How many feeds does your 5-mo have if breastfed? What time are they? Do you top up?

[LuckyC]

My 5mo is suddenly being a bit weird, sleeping etc at different times, and I think she's looking to change her routine.

She currently gets 5 feeds a day, recently with a formula top-up at her 7 pm feed, and a dreamfeed (so 6 feeds total.)

It's getting hard to squish in this number of feeds and I am wondering about dropping one daytime feed and spacing them out more.

How many feeds does your 5-mo have a day? What time are they? Anyone else dropped a feed?

Thanks very much for advice!

DS's (6mo) last feed of the day starts at around 7pm, he tends to wake up at about 2am, feed and then back to sleep until 6am. Through the day it varies but usually every 1.5-2hrs not more than 2 hours though.

If we are at home he has a bit of a feed/sleep for an hour at around 10ish and the same just before the school run so around 2pm, he then has a little kip of about 20mins from about 5:30ish (also while feeding).

When we are out he just goes with the flow and yells if he is hungry.

Thanks Morloth. So, that's many more than we have currently. Am super-confused.

mine were all fed on demand so i guess it varied
ds2 was feeding every 45-90 minutes dayt and night at that stage. which was nice.

ds3 less so... but probably still at least every 3 hours or so

DD seemed to fall into a routine around 5 months of 4 feeds during the day (7am,11am,3pm,7pm very ish!) and then one feed during the night.

7 months now and still trying to drop the night feed - grrrr! And of course, we squeeze in 3 meals as well now. Constant feeding, but she is definitely starting to get less interested in the afternoon feed, so we may drop that soon (sorry, off at a tangent there!)

LuckyC- you sound like you are trying to have set times and a set number of feeds for your LO.

Babies feeding habits vary from baby to baby (as shown by Morloth) and also change as they get older.

If your baby seems happy and contented then why not just feed her when she has hunger signs? If she's putting on weight nicely then you don't need to 'squeeze' feeds in.

Babies change all the time and sometimes it's just easier to follow their lead.

As I am dressing 5 mo DS just now I will tell you roughly what he has 6am 8.25am (b4 school run) 10.30am 1.30pm 4pm 730pm 12am 2am 4am

I had tried a top up of half BM half formula at 7.30pm did nothing for his night time appetite.

5 feeds from four and a half months.(6, 9.30, 12.30, 15.30 and bedtime 18.30)

I also used to give a dream feed(midnight) so that would have meant six...However discovered, as advised by hv, to cut out the dream feed. I did so and DD just slept through and didn't notice. It also didn't affect her weight gain for some reason. So if you feel the need to drop a feed it probably would be that one. Regardless, your LO will tell you if they need to drop a feed if you know what I mean :)

ps...I know what you mean about squeezing those sleeps in. My DD tends to get sleepy after being awake bet. 1.5 and 2 hours.....This(routine below) has worked for her..if it helps at all. All babies are different and will wake up and go to bed at different times I guess.

6 am wake up bf
7.30 - 8(depending on sleepy cues)Nap
9.30 wake and bf
11 Nap
12.30 bf(or when she just wakes)
14.30 nap
15.30 wake and feed
18.00 bath time then bf
18.30 to 19.30 bed

Again this routine isn't written in stone...it is adapted all the time but she kind of follows it and I guess she kind of created it if that makes sense. Good luck!!!

5mo DS here and he has big feeds at around 8,11,2,5 and final feed at 8 in the day

And then about every 2 hours at night, bit longer if lucky (looking with at the once a night people on here)

But he also has lots of on demand small feeds, bit here bit there, in between the big 3 hourly ones. Basically I usually try him on boob if he is disgruntled to eliminate hunger first and foremost

I will just let him drop feeds as and when he wants to as he moves onto solids in a few weeks time. Is there a reason to drop them? DO they take long? DS is done and dusted in 10 mins, these days

Yeah worth mentioning that while DS2 feeds often it is only 10 mins through the day and the night time one is all business as well. The 7pm one can go for an hour, which is nice cause I read and chill and the 6am one tends to linger as well because I put off getting up...

I wouldn't worry about dropping feeds. Like pinata I try the boob first if he has a problem 99% of the time it works, so much easier than thinking about it!