Help me with your 6 month old routines please..?!

[MemmaJ]

My little boy is not quite 6 months yet, he's 2 weeks off it (24 weeks old).

We started weaning at 5 months because he was becoming hungrier, and not lasting until his 'usual' feed times - sometimes only lasting 2 hours (dietician gave me the all clear to go ahead).
He hasn't been weighed for a couple of weeks, but he was 7.9kg/17lbs 6oz, 2 weeks ago)

Currently he has lunch and dinner (still with roughly the same amount as milk as he's always had first), but he's taken to waking around 4am every day..! He's doesn't actually seem hungry at this time - he doesn't cry, he just 'moans' until he's got up and then he's fine. After a while (and hour or so), he goes back to sleep until hes hungry his usual morning bottle at 7/7.30am.

Also, 85% of recent nights he's been quite unsettled all night and has woken a lot and required comforting (usually his dummy is sufficient).
I'm wondering if maybe this is sometimes a tummy ache or something as he's having too much...? But a friend of mine has a baby 4 weeks younger, and I tried to do what she does and halved the amount of milk he had at meal times - and he woke up hungry in the night both days that I did that, so I feel like i can't win..!

I'd be grateful if people could share their routines for a 6 month old weaning/weaned baby that works for them and doesn't result in very disturbed nights and/or a 4am wake-up!

 

[MindUtopia]

I would honestly just say keep doing what you're doing if you can manage to fit it all in during the day. We didn't start weaning until 6 months, but I kept everything the same (we fed on demand, but milk feeds were usually at roughly the same times every day, give or take an hour) and just added in lunch and then eventually breakfast about an hour or two after. Basically, whenever is a good time for you and that was a good time for us.

As for waking, it's very, very normal for starting solids to cause disrupted sleep. It's the opposite of the myth that giving them more food or cutting back on milk means they won't wake during the night. It completely changes their digestion and that can cause a lot of gas, stomach discomfort, gurgly tummies. There's nothing you can really do to prevent it. They just need time to adjust. Coming up to 6 months is also prime time for the start of teething symptoms and that will cause a lot of night waking as well, though actually in your case, I think waking once a night and not obviously seeming in pain probably doesn't sound like teething just yet.

I think the only thing you can do really is to ride it out and expect that it's normal. At that age, my daughter was still waking for 1-2 feeds a night, and then when we hit 6 months and started solids and she also started teething, she was waking about hourly all night long. That lasted maybe several weeks to a month and by 7 months, she was much more settled, with just one waking/feed a night usually. She dropped her night feeds altogether at 9 months (that didn't mean she didn't wake up, she's 3 and still wakes up!), but usually that's around the time that they become a bit more satiated with what they're eating and their digestion settles down enough that you're likely to start to expect more settled sleeping. So I'm afraid there really is no magic routine, but it does get easier once they adjust to solids and once you get to the other side of the first teething hurdle if that is coming up soon too. I would say though, one night waking at 4am is excellent for 5 months, so I'd just keep doing what you're doing, offer as much milk as he wants, let him have as much solids as he wants too, and just ride it out.

 

[Teri7489]

For us routine is.

Up at 7:30/8 and has bottle/feed
Breakfast at 9 which is either toast or porridge.
Small fees at 11 and he has a half hour nap then.
Lunch at 1
Long nap from 2-4
Bottle at 4
Dinner at 5:30
Bed at 7 after feed

We found after beginning weaning he was more unsettled in the night and waking at around 5am but not for a feed. They often become unsettled due to new sensations with digesting food but they soon get used to it. It will happen again when new foods are introuduced that they struggle to digest or that gives them lots of wind (broccoli, beans that sort of thing)

As for the 5am wake up - when we discovered he didn't want fed we decided to leave him. After a few mornings of being 'ignored' he soon gave up waking and now sleeps through again.

Stick to what you are doing and it will pass. As for reducing milk, I would let him decide. As my HV says, food before one is just for fun. Meaning milk is still their main source of nutrition. He won't always need all his bottles and food but maybe does for now just like mine does xxx

 

[hlynne]

I agree with the two previous posters. I would just ride it out. It seems like you and baby are doing just fine!

 

[Calitwins]

At 6 months, this was our schedule:

8:00am – wake up
8:30am – solids
9:00am – play
10:00am – milk & nap
11:00am – play
12:00pm – solids
12:30pm – play
2:00pm – milk & nap
3:00pm – play
4:00pm – solids
4:30pm – play
6:30pm – milk & bedtime
11:00pm – dream feed

 

[3chords]

This is our schedule, I'm pretty strict with it, works like a charm.

7 am - wake up (he usually gets up between 6-7 but if he's not up at 7 I wake him up)
7:30 - milk
8:30 - breakfast (2 oz milk + 3 tbsp cereal + fruit puree)
9:00-10 - nap
10:30 - milk
12:00 - lunch (vegetable+fruit puree)
12:30-2 - nap
2:30 - milk
4:30-5 - short cat nap, usually in stroller while up and about. Never allow him to sleep past 5 pm
5:15 - dinner (2 oz milk + 3 tbsp cereal + vegetable puree)
6:00 - bath
6:30 - milk
7:00 - bed time
10:30 - dream feed