HV advice on waking at 5 and dropping bottles - do I follow it?

[bluesmile10]

Health visitor visited yesterday to weight 1 yo ds and we discussed him waking at 5 am (sometimes stirs around 4!!) Her advice was to leave him in his cot for as long as possbile, give him his bottle in his cot and leave him in his room for as long as we can, as he is waking to be brought downstairs to play. She also said not to let him nap before 10 am and to be awake by 4 pm (gradually moving this to 3). He also hasnt dropped any feeds yet, and having been on anti biotics for a while and suffering from poorly ear, milk intake has gone up rather than down. She said to give him all milk in an open topped cup (even bedtime bottle), and start to water feeds down (so less formula than water) - hopefully this will then encourage him to eat more solids as he doesnt eat much, just relies on milk!!!

I'm thinking that if I'm watering feeds down, why do they need to be in a cup, because wont he eventually not have them - she said its just a comfort thing!

Also wont his 5 am wake up just naturally change? Or is it him trying to call the shots, my friend suggested putting a stair gate across his room and just letting him play in there until a reasonable time. What should I do?

If he's not eating much in the way of solids then it's a really bad idea to water down his formula - that will just fill him up but with fewer calories! I'd stick with letting him have as much milk as he wants until his food intake increases. I don't know whether you should stick with formula or move to cow's milk and vitamin drops, though. Hopefully someone else will. (You could try asking in Breast and Bottle Feeding, or Weaning)

Especially if he's been ill, milk intake often comes up and food will go down at these times, it isn't a cause for concern.

As for early waking - it's likely he just thinks it is morning at 5am, especially as it's been getting light earlier. You could try something like a blackout blind, and then how you deal with the 5am wakings is up to you. If he's happy to play alone in his cot or his room and you're sure he will be safe, that's a good option, or you could bring him into your bed for an hour or two. He will grow out of it - or in a year or two, he'll be old enough to understand one of those clocks which tells them when it is morning.

I doubt he is specifically sneaking a tiny alarm clock into his cot and setting it deliberately for 5am just so he can wake everyone up to call the shots

He's never been a great foody - has always loved his bottle!!!

He does have blackout blinds, wont play in his cot and never sits still in our bed, let alone go back to sleep - little pickle really!!!!! HV made me feel like we needed to change this as he was waking because he knew we'd go to him and he'd then get a lovely play time. I had just thought he would grow out of it especially now he has started walking.

Would like to encourage more solids though - will try in other forum, thank you.

He's waking because he thinks it's morning, and sure, you going to him and playing is reinforcing that, but it's madness to think that he's waking on purpose because he knows it's 5am and wants to annoy you! :) I would tend to agree that he'll grow out of it. If you're okay with a 5am wake up in the short term or you can find a compromise then go with that.

Both DCs wake up at 5am during the summer - changing nap times, blacking out blinds, feeding later - nothing has made any difference! We just go to bed earlier.

Hmmmm. I wouldn't do anything until he's got over being poorly. Properly over.

Then, I would swap to cup rather than bottle, but use a cup with a spout (less mess!!).

If you want to encourage more solids you do need to gradually cut down on milk. Personally I would just cut out one feed at a time, slowly does it, rather than watering down. Also, I would get onto cow's milk, but I can see that maybe this will take time- maybe you want to get his solids up first.

Re the 5am....my DD did this at this age, well she did it until about 13/14 months, although she didn't get up for the day. She seemed to need milk at this time (none over night) and then she'd sleep again until 7. We did start ignoring her, but she did a lot of it herself, getting onto 6 before having milk, and then today (at 2.5) is nearer 7. So, it might just be time....

My DD was a milk monster and we just gradually cut back and she started wolfing the solids!!! Well, certainly upped her intake. We did this from 9 months. Still didn't eat loads between 12 and 18 months but then 18 months to 2 got a lot more appetite.

Go by your instinct, what seems sensible to you and your baby rather than HV

Babies wake up early - it's what (many) of them do, not all I know. Mine certainly is partial to a 5am wake up, not much we do as any impact - going to bed later just means she's more grumpy the next day.