Have I got the nightfeed and DF the wrong way round??

[Littlebees]

Hi all

My boy is bottlefed on 3 hour easy, about 12lbs and 11.5 weeks. He is pretty textbook and tends to have feeds to this schedule:

7am, 10.30, 2, 5, 7.30/8 in day.

Then maybe only 1oz at 11 DF and 6oz at 4am.

HOWEVER, I am now a bit thrown as a couple of times the 4am feed has become 5.15am and I am confused whether to wake him at 7am to 'start the day'.

So today we are trying a test and using the 5.15 as the first feed to try and get him to take the DF as the last. Thinking he sound be able to do this as 'heavy enough'. I know EASY is as much about good habits as about feeds but think I just need a bit of confidence.

What do you guys think? xx

PS. I did EASY with my little girl and she wouldn't take the DF so did 7.30pm-3 till 17 weeks. Then 7-7 after I felt confident we could remove the night feed.

[creations]

Hi there welcome (or welcome back) to the forums

I'm not sure I totally understand what it is you are trying.
Do you mean you are going to get him up for the day at 5.15am and start the day then with that being the first feed of the day and follow it with an A time?
Or
Do you mean you are goign to feed at 5.15am and then put him back to bed, get him up at 8am for a feed?  Will he sleep that late in the morning then?

Sorry, I'm just not sure what the plan is.

There's a couple of other options I can think of:
- try the DF at a different time, you might be catching him in too deep a sleep and he doesn't take much, maybe 10.30 or 10.45 would catch him in a lighter part of his cycle and he'd take more at the DF which could then see him further through the night, although not necessarily all the way to WU time
- leave the two feeds as they are giving the DF and the NF and just let him work it through, looks like he is going longer naturally and it will eventually end up morning rather than 5.15am
- drop the DF if it is very small even with trying a different time, and let the NF continue (which might be a bit earlier than 5.15 then but earlier is likely easier to get him back to sleep, 5 ish is a hard time to get LOs back to sleep).  With this you'd probably need to get to bed earlier yourself to make the most of the long stretch of sleep.

[Littlebees]

Thanks Creations! You are right and yes, after the dreaded 5.15am NF he will go back to sleep till about 9, but it takes forever as the daylight comes in!!!

Think I am mostly confused with the timings. Looks like my lb needs 6 x 6oz feeds a day and sometimes when the 6th feed falls as the DF, as we can't fit it in the day, it is never as effective! (plus coming up the 12 weeks growth spurt he might need 1 more for a few days!).

Option 1: Normally the days are like this (We are both happy with this ):

NF 3/4am, 7am, 10.30, 2, 5, 7.30/8 in day.

Then maybe only 1oz at 11pm DF - So dropping the DF would be fine I think.

However on the days where he sleeps later at night, it looks like this and I am not sure what to do as the whole day is realigned:

Option 2: NF 4.30/5.30am, 8.30/9am, 12, 3, 6, 8pm - Then maybe only 1oz at 11 DF

His bedtime has now gravitated to 8.30pm and will get earlier in a few weeks. So last bottle is always from 7.30.

When should the next feed be when the night feed is after 4.30am? Is it possible to keep to Option 1?

Thanks xx

[creations]

You can keep the first feed whatever time you like - it does not need to be at a specific time after the NF.  He may or may not take as much if it is less time since his previous E but it's the WU milk so it just happens at WU.
If you want you can regulate the WU time by waking him and keep your days more consistent, as he's getting a bit older now you might want to do this so that naps fall at more predictable times and you are more able to plan going to baby groups etc.  or you might prefer to let him sleep later in the morning because it means you also get a rest

Do you ever try a cluster before BT?  You could try that, one feed after his nap and another just before BT, some people do the BT feed split before and after bath time which is like a cluster feed.  It could help to top him up before night sleep.
If he's only ever taking 1oz at the DF I'm not sure I'd continue with it.

[Littlebees]

Thanks for the advice!

Since then, I have woken him up every morning between 7-7.30am (otherwise I can't get the feeds in and my lg is awake too!) then he has feeds every 3 hours and the last one is bedtime at 7-7.30pm. I think due to the 12 weeks growth spurt, he is now taking the 10.30 DF as well, (before the DF was not effective as I realised his bedtime bottle was too late to take benefit!) then NF waking at 4am.

Hopefully this is keeping the GS at bay as 7 x 5/6oz bottles is an extra feed a day for him!!! Hopefully next week he will drop a bottle!!

xx

[creations]

Sounds like you've got it all sorted   Great!

[Littlebees]

Just when you think it is ok...

What do you do when the day feeds are reducing but he will still take a 5oz NF as so hungry and now will only take 4oz (normally 6oz) at 7am.

Before routine was 5oz on 6 feeds, now it seems 4oz across 7 feeds. In 2 minds as to whether to get rid of the DF but he now taking 4oz so it seems wanted now, or do you think we should move to 3.5 hrs schedule? Naps are pretty good and he seems less hungry at 3 hours?

Thanks!

[creations]

Hi there
Could you re-post your last post onto the bottle feeding board?  I think you'd get better support there on these feed times changing.
Here's the board:
https://babywhispererforums.com/index.php?board=11.0

[Littlebees]

thanks, will do!