Advice needed please

x_Glimmer_x · Dec 20, 2010 7:43AM

Hi everyone,

I really could do with some advice. For the last couple of weeks Olly (who is 6 months old) has been off and on with his teething but since it haas settled down I have realised that he gets really unsettled after his morning nap. To give a bit of background he has always been really fussy with his bottles. He would never entertain a 10pm dream feed and at 12 weeks (breast fed until 8 weeks) had to put him onto a fast flow teat as he started to point blank refuse bottles. When he was little it would take me up to an hour to get a 4oz bottle down him. I had to wean him at 19 weeks because he again started to refuse bottles. Now have realised that between 9-11am he is really grumoy, clingy and can't seem to read what it is thats bothering him. I do think that he is hungry but refuses a bottle when I try him. This is his routine:

Usually wakes between 6-6.30 but I leave him to play in his cot until 7am.

7.15am - Bottle (5-6oz) and breakfast (baby cereal or weetabix)

8.30am - nap (between 30mins and 1 hour)

9-9.30am - awake but restless.

10.30am - try him with a bottle. takes 1-2oz and cries through it.

11am - dinner (main and pud. Do offer finger foods)

11.30-12pm - nap (about 1-11/2 hours)

2.30pm - bottle (6-7oz)

4.30-5pm - tea (main and pud. Do offer finger foods)

6pm - bath

6.30 - bottle (6-7oz)

7pm - bed

Bascially he is really ratty until I give him his dinner and then he seems to calm down. Once he wakes from his nap he's a happy boy again. I'm totally confused as to what he wants. I dread this time of day. I have spoken to my HV and I have some good night milk but waiting for a thick flow teat to be delivered. Tried him with his fast flow teat but it took him an hour to take 4oz and then got so tired he couldn't take anymore. I'm hopng by giving him the good night milk it will help him to sleep abit longer at night which (fingers crossed) will mean he is more alert in the mornings for his meals.

Does anyone have any advice as to what I could try bewenn 9 and 11am? I have thought that tomorrow I might try him with a bottle as soon as he wakes up (9-9.30am) becasue I do think he is too hungry at 11am for him to enjoy his meal and refuses a bottle that I try to give him around 10.30am). The first 5 mins of his dinner are usaully him crying and then he enjoys every mouthful once he has had few spoonfuls to take the edge off his hunger.

Sorry for the ramble but mealtimes have always been stressful and I just want him to be content but feel I'm not understanding him at the moment

Thanks for any replies x

Also posted in Born in June 2010

MummyAnonymous · Dec 17, 2010 11:11AM

The one thing that occurred to me that you could try would be to drop that mid-morning bottle and offer a snack to see him through till lunchtime? If he only takes an ounce to 2, it's hardly worth the stress of it anyway? If he's happier on food than milk then just drop that bottle and increase his food intake to satisfy his hunger.

I was struggling with getting food not milk into my daughter at about 8 months and the HV said just cut out a milk feed to up her appetite for food. So she has 3 milk feeds about 15oz a day. She's now 10 months btw.

Other than that, I'm not sure really??

I can sympathise, milk and food intake has been a constant worry for me!

xxx

x_Glimmer_x · Dec 18, 2010 2:40AM

Thanks, I'm going to try a bottle today and if he refuses it I'm not going to battle with him and offer a snack instead. Fingers crossed that will help!! x

caroles · Dec 18, 2010 1:46PM

hey hun - just wondering could you offer his cereal a bit later say at about 8 -815 - i give h a 7oz bottle at 7 then i get myself ready for the day then its downstairs for porridge at 8 ish - it works for us as he then is full so sleeps longer at his morning nap ( i have to wake him after an hour and a half ! ) h i like olly is crap at taking bottles so he usually wont take much of this mid morning bottle either but he isnt too hungry as he only ate a few hours ago ! Sorry ive rambled but thought id tell you what works for us xx

x_Glimmer_x · Dec 19, 2010 10:30AM

Thanks, I think I might try that! I did think about doing that. I have tried giving him a bottle when he 1st wakes from his morning nap and its not made any difference, still won't have it. Today I tried him with a yoghurt as a snack but again nothing and then refused his lunch...arghh!! I'm sure we will get there soon.

Today he has been even worse. I do think this has alot to do with him teething today though as he is just generally not himself at all

kayssis · Dec 19, 2010 11:08AM

Your day's pretty similar to ours, apart from breakfast time. Ds has his first bottle around 7.30, then breakast around 8.30, in fact most of the time his meals are around an hour after his bottle, he then used to nap straight after his breakfast, 9ish, for 30-60mins, bottle 11ish, lunch 12ish....by giving breakfast a bit later, hopefully he'll have a good nap then have a reasonable bottle and settle a bit before lunch x

xCALLEIGHx · Dec 19, 2010 1:14PM

id say hs nap is too short and he's waking after the 40 mins and not getting himself back to sleep for the full nap. could you try to get hm to sleep longer at this nap? the other thing is i agree about splitting up mlk and food. dd has her milk at arond 5-6am :roll: but then goes back to sleep until after 8, then i give her breakfast. she's only ratty whe she's tired.

proudmummy2010 · Dec 19, 2010 5:27PM

Hi hon, firstime28 here but had to change my username! I would tend to agree that its actually not hunger but tiredness. James was very similar for a while and he cried for the first half of his meal and like you I thought he was just so hungry. What I did was started treating his first waking as a night feed again - so if he woke before 7am the rule was a bottle and straight back to bed. He would go back to sleep fine, then when he next woke around 9am we would do breakfast. Gradually he started sleeping through that and now wakes every day at 8:20am but I still put him back for a nap by 9:45am as if I leave it until he is too tired he doesnt sleep as long. That could be your morning nap problem - say Olly wakes at 6am - he is then awake 2 and a half hours before a nap - maybe its too long? - again he is up 2 hours before dinner so it would make sense he is getting tired. I try to feed James shortly after he wakes to make sure he is happy,so our routine goes like this -

8:20am get up

8:30am porridge

9am bottle

9:45am nap

11am Playtime

11:45am lunch

12/12:15 Bottle

1pm Nap

2pm Playtime - or we are out somewhere

3pm Bottle

3:30/45 Nap

5pm Dinner

5:30 Bath/wash and pj's on

6pm Bottle

6:30pm Bed

The other thing to consider with him waking so early is bedtime - does he seem very tired at bedtime? When I moved James' bedtime from 7pm to 6:30pm it made such a difference and he slept longer - its like they sleep less if they are tired!! Hope I have helped and not just rambled - its so horrible when they are grumpy : ( xx

x_Glimmer_x · Dec 20, 2010 4:42AM

Hi firsttimer. How are you?

Thanks for that advice girls. I agree, I do think its him bring tired because at the end of the day, once he has had his naps he is at his best!! At bedtime he is fine, not grumpy at all and always goes down really well. I'm hoping using the goodnight milk is going to help him sleep longer but I'm waiting for the thick flow teats. Today he woke at 6am but again I left him until 7am. I did split his milk and breakfast today and put him back down at 8.30am and he was asleep by 8.45am but awake again 30mins later. He's still in his cot now, I'm trying to leave him to see if he'll nod back off but all I can hear are those little legs kicking around lol.

Yesterday was awful but after his 3rd nap he was so much happier. I'll see how he goes this morning (I dread this time

) and like you say might try giving him a bottle when he wakes at 6am. The wierd thing is Olly is so good at self settling since he was about 10 weeks old. He loves his sleep and actually smiles at me when I put him down for his nap!

proudmummy = Can I ask how long was it before James dropped that feed again?

hgiellac = Thanks for replying to my post. Can I ask what is DD feed and nap rotuine during the day and how old she is?

Oooo.....things have gone quiet upstairs!! Fingers crossed he has nodded back off!! x

JunieMummy · Dec 20, 2010 4:56AM

Aw dont dread it hun. Emily was up at 5am so shes had a nap already so thats thrown out a little bit of routine that we do have :evil:

hope your morning goes better than ours. xx

x_Glimmer_x · Dec 20, 2010 7:43AM

I am pleased to say that morning has gone fantastically!!

Here is what I changed today,

up at 7am and bottle

8am - breakfast

8.30am - nap (woke after 30mins but left him and he fell back to sleep until 10.30am!!)

11am - bottle (only took 3oz but did not cry and minimal fuss)

11.30am - dinner (did not cry once and took it so well!!)

12.30pm - back in his cot for a nap. Still awake at the moment but happily playing.

I can't believe how good he has been. It has obvioulsy been tiredness that has been upsetting him. I feel so happy and I have been able to have abit of 'me' time this morning too which I haven't has since he was about 3 months old!!

I don't expect every day to go like this but I think we have found the problem and I need to leave him longer in a morning!!

Thank you all so much, I could cry I'm so relieved.

Just to top of my brilliant morning as well the thick flow teats have come so I can try out the goodnight milk tonight...yeah!! x

Advice needed please

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