Author Topic: Same question, same problem. Can't get 10 mo old to eat more  (Read 3888 times)

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Offline Anders45

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Same question, same problem. Can't get 10 mo old to eat more
« on: October 05, 2015, 18:51:21 pm »
My 10 month old boys are waking at 2 in the morning EVERY night and they eat 4 ounces and then promptly go back to sleep until 5:30 (they used to wake up at 6...). This wouldn't be a problem, but they are 10 months old, and I am pregnant and exhausted and sick. I just need them to sleep. I've been discussing this with one of the moderators in the NW section and we've come to the conclusion that I need to try to get them to eat four more ounces during the day. But I swear that it's the hardest thing I've tried to do with these two, I could cry. I make 8 ounce bottles just before they wake up from their nap and try to get them to eat the 8 ounces before they go down for their next nap. So since they take two naps that theoretically would be 24 ounces plus their dream feed (which is 8 ounces, so 32 ounces) (which we have been trying and failing to wean them off of since they were 7 months old). Problem is I can rarely get them to eat that much. 8 ounces if I'm lucky, 4-6 is the norm. I need help... like major help, maybe mental help, who knows! I think I may be going crazy.

Anyways, here is our feeding schedule, in case you think it may help:

WU 6
E bottle 1-2 ounces
A
E 8 solids and another 1-2 ounces
A
E 9 2-4 ounces
S 9.15 - 10.45
E 2-4 ounces (usually 2)
A
E 12 solids and other 1-2 ounces
A
E 1.30 2-4 ounces (usually 2)
S 2-3.30
E 1-2 ounces
A
E 5 solids and 1-2 ounces
A
E 6.30 dinner (they usually just play with their food here) and 6-8 ounces
BT routine
BT 7.30
DF - 9.30 2-3 ounces
NW 2.30 3-4 ounces (we've been trying to get to them before they start screaming - baby b will start screaming after a few minutes of fussing at this time if we don't go in and feed him. We've tried PU/PD with him and we've tried holding him until he calms down... he doesn't calm down, and he SCREAMS).

They are in general happy children. They let me know when they are hungry, particularly when they didn't eat very well earlier. I think their naps are fine, I just need to figure out how to get them to eat more/ consolidate their feeds. If I could get them to eat 5 ounces when they wake up, and then 2 after they eat their solids, I'd be amazed, and greatful. please, please, please help.

Offline Lolly

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Re: Same question, same problem. Can't get 10 mo old to eat more
« Reply #1 on: October 05, 2015, 20:07:47 pm »
I'd ay you have a major snacking situation going on - they graze all day by the looks of things so they really aren't getting a chance to get properly hungry which is why they are taking all those small feeds.

The way to get them to take better feeds is to stop feeding them milk so often! You aren't going to be able to increase their feeds until you cut the frequency down. With solids, at 10 months they only really need 20-24 oz of formula with their solids, you can add dairy to their solids too.

Formula fed babies at 10 months are mostly on 3 bottles a day, a wake up bottle, a post lunch pre afternoon nap bottle and a bedtime bottle. I would start one morning, give them a wake up bottle and then their breakfast with no top up bottle after, if they have cereal with milk they won't need it. I would then not offer another bottle until a little while after their lunch. If they are hungry give them a small solids snack or bring lunch earlier. You would offer another bottle just before their nap and then not again until bedtime. They need to have water with meals really, not more milk.

Don't be afraid to give them small solids snacks rather than bottles of milk, it's only  few weeks until they are 1 and they need to be moving to dropping bottles, at the moment you are offering bottles between 2 and 3 hourly which is new born timings! Looking at your EASY, they are offered food at 6am, 8am, 9am, 11am, 12pm, 1.30pm, 3.30pm, 5pm, 6.30pm and 9.30pm and the 2.30am feed, this is why they don't take bigger milk feeds!

You may have a few difficult days while they adjust to a new routine but they won't starve or come to any harm if you let them get hungry.
A new routine would be:

6 WU and bottle
8 solids breakfast & water in a sip
9 Small solids snack if needed
Sleep
11/11.30 solids lunch & water
1.30 Milk then sleep
4.30/5 solids & water

The evening can be what suits you best, we always did bath, bottle bed but you can do bottle before bath is that works better. I preferred bottle last before sleep as they have time to get hungry after their tea time solids and go to sleep with a full tummy.

I would also stop the DF now, they don't need it and it may be disturbing them which could be a factor in the night wakings. You can either stop it cold turkey and see what happens or reduce it by 1oz every 3 nights.

What do you think?

Laura


Offline Anders45

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Re: Same question, same problem. Can't get 10 mo old to eat more
« Reply #2 on: October 05, 2015, 20:43:39 pm »
It sounds better than what I've been trying to do. They used to drink all their milk right when they woke up, but due to... circumstances they stopped drinking as much and that got me nervous. I must have jumped the gun. K. So should I start this new routine cold turkey? Just up and start? No preamble? I will try it out. How long do you thin it will take them to adjust? a couple days? A week?

Also, I could really use some help figuring out how much solids they should be eating. I really don't know and I just feel so overwhelmed. I give them crackers, and fruit and some apple sauce for one meal, and then maybe a bit of my sandwich and some fruit and peas for another meal and then we always share our dinner with them also. But I just don't know how MUCH to give them.

Next question. As noted, they will usually only eat 2 ounces right when they wake up. While adjusting, should I still not offer any more before their nap if they refuse to eat the rest of that bottle, even though they only got 2 ounces? Or should I give them the rest of the bottle a little later? Thank you! This is the most hope I've had in months.

Offline Lolly

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Re: Same question, same problem. Can't get 10 mo old to eat more
« Reply #3 on: October 05, 2015, 21:04:45 pm »
It sounds better than what I've been trying to do. They used to drink all their milk right when they woke up, but due to... circumstances they stopped drinking as much and that got me nervous. I must have jumped the gun. K. So should I start this new routine cold turkey? Just up and start? No preamble? I will try it out. How long do you thin it will take them to adjust? a couple days? A week?

Yup - just start cold turkey (I would anyway!). It will take a few days to adjust, maybe up to a week but they may surprise you.

Also, I could really use some help figuring out how much solids they should be eating. I really don't know and I just feel so overwhelmed. I give them crackers, and fruit and some apple sauce for one meal, and then maybe a bit of my sandwich and some fruit and peas for another meal and then we always share our dinner with them also. But I just don't know how MUCH to give them.

I would just offer them smaller portions of what ever family meals you prepare. So for example, give them a sandwich each made with one slice of bread with whatever fillings they like. I would give mine some fingers of cucumber, a couple of cherry tomatoes (cut into quarters) with a sandwich maybe a few raisins and cubes of cheese as a mid-day meal then some yoghurt and fruit. What you offer depends on their experience, my two had finger foods from 6 months so were good at all sorts of textures and chunks by 10 months.

I would give a few tablespoons of something like a stew with other veg as finger foods, pasta would be a handful with whatever sauce we were having.

At this age you don't need to worry about overfeeding solids really, let them eat until they stop or indicate they have had enough.

Next question. As noted, they will usually only eat 2 ounces right when they wake up. While adjusting, should I still not offer any more before their nap if they refuse to eat the rest of that bottle, even though they only got 2 ounces? Or should I give them the rest of the bottle a little later?

I would wait for half an hour or so after wake up and see if they take a bit more when they have had a chance to wake up properly. Even if they have only take a couple of oz, if they have eaten breakfast don't offer more milk before their nap or you won't break the cycle! Offer milk, let them drink what they want and then get rid of the rest of the bottle! Make sure you are using the fastest flow of teat if you aren't too.

You can do it!

Laura


Offline Anders45

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Re: Same question, same problem. Can't get 10 mo old to eat more
« Reply #4 on: October 05, 2015, 21:43:16 pm »
K. Wish me luck! I'll start in the morning. And give you an update tomorrow afternoon and see if maybe we need to tweak anything. Also, I'll check the nipples and see if they are fast flow. They came with the 9 oz bottles, so I assume they are either fast or medium.

Thank you so much!

Offline Lolly

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Re: Same question, same problem. Can't get 10 mo old to eat more
« Reply #5 on: October 06, 2015, 06:20:48 am »
Yeah, I'd say you need to go shopping for faster teats! In my experience all bottles, even 9oz ones, come with the slowest flow of teat meant for newborns. This could well be why they started taking less at a feed as the flow is too slow so they get tired/ fed up of sucking. They only take enough then to take the edge off not until they are properly full.

Go get some faster teats! Good luck - remember it won't go perfectly but you are working towards getting better1

Laura


Offline *Liz*

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Re: Same question, same problem. Can't get 10 mo old to eat more
« Reply #6 on: October 06, 2015, 09:03:23 am »
Agree - my 9oz bottles still came with size 1 teats. Irritating money making nonsense!!! My 10 month old would go crazy on a size 1 teat - he'd just get bored and crawl off  ;). Even on a size 3 he will get fed up after a few mins, but at least he has guzzled 5/6oz by then  ;).

Offline Anders45

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Re: Same question, same problem. Can't get 10 mo old to eat more
« Reply #7 on: October 06, 2015, 19:01:03 pm »
K. So they both ate 3 ounces this morning. I gave baby a (he's the smaller one) the rest of his bottle after breakfast (cereal and fruit), because he was still acting super hungry and super grumpy - he fell asleep to the bottle and woke up when I put him in his crib. Not my intention, but oh well. We had lunch at 11:00 of yogurt, fruit and some tamales. Baby a was really grumpy and hungry around 12:30 so I figured he'd take his bottle, but he only had 3 ounces again I'll offer it again in ten minutes... Baby b refused his bottle, and he's still trying to figure out his sippy and is REALLY grumpy. Not sure what to do here... They'll be going down for a nap in half hour. Maybe I'll just feed him to sleep. I don't like to do that, but that seems to be the only time he'll eat. This is hard. I'm so nervous that they aren't getting enough to eat.

Offline Anders45

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Re: Same question, same problem. Can't get 10 mo old to eat more
« Reply #8 on: October 06, 2015, 19:27:35 pm »
update. I just put them to bed. baby a finished off 6 ounces (so he ate another 3 just before he went to bed) and baby b finally took his bottle (he was practically crawling up on my lap trying to steal his brother's bottle and he ate 6 ounces as well. I'm going to the supermarket when they wake up to buy size 3 nipples. I still don't like feeding them to sleep, but that seems to be what I'm doing as of late. Is that ok, or should I try to get off of that? They can fall asleep on their own, as shown by this morning, but they go down easier with the bottle (surprise!).

So, my next one is due in April. About what age would you say I should be switching from feeding every 4 hours to every 5, or three times a day? I want to know so I can avoid this whole mess that I'm facing with my twins.

Offline Lolly

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Re: Same question, same problem. Can't get 10 mo old to eat more
« Reply #9 on: October 06, 2015, 20:02:18 pm »
Have you had a look at the EASY sample routines in the FAQ? There are a lot of routines there, but basically you are looking at a 3 hour EASY until about 4 months when they move to a 4 hour EASY. Most bottle fed babies go to 3 bottles at about 10 months, so where you are now with your twins, then 2 bottles at 1. It's impossible to say exactly as every baby is different!

You should fine it easier tomorrow with faster teats, but it my take a couple of feeds for them to adjust to the new flow.

Aim for the 3 feeds again tomorrow and see how it goes. I would ry not to feed to sleep, you will just end up with another prop if you aren't careful. It's also worth remembering that a bit less milk for a couple of days while they adjust isn't going to do them any harm at all.

Laura


Offline Lolly

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Re: Same question, same problem. Can't get 10 mo old to eat more
« Reply #10 on: October 07, 2015, 20:24:13 pm »
How did it go today?

Laura


Offline Anders45

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Re: Same question, same problem. Can't get 10 mo old to eat more
« Reply #11 on: October 08, 2015, 14:57:05 pm »
So... They were pretty grumpy all day except right after they ate from their bottle. 2 days of this and they are still only eating 2-3 oz in the morning. I want to say their meals are good. They had half a tamale, some Cheerios and a 1/2 cup of yogurt for lunch, for example. They eat all 8ounces before their morning nap and before bed. I think the fast flow has really helped.

The first night they woke up at midnight and they wouldn't take the bottle. I'm pretty sure they woke up from a tummy ache (bedtime bottle was the first with the fast flow nipples, bad call on my part, I know... They threw up). Last night they woke up at midnight and took... Maybe four ounces and then at 3 and didn't take any. So we laid them in bed and let them chat to each other. It was about an hour before they were both asleep and there was no crying until right at the end, where we went in and gave them their binkies and recovered them (they only take their binkies when they are close to sleep and they pop right out when they are asleep). They slept until seven and then ate only 3 ounces...

I feel like I'm doing something wrong. They went from one NW to two. And they get grumpy. I've been offering water from a sippy when they get grumpy instead of a bottle of milk, but it doesn't seem to last as long, it's a temporary solution. Does that make sense?

Offline Lolly

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Re: Same question, same problem. Can't get 10 mo old to eat more
« Reply #12 on: October 08, 2015, 20:24:03 pm »
You aren't doing anything wrong!

Being grumpy and night wakings could be teeth related at this age or development! I would say though that they are unlikely to take more in the morning until night feeds are gone - would you be hungry first thing if you had a middle of the night snack! ;) ;D

Some of their A times are short for their age, so that could be contributing to night wakings too.

The increase in bottle size is great! Remember too that their tummies are only about the size of their fists, so what we think is a small amount of solids can be plenty for a nearly toddler. Keep going with the 3 bottles, it's only been a couple of days they are still adjusting!

Laura


Offline becj86

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Re: Same question, same problem. Can't get 10 mo old to eat more
« Reply #13 on: October 09, 2015, 02:50:53 am »
Are they still having 2 x 1.5hr naps? It might be worth trying to move the morning nap later and cap the afternoon nap to 1hr or maybe even 45min to lengthen the night and encourage them to sleep better through the early hours of the morning. Long happy night waking for no apparent reason such as you've described at 3am here are often because of that first nap of the day being too early and/or too much day sleep.

They are eating plenty of solids, DS wasn't eating anything like that amount at that age!

They can just be grumpy because things are different from what they're used to - they may not be hungry or thirsty so much as wondering why they aren't being offered milk so frequently through the day. This is much the same as a baby crying when you change the way they go to sleep by sleep training, etc. They're communicating in the only way they know.

Offline Anders45

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Re: Same question, same problem. Can't get 10 mo old to eat more
« Reply #14 on: October 09, 2015, 16:39:41 pm »
So, baby a woke up, fussed a little and put himself back to bed at 11:30 last night (it was actually amusing because I think he was trying to sit up, but he was way out of it and couldn't even get up halfway). He then woke at 2:30 and that's when I fed him a bottle of about 4. Oz because he wasn't falling asleep like normal. Baby b woke at 11:30 and bonked his head when he rolled over in the crib, but I gave him his bi my and he fell promptly back to sleep and didn't wake until 6! It was rather glorious (except I was up every two hours to pee anyways... Stupid pregnant bladder)

And I'm really nervous to switch their napping schedule right now. The last time I did that, three months ago I went from perfect sleepers (granted they had only been sleeping awesome like that for about a month) to several NW. We had wanted to extend their night sleep.  But instead made a mess of everything from feeding to dependent sleeping.. It's been a mess and I feel like I'm finally straightening it up. I'm scared to mess with that again so soon... Does that make sense?