Author Topic: Changing time and place of last feed  (Read 4961 times)

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Offline First mum

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Changing time and place of last feed
« on: October 03, 2015, 05:53:54 am »
Hi Ladies, I am looking for advice on how I can change my last feed of the day for my nearly 17 month old.  We currently have our one and only bf of the day at about 6:15pm prior to bed 6:30pm.  My lo has a very sleepy association with bf so is generally very sleepy.  Sometimes she protests a little when I break the latch but not often.  I pop her in the cot and help her wriggle onto her tummy, straighten her sleeping bag and generally that's it..  I want to try and move the bf to earlier in the night time routine and then have a book, song, cuddle and rock and into the cot sleepy similar to her lunchtime nap. 

Tonight we have an unwell lo who was falling asleep in my arms at 5, refusing dinner so off we went to the bedroom to have a quick bf and into bed.  Whilst feeding the nurofen kicked in and her fever broke, when I popped her in the cot she was awake and ready to party  ;D we stayed in her darkened room and managed to get a bit of dinner and custard into her and hubby read her 3 books.  I then did cuddle, song, rock and into the cot for about 30 seconds of back stroking and she is asleep.  Very happy mumma here!!!

So our routine is:

Dinner 4:45ish
Bath 5:15ish
Nudey run and wrestle into pjs
Play with blocks/puzzle (if time)
5:50 Into darkened bedroom for books
6:05 Goodnight to Dad, toys, photos etc
6:10 bf

How close to dinner is too close for the bf?  I am really mindful of how sleepy she gets when feeding.

TIA

Offline becj86

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Re: Changing time and place of last feed
« Reply #1 on: October 03, 2015, 08:04:42 am »
I would start by just switching BF and goodnight to Dad, toys, etc. Then if you want to move it earlier still, you could just shift it back further in the routine.

Offline First mum

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Re: Changing time and place of last feed
« Reply #2 on: October 04, 2015, 06:58:28 am »
Well we swapped it around tonight but it took me nearly an hour to settle her  ??? any tips on helping my lo adjust to the new routine for bedtime?

Offline becj86

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Re: Changing time and place of last feed
« Reply #3 on: October 04, 2015, 08:26:00 am »
Time... remember when you taught her anything else? It takes time.

Try to keep goodnight pretty quiet and matter of fact, maybe good night to Dad before BF and toys/sun, etc. after if he is exciting ;)

Offline First mum

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Re: Changing time and place of last feed
« Reply #4 on: October 06, 2015, 05:41:16 am »
So I think I may have made a mistake.  We tried last night to do the goodnight to Dad (as he can be fun :-)) before the bf and then I had 2 books ready to go and fed her almost sitting up to keep her awake.  It was pretty yucky to be honest, over an hour again to resettle and she seemed to just wind up and up.  We even had a pretty interesting tantrum in the middle then a bit of hysterical crying despite me not leaving the room.  I think by this point she was pretty OT.

Tonight I thought I would do everything as previous with bath, books and goodnight to Dad all before the bf and feed her with the lights on, partially sitting up and even talking to her throughout.  She was sooooooo sleepy with only a small protest when I broke the latch.  I only got through 1 verse of her song and she was rubbing her nose and eyes throughout. 

I think I've just reverted to what we were doing before?!?!  I do think the books are too much for her after the bf as she becomes so wired but it seems no matter what time I do the bf she is almost asleep.  Bedtime tonight was perfect with her asleep at 6:30 which is a massive improvement on the night before of 7:45 and the night before that of 7:20 but am pretty sure we are not achieving anything or helping her to settle to bed at night on her own.

Really unsure where to go from here.  I think its me that's the problem and not being consistent???

Offline becj86

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Re: Changing time and place of last feed
« Reply #5 on: October 06, 2015, 08:19:29 am »
Ok, so books were too stimulating for DS until he was 2.5 - totally fine not to have books as the last thing before bed. I'm trying to think what I did.

What's the goal of moving the feed earlier?

Offline First mum

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Re: Changing time and place of last feed
« Reply #6 on: October 07, 2015, 00:47:34 am »
Just the feeding to sleep/sleepy I'm worried that when we do eventually wean that we will have issues?

Offline becj86

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Re: Changing time and place of last feed
« Reply #7 on: October 07, 2015, 03:52:29 am »
Do you have any night feeds? A prop issue? Are you working on weaning?

If not, I honestly wouldn't worry about it - you're probably borrowing trouble where none exists. DS had BT BF straight before bed even at 2.5 and weaned fine.

Offline First mum

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Re: Changing time and place of last feed
« Reply #8 on: October 07, 2015, 06:10:07 am »
No, no and no  :)

I think your right!  I wish she was more awake after the feed so I felt confident that she can get to sleep without the boob.  Think I'll put the lid on this box for a few more months.

Offline becj86

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Re: Changing time and place of last feed
« Reply #9 on: October 07, 2015, 08:40:43 am »
Fair enough, I get wanting her to be more awake but given it ain't broke, probably no need to fix it :)