How does it all fit it now everything is changing?

[Hollie-Mae]

Easy has just become 'easier' now that we finally have my dd's allergies and reflux under control. She is now beginning to nap longer since she is getting through the 45 minute wake up, but it's messing up our 4 hour easy, and I don't know how to make it fit into the day? At the moment it looks like this, but dinner time is awful because by this point she's too tired to eat. Unfortunately she won't drink milk after food so dinner has to be last, also making dinner awkward! How do you all make it work at this stage?

Wu 6.20
E- 7am milk
    8am solids
S- 9.20-11.10
E- 11.30 milk
    12 finger food
S- 2.25- 3.55
E- 4pm milk (I give her only a small bottle because this is a really late feed!)
E- 6pm milk
    6.30pm solids
S- 7pm bed

[Sarah - Enfys' Mum]

How old is she?

[Hollie-Mae]

Sorry forgot to add this! She will be 7 months next week x

[creations]

How about moving the mid morning milk to straight after her nap, closer to 11ish, move that smaller milk from 4pm to pre afternoon nap (so around 2 ish, I know it's early but you just need to find what works), then move her solids dinner to straight after the nap, around 4.00/4.30pm then she may take a good milk before BT?
Most LOs I see need their evening meal pretty early or they are too tired to eat it.

[Hollie-Mae]

Do most babies make it through the night having dinner so far from bed time? It's all new to me as I've only just dropped the dream feed so not only am I feeding so late because she always has milk before solids and I've gone with routine, but also I guess I'm thinking for her as I would for an adult! If I fed her dinner that early would she not be hungry in the night?

[creations]

Milk is her primary food until she is 1yo. Milk is higher in fat, calories and nutrition than the solids at this age so the thing that will take her through he night is milk, not solids (solids can fill her tiny tummy without giving her as much in the way of calories that milk can).  It's really common for LOs to be less interested in solids in the evening (many taking large breakfast and lunch and almost no dinner).  If you bring the dinner solids much earlier she has a chance to eat when she is less tired (it can be quite hard work eating solids at this age, takes more effort than sucking milk) and still build an appetite for her final milk feed of the day which at this point should still be a full milk feed just before BT.
In general milks would be at 7,11,3,7
and solids 8, 12, 4 (ish)
If you look at the times the milk still comes before solids in each case, with a 1 hr gap between, and possibly a bit longer if a nap falls between.
Obviously every LO has a slightly different routine and you need to fit feeds around naps which is why I suggest bringing the 3pm milk to pre-nap at 2pm ish.

I used to use that afternoon nap time to get dinner made, I know it might seem very early for an adult meal but I always ate with my LO and then had a light supper after his BT if I needed it.
hth

[MasynSpencerElliotte]

My 7 month old so far only does two bigger meals a day - breakfast and sort of an afternoon snack and then some finger food while we have our supper as that way she does not get full before her bedtime bottle (plus, as creations mentioned she is not as interested in solids at that point!). We just started her afternoon meal last week.

[Kellyjs]

Hi Hollie-Mae,

I used to do the evening meal at 5.30pm until creations convinced me to move it to 4pm. I too dropped the dreamfeed about the time I was doing a routine change. All I can say is that it works!!!

Before my LO was only taking 4oz at the BT feed. Not good for her going through the night and my thinking every murmur was going to turn into a 'I'm hungry' cry!! After moving it to 4pm, she now takes a full 8oz before bed. Don't get me wrong, it took a few days to get there, but it gradually increased. As did her morning bottle. Never had to resort to feeding her in the middle of the night. 

Hope that helps, xx

[Hollie-Mae]

Thanks ladies, especially creations, that's made it much simpler for my frazzled brain!! Seems much easier to stick to the timings like that, I spend so much time stressing about how many ounces I've got into her throughout the day, if I can get her into that routine it would be better for us both I think! Have been to so many 'weaning' chats, but at none of them have they actually mentioned how to manage intake of both once you're introducing solids, and that's the hardest part for me!!
As ever who knows what I'd do without this forum, thank you for your help xx

[creations]

No problem
Hope it settles down for you. I totally loved the solids stage but I also found it super hard to fit it all into the day - felt like I was constantly feeding him.  It does calm down though.