Eating Times - please help

[katemom]

Hi, my 5 month old is on a four hour EASY in terms of her awake time and nap time, but her eating schedule isn't exactly working on a four hour rotation.  She can easily make it 4 hours between feeds, but my problem is that when I made the switch from the 3 hour to the 4 hour easy, I lost a feeding, and didn't have a place to get the extra oz.'s in her because I don't do a dream feed.  So I do 5 feedings during the daytime hours (which isn't what the 4 hour EASY suggests).  I'm wondering if this is okay - especially because I would like to start rice cereal next week, but I can't figure out where to fit it in!  (sorry, I realize there is another board for that).  Anyway, I haven't been able to get her to drink more at each feeding, which is what I hoped would work...if I could just get her to drink an extra ounce at each feeding, I could drop it to 4 feedings.

Anyway, here is how she generally eats (depending on how naps go... long/short):  Oh, and I offer her 7 oz. at every feeding, except for the 5:00 one (which is what I'm trying to drop eventually), which is just 4 oz.  She doesn't always drink the whole bottles I offer.

7:30 (7 oz.)
11:00 (7 oz.)
2:30 (7 oz.)
5:00 (4 oz.)
7:30 (7 oz.)

I appreciate your suggestions!

kate's mom

[nike]

Hi there.  Is she waking during the night for a feed?  If she's sleeping through then she's obviously getting what she needs from those 5 bottles.  Remember that some babes snack feed and take the equivalent of what she's getting in more bottles, and getting their poor ol' mums up for night duty   My DS is having 6 bottles in a 24 hour period, but one of those is overnight, and he also is not finishing all his bottle.  He is a great daytime napper and sleeper, though.  Some days he's more hungry than others, but then so are us "big people"!  I'm sure when you introduce solids (ie, the rice cereal) you will be able to drop that 5th feed.

[katemom]

Hi,

Yeah, I should have clarified that I don't do a night time feeding.  That is why I try to make sure she gets enough during the day.  Good point about the snacking.  I wonder if I just dropped the small 4 oz. feeding, and did 4 feedings every 4 hours if she would start drinking more at each feeding?  I'm scared to try in case she ends up hungry during the night? 

kate's mom

[nike]

Hi Kate's Mum.  I'm just wondering what your q'un is?  Five bottles sounds perfectly normal to me at 5 months and if she's still easily going 4 hours between feeds then the amount she's taking is certainly satisfying her.  Why are you wanting to drop the daytime feeds from 5 to 4?  Dropping that 4 ounce bottle means that she'll effectively be going 5 hours btwn feeds, from 2.30 p.m. till 7.30.  Personally, if it was me, I'd want to tank her up as much as possible before night-time   I'm sure things will all change once you introduce solids in a couple of weeks anyway, so why not stick with the routine atm (since it's obviously working!) and just follow her lead.  Don't worry so much about what "4 hour EASY suggests"....sounds like your little Kate has everything worked out anyway   Also, if you added up all those ounces over a 24 hour period, I'm sure you'd be surprised at the amount she's actually consuming.  Remember that the formula recommendations are just that, recommendations!  You know, I also worry when ppl try to adhere to schedules/routines so strictly that they might be missing their LO's cues.  I always remember my CHN telling me when I had DS1, "How would you feel if someone gave you a drink with breakfast at, say, 7 a.m. and then told you that you wouldn't be able to have another sip till 11 a.m.?"  So true!!  We are able to drink/eat as we feel the need, so why should we expect our little babies to wait just because we want control over our day!!  I'll just add that I'm Miss Control Freak and a HUGE routine girl, but I try to be flexible about it.  It all evens out at the end of the day!

[katemom]

Thanks for your thoughts - I appreciate your comments about balancing structure and flexibility.  And you're right, I'm happy with how things are going, so I don't want to "fix" what isn't broken.  My only reason for posting this, was because I don't know how I will introduce rice cereal when she is already eating as often as she is (she goes anywhere from 2.5-4 hours between feeds the way I have things going now.)  I was just thinking ahead, trying to find a time to try solids when she might be hungry and interested.  (Maybe I have this wrong, but my pediatrician acted like the rice cereal is just "practice" eating for this first month, and that they still need to drink their formula to get their calories). 

Anyway, no, I wasn't suggesting that she go 5 hours between feeds.  I was just thinking of stretching the 4 feeds out to more around 4 hours apart, and adding the rice cereal inbetween 1 or 2 of the stretches.  (Like I said, sorry, I know that is a diff. question for the other post).  So the bottle feeding times would be 7:30, 11:30, 3:30 and 7:30.(ish)  But you are right - maybe the "tanking up" is important to keep up with - since she is sleeping through the night.

Anyway, thanks for your comments, and for taking the time.  You seem to have a good approach to motherhood, and I appreciate you sharing,

kate's mom

[nike]

Hi again!  It feel like I've been on the PC all day, but just jumping on and off between naps and housework

Your paed is absolutely right, the early introduction of solids is really all about experimentation, it's not really about nutrition at all.  The milk feeds are still the most important thing. 

It sounds like we are really alike.  I was always trying to think one step ahead as well, and really I just did my head in with all the overanalysing!  More often than not, when it came to the crunch things weren't as difficult as they seemed in my head   But it seems to come with the territory of parenting, don't you think?  

It's all a bit of a distant blur now, but I do remember the early days of solids were a bit hairy for me - remembering that I, too, am a big routine girl and suddenly ours was all out of whack!  From memory, I just tried a teaspoon of rice cereal mixed with EBM after one breastfeed of the day to start.  I'm sure I was advised to offer it after a mid-morning or lunchtime b'feed in case there was some reaction.  It wasn't long before I got jack of using EBM as a mixer and just started using formula .  When they get used to that and it goes down alright (no tummy upsets, disinterest, whatever) then you can introduce another teaspoon or so after another feed, say the "breakfast" one.  Again this is testing my memory, but I think you actually slowly work up to three "meals" a day (brekky, lunch, dinner) before you increase the amounts of the actual food???  I absolutely stand to be corrected on that!   Some people also say that you can offer half their normal milk feed, then the solids, then continue with the milk feed.  I personally didn't bother doing it this way, just gave the solids after the normal b'feed.  (Note, I am formula feeding DS2 this time). 

What I'm trying to say (badly) is that for quite a while your bottle feeding routine won't change much at all.  As Kate becomes more adept at eating and her appetite increases, she will let you know when and which feed she will drop, either by outright refusing a bottle or you'll find she's not really interested in her usual mid-morning bottle, for example.

Like I said, I can totally relate to your post because this was me 18 months ago   In hindsight, I wished I'd have enjoyed the whole introduction of solids thing more and not worried so much about what DS "should" have been doing in regards to feeds or solids.  After all, it is a major milestone and it's supposed to be FUN!! 

If you have access to a video camera, don't forget to take footage of that very first taste....it is priceless

HTH

[songstress3]

>>>She can easily make it 4 hours between feeds, but my problem is that when I made the switch from the 3 hour to the 4 hour easy, I lost a feeding, and didn't have a place to get the extra oz.'s in her because I don't do a dream feed.<<<

Hi there,
I'm not sure I see where your problem is? if your babe is not getting up in the night to feed and sleeps well, why does she need an extra (5th) feed during the day? Is this because you wish to avoid a dreamfeed? If you have switched from three to four hourly feeds, then its probably because she is able to eat more and go longer between feeds, so she maybe doesn't need the extra  milk bit unless she seems to be hungry... imagine if you were asked to eat a bowl of pasta halfway between breakfast and lunch without cutting either of those meals out.... you'd feel a little stuffed wouldnt you? Maybe you could turn that extra bit into a top-up feed later in the evening (after the 7.30 feed), so then you would have her going her own comfortable amount of time between feeds and then just squeezing a bit in at the end of the day. I guess in order to know if she really needs the extra, you could try a night or two without having given a fifth feed, and see if she wakes in the night hungry. If she doesnt, then it would appear that she's got enough with four feeds! With the solids, I'd guess that if she is sleeping well and eating her milk feeds well, I would just wait a little longer, unless she is really interested in the food you eat and watching it go to your mouth or trying to grab it... you'd definitely know if she were ready to start experimenting with solids I think. If she is, then why not just try a teaspoon or so straight after one of the milk feeds? My girl is 7 months old and thats what we found best after trying both ways (1 giving  a teaspoon straight after milk feed, or 2 waiting a while and giving it later on between the two milk feeds), since it means she wont be put off her next milk feed, but she still gets a chance to taste something new. I noticed Tracy suggests giving the solids a little later on after the milk feed, but I find this a bit too confusing and so far I havent seen why its necessary. I just try to bear in mind that until 12 months, the milk should be the main source of nutrition and calories...   I hope you'll find some help somewhere in all this! And remember, if your babe seems happy and smiley, you can't be doing anything that wrong!

[katemom]

Hi Nike and Songstress3,

Thank you so much for your replies - your opinions and experiences with feeding your own lo's were helpful, thank you.  (especially with how you got on with solids).  I got side tracked with some nap troubles, and the prospect of weaning the reflux medications my lo has been on, since she seems to be doing better now.  Anyway, I think her feeding questions are working themselves out as we tweak her schedule to accomodate her nap issues.  So hopefully I'll have things figured out soon. 

Anyway, I just wanted to thank you for posting - you both gave  good suggestions, and made thoughtful comments that helped me figure out what to try next.  I appreciate it!

Best of luck to you and your lo's!

kate's mom