Stage 3 milk, thoughts please??

[julezboo]

seriously considering it!

DS coming up to 7 months. His routine lately is-
(roughly)
5am - 8oz bottle stage 2 formula
7am - porridge.
10am - 4oz bottle
12pm - dinner and pudding (purrees)
2pm - 4oz bottle
3pm - yogurt
5pm - dinner and pudding
7/8pm - porridge and 7oz bottle
2am - 9oz bottle!

He is so hungry, fighting sleep, he slept through from 4 weeks, but has been increasingly getting worse in the night since about 4 weeks ago.

Was just wondering what your thoughts where, Hv is useless and cant get hold of her!

J x

Do you mean follow-on, julez? If so, this is no higher in calories than regular formula - is this what you were thinking about?

yes thankyou.
Any other ideas then? I am exhausted, he has me up for an hour at 2am, then hes up for the day at 5am!! No sign of any teeth coming through, I cant possibly feed him anymor solids can i?

He sounds pretty well fed and waking at this age is not hunger - what do you do when he wakes at 2 am?

Correction - waking at 7 mths is not likely to be hunger

But it is still normal behaviour, and many babies wake....but they are usually settled back sooner than an hour.

well the past few nights, we change him, check to see if hes warm enough etc... he just screams and screams till we give in and give him a bottle of milk. We dont turn the light on at all. He is still in our room, could this be making a difference?

We cant leave him crying for too long cos we have a 5 yr old too who has to get up for school.

Its getting so hard, im exhausted and rained. He cries all day too.

Aw, julez, this sounds hard.

I would never, ever suggest leaving a baby to cry....he clearly needs the comfort and reassurance in the night. He prob doesn't need changing unless he has a dirty nappy or a sore bottom.

My own personal feeling is that you will have a better night if you just give him the bottle when he wakes, instead of waiting for him to scream and get upset.

He's far too young to be 'sleep trained' or left to cry. It's normal for 7 mths old babies to wake. The bottle is a comfort, but I see nothing wrong with comforting a baby.

But you do need help and support generally. I hope others will come on here with suggestions. It strikes me your issues are more than a baby who needs milk at night....there's a lot more going on that's difficult.

Hi, I feel for you as my ds is now 15mo and STILL has a feed during the night EVERY night!!

Thoughts from me:

• will he take more milk at 7/8pm?

• agree with tiktok, if you are finding it a struggle, just give him the milk in the night for an easy life!

• do you co-sleep? We do and tbh giving him a night bottle is really no biggy - dh puts the powder in the bottle and shakes, I hold bottle while ds feeds (and barely wake up), ds goes back to sleep, me and dh go back to sleep!

• Have you tried gradually cutting down the volume and/or strength of the night feed?

We tried cutting down on the powder scoops but didn't make any diff, we are about to try cutting down volume.... My hope is that he will eventually grow out of it anyway.

thanks girls

tiktok - i would never leave him crying anyway, no way would i ever do controlled crying. We are having issues with his head at th moment, his soft spot has closed up too early and he may need surgery

Razian, we dont co-sleep, DP is rather big and smokes so I wouldnt feel safe putting him the bed with us, he is right next the my side of the bed though.

Tbh we do just give him the milk for an easy night, but from experience, Im frightened that he will still be waking in the night for milk when hes 2! (my ds didnt sleep through the night till he was 4!!!!)

He has just had a bottle now (4oz) and I have another one ready for when I put him to bed.

I am wondering though, with his soft spot closing too early whether this would cause pressure (reason for possible surgery) and make him have headaches?

Even in the day its a task to get him down for a nap, when he does its no longer than 20 mins, although this could be to do with a noisy 5 year old too!

I am pinning all my hopes on things getting back to normal when ds goes back to school on wed

julezboo,

Is your baby getting enough protein in his dinners? Mine were murder to get to go for any length of time if they didn't have enough meat or pulses (one is vegetarian). H.V was not happy with me because I was giving them meat and two veg for two meals a day, but it was the only way they would sleep for any length of time.

My youngest is 16 months, I don't know what the latest advice is for feeding meat at 7 months. I gave all mine meat from 6 months.

12lb - I will try that thankyou! He has plenty of veg, bit of chicken and some beef but not alot!

12lb - that is really interesting about not having enough protein. my dd is 12 mo and has been needing milk at about 5.30 every morning. she is veggie, wonder if she is not getting enough? will try and up the amount.
sorry for digressing, Julez. fwiw, i only put my dd on follow on milk for the extra iron. and because i got points on it in boots

I don't know how correct the info from HV's is but it is recommended that babies go onto lumpier food after 6 mths. If you mash instead of puree and ensure protein in each meal (not huge amounts as this can put pressure on the kidneys) the food will digest more slowly and perhaps give the baby a full feeling for longer. I would try to increase portion sizes if the meal is regularly completely finished. You could also try giving pudding after the evening meal later and closer to bedtime. This worked for my dd. If lo has been a good sleeper previously and not having night feeds, then giving a bottle in the night will only set the stomach to rumble at this time if done every night.