Can't seem to start at 7am

[Emmajayne]

Hello everyone

I have just started ESAY about a week ago with my 5 month old. Having stumbled across the forum and since bought the book I realised we had naturally fallen into a similar pattern but that it needed a few tweaks. My problem is timings! My Lo does not seem interested in food at all until about 9am so it's throwing things off slightly. Here is what we have been working to over the last week:

4am - Feed (normally takes a full bottle)
7.30am - wakes, normally in quite a happy mood
Activity
9am - Bottle
9.30am - sleep (only ever for 30 minutes - on the dot!)
10am - Activity
1pm - Bottle
1.30pm - Sleep (best sleep of the day, normally 2 hours sometimes he wakes earlier and I can't get him off again)
3.30pm - Activity
4.30pm - Bottle
5.30pm (sometimes a CN for 30 mins but he really fights this one)
7pm - Bath
7.30pm - Bottle and bed
10.30pm - DF

One he started feeding every 4-hours is I realised I needed to introduce a DF as there was no other way of getting 5 feeds into him during the day. I was hoping he would drop he night (4am feed) but nothing so far!

I am hoping some of you could suggest ways to improve my schedule? I think it's the 4am feed that's messing things up but he is starving by this point!

Thanks so much in advance
Emma

[Kasianie]

I'm bf so I don't have experience but somewhere on this site I read how the mother got rid of NF by dilutating formula more and more every three days. If you are giving him less at night you have to give him more during the day.

[Buntybear]

hi Emmajayne, how are things now? x

[Emmajayne]

Thanks for your messages!

I think it's the DF that seems to have changed things but I am not sure what I can do about it. So I DF at about 10pm and then he wakes (without fail between 4am and 4.20) and takes a full 7oz. Then he wakes at 7.30 and is not hungry, I stretch his feed to about 9am but he only takes about 4oz. For the rest of his feeds during the day he takes about 7oz.
I know you say it's normal for him to be waking in the night but I can't help thinking if he dropped the 4am fed then he would be hungry when he woke? It's not a huge issue as I don't mind getting up in the night at all I just want to check I am doing everything right!
Thanks for all your help.

[Shiv52]

What about cutting down that 4am feed an oz every few nights. To be fair though at 5 months a DF and a NF isn't unheard of and it LOs likely hunger as opposed to habit.

The other thing you could do is stop the DF and the NF would likely move earlier so there'd be more chance of being hungry in the morning for that first feed.