still need the feed! If he is easy to re-settle with a smaller bottle you could keep going and see if you can get rid of it altogether, especially if he does take more in his morning feeds.

Laura


Offline brummum

  • Resident BW Chatterbox!
  • *****
  • Showing Appreciation 56
  • Posts: 1586
  • Location:
Re: cluster feeding before bedtime with 4 month old?
« Reply #15 on: May 16, 2012, 19:06:12 pm »
will give it a go and keep you posted! thanks for all your advice