fitting in enough food for an eleven mo. old

[Jacky]

Hi.  My eleven month old son is on a great EASY, and sleeps about 15 hours total in the day.  He has milk at 7, plays till 8:00, gets up, has breakfast at 9, naps from 10 to 11:30, lunch at 12:00, naps from 1:30 to 3:30, tea at 4:00, bath at 5:00, milk at 5:30, bed at 6:00.

Now he's crawling and very active, he is definitly using up energy fast.  He eats lots at mealtimes, and I never stop feeding him before he's stopped wanting it.  Some mornings he's waking up early (5:30 onwards) and is very hungry by the time he has his bottle at 7:00.  On a couple of occasions he's had his bottle early.  Each bottle is 8 oz, and it doesn't touch the sides as it goes down.

My problem is, how do I fit more food or milk in his day?  There really aren't any more slots when he's awake that I can give him food! Last night I experimented with a dream feed (this was phased out about 2 months ago) which he drank all of without waking, and slept this morning until 7:25.  Is there any wisdom against re-introducing a dream feed at this age?

Thank you for your help.

[KellyC]

Hi

Zander is almost the same age and he has 2 snacks as well as 2 milk feeds.  How about giving him his breakfast soon after his milk at around 7.30 and then giving him a small snack (Zander has fruit) at 9.30 before his nap.  I can see how there's no time for an afternoon snack with him waking at 3.30 and going to bed at 6 so you could offer some formula in a cup with his dinner to give him a couple more ounces.  Does he have a desert at his mealtimes?  Zander has some fruit and yogurt at lunch time and a fromage frais at dinner time and this helps to fill him up for longer.  125ml of yogurt is equivalent to 7oz of milk!

Kelly x

[Jacky]

Hi again. Yes, he does have yoghurt or home made icecream with every meal - and eats a fair wedge of it! I've tried giving him bits of finger food in between, but he's not really eating them properly yet, more just 'scraping' them with his (four) teeth.  Last night I didn't give him a dream feed, and he woke up at 4:30 hungry - most unlike him!

His breakfast is always weetabix or porridge, and his lunch and dinner normally have some protein, some pasta or potatoes, and some veg in them.  How can I get more in him?!

[KellyC]

Gosh I don't know - that seems ok doesn't it?!  Having said that, he goes to bed at 6 and gets hungry at 4.30 whilst Zander goes to bed at 7 and is sometimes hungry at 5.30 which equates to the same.  I'm not at all sure it will help but here's what Zander eats each day;

6/7 Breastfeed
8 Breakfast - porridge or weetabix with chopped fruit.  Toast and butter with fruit spread.
10.30 Snack - fruit
12 Lunch - homemade meal with protein, veg and a little carbohydrate.  Fruit with natural yogurt.
3 Snack - 2 chunks of cheese
5 Dinner - carbohydrate meal, eg. pasta, rice, potatoes.  Toast / pitta bread / rice cakes with butter.  Fromage frais.
6.30 8oz Bottle

Toast is a good finger food to get to grips with so you might like to try offering it with his dinner as it will also give him some extra carbohydrate to keep him full at night.  They don't need any teeth - Zander only just has his first two!!

Good luck
Kelly x

[Jacky]

Thank you very much.  I think I'll add toast to all the meals, some of it's bound to go in, and I think that until he's over this particular period of 'starvation', I'll do a dream feed each night to keep us all in a good nights sleep!

cheers

[KellyC]

I meant to come back as when I walked away from the computer earlier I had another idea!  When he wakes in the early hours hungry and you feed him, do you give him another full milk feed when he wakes?  If so, he could be cutting back on his solids during the day as a result and is therefore hungry again early the next morning.  If Zander wakes up to 2 hours before his wake-up time I feel him half his breakfast feed (one breast for us) and then he only has another half a feed when he wakes for the day, this way he's only having the same amount of milk he'd usually have.  I think it's a fine balancing act between milk and solids at this age but at 11 months the solids are definitely becoming the more important aspect, though of course it's still important that they get enough milk.

I'll be interested to hear whether he's hungry enough to take any of the dreamfeed - let me know!!

Kelly x

[Jacky]

Yes, when he woke up early two nights ago, he had a whole 7 oz at 5:00, and then at his normal milk time (7:00), he had another 8 oz, and then at 9:00 he ate all his breakfast...

Last night I did the dream feed, he drank all 8 oz at 10:00 while sleeping, and slept through till his (horribly) full nappy woke him at 6.  Then as normal, 7:00 8oz bottle, then breakfast including toast etc.  He's asleep now.

Dream Feeds rule if you want a peaceful night for active little boys!

[KellyC]

Ah that's great - well done!