4 month old ..can I drop last bottle?

[nicksi27]

Hi ladies Emily is 17 weeks and currently has feeds at 8am, 1130, 230 and 6pm then is asleep by 7pm. She takes 6oz at a time and is a whopping 18lb. She's got silent reflux and at the moment I dreamfeed her a last bottle at 1030pm but then she fusses at 2/3/4/5/6am it's exhausting. I'm getting about 3 hours of broken sleep per night.. She doesn't get her wind up after her dreamfeed so I'm sure that is part of the problem along with the silent reflux. Omeprazole has caused her major wind problems so we are currently tapering it down and going back to ranitidine. If she flares up we have to start lansoprazole ��

Would you try not giving the dreamfeed? Or is 4 bottles not enough? I've started weaning today with a bit of pureed pear (she won't have baby rice).

Thanks x

 

[MindUtopia]

There's no reason not to try if you think it's causing problems. She may wake for a feed during the night, but that might be better as then you can wind her and she might sleep less fitfully. Mine was still having about 6-8 bottles a day at that age, but every baby is different. If she wakes, you know she needs to eat more. If she doesn't then I wouldn't worry. She'll likely just make it up by taking more in the day. We never did a dream feed, but ours woke for a feed around 10-11 ish (which is when we were going to bed anyway, so wasn't really a big deal) until maybe 6 months. She also continued to have 1-2 feeds a night until 9 months. Yours may just take more per feed and make that up in other ways.

 

[Teri7489]

Can I ask why you chose to introduce solids? I only ask as it made my sons reflux worse and he was more irritable. When you say she fuses, is she in pain from the reflux and awake? I often found that with Alexander and it was because he needed the dose to go of his medication (as it is weight calculated. I personally wouldn't drop a feed but look more into the medication or different sleeping positions in case she's just uncomfortable. If she wasn't hungry she wouldn't take the dream feed x

 

[Conundrum]

If the dream feed makes it easier for her to take a bottle I might stay with it at the moment, but if it is for a top up give it a go. She'll wake when she's hungry. She's entering that wonderful age of sleep regression, teething and mobility so maybe just giving her a week or two to settle might help as well.

My youngest is on the lanso, with silent reflux I find it very easy for it to become aggressive a lot faster than regular reflux. Have you double checked with her Dr about weight versus strength? With as big as she is, she might not be getting a strong enough dose. If burping her is an issue there are a few techniques you can look up for extra gassy babies, and the baby oatmeal works just as well as the rice. You can always add a drop of vanilla for encouragement. As PP mentioned adding foods actually made it worse at first so be prepared. At this age adding a day time feeding might be just as good. GL momma

 

[xdxxtx]

An 18-pound baby should be taking at least 36 ounces of formula per day. The recommended amount a baby should be offered is 2.5 ounces per pound of baby, making it 45 ounces offered (not worrying if your baby doesn't finish a bottle). Since 5 6-oz bottles is only 30 oz, I definitely wouldn't drop any of those. In fact, I'd add one. I definitely wouldn't wean a baby who isn't taking enough formula as it is, though. Food before 1 is just for fun - your baby needs to be relying on formula for complete nutrition and can get on solids later (much later).

I had a short esophagus at birth, which caused me to have bad reflux, and I'm so lucky that all five of my babies have inherited this from me, so I'm raising my fifth refluxy baby. Two of mine had silent reflux as well. It's not easy to deal with, and reflux has always been worse at night for all of my babies. Make sure your baby's crib, bassinet, whatever they're sleeping in, is raised on top so gravity is working with them to help keep the stomach acid down. Pacifiers also help a lot to keep baby swallowing and keep the acid down. Of course, if your baby isn't taking a paci now, I wouldn't bother introducing one at this age, since I take them away once my babies are 6 months old... Make sure your baby is getting doses of their medication at the proper times so they're working 24/7. If I gave my baby the full daily dose in the morning, it would wear off by nighttime, so I'd do half in the morning and half in the evening. If it was still bad, I'd split the daily dosage into 3 bottles so they'd get some every 8 hours. There's a good chance that your baby will grow out of this very soon. All of of my babies had outgrown their reflux completely by 6 months old, with it finally getting a little better at 5 months. So, I am hoping your baby will outgrow this very soon so you can all get a good night of SLEEP!

 

[minties]

Food is for fun before 1 is an old misnomer. Food before 6 months I don't think most babies need, but they certainly should be enjoying solids and iron rich foods once ready.

 

[noon_child]

Food is for fun before 1 is an old misnomer. Food before 6 months I don't think most babies need, but they certainly should be enjoying solids and iron rich foods once ready.

Although it is interesting to note that some research suggests it is much less necessary to start with iron rich foods if delayed cord clamping happened at birth.

"Food before one could be considered just for fun and learning if your baby is showing little interest but still meeting all milestones and is growing well" just doesn't role off the tongue some how hahahaha!

 

[SonnyH]

We tried a dream feed for 3 weeks and have dropped it a week ago. We found our daughter (3 months) just woke up more! Previously she'd slept 8pm-3/4am and with a dream feed she was unsettled at 1,2,3 & finally fed at 4am! So it just made things worse!

Our daughter has reflux too and is on 2x Gaviscon per feed and omeprazole. The omeprazole is new this week but so far I'm not seeing any side effects. Not much improvement either but the doctor did say it could take 2-3 weeks!

Our LO is 13lb 6oz and has 6 feeds in 24 hours (usually 7,10,1,3, 7 & one overnight). Each bottle is between 3-6oz, she varies massively. Usually it's more 4-5oz but we suddenly find she'll only take 3oz one feed and then another absoloutely drain 6oz! All babies are different, this 'your baby must drink 2.5x their weight' is a guide and not a set amount. Our LO never drinks 34oz as she 'should', she usually drinks 28-30oz. She's putting on weight along her centile curve perfectly and has never shifted off it! So she's clearly taking enough for her! I personally would not offer a feed if your LO is not asking for it in the daytime. You could try to drop the dreamfeed and see if it makes any difference? You might find she wakes up a night though to get her extra feed? But I'd take one night feed over an unsettled baby all night! They say a dream feed doesn't work for all babies and it certainly didn't for ours!

(And yes, babies can get all they need from milk in the first year if you want but also, you can fully wean them with milk top ups. In the Western world, with good hygiene and very safe & plentiful foods, there is no need not too)