Hunger?

[M and N's Mom]

Hi!  My DS is 5 1/2 months old.  I'm not sure which board this should go in so I'll try here first.

His routine (when it flows smoothly) looks like this:

E - 7:30 (BF)  Rice Cereal 8:30
A
S-9:20-11:-00/11:15

E-11:30 (BF)
A
S-1:00/1:10-3:00 (Wake him at 3:00 or he won't have his catnap)

E-3:30 BF
A
S-5:00 (if we're lucky)-5:30...but often ends up being 5:20-5:40ish if we're fighting to get him to sleep

E-5:30 Cluster Feed BF
A
E-7:00 BF
A
S - In Bed 7:30/7:40...asleep 8-8:30?  Sometimes takes a while.

My question is this.  He used to wake around 3:30-4:30am to feed (we don't do a DF as it woke him too often later in the night).  Then it gradually moved to somewhere between 2 & 3am...then 12 & 1.  Last night he was up twice at 11pm and 4am.  I don't want to create a snacker but he seems to be lasting less and less time at night.  Does this mean he needs more solids during the day?  I don't want to go back to feeding him more than once during the night when we are trying to move away from night feedings. 

Any advice would be appreciated.

[NikiJ]

Hi

My first thought is growth spurt & Tracy does actually recommend feeding them more during the day with a growth spurt.  Maybe you could give him some pureed fruit at dinner time (or whatever you like).  How long have you been giving him solids?  I noticed you are only giving him one portion a day.  Tracy recommended that week one - three, they would get solids for b-fast & dinner and then at week 4 increase that to 3 portions a day.

Also I'm kinda thinking he's a little old for the catnap @5.  He's getting 4 hrs between the other 2 naps, which is great.  I only mention this coz you said he sometimes fights this nap.

Niki

[M and N's Mom]

Thanks...the twice a night could be a growth spurt and I wondered about that, but the fact that he is going less and less time at night I wonder if he needs more.  He used to be able to go 7-9 hours at night and it has been becoming less and less, instead of longer stretches.

He has been getting a little bit of solids for just over 2 weeks.  I was going to wait until 6 months, but he seemed so hungry.  I guess we'll go to twice a day and work up to three times.

I wish he didn't need the catnap, but he can't go more than 2 hours of A time yet to stretch out the day.  He has missed his catnaps a couple of times lately and ends up with night wakings in the first part of the night (overtired).