Juggling milk feeds, naps and BLW meals!! How do you do it??

[LavenderPeony]

Hi! I'm comin' over from[edited-forum name removed] It's not a very busy forum so it takes a loooong time to wait for answers! I found this Baby n Bump forum to be a much more "hopping" place! Hope you all don't mind if I jump right in with a question!

I've been doing BLW for a month or two now. It's been going well for the most part. One thing I'm struggling w/ is the "weaning" part. With having to juggle two naps a day, 3 BLW meals a day, and 4-5 milk feeds a day, it's really hard to get all of it to just mesh together well!!

The naps and the meals are manageable because they are at pretty consistent, set times. It's the milk feeds I find hard. I always try to wait for DS to give me hunger cues before I give him his bottle as I prefer "demand feeding" versus parent-led feeding. That's tricky sometimes because:

1. I have to make sure he gets his bottle at least 30 minutes before his solids meals. Otherwise, he's not "hungry" enough to want anything to do with the solids.

2. Sometimes his naps will lead to him not having had a bottle for up to 5 hours since his last one. (He usually wants his bottle every 4 hours).

I worry that he won't get enough milk in so I often offer him a bottle early even if he doesn't ask for it. Of course, I don't force him to eat if he pushes the bottle away... but I still feel bad for offering when he didn't ask for it. Doesn't feel like "demand feeding" anymore!

 

[Lu28]

Hi and welcome!!

I also found juggling the whole thing quite difficult until she started dropping milk feeds. By 7 months she was down to 3 milk feeds a day which made it much better. It might help if you gave us an idea of how your day tends to go with times of getting up, naps, milk, meals etc?

I've always offered feeds rather than waiting for her to demand them tbh and started dropping them by me not offering her mid morning one when she seemed to be losing interest anyway so we're now down to morning, after lunchtime nap and bedtime

 

[Vickie]

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[LavenderPeony]

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Oh dear! What a way to start off on the wrong foot! So sorry about that! I apologize profusely and hope I can be forgiven for that!!

 

[LavenderPeony]

Hi and welcome!!

I also found juggling the whole thing quite difficult until she started dropping milk feeds. By 7 months she was down to 3 milk feeds a day which made it much better. It might help if you gave us an idea of how your day tends to go with times of getting up, naps, milk, meals etc?

I've always offered feeds rather than waiting for her to demand them tbh and started dropping them by me not offering her mid morning one when she seemed to be losing interest anyway so we're now down to morning, after lunchtime nap and bedtime

Oh, Lu28! Thanks for the warm welcome! I get a lovely feeling from BnB, even from just reading the posts! I know this was the right place to come for help!

First, I'm so glad I'm not the only one who struggled with this! Wow... you got her down to 3 feeds a day by 7 months! My little guy's NINE months and he's still going 4-5 feeds a day at 200ml each.

Oh, sure, I can tell you what our schedule's like! Hope I don't put you to with so much detail!

7:00 am: Wake up, give first feed right away (don't do demand feeding w/ the first one as he sleeps through the night now for a full 12 hours).
8:15 am: If we have time for breakfast, this is when we'd have it.
9:00 am: First nap.
10:30 am: Wake up then play.
11:30 am: Eat lunch then playtime, out for errands, a walk, etc.
2:00 pm: Second nap.
3:30 pm: Wake up then play.
6:00 pm: Eat dinner then get ready for bed.
7:15 pm: Give one last bottle (again, this bottle's not on demand feeding... I give it to "top him up" for his sleep at bedtime.
7:30 pm: Zzzz!

What do you think??

 

[mumtosam]

When do you tend to give the other milk feeds? Sam is 10 months and down to 3 milk feeds and 3 meals a day now. He has a bottle when he wakes, one before his afternoon nap and one at bedtime.

 

[Mum2b_Claire]

Yes Ruby is 10 months and down to 3 milk feeds and 3 BLW meals a day. We're advised that a FF fed baby should not have more than 21oz a day at 6-12 months. If he demands milk feeds, could you not try offering solid snacks instead?

 

[LavenderPeony]

When do you tend to give the other milk feeds? Sam is 10 months and down to 3 milk feeds and 3 meals a day now. He has a bottle when he wakes, one before his afternoon nap and one at bedtime.

DS tends to ask for his other milk feeds roughly four hours from the last one.
Hmm... both of you and Mum2b_Claire have 10 m.o. s who are donw to 3 milk feeds a day... DS has less than a month to go before he's 10 months as well and he's still at 4 milk feeds a day.

We're advised that a FF fed baby should not have more than 21oz a day at 6-12 months. If he demands milk feeds, could you not try offering solid snacks instead?

Eeek... was it a doctor who advised you on that amount? Now I'm soooo confusedabout how much milk to give my DS... thought I was doing the right thing, according to the BLW book. It says to give baby milk feeds if he is hungry as he still gets most of his nutrition from his milk feeds until 12 months. Or, have I misunderstood the book??

 

[mumtosam]

I think it depends on how much they are eating really. When Sam started to eat more he just naturally dropped one of his milk feeds.

 

[golcarlilly]

Hi there,

Myles is almost 7 months and we are still on around 6 bottles of follow on formula (6oz) a day plus 3 meals (although I have to admit he doesn't finish every bottle) I am trying to cut down although yesterday he only had four bottles and woke up at nine screaming his head off and drank another full one

We went down the traditional weaning route from just over four months but have progressed onto finger foods and other blw foods now. IKWYM about trying to fit everything in it is hard work!! I think the others are right, we need to try and cut down on the formula and increase their appetite, I am trying to offer food before formula now and see if that works

Welcome to BNB by the way it is great on here there is so much help and support on every problem you have!

 

[joeyjo]

We skip the naps

sorry flipant answer!! But my LO doesn't nap much and when he had 4 milk feeds & 3 meals I struggled - mainly coz after breakfast he wouldn't eat or have milk till about 12:30. I dropped a milk feed (he's brestfed so I don't know how much he drinks) and it got much easier - he also settled better at night.

He sometimes wakes about 11pm for BF but not often.

He only naps about 30min in morning & 20 in afternoon. He sleeps 13hours overnight.

 

[LavenderPeony]

Phew... been so busy w/ DS's busy little schedule... can't find time to get on the computer!

I think it depends on how much they are eating really. When Sam started to eat more he just naturally dropped one of his milk feeds.

You know what? Since I posted this thread, he's dropped one feed. I think he was ready to a few weeks ago already but it was probably more ME who kept an extra one or two in there for fear he wasn't getting enough from his BLW meals. I'm still worried that he's not getting enough from the meals so I'll continue to offer him his first thing in the morning and last thing at night bottles... let him ask for the other one or two during the day as he need them.

We went down the traditional weaning route from just over four months but have progressed onto finger foods and other blw foods now. IKWYM about trying to fit everything in it is hard work!! I think the others are right, we need to try and cut down on the formula and increase their appetite, I am trying to offer food before formula now and see if that works

Welcome to BNB by the way it is great on here there is so much help and support on every problem you have!

Thanks for the wonderful welcome! I love it here so far though I haven't been on much! I also started solids "traditionally" w/ spoon feeding and purees. Wouldn't have changed it if DS didn't hate the SF and mashed foods so much! Meals became a battle so I had to find an alternative!! I heard about BLW but couldn't be bothered to look into it until I just had no other choice!

I've been so anxious about weaning him off the milk... so worried he won't get enough to eat. But, I do see him very very slowly increase the amount of solids he takes in every few days. So, I'm just going to go w/ his cues and I'm sure we'll happily find our way together!

We skip the naps

sorry flipant answer!! But my LO doesn't nap much and when he had 4 milk feeds & 3 meals I struggled - mainly coz after breakfast he wouldn't eat or have milk till about 12:30. I dropped a milk feed (he's brestfed so I don't know how much he drinks) and it got much easier - he also settled better at night.

He sometimes wakes about 11pm for BF but not often.

He only naps about 30min in morning & 20 in afternoon. He sleeps 13hours overnight.

Thanks for the giggle! When you dropped a milk feed, was it because he wasn't demanding as many feeds, or did you initiate it and just not offer it?

 

[Vickie]

Per forum rules and TOS the forum name has been removed from your post.

You may not link to third party forums or unapproved social networking Web Sites (Approved sites: Facebook, Bebo, Myspace).

Oh dear! What a way to start off on the wrong foot! So sorry about that! I apologize profusely and hope I can be forgiven for that!!

my turn to apologize I just now saw this

don't worry about it

 

[golcarlilly]

Hey hows it been going? Myles has not had as many feeds the last couple of days and his appetite has increased so I am really pleased He has been napping like crazy today and he doesn't usually so I am wondering if we are going through a growth spurt?!