Clueless - amounts of milk and food

[NewChoos]

I'm feeling like such a novice - please can I have some help.
DS is 28 weeks and we are in our 3rd week of introducing puree's.
Yesterday he had:
Bfast 4-5 teaspoons of cereal
lunch: 4-5 teaspoons of banana & avocado, 1/2 bowl pear & apple
Dinner: 4-5 teaspoons cauliflower cheese, 1/2 jar plum rice pudding (Definitely got a sweet tooth!)

BF 0900, 1200, 1400, 1700, 1900, 2130 then 4 times in the night (!)

Does this sound ok? Today He is having AK fish pie for lunch, fruit puree. For Dinner I am going to try to make the AK braised steak.

I am aiming to cut down the BF, he does BF to sleep though.......

Are you able to get him back to sleep at night without feeding him? You both may be in a bit of a habit. It sounds as if he is eating quite a bit and shouldn't really be waking 4 times in the night for more food .

I heard today (whether or not its true) that babies start waking more in the night when you start weaning them as their imaginations really start working and they get excited by the new experience of eating. Maybe if you can cut down the amount of milk at night he will wake less.

Thanks for the reply. He generally feeds to sleep and gets in a bit of a strop if I don't bf him. I think we are going to have to do some sleep training.

Interesting thought about the weaning. I will aim to cut down the night feeds...!

NewChoos its very common for babies to wake more once they start weaning. It is down to all sorts of reasons, wanting the reassurance of a hug and milk from you, getting used to digesting food and it is quite often hunger as their tummys are being filled up with fruit and veg which is nowhere near as calorific as bm.

If it is the night wakings that are bothering you please have a read of this article before you decide to sleep train. You might also find this book helpful too . If it's really bothering you have you thought about night weaning? There is some info here and here.

The current advice on bfing and solids under one year is to bf an hour before offering solids, so could you try something like this?

7am bf
8am breakfast
10.30 am bf
11.30 am lunch (followed by another feed if he wants it.
2pm bf
4pm bf
5pm tea
7pm bf and then again as and when he needs it.

Once they are 12 months you can start offering milk (whichever you choose) after their food.

Thanks for the info - the night feeds don't bother me too much, but I am going back to work in a few weeks time and think I will be exhausted. We currently co sleep a lot but I would like to get him in his cot more!

He bf's a lot, but I could try more structure as you suggest. Will read your links later, he has just woken from a nap!

If you are going to work in a few weeks, have you spoken to a BFC about returning to work and bfing? They should be able to come up with a plan that will work for you and DS. If you need some phone numbers try BFN, LLL or ABM or is there a BFC at a local bfing group?

My work has a BF room etc. Bit concerned as DS not taking a bottle well on the 3 occasions that I have gone out for a couple of hours.
I really don't want to do any CC or like - but am starting to feel tired....

I don't know how CC supposed to work. But everytime I tried leaving my DD to self settle, she gets more and more upset. For example last night she was horrid. Woke up singing to herself at 2.30am. We listened to it in our bed. Then after a while she started crying and DH tried to settle her. In the end I fed her to sleep at 4am! Oh and she can self settle if she's not upset. I've always put her down awake.

And I know she can cry to sleep which she has done a couple of times when she's inconsolable. (she wouldn't feed when she is in a state). But then she will be awake again after 40min to an hour.

Have you had any luck with it?

New are you going back to work part or fulltime and how will the feeds work while you are there? Will you be able to feed LO while you are at work or will you be expressing and offering ebm or formula, who will be feeding LO and will there be any settling in sessions?

As for the sleep, I always found I got more sleep if I made sure they got plenty of bm in the day and I co-slept at night, or part of it. It worked for us but if you are having problems agree with lady that the NCSS is a good book.

lilham We haven't tried CC. We attempted PUPD but on the 3rd night he got hysterical and so we had to abandon. He can't self settle which is our fault really as always fed/cuddled to sleep. We have got the Baby whisperer but didn't like her strict routine, I will look up the No cry sleep solution like lady suggests. I don't think he is taking good amounts of milk all the time in the night. He might have one good feed, last night he fed at 2130 and was in his cot at 2200, he woke for feed at 0230, we co slept from then (This was a good night, sometimes we don't manage to get him in his cot at all!) and he fed at 0430, 0530, 0615 but really was just using me as a dummy!

Yes he has had some finger foods: melon, peach, cucumber, cheese, french stick (!) and also some rusk (Does this make me a bad mum, are rusks are frowned up now?)

JJG I am going back to work 3 days a week, I will feed before work at 0600 ish, express at work, feed when get home at 1900 and no doubt through the night :) He is going to nursery 2 days, and have settling in sessions planned. He is being looked after at home for the other day by my sister.

Thanks for all the advice.