Move to three meals? How to fit it in!

[gubbinsy]

I'm doing BLW with DS now 7.5 months. He's still not eating loads but definitely upped his intake. We've just been doing breakfast and lunch for a while now and wondering if I ought to introduce dinner too? I'm just not sure how to fit it all in - I prefer it if he eats with one of us if possible. Day generally goes something like (all approx depending on wake time which is generally between 6 and 6.30
6am wake
7am bf
8am nap
9am breakfast
12pm bf and nap
1.45 lunch
3.30 bf and nap
6.30 bf and dinner

So we'd have to fit dinner in around 5 I guess but that's definitely too early for me and DH especially as I'm not eating lunch till later! Any thoughts? Could look at breakfast before nap but he's generally not massively bothered about it now.

Any thoughts or should I just carry on with 2 meals for now?

[AmyByTheTrain]

My DS is also 7.5 months. Here are a few things I did to help fit in 3 meals:

I gave up on DS having dinner with us. We just can't eat as early as he needs to. I try to have a snack while he's eating dinner, so he's not eating alone.

We switched from 3 to 2 naps, with something like a 2-3-4 schedule. It doesn't always work, and some days DS still needs a 3rd catnap. But it usually gives us a bit more time in the day, since it takes a while to persuade him to nap.

Mornings are a bit of a race to get in all the eating before the first nap, and are a lot less nice and leisurely than they used to be. The first milk feed (a bottle for us) happens as soon as DS wakes, then nappy change, then a bit of faffing about with various stuff like getting dressed, then breakfast, then playtime if any time is left, and then nap.

A good day for us usually goes something like this:

• Wake up, bottle, nappy change, get dressed
  
• A bit later - breakfast
  
• About 2 hrs after waking - morning nap
  
• A bit after waking from morning nap - lunch
  
• A bit before afternoon nap - bottle
  
• About 3 hrs after waking from morning nap - afternoon nap
  
• On waking from afternoon nap - optional bottle, depending on how things are going
  
• A bit later - dinner
  
• About 3-3.5 hrs after waking from afternoon nap - bedtime routine, including bottle
  
  But things vary quite a bit, and quite a lot of days aren't "good" days
  
  Obviously, you need to do whatever works for you and your LO, though. If he does really well on 3 naps, I wouldn't try to force him into two, for example. Good luck!

[gubbinsy]

Thanks. I have been trying out 2-3-4 but he just can't quite do the 4 - plus he's usually awake by 1.30 so the would be a 5.30 bedtime! Will try shifting breakfast maybe and think you're right re eating dinner together!

[beccajoh]

I would try and do dinner for 4.30/5. Chances are he'll be too tired if you leave it until much later and you might find he's very fussy when really all he wants is boob and bed.

We've never eaten our proper dinner at baby/toddler dinner time unless it's the weekend. For a start DH isn't normally home until 7pm at the earliest. I usually sit down and have a snack whilst she eats.

[BertieBotts]

He'll need dinner at 5ish when he's a toddler anyway because they get too tired to eat if dinner is too late.

We eat together now DS is 5, I've moved his bedtime to 7.30 and we eat at around 6.

[RizzleBizzle]

What is 2-3-4 please? another thing I haven't heard of!

[Getyourflipflopson]

We save a bit of whatever we have for dinner for 9month old ds to have the next day. If we have a takeaway, he has things like beans and toast. He eats at 5pm.

[BertieBotts]

I've never heard of 2-3-4, sounds like a routine? I think 4 hours is too long to go without food at that age, my almost 6 year old struggles to go 4 hours. He needs a snack at around 3 or 4 pm.

I always roughly spaced out meals about 4 hours apart with a snack 2 hours in between.

[ShoeWhore]

At this stage we did something like:

7am wake up, bf
8am breakfast
10am bf
1pm bf, lunch (then later lunch first then bf, eventually dropped bf altogether)
4pm bf, tea (slowly pushed tea back to 5, eventually replaced bf with a drink & snack)
7pm bf before bed

There was a certain amount of jiggery pokery as the food increased and I do remember at times feeling like I was feeding them every 2 mins. It doesn't last long though.

[Rtfairy]

I think 2-3-4 is a nap routine so the 2-3-4 is the awake times between naps.

I too am struggling to fit everything in but am doing something like this:

6am bottle
7am breakfast
8am nap
10am bottle
11.30 lunch
12 30 nap
2.30/3 bottle
4pm short nap which is usually refused!
5pm dinner
6pm bath
6.30pm bottle
7pm bed.

[gubbinsy]

Sorry - yes, 2-3-4 is naps not food. Thanks for all the replies- think we're getting there

[lisaloulou84]

Hi,

Could someone explain the 2-3-4 logic to me please?
My 5 month old just got really good at sleeping through and having naps every couple of hrs and now just doesn't seem to want to nap as much.
I've also just started weaning him, starting with just breakfast and am going to move on to introducing lunch next week, following annabel karmels schedule. Really keen to get a good routine going as my sister is going to be looking after him when I go back to work in september.

Current schedule is starting to look like this -
5am - wakes, gurgles, goes back to sleep
6am - wakes properly
between 6.30am and 7 - bottle
7.30am - nap
9.30am - wakes
10am - breakfast - baby porridge/baby rice and milk (not having very much!)
11am - nap
12-12.30am - wakes
1pm - bottle - again doesn't want as much
3.30-4pm ish - short nap
4.30pm - wakes/bottle
7pm - bath, bottle, bed - bedtime routine is solid and he settles himself to sleep!

He gets quite grumpy and tired at sort of half 5/6ish but doesn't seem to actually want anything, nap or milk. today I sort of wound down with him for the last hour, read a book, had him in his chair with music on which calms him and he seemed a bit better.
Problem is I'm 4 days on from 4 month jabs and he's teething and weaning only started tuesday, so can't really figure out if he's trying to adapt his routine to being more awake and not getting it quite right or if any of the above are factors.

I'd like to slowly introduce lunch and dinner at the 1pm and 4.30pm feeds, but can anyone suggest if a) i'm doing the right thing, b) any tiny adjustments????

height of stress yesterday with a baby that was seriously grumpy all afternoon, and my partner comes home and baby's smile lights up the room, then he cries whenever he leaves it again! aaaaaaaaarrrggghh..........

sorry for the essay...

[trilbydoll]

DD has always had quite long naps so we did breakfast, and me having a bath, getting dressed etc before her morning nap. Then we would have lunch, do something for about an hour and she would nap again at 3pm for a couple of hours. We all eat tea at 6.30, and she is in bed by 8.

I should add the caveat that bedtime has always been a nightmare, and we have to eat before she goes to bed otherwise there is a very real risk we will end up starving, trapped in a battle of wills in her room at 11pm!

[YBR]

DD2(8mo) does something like this:

bf 6:30-7am (before I go to work) then back in her cot - usually wriggles and chatters until DH gets up.
Breakfast by 8
bottle 10:30ish
lunch 12-12:30 ish
bottle 15:30ish
tea 1800ish
then bath, bf, bed

TBH that's the routine because it fits with DD1(2.5) and various toddler groups. She's not great at napping, rarely having more than half an hour, which is normally before or after lunch and often in the pushchair on the way to/from somewhere.

[GreatJoanUmber]

Just do dinner for him earlier. My 6m old DS has breakfast at 7.30/8am, lunch around 12, dinner 5.30pm. Breakfast and lunch are meals together, dinner is just for the boys (have 3 DSs in total) and DH and I have dinner later when they're in bed.
So especially if you are planning on having more DC, I think it makes sense to have their dinner earlier and separate - we only do dinner together at the weekends, when there's more time/more hands on deck as DH is home!

[gubbinsy]

Thanks all - we're managing - breakfast now before first nap and lunch before or after depending what we're doing. Dinner usually 5/6 although we have missed a couple due to stuff going on. Some days it does seem all in doing is feeding him or getting him to nap (another challenge in itself!)