breastfed 5 month old EASY...

[maggie2]

We have finally got the reflux thing under control I think - we initially just had so much trouble that EASY wasn't working, but we're now getting back on track.

For the past few days, I've been able to get a decent 3 hour EASY going - ds was more of a snacker before but seems okay to go 3 hours now.  My question is - for a BF baby at 5 months, what should I aim for here?  Is a 4 hour EASY stretching it too much?  I know BM is digested more quickly.  The other thing is that he didn't gain as much weight at his last appt (well, according to the doc but I am not sure she's using the newer WHO charts based off BF babies - she didn't even know what I was talking about when I asked).  Anyway, so I don't want to push him too far and risk less than optimal weight gain.

He's not sleeping much at night so I'm afraid I won't be able to judge whether he's getting enough by the night wakings.  He stopped sucking his thumb and the prop we were using (swing) almost caught fire so that was abruptly stopped!  So he's lost two of his comfort mechanisms very quickly - I think that's why he's waking.

anyway, any tips would be appreciated!!

Tx!

[becj86]

My question is - for a BF baby at 5 months, what should I aim for here?  Is a 4 hour EASY stretching it too much?

This varies from baby to baby. My DS was happy as Larry with 4hr between feeds at 3 months and gaining just over a pound a week for a while there too, so LO's can gain plenty with feeds 4hr apart. FWIW, when I was feeding him closer together, he was gaining a lot less (docs were looking at me like I was starving him). I wonder if your frequent feeds were more related to reflux than hunger?

Lots of EBF LO's don't make it 4hr between milk feeds til solids are well established though, so you will have to read your LO's cues to know. What does your EASY look like at the moment?

The thing is, even if they can't go 4hr between feeds, they still need more A time than 1.5hr at this age, so there is some juggling involved, but you can get a routine that will accomodate more frequent feeds but still gives him the A times he needs.

[maggie2]

Thank you!  Yes - I do think the frequent feedings were definitely the result of the reflux - going three hours is actually a big improvement for him!

His 3 hour EASY starts about 6 am with wake up and a feeding.  Every three hour block is about 1 1/2 hours A time and usually only about 45 min to an hour nap.  Sometimes we'll get a longer nap out of him in the afternoon though.  Last night he was in bed at 7pm and woke every three hours through the night as well. 

I'll record exactly what he does today to give a better idea - he's not really 'into' the routine enough yet for me to be able to list our EASY like I've seen others do. 

[becj86]

1 1/2 hours A time and usually only about 45 min to an hour nap.

This is short napping - probably from the A time not being long enough. Hopefully we can extend that gently and see some improvements

Lets see what your day looks like and then we can suggest a plan.

[maggie2]

Well, yesterday was a COMPLETE disaster.  MIL babysat for a few hours for me while I took dd out on a little date.  Baby boy missed his nap, and was overtired, then missed the next nap and was *really* OT and finally couldn't go to bed until 2 hours past his bedtime!!!

So we'll see how today goes;)