End of day routine 7.5mo old

[Adelheid]

Quick Question:
I'm wondering what to do about the end of day routine for my 7.5 mo old. His A time is 3.5 hrs.
Here's his current EAS
7am WU/ BF
8am Solids
10:30am  S (1.5-2hrs)
Noon BF
1pm Solids
3:30 S (1-1.5hr)
5pm BF
6pm Solids (Porridge with Formula)
7pm Night routine+ Formula
7:30pm asleep
(no DF)

So, at the end of the day, I'm finding that my LO is not interested in the final bottle of the day. In fact, he's finicky about any of the BF and nurses for 5-10min tops. I am wondering if I am trying to get too many things down between his last nap and his bed time. As to the Porridge he gets, I don't give him as much as the serving size suggests, but he gobbles down every bite I give, even if its 5min after he just Breastfed.

I recently switched the last BF to a bottle of Formula, as I am dropping the DF currently. Until recently, he would gulp down 8oz of Formula at the DF. I assumed he took this much because he didn't get much Breastmilk from me at the end of the day. So, I decided to do a bottle instead and drop the DF. That way, I'm off the hook and my husband still gets to do his one feeding.

[Kellyjs]

Hey hun, just thought I'd reply as we had this at this age too. We weren't bf, but she was taking much less of her BT bottle. As we'd dropped the DF, it was too little for my liking!

Anyhoo, the advice I received from creations was to move dinner much earlier to around 4pm which I did and it worked amazingly. It took a couple of days for it to settle in but she was back from 4oz at BT to around 8oz. Not sure how to work with with your routine but maybe offer the solids straight after the bf? Hth x

[Adelheid]

Good idea! I tried moving his porridge closer to his BF and served a tiny bit less.
Then, I gave him his BT bottle with a straw instead of a nipple. He slurped it all down in less than 2min! Hurray! 8oz.
(It's not bad to give a bottle via a straw and cup, right? I just didn't have any faster flowing nipples for the formula).

So, its not too many bits of food/ milk/ formula to get him to eat at the end of the day, correct?

[Kellyjs]

It gets really hard to fit it all in doesn't it? Yep, I would rinse and repeat today and see if it continues to work. It will get easier once the afternoon nap shortens a bit later on.

Straw and cup is absolutely fine if he's happy to take it like that. It'll save you from having to wean the bottle in the later months x

[Adelheid]

Last night he woke up at 3:40am and was up for about an hour moaning away in his bed. Do you think this could be because he doesn't get a dream feed anymore? It was only his second night of not getting one.

And how much porridge would you serve at the end of the day? Until he's full or just a bowl he can manage without being full? I have such a hard time knowing how much food in general to be serving him.

[Kellyjs]

Unsure really, I'd doubt it would be because he's hungry as I'm sure he'd let you know. We had EW for around 2 wks after dropping the DF, but think that was a routine issue rather than hunger tbh. See how he does tonight, it might have been a one-off. If not, a routine tweak may be needed or perhaps he's teething?

It's really difficult to gauge portion sizes isn't it? I would do as you did last night as you know then he'll still take the BT bottle. I think that BT bottle is more important as this age. Later on (after 1yo) you can serve larger,portion sizes as then they can self regulate their own intake.

[Adelheid]

Oh dear! Today I got a 1.5h first nap and a 30min. second nap. 
Do you think his 3.5h A time is appropriate for his age? He was yawning at both nap times (I'll start his sleep-time routine about 15min before) but he seemed to fight the second nap and then was wide awake after 30min. at 4pm. 
Now I think I will put him to bed by 7pm.
Should he perhaps have a longer A time?

Yesterday, I had a 1.5 hr first nap and a 45min second nap. In the recent past, he'd easily sleep 2hrs in the morning and then usually 1hr for his second nap. He isn't teething at the moment (has 8 teeth already) unless his molars are making an extra early appearance.

[Kellyjs]

3.5hrs is a little on the higher side of average but mine was doing that easily at that age. You might need to do an earlier BT than that as 3hrs A on 30mins nap is rather long. Perhaps 6.30pm might be better?

I would keep it as it is and see if it happens again. It's hard to judge unless it happens at least a couple of times. If you bump up the A times based on just one day going haywire, it might cause further problems.

See how it does tomorrow, but if it does happen again, yep, I'd look at increasing that second A by 15mins. I'm afraid that will mean 2-1 territory, but let's not count our chickens just yet 

[Adelheid]

Today I got 1.5hr first nap and 1.5hr second nap! Hurray! Except that both times, he needed re-settling mid-way through.
His second A time was 4hrs as we were out and about.

Thank you for your help!

[Kellyjs]

Yay!