At a lost

[bellmaine]

Thank You that helps a lot.  I was not sure if I was suppose to not feed her at all and do PU PD until she went back to sleep.  But now I know if she doesn't stop after 45 minutes feed her.  Thank You so much everyone  I am having a really rough time at this and my husband is not helping the matter.  I appreciate everyone's advice

[JoC]

hi,

i have just posted a similar query! How much is your lo eating through the day? It could be, like my little boy, she needs topping up with cluster feeding as the book suggests, i have just started this and am keeping my fingers crossed it will kick in. The book says they can eat as muck as 1400ml of milk, my lo was not getting this amount so is still waking in the night. I am upping his milk now. Also, have you tried giving her warm water? My lo will take 4-5 ounces if he wakes less than 3 hours after his last night feed. I put a little gripe water in it to give it a little taste. My thoughts are with you!

[bellmaine]

I think that is it.  For some reason she doesn't seem interested in eating during the day.  Yesterday she only ate about 10 ounces during the day. Then ate 6:00pm she ate 6 ounces and woke up at 8:00am and ate another 4 ounces.  She slept till 2:00am and ate another 7 ounces.  I have to some how get her to eat during the day.  How old is your lo and I hope things get better for you also.  Thank You for your advice I really appreciate it.  Do you know how to show your appreciation to people on the boards because I would like to do that but don't know how.  These boards have been a life saver for me.

[Kimberly®]

I think a lot of people run into problems with their LO's not eating a lot during the day, for us we just kep offering the bottle untill she'd take it. Sometimes she's eat her bottle half at a time, half at one time then an hour later she'd have the other half. Usually this was due to her wanting to play more then eat. Be persistent and she'll eventually eat for you.
I hope things get better for you

if you need to show appreciation just hit the "Thank you" under a posters name

[JoC]

He is 6 months today. Started the pu/pd 3 days ago, having a nightmare at the moment!
Is your lo bottle or bf? If he is bottle, think about changing formula. I had my ds on a heavy type and he would never finish a bottle and it took hours to get him to take 7 ounces. I have changed to Cow and Gate and he is much better, someone told me this is a lighter formula. He takes all the bottle now. He was breast fed up to 5 weeks ago, as I am going back to work a week monday

[jessica5]

I have a spirited five month old who is also not a big eater (especially during the day) and a 2 1/2 year old in preschool two days a week.  It makes it very hard to maintain EASY with your little one!

I had to modify the 4 hour EASY to accomodate my older daughter's school days.  My baby still takes three naps a day, but I have had to move them around so she doesn't get her routine messed up on the days we have to go to and from school.

Here's our day:

E  7 AM wake & eat
A  (on school days we take my oldest to school at 8:45)
S  9:00 to 10:30
E  11 AM
A
S  12:30 - 1:30 (I have to wake her so we can go pick up her sister)
A
E  2:40 or 3:00 ish
A  I try and interact/play with her at least for a few minutes, so she doesn't go to sleep with this bottle
S  3:30 - 5:30
E  6:00 (solids)
A
E  7 PM
A  Bedtime routine
S  8 PM
Dream feed 11 PM (she often won't take much because she's sleepy)
Wakes at 4:00 and 6:30.... but we shh/pat to get back to sleep.  I used to think she was hungry when she woke at 4 AM, but she just drank a little & dozed back off. 

Moving to this routine, my daughter has started drinking more at feeds during the day and when I feed her at 7 AM she doesn't guzzle the bottle as if she is starving from going all night without one.

It's kind of an awkward routine, but I think my daughter seems a lot more comfortable with a routine. 

Also, she cries before every nap and every night before bed.  I have read that some babies need to do this to expend extra energy..... I don't know if it's true, but it reassures me to think she isn't miserable.

I actually lie on the floor by her crib when she wakes at 4 AM and 6:30 AM, so I can shh/pat her whenever she needs to be reassured.  The PU/PD didn't work for us because it got my daughter more wound up and her pre-sleep crying went on a lot longer.  It's very slow going, but my daughter is getting easier and easier to soothe back to sleep during these night wakings.

My husband is also a little less than helpful in my attempts to implement a routine.  In the middle of the night, he'd much rather give our daughter a bottle so she'll be quiet & fall back asleep quickly.... which, of course, is encouraging her to use the bottle as a prop instead of learning how to go to sleep on her own.  As a result, I'm doing most of this myself (which makes me a little miffed/tired, but I know it will, ultimately, get better as my daughter learns to sleep through the night).

HTH and you find a way to work out a routine for both of your children - it's really tough!