Won't go longer than 3 hours between feeds at 5months

[mommynow]

Hi,

My daughter just turned 5 months old.  I am having trouble with EASY right now because she can stay awake longer now (2 hours) but won't go longer than 3 hours to eat.  For the first EASY she only stays awake 1.5 hours so that is okay because she sleeps 1.5 hours.  However for the next EASY she stays awake 2 hours and then will only sleep 1 hour and wakes to eat.  I can tell she is still tired though but she is hungry also  :? How do you get them to extend the length of time between feedings?  Here is my schedule for reference:

E 8am
A 8-9:30am
S 9:30-11am

E 11am
A 11-1pm
S 1-2pm (this isn't long enough, she often wakes up cranky but rooting)

E 2
A 2-4
S 4-5pm

E 5pm
A 5-7:30pm
S 7:30-8:30pm
E 8:30pm
S for the night

Then she usually wakes around 4/5 to eat.

Thank you

[Erin (redstarfalling)]

Some babies just take a lot longer to go 4 hrs between feeds.  What a lot of moms end up doing is EAEASY - with a short feed before the nap to tide them over - as long as you're not feeding to sleep, you're ok.  Have you tried that?

Also, is the 8:30 pm feed a dreamfeed?  Because a nap at 7:30 pm at night might be too late...

[annamum]

I wouldn't worry about that either . If I remember well, my dd was on 2.5-3 hour schedule till she was 4.5 months old and some cycles were longer during the day and some were shorter.

[mommynow]

She goes to bed at 7:30pm but wakes up to eat again.  Since the last time I feed her is 5:30pm I think she needs to eat again but I don't know how to get around it???  I've tried giving her more at 7pm but she isn't hungry then.

Also if I try to stretch her feeds out some so her last one isn't so early (5:30pm), I will go in for a dreamfeed but she wakes up now..so isn't a dreamfeed afterall :?

Any ideas?

p.s. I have tried giving her a bit more before naps but then she turns into a snacker.