HELP Sleep/ feed routines for a 7 month old

[Tras]

Would love some advice! My first DS basically set his own routines and we rolled with that. It worked because he was so settled. However DD2 definitely needs more gentle guiding as her night time sleeping is still unsettled.

I have flicked through Gina Ford and whilst I find it restrictive Ive taken away some threads. Basically up till the weekend my DD was being allowed 3 sleeps in the day. The third was a tiny 1/2 hr nap about 7pm to enable her to take last bottle. Am now trying to cut this out and feed her at 7pm instead but am finding it so hard. She seems to really struggle with being up for longer than 2 1/2hrs at a time. Is this normal? Do I just continue to encourage a 3hr wake time and hope she gets used to it?

Basic routine for her
8am- up, takes about 5ozs, breaky
11am-sleep 11/2 hrs
12.30pm- bottle, lunch
3-sleep 11/2hrs
4.30pm- bottle, dinner
7pm-bottle (takes between 2-4ozs before she falls asleep with exhaustion)

As I said before, she has only been on this routine for a few days, but still seems to waken around 12midnight for 2oz feed!

Do I try and cut out the 4.30pm bottle and just give one at 6.30 instead? Must stress that she is still refluxy and not a great feeder. Generally only takes around 19ozs over the four bottles in the day.

Is it normal to cut down to three bottles at this stage? (DS1 hated milk and at this point was only taking about 8ozs a day!) Please give me a rough guideline of your kiddies?

Yes I think I would try to give the 7pm bottle earlier if she is falling asleep for it.

DS is 16 months - so a lot older - but his sleep routine is:

8.00am - wake
8-9am - breakfast
11.00am - sleep - 2 hours
1.00pm - wake + lunch
(3.00pm - sleep about 1 hour - he used to have this)
5.30pm - dinner
6 - 6.30pm bed

Although I will say, waking only once in the night for 2oz at 7 months is really very good - it sounds like she is coming to the end of needing this night feed, so to be honest I would go with it for now. You could try doing a dreamfeed at about 11pm, but not sure whether it would be dangerous to do a dreamfeed with a baby with reflux.

Oh and I wouldn't necessarily cut out the 4.30pm bottle - just try giving the 7pm bottle earlier (maybe move tea/bottle half an hour earlier too) and see if she takes more and this helps her to go through the night.

Milk is the main source of nutrition for the first year, I wouldn't start dropping bottles until she is eating lots of solids and a varied diet - on average I think around 9 months. Of course with a refluxy baby you might find that solids are better for her to keep down than milk anyway.

Don't know if I'm going to be of any help at all, but my DS is 8 months old and our routine is:

7.30am - up and dressed, breakfast then bf
8.50am - walk DD to school and DS falls asleep in pushchair for 1 - 2 hours
11.00am - bf
1.00pm - lunch
3.15pm - bf, then pick up DD from school, DS falls asleep in pushchair for an hour
5.30pm - dinner
6.45pm - bath, bf, bed

It's a fairly similar routine to yours Tras, but I find if DS seems really tired in the evening, I will just start the bedtime routine earlier rather than sticking too rigidly to the timetable.

If I were in your position, I would just get your DD to bed a bit earlier in the evening so she's awake enough to take more of a feed. I would also ignore the midnight waking and let her settle herself back off to sleep without a feed, she probably doesn't really need it and is only taking some for comfort rather than hunger. (Don't mean that too sound harsh in any way!)

HTH, every baby is different, so just offering my experience

All the best!