How early should I bf 5 month old?

[BabyBsMommy]

My lo is just 5 months and is on 4 hour EASY (E at 7, 11, 3, 7) and gets a DF at 10:30 (6-7oz and has finally taken to the DF for the past 2 weeks).  He has slowly moved from taking his night time feed from 4am all the way back to closer to 2am now.  He is starving no matter the time I feed him.  The past 2 nights, he's been up at 2:15am for a full feed and then is waking around 6:15 with his hungry sounds.     Question is, do I feed him then and put him back to bed until 7 and then feed whatever he'll take again at 7 to reinforce that this is when he will eat when he sleeps through?  This was suggested to me in the past but it hasn't been until this week that he's been hungry again before 7am.  Yesterday I didn't feed him at 6:15 but today I did.  He went back to sleep at 6:45 and I woke him up at 7:15, changed his diaper and bf again but he only ate for a few more minutes.

[RachelC]

Since he is waking sporatically, I am thinking it is true hunger and you should feed him.  It is not totally unusal for an lo of this age to still have a night feed.  Even if it is at 6:15, I would still treat as a night feed and put back to bed, then wake at the 'normal' time to keep on the routine.  HTH

[BabyBsMommy]

Thanks!  So, even if he has had the DF and a 2am feed I should feed him at 6 if he wakes hungry?
Oh, and if I do feed him as late as 6am, should I still offer him the breast at 7 just to reinforce that time since it is when he will need to bf after sleeping through?
 

[RachelC]

You could offer it, just to reinforce the timing and to keep him on 'schedule' for the rest of the day.  I have to go back and look at your other post for timing, but perhaps he needs a slightly earlier bed time... that might consistantly get him to 7

[RachelC]

Just peeked... I would try pulling his bed time back 30 minutes (especially if he's dropping the cat nap) so he's asleep by 7.

[BabyBsMommy]

We'll try that out - most nights we have been trying to bump our bedtime routine up to end at 7 on the days he misses the catnap.  He had a 1.5 hour nap this morning and is just waking now after 1 hour this afternoon (it is 2pm) so I think he will likely have a catnap starting between 4:30 and 5:00 today so 7:30 should be ok today!  I think I'm going to play it by ear - when he catnaps, make it for 7:30 asleep and when he doesn't, make it 7:00.....