How many bottles at 37 weeks?

[snowylion]

Someone please help! My 37-week old baby has recently transistioned from 3-2 naps and I am really struggling to get a new routine that is just right for him. We have always followed EASY, although loosely as he has never been the most consistent napper or milk drinker. He has gone from going down for naps and self soothing to screaming like a banshee whenever he goes into his bedroom, despite appearing tired and a bit of clock watching. He has always been an early waker (anytime after 5am) and has struggled to be up past 6pm. He has also teethed almost constantly over the last four months and is currently cutting his eighth tooth. He is a spirited baby.

His routine today was/is:

6.30am Wake
7am Bottle (threw it all up - this is something he is growing out of at the moment!)
8.30am Weetabix and fruit (but not much)
9.45 for 10am Nap, but only after taking 150ml of formula after prolonged bout of screaming
11.30am Wake and bottle (only 100ml taken)
12.30pm Lunch (again only a small amount)
2pm Bottle (maybe 50ml)
3pm Sleep (only after screaming again and pu/pd)

He is currently sleeping and I will have to wake him shortly as I need him to go back to bed around 7pm. I was planning to give him food around 5pm and a bottle about 6.30pm before bed. Rereading this, I'm not sure if it is bottle feeding or general routine tweaking that I need. He has been very off the last couple of days and apart from the teething, I think I am just not getting his timings right. I can't figure out the best time to give him a bottle (I have tried to reduce the dream feed over the last few weeks but with bad days, naps and teeth, this has proved impossible). Last night I dream fed at 9.30pm (120ml) and then he woke and had a full bottle of 240ml at midnight and 150ml at 4am. He then slept til 6.30am which is the latest he has slept for weeks. Until about four weeks ago he was sleeping from dream feed until 5am and I can't work out if I have inadvertantly created a feed to sleep association with him or if he is genuinely hungry. Last night he was genuinely hungry but tonight...who knows. He also will not drink anything unless he absolutely wants to so there is no cajoling him.

I am at my wits end and also have four-year-old triplets to contend with while my OH works overseas so any help/advice will be greatly appreciated.

[Lolly]

How old is he in months - about 9? He's kind of at that in-between stage if he is, some babies are still on 4 bottles (wake up, mid morning, mid afternoon, bedtime) and some have transitioned to 3 (wake up, pre afternoon nap and bedtime). Most will have dropped the DF by now and night feeds are not common with this age.

That 7am bottle - you say he is growing out of throwing it up - does he have reflux? Is it being treated? If he has got reflux the teething could be makig it worse which would account for the unsettledness.It's also possible the 240ml bottle plus the 150ml bottle in the night may have been responsible for throwing up the morning bottle, that's a lot of milk overnight.

Laura

[snowylion]

He has a soft gullet so anything that goes down can come up quite suddenly but it's getting better as he ages. In calender months, he's only just over 8, which is why I'm so confused. I'm not sure what I'm aiming at. I did try and drop to three bottles because it has always been a struggle to get him to drink what he should and so I thought he might up his amount but he wasn't ready. His A time is around 3hrs and I added fifteen minutes today. That was fine for the mornng, disastrous for mid afternoon but he self soothed at bedtime and apart from crying for his dummy, was perfectly happy. He's a contrary little thing!

[Lolly]

Ha! They are all contrary! It's to keep us on our toes!

I would keep him on 4 day bottles for now then and work at dropping the dreamfeed and the night feeds. My DD wouldn't DF so we stopped her nightfeed at 8 months by dropping 1oz (30ml) every 3 nights until. When she got to about 2oz she slept through one night so we stopped offering after that and just resettled. She complained about it for a couple of nights but started sleeping through properly after that.

Laura