Author Topic: 11 months, weaning NF - drop ozs or water down? (Read 4441 times)

<Catherine> · « **on:** April 27, 2014, 09:45:57 am »

I want to drop the NF, it's well overdue

he's 11 months on weds.

He always had 7ozs, I planned to drop an oz every few nights so dropped to 6oz about 10 days ago. He had a strop when the bottle ended for the first say 5 nights, he settled after the strop but it made me reluctant to reduce it further plus he then got poorly hence we're still at 6oz.

He's on antibiotics for an ear infection so I won't go anything more just yet, but I'm reading more about watering down rather than dropping ozs - should I be doing this instead?

I can't remember what I did with DS1, I think I just stopped feeding at night (he was younger too) and sorted his EASY and the NWings followed suit. I'm not brave enough with DS2. He has other wakings (usually) which are routine related and he never needs a feed then, but at the waking around 1-3am he always needs a feed so I think it's habit.

Layla · « **Reply #1 on:** April 27, 2014, 11:39:08 am »

Hi Catherine,

I had a lot of success watering down with dd2 so that would be my suggestion. We got to a point where it was almost all water and she stopped waking for it! She was around 11-12 months old too...

I hope that helps a little

babybarr · « **Reply #2 on:** April 27, 2014, 12:24:07 pm »

Catherine after Ali's suggestion I'm watering down. On night 3 tonight. I know my boys wouldn't be happy if they couldn't have a big enough feed.

Lolly · « **Reply #3 on:** April 27, 2014, 13:06:49 pm »

I prefer the reducing oz and that worked well for DD. The problem I see with watering down is that they are still having a belly full of something so they aren't learning to wake and go back to sleep without that full feeling.

Different things do work for different babies though so you need to do what you are comfortable with.

Laura

Buttonbobs · « **Reply #4 on:** April 27, 2014, 14:33:33 pm »

Just wanted to pop on and say we too went the reducing oz route, but moved the feed earlier in the evening too with each oz drop (we were still doing the DF at about 11months and dropped this way). I was worried personally about E still needing liquid of some sort and that's why I went that route rather than watering down. Also, we were getting waking in the am from wet nappies so the two together made up my mind.

You need to try what you are comfortable with though

If you find B is grumpy from a smaller feed, you could try moving it earlier so he is less hungry, but as it's not a DF it would involve waking him earlier which you might not want to do. It could be a bit like a modified W2S though if you think part of his wakefuless is habit, and this could help? (Thinking aloud, not sure if anyone has tried this before).

Another alternative is to go the watering down route and once you have watered down a bit, then try reducing the amount in total. So e.g say you get down to 7oz of water but 3oz worth of formula, the next step could be reducing the amount overall but keeping the 3oz worth of formula, so sort of a mixture of the two methods if that makes any sense.

babybarr · « **Reply #5 on:** April 27, 2014, 14:43:09 pm »

Catherine I probably will try reducing the ozs a bit as we progress but on my twins thread there's a link about it.

babybarr · « **Reply #6 on:** April 27, 2014, 14:44:37 pm »

here you go How we stopped the night feeds with a 9 month old

MasynSpencerElliotte · « **Reply #7 on:** April 27, 2014, 20:17:27 pm »

I'm watering down too...but we are basically at formula flavoured warm water now so I am pondering setting my alarm and trying w2s as well. I think I will have to do that or go cold turkey on the bottle. So looking forward to that

<Catherine> · « **Reply #8 on:** April 27, 2014, 20:24:52 pm »

Ok ladies, you were supposed to say "well you should go with 'x' method as it will be more effective because...."

I think I'll stick with dropping the ounces and see where we get to, I'm going to leave it at 6ozs for the time being whilst he's not well.

Heidi keep us posted on what you do, will be interesting to see how it goes for you. You too Laura, I hope it's a success for your boys x

MasynSpencerElliotte · « **Reply #9 on:** April 27, 2014, 20:47:10 pm »

Will do...but I think she may be teething or coming down sick as she is off eating today and is on her second nap which is unheard of. Though I suppose I has nothing to lose really then by trying w2s at least. Now to find the most annoying alarm on my phone so I wake up.

Buttonbobs · « **Reply #10 on:** April 27, 2014, 21:09:01 pm »

Good luck both of you

Layla · « **Reply #11 on:** April 28, 2014, 09:54:28 am »

Quote from: <Catherine> on April 27, 2014, 20:24:52 pm

Ok ladies, you were supposed to say "well you should go with 'x' method as it will be more effective because...."

Lol Catherine... I think you should go with watering down as it will be more effective because it will taste like rubbish and the baby will stop waking for it (well at least that was my theory and it sorta worked because she stopped waking

)

<Catherine> · « **Reply #12 on:** April 29, 2014, 14:00:17 pm »

I am very torn.

I suppose if I water down and am finding it doesn't work because he just continues to wake for a bottle of water then I can drop the ozs of water then. I should probably not be so sceptical....!

Buttonbobs · « **Reply #13 on:** April 29, 2014, 14:09:03 pm »

Quote from: <Catherine> on April 29, 2014, 14:00:17 pm

I suppose if I water down and am finding it doesn't work because he just continues to wake for a bottle of water then I can drop the ozs of water then. I should probably not be so sceptical....!

Absolutely, try it and if it doesn't work you haven't really lost anything.

babybarr · « **Reply #14 on:** April 29, 2014, 14:29:58 pm »

I think if you cut the oz first you have no where to go yk? You don't wanna then increase btl just to water it down

<Catherine> · « **Reply #15 on:** April 29, 2014, 14:42:19 pm »

Quote from: babybarr on April 29, 2014, 14:29:58 pm

I think if you cut the oz first you have no where to go yk?

Yes, this was exactly my thinking.

MasynSpencerElliotte · « **Reply #16 on:** April 29, 2014, 15:21:07 pm »

Yeah, my thought as well...though the night before last in my tired stupor I accidentally made her a full strength bottle at 2am or so and then she slept in??? And still took a full feed when I finally woke her. I know bf babies have nf for longer but is it possible that a ffbaby could? During the day she takes anywhere from 24-28 oz and although I upped her bottles she never takes more than that plus blw does not leave me room to add it to her food!

babybarr · « **Reply #17 on:** April 29, 2014, 16:12:58 pm »

I guess if she's hungry Heidi she's hungry??? She was bf before though.

MasynSpencerElliotte · « **Reply #18 on:** April 29, 2014, 16:46:31 pm »

Yeah that is my thought! She is small but so active...perhaps she just can't manage to take in the calories she needs during the day.

Catherine have you tried watering down yet? I think I will go middle of the road tonight and do 4 oz watered into 6 oz and see what happens with that.

TB9 · « **Reply #19 on:** April 29, 2014, 16:56:18 pm »

I tried watering down dd2s bottle but it made her poops really loose and watery, so I had to reduce ozs. I kept her sippy with water in it beside the chair in her room so if she needed a bit more after the reduced oz bottle I just gave her the sippy.

By thw time she was down to 4oz she would either sleep through or not, then I got brave and just started offering sippy with water instead of reducing ozs more.

<Catherine> · « **Reply #20 on:** May 07, 2014, 09:03:10 am »

Ok, thanks ladies.

We're finally having consistent nights of just one waking (for a feed), and he's very settled for the rest of the night now. No teeth, no illness (he's coughing a tad but I'm keeping my fingers crossed it's not going to progress) and no reflux troubles, so tonight I'm going for it or he'll still be having a night feed when he's 3 years old

babybarr · « **Reply #21 on:** May 07, 2014, 09:24:20 am »

Good luck! I've had to stop watering down because it is so watery they just vomit

I'm going to try again though when they're feeling better in case it was just related to that. I have however started offering them less milk - last night was the first time and all that happened was they went in their cots awake as opposed to falling asleep on the bottle... we'll see!

TB9 · « **Reply #22 on:** May 07, 2014, 11:06:20 am »

Fingers crossed!

MasynSpencerElliotte · « **Reply #23 on:** May 07, 2014, 13:25:56 pm »

Hope it went well!

babybarr · « **Reply #24 on:** May 07, 2014, 14:59:26 pm »

How's it going for you Heidi?

MasynSpencerElliotte · « **Reply #25 on:** May 07, 2014, 18:11:50 pm »

Hahaha! She either sleeps thru until 5:30 or wakes anytime between 1:30-4:30...tried going cold turkey and she will not settle by any means until she eats (still watered down, roughly 2.5-3 oz of actual formula in 6 oz of water) but she has been guzzling 32-35 oz in the day for 3 days??

Certainly hope it is working out better for you guys Catherine!

<Catherine> · « **Reply #26 on:** May 08, 2014, 20:53:22 pm »

Well last night did not go well. He took the watered down bottle fine, but was crying for the next couple of hours - seemed windy and in pain. We managed to miss his last ranitidine dose yesterday so could have been that, or perhaps the watery milk, or a combination of the two. I'm going to do the same again tonight and see what happens, but if we get the same I think I'll go back to dropping the ozs instead.

Buttonbobs · « **Reply #27 on:** May 08, 2014, 20:55:48 pm »

Good luck for a better night tonight xx

MasynSpencerElliotte · « **Reply #28 on:** May 09, 2014, 01:06:16 am »

Fx for tonight!

<Catherine> · « **Reply #29 on:** May 09, 2014, 05:10:19 am »

He was fine with it last night

How quickly did you water down again? Do I stay where we are for a few nights then lose another scoop?

babybarr · « **Reply #30 on:** May 09, 2014, 08:32:58 am »

Yes I changed every 3 days.

<Catherine> · « **Reply #31 on:** May 09, 2014, 09:45:31 am »

Great will do that.

How are your boys doing with it now Laura?

babybarr · « **Reply #32 on:** May 09, 2014, 09:55:13 am »

I've stopped. As it got more and more water they were just vomiting I guess cos it's not as thick and it just didn't seem to agree with them. Plus cos they're still poorly I thought it best to stop. I'm just giving them less than a normal sized btl at night.

<Catherine> · « **Reply #33 on:** May 09, 2014, 10:00:20 am »

Poor boys, sounds like dropping ozs once theyre better might be a better way to go.

MasynSpencerElliotte · « **Reply #34 on:** May 09, 2014, 11:10:51 am »

That's what I did...still stuck at one scoop though, apparently lukewarm formula flavoured water is tasty in the motn

Guess I need to bite the bullet and give her water and see what happens!

<Catherine> · « **Reply #35 on:** May 20, 2014, 06:18:52 am »

I probably shouldnt say anything as my children always know when I've posted here and like to then prove me wrong....but, I think it's working....

babybarr · « **Reply #36 on:** May 20, 2014, 09:10:49 am »

ssshhhh let's hope so.

MasynSpencerElliotte · « **Reply #37 on:** May 20, 2014, 15:25:24 pm »

Lol yes they do don't they...meant to come tell you that I dropped ours cold turkey (one night a week ago I forgot to have hot water ready in a thermos so I settled her without) and it has been fine since. Still a nw until sunday night when she had a shorter nap and voila, sttn. So obviously need to start capping her nap. I want to cry, she naps so little as it is and it is getting ridiculous! Fx that B does not cotton on to your post!

<Catherine> · « **Reply #38 on:** May 22, 2014, 00:45:27 am »

Ugh. So, he read my post...

He STTN Saturday night and Monday night. 2hr NWing Sunday night but I was expecting that as he went to bed too early (it was unavoidable even though I knew it was a mistake). And Tuesday night and so far tonight have just been on and off crying. I suspect discomfort but I really don't know.

I kinda wish we hadn't had the two good nights as it makes these bad ones even harder somehow!!

How is E doing Heidi?

MasynSpencerElliotte · « **Reply #39 on:** May 22, 2014, 01:44:47 am »

Oh no...B quit reading mom's threads! Yeah the teaser of sttn for a night or two is not on! E has had one nw per night, some a quick back rub to resettle and others taking ages with no real rhyme or reason (is there ever though

). She is on the verge of walking and dumb me fed her yogurt today (she is mpi but has been okay with a less broken down formula)) and that was a mistake!

<Catherine> · « **Reply #40 on:** May 22, 2014, 05:33:35 am »

I'm thinking some of it might be developmental here too, he's on the verge of walking as well and has suddenly realised he can stand in his cot (amazingly he has never stood in his cot until a couple of days ago!!).

Oh these babies. Now where's that coffee....

MasynSpencerElliotte · « **Reply #41 on:** May 22, 2014, 14:22:41 pm »

Ah, thank goodness for coffee! Fx that he decides to give you a lovely birthday present of sttn! E had an ew today and I finally just sat in the chair with her...I fell asleep promptly so no idea if she did too!

Can he get back down from standing? We had baby boot camp the day she figured that out to teach her how to sit back down! Hopefully once they are walking they will wear themselves out and sleep soundly all night!!

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Author Topic: 11 months, weaning NF - drop ozs or water down? (Read 4441 times)