Please help with increasing solids/ solids causing lo to wake at night to feed??

[joanmarie]

I need advice about tweaking my schedule for adding solids for my EBF 7 month old and dealing  with a new problem of waking at night to feed an extra time.

After reading the posts here, I tried giving solids to him 30 minutes to an hour after BF, and when he didn’t seem hungry enough then, waiting until 2 hours after BF, but I have not had much success. I need some help with what to do because

A)I feel like he is not eating enough and getting enough iron

B) He has started waking to feed an extra time each night (not habit because time varies, but he’ll BF sometime between 10:00 and 1:00 and again sometime between 4:00 and 5:00)

Here is our background:

Until 5.5. months, Adam was basically on a 4 hour EASY during the day, with one night feeding sometime between 3 and 5 a.m. most nights. (dreamfeed never really worked)

We started solids as mentioned above when Adam was about 5.5 months, and were doing it for one feeding, sometimes 2.
At the 6 month appt, the doctor said he should really be eating 3 times a day by now, so I felt rushed to do that, and I think maybe went about it wrong.
He is now 7 months and for the past week has been offered solids 3 times a day. He doesn’t take as much as I think a child his age should. He might eat UP TO .5 or 1 tablespoon cereal with 1 tablespoon fruit at breakfast, about 1 tablespoon cereal and 1 tablespoon fruit at lunch, then about .5 tablespoon ceral and .5 tablespoon veggie at dinner. (And usually it is less than the above at one of the feedings)

I am thinking now that I shouldn’t have added the 2nd and 3rd “feedings” (if you can call them that) to the schedule until he was able to eat more at one sitting for the first feeding), but I am not sure. I guess I figured if there is not enough room in his tummy all at once, we could spread it out over the day.

I should probably mention that Adam is small for his age. He is not thin or underfed, it is just both his height and weight are below the 4th percentile (and have been since birth, so he is following his curve) but he is probably about 15.5 pounds. (This is a guess- he was 14 lbs 11 oz a month ago)

Our ideal schedule a few weeks ago (but this is with just the tiniest bit of solids):
4:00/5:00 BF and back to sleep
7:00 wake and play in crib about 15 minutes
7:45 BF
9:30/10:00 nap for 45 minutes or 1 hour 20 min.
11:30 BF
1:30/2:00 nap for 45 min.or 1 hour 20 min. (only be 45 min if the morning was longer)
3:00 BF
4:00 maybe take a catnap
5:00 solids
6:30 BF
6:45 sleep until 4 or 5

Can anyone tell me where to go from here? Thanks in advance. Joan

[*Natasha*]

At this age i wouldn't worry about your little one not having enough solids it is just to get them use to it at this stage. As long as he is still having all his BF then that is fine. Now as for fitting in solids you could do something like this:

4:00/5:00 BF and back to sleep
7:00 wake and play in crib about 15 minutes
7:45 BF
8.45 Breakfast
9:30/10:00 nap for 45 minutes or 1 hour 20 min.
11:30 BF
12.30 Lunch
1:30/2:00 nap for 45 min.or 1 hour 20 min. (only be 45 min if the morning was longer)
3:00 BF
4:00 maybe take a catnap
5:00 solids/Dinner
6:30 BF
6:45 sleep until 4 or 5

Just start with a few tbls to start with at each meal and see how it goes you will find soon he will start taking more.
As for the night waking have you tried setting him without giving a BF? Could he be teething?

[RachelC]

Joan, (Natasha beat me to it.... here is another perspective)
I am sorry to hear about your troubles.  Perhaps he is getting too much milk.  I am thinking that you may need to extend the times between feedings during the day so your 'schedule' would look more like this:

7 am bf
8:30 solids
9/9:30 nap
11 am bf
12:30 solids
1:30/2 nap
3/3:30 bf
5/5:30 solids
6:30/7 bf and bed
10:30 attempt dreamfeed, perhaps with a bottle of EBM?

Your lo may need more awake time during the day, which may be what has lead to the additional night waking.  Have you tried not feeding between 10-1, using pu/pd instead to send him back to sleep?

It's funny how we let doctors and statistics get to us.  At 6 months, dd2 was 13 lbs 11 oz (25%).  Are you and/or dh small?  If he has always been in the 4%, it shouldn't be a big concern.  If he's still gaining weight and still producing the diapers, that's a good sign too.

Perhaps some of the other moms will have some more advice.

HTH
~Rachel

[Lªuren]

I am thinking now that I shouldn’t have added the 2nd and 3rd “feedings” (if you can call them that) to the schedule until he was able to eat more at one sitting for the first feeding), but I am not sure. I guess I figured if there is not enough room in his tummy all at once, we could spread it out over the day.

You maybe need to go back to the basics again like you say, here is a step by step you can follow https://babywhispererforums.com/index.php?topic=58412.0

Here is also a website to tell you what kind of foods are high in iron http://www.vegsoc.org/info/iron.html

What types of solids are you giving him and what consistency?

HTH's

[joanmarie]

Lauren,

Thanks for the links.I am giving him rice and oatmeal baby cereal and strained (stage 1) fruits and veggies (jarred). The cereal is just slightly thicker than the fruits and veggies. It seems to be the consistency he prefers.

Natasha and Rachel,
Thank you for the schedule suggestions. Just to be clear, are you recommending that I continue to offer solids three times a day and just let him take what he takes, or should I go back and re-introduce one meal a day until we can work up to solids three times a day?

I have tried settling him without feeding/using p.u.p.d., etc. and have ended up needing to feed him at that one wakening between 10 and 1 (in addition to the 4/5 that was standard). Actually, he has been having several other night wakings most nights, but I have been able to use p.u.p.d. or a hand on his back and my voice to calm him during those times. That is why this one was different, and one of the reasons I felt it to be hunger-related.

Rachel,
I didn’t mean to sound like I was freaking out about Adam being too small. I just thought it might have something to do with the amount of solids he might be able to handle at this point (although I guess there are a lot of tiny babies with huge appetites and large ones with smaller appetites, too) I am pretty happy with his progress. You are right, though, it is funny how we let doctors and stats get to us. BTW, did you type correctly when you said dd2 was 13 lbs 11 oz at 6 months (25th percentile). My chart says that would be first percentile- did you mean 16 lbs 11 oz? (Just curious)

I have actually tried the dreamfeed for three nights, and hope that might be the answer for some of this. I just posted about that on the EASY forum because I thought that was probably where I should ask about routines/dreamfeed specifically (I hope- there are so many great boards here, I just have a hard time keeping up with what goes where sometimes since a lot of it is interrelated.)

I’ll try not to stress over the amount of solids and just check with the doctor to see if he needs any supplement for iron in the meantime, as that is the part of the solids issue that has been bothering me.

Thanks for the input!
Joan