Help with routine change and dropping from 5 to 4 feedings

[daisymelan]

I think consistency is the key.  Whatever you decide, stick with it for a week or two and see if there is any improvement.  Changing things daily or too often doesn't allow the los time to adjust.

How old is your lo again?

[mezzacca41]

She is 10 months old.

[daisymelan]

And just to make sure I understand correctly, your concern is you want to drop from 5 to 4 feeds?  right?

[mezzacca41]

Yes, I would like to drop from 5 to 4.  But I was in process of eliminating df.  It wasat 5 times still with df.  Now I am still at 5 but all during the day.  Used to look like this:
5ish-bf and back to sleep
9:30-bf
1:30- bf
2:30- solids
5:30/6-bf
6:30- solids
10:30-df (which she was waking up for on her own)

Now mt day today is like this:
6-bf
9:30- bf
1:00- bf
2:00- solids
5:00-bf
6:00- solids
7:30/8- bf and bed
And hopefully sleep through the night.  The last bf and bed depend on her nap.  Yesterday was three hours so she only took one (make up from vacation).  Today, she took 1 and 15 min. nap so she will be taking another around 4.  That will bring her bedtime back to 8 at the latest.  (I hope!  Never works the way you want it, too)

So my ultimate goal is to drop down to 4 feedings.  The 1 and 5 are not as long as the first in the morning and second of morning.  The df use to be long, too.  I hope this works tonight.  It was so nice the other night to put her to bed and my son and be done for the night and then I got a decent night sleep. 
Should I continue with the 5 feedings for the rest of the week and then drop to 4 feedings.  How do you space them out?  Will she start sleeping later too?  Or will this probably be a normal first feeding for her?  My ds was on of those textbook/angels babies.  Then again, he never showed any interest in eating or nursing.  He would go for hours and never cry for it.
My daughter will let me know she is hungry to nurse, but is not very interested in solids.  Maybe 1  1/2 tbsp if I am lucky.  Hasn't taken to finger foods very much either.
Thanks, Danielle

[daisymelan]

Hey Danielle, how long ago did you take away the df? 

[mezzacca41]

I did it over the course of two weeks I guess.  Maybe a little more.  Just before vacation I was to 9:00 for df, but since she was going to bed at 9 on vacation I just bf her instead of df at 8:45 and then put her to bed awake.  So she really hasn't had the df since last Fri.  When we got home on Mon. night I think I had to wake her because she went to bed at 7.  Then Tues. she went late because of late nap so I got her 5th bf in at 8:20 and then last night I tried to bf before bed but she wasn't hungry. 

[daisymelan]

I would give it a few more days on the current routine and let her get fully adjusted to being back at home.  If come Monday things are still fine, I would start to take one of the feeds out.  What I would do for now is keep monitoring what feeds she's taking the most at and what feed you think will be able to be taken out the easiest.  And don't worry (I'm not sure if you are) that she's not eating much in solids, that will come.

If this stays her routine until then....
6-bf
9:30- bf
1:00- bf
2:00- solids
5:00-bf
6:00- solids
7:30/8- bf and bed

Perhaps something more like
6
10:30
1pm solids
3 bf
6 solids
7:30/8 bf

Hope that helps

[mezzacca41]

Last night went alright.  She bf at 5 ate solids at 6 and then I bf her at 8 just before bed.  She went down real easy.  Then she woke up crying again at 10:30 for a few min. and then would fall back asleep again for a little while and then repeat this the rest of the night. Some of the sleeping spells were longer than others.  I lost track of times and everything. She did cry and whine some, but not real long. I never got out of bed because the crying did not last long enough for me to be real concerned, but I do think she was hungry.  Finally, at 4:45 because I wanted to get some solid sleep for all of us and this was also a longer cry I nursed her.  She nursed for about 18 min. so she was hungry and then she went back to sleep without any wake ups until 7:50.  It was also close to 10 hours w/out bf. 
Should I have fed her at 4:45?  I was just so tired at that point.  What should I do tonight if she keeps waking?  Will this pass?  At what time should I get up to nurse her?
Today, I am going to nurse her at 9ish,1,5,7:30/8.  And give solids at 2 and 6.
Thanks, Danielle

[daisymelan]

I think I would have fed her as well.  There is no strict "rules" per se, you really have to go with what feels best sometimes.  The other option would have been to offer a paci if she takes one and try to soothe her that way. 

Everything passes in time, but each lo is different and they all have different little quirks.  Hang in there, she's older so it may take at least 2 weeks for her to get used to the new routine.

[mezzacca41]

She does take her binky.  I heard her sucking on it at all the other wake up times after she cried out.  So when she really started crying I figured the bink wasn't enough so I fed her.  I feel bad not going to her when she cries but I know she gets even madder when I do and do not pick her up or anything.  This won't hinder her trust in me, will it?  She is such a happy baby I don't want to spoil her temperment.
Danielle

[daisymelan]

You may want to consider doing pu/pd then.  But I would give the current routine another little while.  You know your lo best and what works best in regards to soothing at night.

[RachelC]

If she's not crying, just whimpering (and mantra crying) there is no need to go to her then.  It's great that she can self settle, and when she couldn't, you knew something was up and you went to her to satisfy her needs.  Again, once you have her transitioned to her own room, you won't hear all the little noises (and hopefully ds will learn to sleep through them too  )

[mezzacca41]

Last night went great.  But again, she went to bed late. We were having a snow party with neighbors. So I was able to feed her at 8:45 and put her to bed at 9.  She slept until 3ish and then started in with the whining and crying a bit. Finally at 4:45, I gave in and fed her because it was a different cry. Will she ever get past this point?  Again, it was so nice to have her sleep solid from 9 to 3 without any waking up. I just hope she gets past this point and learns to go right back to sleep instead of whining and crying.

[daisymelan]

Sounds like things are going well.  I'm not sure if she'll get past it, all babies are different, but we can only work towards helping her.

Again, just stick with this for a total of two weeks and if we still have a consistent night waking, then we will work on that.  If she's wakign at the same time every night, it is likely out of habit.

 

[RachelC]

She could just be a noisy sleeper     Glad she slept well