Refusing milk

[Mummybare]

Hello, I don't know if anyone over here can help? I posted this in the Solid Food forum earlier, but I don't know if there's much traffic over there and I'm desperate to know what to do for the best 

Hi there, I wonder if anyone can advise me about DD's feeding schedule. Aishi on the naps board has been really helpful at getting her sleeping pattern under control, so I think we're looking at a longer nap from about 11am-1pm and a catnap around 4pm. So I'm wondering how to fit in feeds and meals...

She is just coming up to 8mo, I am bf and we are BLW, but she eats a LOT! She will pretty much put away whatever we put in front of her (unless it is dropped, of course). My worry is that she is definitely taking less milk these days. We do 4 feeds a day, no DF, always an hour or so before food, but as her naps have got later, so have her feeds and a few times now she has refused the bedtime feed. Is it to early to move to 3 feeds, do you think? If so, should I offer a feed before putting her down for a nap? (Not sure she would take it at 10.45, mind you, as she has a big breakfast... Unless I restrict her solids?)

I know most of her nutrition should come from her milk, but she has taken to solids so well. What do people think - too soon?

[Erin M]

The general recommendations are to stick with 4 milk feeds until a year.  At this point, I would reduce the solids she's getting later in the day so she'll take that milk feed better.  You also might try to feed before her first nap instead of after, which might spread out your feeds later on in the day.  Can your post your EASY with feeding times, amounts, etc and we'll see if we can tweak a bit from there?

[Mummybare]

Hi, thanks so much for your reply. So for a week or so we've been doing something like:

(EW 6-ish, but that's another story...)
7am E (bf)
8am breakfast
11am S
1pm E (bf)
1.45pm lunch
3.45/4 CN
4.30/4.40 E (bf)
5/5.30 dinner
6.45 E
7pm bed

So, as you see, it's all got a bit crowded at the end of the day, so it's not really surprising she is refusing her bedtime feed, I guess. The thing is, she doesn't wake early from her lunchtime nap, though, even though it seems a really long gap between breakfast (which she has quite a lot of) and 1pm. I tried giving her a snack (a banana) at 10am the other day, and she refused her 1pm feed. So perhaps if I add in feeds at 10.45 and 3.30-ish?

[Fiver]

So perhaps if I add in feeds at 10.45 and 3.30-ish?

That's approximately what we were doing at a similar age

[Mummybare]

Great, thanks guys! Her sleeping is still pretty messed up, but will certainly try and retain 4 feeds somehow, once I work out what our days are going to look like.

Just out of interest, how did you guys cope with feeds/meals as A times started jumping around the 2-1 transition? I suppose DD is quite young to be going through that, so LOs are often on 3 feeds when it happens are they? It just seems so complicated trying to fit everything in when their naps go wonky!

Thanks again for your help.

[Erin M]

It just seems so complicated trying to fit everything in when their naps go wonky!

It definitely is!
Recommendations are generally to stick with 4 milk feeds until a year -- when that first A time got long, I would feed twice in that A time most of the time -- sometimes that wouldn't work and I would end up with two feeds bunched together at the end of the day.