Author Topic: Too sleepy to feed well at 7pm on 4 hr easy  (Read 1145 times)

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Offline Cory'stiredmommy

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Too sleepy to feed well at 7pm on 4 hr easy
« on: April 16, 2006, 23:23:31 pm »
My LO is 6mo and I am having a few "problems" with the 4hr easy.
Currently, he wakes at 7am and is ready for bed at 7:20. he problem is that he is way too sleepy to feed well at 7pm. What's best, give him a little more daytime sleep so he can stay up until 8 or try to feed earlier and hope he gets enough before falling asleep?
Current Schedule:
7am wake and BF
7:30 1 cube of solids
9:00-9:45 Nap (If this nap goes to 10:45 he only take 45 minutes in the afternoon)
10:30 1 cube of solids
11:10 BF
12:15 nap - 2:15
3:20 BF
4:45 - 5:00 Nap
6:00 - cereal
7:00 - He's not that hungry yet - and falls asleep before having a full feed
*Result night wakings*
1 bf when he wakes after 11pm. this is usually between 11pm and 2 am./ dream feeding didn't work for us

Is 8pm too late of a bedtime? He would have to sleep from 4:45 until 5:30 in order for him to stay awake.
What do other mommies do in this situation?
Do I have too many bf's in a 24hr period (5)
(If he feeds any sooner that the above times he doesn't want to eat or won't eat very well)

I hope someone has some insight:-)
Thank you





Offline ginger72

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Re: Too sleepy to feed well at 7pm on 4 hr easy
« Reply #1 on: April 17, 2006, 08:02:37 am »
Hi there!

Our LO is 4 1/2 months and we were having exactly the same problem for the 7pm feed - I've found that at that time of night when LO is very tired, BF is just too relaxing and he always fell asleep after 5 mins of feeding rather than getting a full feed. Last week I decided to switch to a bottle for that last feed and have found that works perfectly. He eats much bettter, doesn't fall asleep and then goes to bed on a fully tummy at 7.30pm. I then do the same thing for the 11pm dreamfeed. I wasn't keen to switch to two bottles a day from fulltime bf, but he eats better so I'm happy it was the right thing to do.

Good luck! Michelle




Offline corrina01

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Re: Too sleepy to feed well at 7pm on 4 hr easy
« Reply #2 on: April 17, 2006, 08:51:44 am »
Move your 3.20pm feed to 3pm, it doesn't matter if he takes a full feed then, as babies tend to drop this feed as they get older.

After he has last nap of the day and wakes at 5pm try feeding him at 5.15pm, he will be hungry by then, and hopefully take a full feed at 7pm.

HTH
Corrina
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A very spirited toddler with a touch of angel



Offline Cory'stiredmommy

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Re: Too sleepy to feed well at 7pm on 4 hr easy
« Reply #3 on: April 17, 2006, 14:41:20 pm »
Ginger72: Thank you for your suggestion. I should try this route again. :) Are you expressing or doing formula?
Corrina01: You are suggesting feeding at 3:00/5:15 and then again at 7? I hadn't thought of this route! This is the cluster feeding route, right?
When Cory was 5 months he went through this thing where he was happy to eat every 4.5 hours or so and the eating times went like this: 7am/11:30/4:00ish/7:00ish and then one after the 7pm feed but before 2am. It seemed to work but I was a little worried about sorta dropping a feed. How many BFs are normal at this age? Would it be the case that if a baby is going to take, say... 30 ounces a day, that he/she can do it in 4 feeds of 8+ ounces or 5 feeds at 6 ounces each?
Does it really matter how many times they go to the breast?
When I type it, it does seem to mean that quality of a feed would rule over quantity of feeding times...but maybe there is something I am missing:-)
Thanks for both of your responses. It is very, very much appreciated:-)





Offline corrina01

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Re: Too sleepy to feed well at 7pm on 4 hr easy
« Reply #4 on: April 18, 2006, 08:15:25 am »
It is sort of like a cluster feed.  My DD was taking 5 bottles at this age.  Then I cut out the dreamfeed, at 8 months so she is now having 4 bottles, but I increased her bottles so she was taking more during the day and still sleeping through the night.

Corrina
Mum to Faith
A very spirited toddler with a touch of angel