Question about eating

[CarrieW]

I can not seem to get KAiley to sleep through the night. She wakes up starving 1-2am. I am wondering what everyone elses schedules are like these days. She will not drink more than 5oz at a time. I just added lunch on Monday, but now she won't eat supper. This our schedule this week so far. If anyone has any suggestions I would love them.

7am - 5oz formula

8:30 - 2TBS cereal with a container of fruit.

11:00-11:30 - bottle

12:30 - 1:00 - fruit and veggie

4:00 - bottle

5:30 - 2TBS cereal, 1 container fruit, 1 container veggies

8:00-8:30 - bottle & bed

So far this week I am lucky to get her to eat just the fruit at supper. Normally I have fed her breakfast as soon as she gets up. She had been getting up at 8-8:30 now she wants to be up at 7am. I would love some comments. I was hoping if I fed her a bottle first in the am she would go bac to sleep. She really seems very tired yet at this time, but refuses to go back to bed. By 8:30-9:00 she is so tired and cranky I have to force her to eat any breakfast at all. HELP!!

[SamInVero]

Enzo still doesn't really sleep through the night yet. He gets up once, twice or more to nurse. It sounds like your DD may be going through teething or some other milestone. That often disrupts sleep and makes them cranky. It sounds to me like you are feeding her plenty! I wouldn't try to force her to eat more as they say that can lead to eating problems later. The sleep issues sound very normal for a growing changing baby! As they say...it will get better, then worse, then better.......etc.

[kmsnj]

Same problem when we added lunch into the day. DD got really messed up--sleep and eating wise. She either would eat a good lunch or a good dinner, not both. She also would wake up hungry at night sometimes. She eventually got used to the new schedule after 1-2 weeks. I am also having trouble of when to fit in bottles depending on her naps. If she sleeps extra long, then I don't want her not not be hungry at mealtime because I gave her a bottle but I also don't want her to miss out on the formula. Also we are having a huge battle of wills on babyfood right now. She wants only fingerfoods and is refusing most of the purees and doesn't want me to feed her. On an ideal day (which have been few and far between lately) here is how it works (I also didn't put amounts on the meals because she really isn't eating that much right now due to her babyfood strike, but she used to do about 2-3oz of puree at mealtimes):
7:30am--Breakfast of oatmeal/fruit, fingerfoods, 4-6oz bottle following breakfast but she usually eats half and then finishes the rest before nap
9am--nap
10:30am-11am--4-6oz bottle
12-12:30pm--lunch of veggie, fingerfoods, water or juice (she doesn't drink too much, maybe 2-3oz if that)
1-1:30pm--nap
3-3:30pm--4-6oz bottle
*sometimes a quick 30 minute nap at 4 or 4:30pm, depends on crankiness
4:30-5pm--dinner of meat, veggie, fingerfoods, water or juice, maybe a 3-4oz bottle to follow if ate poorly
6pm--has a few puffs and some water while DH and I eat
7:30pm--bedtime bottle of 6 oz (but lately she has been doing more like 7 or 8oz some nights)

It is so hard to balance the schedule. I was telling DH a few months ago, I really felt like I had it all together. Great schedule, running smoothly, no issues. But now she is crawling all over the place, pulling up on any and everything--I am constantly chasing her around or either feeding her a bottle or a meal. Somedays I am finding it hard to get out of the house! Is your lo crawling? I have read that all the physical development can cause changes in the sleep pattern. DD seems to get up and be awake some night for like 1-2 hours for no reason. At this age, they are also starting to deal with separation anxiety so that can also cause disruption in sleep patterns. A lot to deal with for them and for us, huh?

Well, hang in there. I think our lo's are just changing a lot right now so the road might be bumpy for a little but we will all get back on track soon! But to me, it sounds like you are doing great!

[Tia38]

if you all get to sleep until 7am you are VERY lucky!

we're having all sorts of bumps with DD, but she seems to be settling in... our "schedule" if you can call it that is something like

5-5:30am wake up: bottle 2-3oz
6am: 2TBS cereal w/fruit (not usually a whole serving) and left over bottle mixed in
7:30-ish nap on way to daycare, wake sometime 8:30-9ish
9:30 bottle (5 ounces, working on getting it higher if we can?)
12:30 bottle (4-5 ounces)
12:30 serving of fruit with a bit of cereal
2:30 2 ounce bottle (consistent and won't take more)
4:30 2-3 ounces with dad if lucky
5ish: 1 fruit, 1 veggie, maybe some cereal in fruit, maybe 1-2 ounces of bottle
8pm 2-3 ounces if lucky, often only 1 ounce shot before going to sleep
middle of night (usually 3:30-4am, but sometimes 1-2am): anywhere from 1-4 ounces

we supplement with cheerios as a treat AFTER dinner/bottle and mostly as a distraction so DH and i can eat.

she naps other cat naps at daycare in the afternoon, and sometimes on the way home.

i have started changing up how she gets her bottle -- sometimes bottle, sometimes sippy cup, sometimes open cup (!)... she seems to like to try different forms.

i tried to get her to sleep past 5am, tried to sneak in a bottle only and have her sleep a bit more, but gave up and decided that's when we need to start our day together.

having said that... today she was up for her "middle of night feeding" at 4am, and then slept until 6:15... a treat for me.

i think you just have to be firm, consistent, and ride it out. don't make it a battle of wills... and in my opinion the liquids are more important than the solids/purees at this point.

good luck,
-tia

[Jen]

Wow. I guess that we are pretty lucky. Jess is like clockwork, although she's been struggling with her morning nap lately. She won't nap longer than 50 minutes in the am. She's been sleeping throught the night for as long as I can remember.

6:30 -awake in crib, talks, scoots around, playsk
6:50 - 6oz. She'd take 8, but when I tried that her eating was off all day.
7:45 - 2tbsp oatmeal & 1/2 container fruit
9:30 - morning nap (25-50 minutes)
11:00 - 4-5 oz
1:00 - 4-5 oz & then afternoon nap (1-2 hours)
4:30 - 6oz
5:30 - 1tbsp oatmeal, 1/2 container vegetable & 1/3 jar of some type of gerber 2nd foods meat mixture
6:00 bath
6:30 2-4 oz bottle & asleep for the night

She's been moving around quite a bit at night, but I think that it's because of her helmet. It's got to be uncomfortable. She very rarely crys for us and if she does I just go in there and find her blankie and pat her back.

One thing that I've done is gone to a #4 nipple. (avent) The flow is faster and she ends up getting more.

Good luck!!
Jen.

[CarrieW]

Thanks for advice girls! Today she ate really well by the sitter. She just had a veggie for lunch, no fruit, and then ate supper really well too. Maybe I just need to start with that and work my way up to a bigger lunch. I am glad to find out I am not the only one without a real schedule.


kmsnj-when you say you feed "finger foods" what do you mean? Puffs and cheerios or something else.

Has anyone tried Gerber wagon wheels yet? I just wondering if they needed to be a little bigger for those.

[kmsnj]

Carrie--For finger foods, I am using Cheerios and puffs, but I am also starting to do other things. Kendra is a maniac at meal time and refuses to eat purees unless she has something that she can feed herself as well. Everything is very soft or melts in your mouth (I tried it since I am constantly worried about her choking). Here are some things we have tried so far:
finely diced chicken
diced green beans (I have noticed that she does best with the canned low-sodium since they are softer than frozen or fresh)
diced sweet potato
cooked frozen peas (I pop them out of the hulls and smash them a little)
alphabet pasta (she LOVES this one--Earths best makes a kids one (in the baby aisle) that has a good amount of fiber, protein and vitamins, I cook them until they are really soft. She also likes it when we make her "baby spaghetti"--I mix the noodles with carrot puree and I let her finger feed and also spoon some in her mouth when I can--a mess but she loves it! Sometime I add some chopped green beans or peas into the carrot/pasta mix for more veggie power)
diced grapes (peeled)
diced banana (she has trouble picking them up so I found a tip that said to crush cheerios up and shake the diced fruit in the bag with the cheerios--it coats it so it is much easier for her to handle)

We are trying to get creative and move on to other things. I have been all over the internet for ideas and I think I am going to hit the library for some books too. I am going to make her some meatballs this weekend--I just need to figure out a way to throw some veggie puree in them. I also made her pancakes this morning without eggs (see my recipe post). She loved them!