sigh! cycle of viciousness!!!

[kateandfelicity]

ok.... dd is 16 weeks old now... and gorgeous... however... am going back to work within the next month, therefore have been feeding dd formula during the day (was previously breastfeeding exclusively)
problem is she never has a full bottle... she has between 80 and 120mls only... cannot get her to eat more... this results in her waking in the night 2/3 times, i do believe she is hungry because she hasn eaten as much formula as she should be... i breastfeed her at night... has the little monkey outwitted mummy AGAIN?
could it be that she KNOWS she gets bf at night and therefore doesnt eat as much during the day?

BUT... because she has eaten 2/3 times at night, she isn't as hungry during the day... and so the cycle continues...

how can i break this?? last week, dd did eat all her bottles... and then slept from 10pm till 6.30pm yay! but that was just the once... not been able to get a repeat performance.

is she too young for 'controlled crying'??? my gut feeling says she is... have tried giving her water too... sometimes it works... sometimes not.

am really worried as am starting work soon which is going to be soooo hard, and am on my own, dp still in sydney... so no one here to share the night waking saga.

any suggestions greatly appreciated.

thanks

very tired kate and fat felicity

oh poor tired you!
yes, definitely too little for controlled crying. it isn't very nice either, so a last resort i think! well, for me anyway.
have you tried giving her lots of small feeds during the day to get her to have more?

Hi, yeah could give that a go, but she has been on a sort of routine from day 1 really... also at her nursery she will be put onto 'their routine' of feeding so i know they won't be up for that at all will they?
ah, mummy hears the growling monkey now, must run off and see what bizarre position she's got herself into now!!
will post later on... any other suggestions?

how many bottle feeds is she on? and maybe reduce it to a smaller amt prior to you feeding her, (i guess?), around 7pm for night. what time is her last feed before bed time? does she feed around 11 from you?
if shes a fat felicity maybe she is getting plenty and its just a question of working out when she really needs it in the day.

hth

I don't know if this would work,but it was suggested in a book I read [can't remember which one}.They suggested watering down night feeds,so that she will catch up in the day.

It would probably be best to check with a hv before trying this though.

Good luck-I have a dd very similar,never drinks more than 2.5 ozs in the evenings,so still wakes twice overnight.