9.5 month old EASY review/help?

[mommykay410]

Hi!  My DD is 9.5 months old and we have been following a pretty good routine for a few weeks now with a 3.5 hour A time and good naps.  My concern though is that I feel like I am nursing her too often during the day to make sure that she naps well, and she has been waking up more at night.  A few months ago she was sleeping 10-11 hours straight at night or only waking up once to feed.  Since November though she has been waking up 2-3 times a night, and it seems that she isn't able to sleep for more than a 3-4 hour stretch at a time.  She is definitely teething big time (all 4 top coming at once), so I keep hoping that once that is over with her sleep will go back to how it was, but I don't want to create bad habits in the meantime.  I currently nurse her for full feeds when she wakes up in the morning, when she wakes from each nap, and before bed, and then I nurse her on one side 30 minutes before I put her down for nap to tie her over til she wakes up.  She has solids an hour after each feed.  If I don't give her a top up before nap, she wakes up in less than an hour and doesn't wake up happy.  But it makes it difficult to go anywhere since I have to be home to feed her so often between those times and solids.  Any suggestions on how to tweak her EASY would be appreciated! 

Here is a typical day:
7:00am wakeup
7:30 nurse
8:30 solids (~2.5 oz -hasn't been eating as much lately)
10:00 nurse one side
10:30-11:30/12 nap
12:15 nurse
1:15 solids (~3-3.5 oz)
3:00 nurse one side
3:30-4:30 nap
4:40 nurse
5:40 solids (~3.5-4 oz)
7:40 nurse
8:00 asleep
NW around 11/12 and sometime between 2:30-5:30

[becj86]

I would say you could probably reduce the solids a bit and offer your topup BF after the solids as a drink rather than waiting until just before nap time. That  would leave LO hungry enough for a proper milk feed when she wakes from her nap and reduce any snacking that's happening as well as giving you a bigger window to get out of the house.

What happened in November? Just wondering as it seems to me LO is eating quite a lot of solids - could be waking extra in the night because solids has less calories than milk per oz and not getting enough milk in during the day due to big solids meals. She could also be waking due to that evening solids meal - any correlation between those starting?

[mommykay410]

Thank you for your reply!  It does seem that she was eating smaller amounts of solids overall back in November.  She was also having issues with gas at night back then too, so I was trying to tweak some things then also.  We don't have the gas issues anymore, but I'm not sure what solved it or if it just was a phase.  What amount of solids would be more appropriate for her to eat at each meal?  And at what point then should I increase the amount of solids she is eating at each meal?  I have been giving her some finger foods at lunch and dinner too (cheese, scrambled eggs, green beans, broccoli) but she doesn't consume more than a few pieces at this point.  Last week she was hardly eating any solids at all, she was refusing to eat them and swatting the spoon, (again I think bc of teething) and her sleep was the same - waking 2-3 times a night.  I will try giving her less at dinner and see if that makes a difference.  And I will try the drink of milk after meals instead of before nap and see how that works.  I need to find a better straw cup though, because with the one I have the straw leans to the back of the cup and she tilts it forward, so I would be wasting a ton of milk that way since she will never be able to get it all out of the cup. 

[becj86]

In your shoes, I'd probably just do the finger foods for each meal - solids introduction at this stage is for mouth development and tasting, so I'd not bother with too many purees, though maybe reduce gradually, say by 1oz per meal every couple of days so your supply can increase in line with any increase in her feeds.

There can be a lot of tummy discomfort when starting solids or offering at dinner time, just because having solids passing through the digestive system is new and feels different - this is particularly noticeable when LO is in bed not being distracted by other things. That could be what you were dealing with in November?

[mommykay410]

Yes, I definitely think that was the issue in November.  At that time I tried to make sure I gave her smaller amounts of solids at dinner and fed her earlier so she would have more time to digest before going to bed.  The problem I am having now though is that she only wakes up from her afternoon nap at 4:30/5, so if I nurse her when she wakes up from that and then wait an hour to give her solids, it's already getting late and close to her 8:00 bedtime.  Plus if I nurse her before bed ta 7:40 I feel like it's so much food jammed into the evening, almost like she's eating the whole time from nap wake-up til bed.  Should I try to adjust her routine in the afternoon/evening to feed her dinner earlier?  Like maybe try to do a full breastfeed before she goes down for her afternoon nap, give her solids when she wakes up, and then wait to nurse again until bed?  I feel like that would be a pretty long window without nursing though if I feed her at 3 before she goes down for nap at 3:30 and then not again til after 7:30.

[becj86]

You could do a finger food snack before nap, then BF after nap and again at BT... Or if you were to do finger food only say 30min after she has her BF when she wakes from that nap, rather than purees, that might be ok.

[mommykay410]

Doing finger food 30 min after BF would be better than before nap I think.  She wouldn't nap long enough in the afternoon with just a finger food snack before since her last BF would already be 3 hours ago, and she doesn't consume more than a few bites of finger food yet at this point.  I will give that a try!