3 month old GF baby too tired to eat at 6:15

[elisent]

My 3 month old daughter is always too tired to eat before bed. She has a small bottle at 2:15 and some water or juice at 4:15. She should be hungry by 6:15 but she's so sleepy I have to fight to keep her awake. She usually only takes 2-3 ounces instead of the 7-8 I would like her to take. It doesn't matter if she has an evening nap or not she's still falling asleep by then. Any advice?

Can you change feed time maybe feed at 4.15 if she is tired at 615 does she wake during the night?

sorry if i'm being silly here but why is she having a bottle of water/juice? i was always told that until 1year that babies only need milk to drink. or am i out of date.

what about bringing the feed forward? does that interfere too uch with GF routines, havent followed her book so woulodnt know the ins and outs.

Just realised Gf is Gina Ford - I was thinking back and at 3 months we had no routine so maybe my advice is not the best for you, although I think you should do what is best for baby even it means deviating slightly from GF formula after all she does not know your baby does taht make sense hope you find some good advice

3months we had a loose routine. basically as long as they were bath bottled and settled for bed by 8 i was happy. but if the woke at 9 they got fed lol.

elisent - do you have to wake her after her afternoon nap? If so, perhaps she needs longer then. Dd and I followed GF (although quite loosely, admitedly) and she always needed more sleep. She used to sleep in in the mornings too.

Alternatively, try bringing the eveing feed forward by 15 mins/half an hour.

Elisent - I would drop the water at 4.15pm and then give a split feed of about 4 oz before bath at 5pm and then the rest at 6.15pm. This worked for me until my ds was having solids at tea time - so i think when he was about 6mths.
HTH

How about taking a tip from "The Baby Whisperer" and giving her a dream feed? ie, it doesn't matter if she falls asleep, if she's hungry, she'll still take the bottle. If she won't then the juice/water must be filling her up and I would stop it.
If she doesn't take the dream feed at 6.15pm, could you try giving it to her later, say about 10/11pm, before the time you would expect her to wake up?
I haven't tried this myself, but my sister currently has a 3 month old and it works for her. They stayed over on the Bank Holiday weekend and her ds fed at around 7pm then took a dream feed at 10.30pm and slept until 6.15am, with a little help from his Light and Sounds toy!

Elisent, my ds2 needed to have a split feed, that is 1/2 at 5pm, 1/2 at 6.15pm until taking solids at tea time, he just couldn't get through it awake! Both my sons also needed a nap at 4 - 4.30 til5pm until they were 8 months old, and they both slept the full 2 hrs at lunch time, and 45 mins in the morning. Does it affect her night time sleep atall? If not, I wouldn't worry too much. I also never gave the water at 4.15pm to DS2, as it was such a battle with DS1 I just couldn't face it.....figured I'd rather give an extra breast feed if needed!
Just out of interest, I did the dream feed with DS2, (although we followed GF mainly, I did the dreamfeed at 10pm from about 3 months), and it worked beautifully. He slept through from dream feed to 6.30ish from 10 weeks.
At the end of the day I would say, think about what you wnt to achieve. For me it was to go for as long a stretch as possible at night, and I didn't worry too much if he (DS2) strayed from the routine in the day, (and if he did, it was usually he needed more sleep) as long as it didn't have an adverse affect on his sleep at night. Hope this helps?!

i had sort of the same problem from birth up until four months with ds (when he started solids) i folowed the miwifes routine make sure he's takin two oz to every two hours but after bed time let him wake you up and i can say it worked a dream but at the same time we was told not to give juice or water in the night just milk when he woke for a feed because he wasnt taking enough milk (must say the woman talked sense)

Elisent ... We don't follow GF as poor DD has to fit into her older brother's day and it is impossible to get her to have a long nap in the middle of the day as we are in and out of the car to take DS to Kindergarten and swimming lessons etc ...
BUT ... I do loosely follow the evening routine as it makes sense for her to be awake from 5 pm if I want her to go to bed at 7pm ... and to be honest even two hours is too much for her at the moment (she too is 3.5 months old).
If she has a nap after 4pm and wakes before 5 she is always asleep again by 6.30pm ... I don't really follow the feeding routine either - she basically feeds whenever she wants it from 4pm onwards ... she is breastfed so she has one breast from 4 onwards and then only after her bath does she have the other one.
DS was a GF baby and bottlefed by this age and I never gave him water or juice ... IMO babies of this age don't need it ... I split the feed and he had some before his bath and the rest after.
HTH a bit ...

Elisent,
Agree with most of the advice given here... my DS still likes an afternoon nap now, at 8 months, which can sometimes be 30 mins. I still loosely follow GF but must admit that I do let DS sleep after 5 (10 mins in the car normally) and he still goes down at 7/7.30.

I never gave DS the juice/water at 4ish. Only started this when DS started solids and started to cut down on his milk.

IMHO split feeding is a great idea and we used it lots if DS was very tired, even after GF said to stop, as it always made for a happier bathtime. Are you still doing the late feed (10.30pm)? How much is she taking then?

BR

Elisent ... we have just had a perfect example for you ...
DD fell asleep on the way back from the shops at 3.50pm today ... so she of course she woke up at 4.30pm. I knew then that there was no way I could keep her up until 7pm so she had a feed from one breast at 5pm, an earlier bath at 5.30pm, the other breast at 6pm and I put her down at 6.30pm. If I had tried to keep her going till 6.15 she would have fallen asleep during the last feed without having enough. By giving her an earlier bath I just missed the 'meltdown' ...

I'd probably do (am doing really) the same as oiseau recommends. dd2 is 2 months and following GF but she still has a split feed in the evening - about 2-3oz at 5pm and 3-5 at 6.15.

Although - the reason we still split the feed is not so much that she'd fall asleep, more that she would raise merry hell during bathtime otherwise because the 2.30 feed (4-5oz) doesn't last her so long in the pm when she seems pretty hungry. Because I'm still split feeding, she doesn't have the water - and in any case it conflicts with her late pm nap which has to be 4-4.30 as I am collecting dd1 from nursery school at 4.

dd2 is more able to stay awake without getting overtired (sometimes 2.5 hrs) in the late afternoon than the morning - so that's the opposite of your 3mdd I guess.

My 4.5 month-old is GF and I'm still doing the split-feed. There's a bit tucked away in the CLBB saying she doesn't recommend dropping it until the baby has slept through for 2 weeks - which he certainly hasn't done! There aredays when he's ready to drop by 6.30, but he often still has a nap in the buggy in the afternoons, even though he's not 'supposed' to. Ifhe's tired, he needs a nap! Does your daughter still nap in the afternoon? If not, then maybe you could reintroduce one, or if she still does, then maybe let her sleep a bit longer. And yes, I'd say cut out the juice/water too.

My dd2 has actually been sleeping through (11pm - 7am) since 8 weeks (just a week ago actually - we are still waking at 4.30 out of habit ) The split feed in our case is simply that she'd be starving hungry by 5.30pm otherwise, rather than asleep by 6.30. I will probably try subbing it for water (dd1 was fine drinking water) when she has dropped the pm nap and can go out in a buggy without nodding off. Ultimately I guess you need baby to have a big feed at 6.30 for a 12 hour kip

So glad to see these messages, as we've been having exactly the same issues. DD1 was a model GF baby, but, like Ghosty, dd2 has to just fit in round dd1's routines!

We do the same as Ghosty - split feeds either side of the bath, otherwise she gets too frantic during the bath and just conks out afterwards. I also interpret the late pm nap loosely as we never seem to manage the full lunchtime sleep (most days it's just an hour!), and she's so pooped by early afternoon, that she has another sleep then, and a short nap before the split feed.

I've found the Babywise book a useful addition to the GF principles (feed, activity, sleep - in roughly 3-3.5 hourly cycles), because it enables me to fit dd2's needs around those of dd1. Also dd2 never seems able to stay awake for more than about 1.5 hours at a time. This means she's always 'off schedule' according to GF, from the first nap of the day, and spends the whole day cathcing up.

At first, this bothered me, because I'd been so rigid with dd1 and her routine that I thought everything would go to pot if DD2 couldn't follow it too. I've now learned that you can be flexible, providing you follow certain of the principles to the letter (as much food as possible during the day, limiting sleep towards the end of the day etc.)

HTH

To ALL.
I wish my baby would be nearly falling asleep on his feed.No way!!
He sleeps for aabout 2-3 hrs in the day & thats a struggle.He does not sleep after 5pm.He has a feed @ 6.30-7am then a bath. A nap @ about half 8,9 til 10ish then sleeps for 2 half hrs here & then thru out the day.He is so hard to get to sleep.He fights it so much.
The reason I bath him in the morning is Im so scared that he will be tired by the evening there will be a risk that he will suddenley realise he is tired & scream the house down in the bath as he has done before.I dont want to ruin his happy time in the bath!!!

How old is he, Timo? He sounds like he's doing exactly what GF expects from 12 weeks or so, !

Oh yes, and even she admits that some babies like to fight sleep...even on her routines!

He is 3mths.
Its a noghtmare but just been given advice that I really need to chill out.
I will try but its hard.I wnt it all to go so well.
I like routine myself.
Can u tell me wot exactly is controlled crying & how old is old enough to start it.
I hate him crying for more than 10 mins.I cant stand it especially when he gets so worked up that he doesnt breath!!