how much should a 24 month old eat/feed?

[patsypancake]

so dd is 24 weeks and Breastfed I started weaning at 17 weeks with just few teaspoons of root veg (bizarre advice from HV which was a whole other mn thread ) she didn't seem interested so I carried on offering a tiny bit every day ish so I didn't confuse her but has only just started to actually EAT it since around 2 weeks ago

she is now wolfing down breakfast eating a half a small childs cup of baby porridge and then veg at night but happily eat 3 ice cube sizes with added milk and then a full bottle after .

I have also very gently started dr Ferber sleep training and is going great except she keeps waking up in the night even after falling asleep with out a peep at bed time .. I cant figure out if she is hungry or if I should sleep train the feeds out of her.. I am making her wait four hours between feeds but is often crying after 2 hours will go back to sleep and keep waking up and falling to sleep until fed .

her general routine as is
up 6am ish Bf
Breaky - rice /porridge 1/2 cup
Bf 9/10 am
nap easily
up 12
BF every 3-4 hours
Dinner 5pm fruit/veg puree
bottle formula 5.45
bath bed 6.30 asleep mayb 5 mins crying
wakes and wimpers a couple of times before 10pm when wakes and I feed then wakes ever 2-4 hours through night .

I don't know weather she keeps waking because I am feeding her back to sleep I try waking her but she just wont wake up and im worried that she really needs it

You weaned your baby at 17 weeks and are now Ferberizing a 24-week-old? I have no words of advice. Your poor, poor baby...

Your title says 24 months.

What's wrong with weaning at 17 weeks, I thought the advice had changed to 4 months rather than 6 again now?

Please don't sleep train her at 24 weeks!! She is waking up because she is hungry and needs you. Why would you want to 'sleep train the feeds out of her' ?? If she is hungry then feed her - she is a baby!

Your poor poor baby. . .my heart breaks reading this.

Give the op a break! Comments like your poor poor baby are ridiculous!

I would maybe introduce some lunch like mashed avocado and also start with introducing some protein into her evening meal. There is almost nothing in baby rice maybe try some quick cook polenta with mashed banana and cinnamon. Basically she needs more food of substance and can eat quite a range, don't be scared to try things.

Good luck seems like you are doing a good job to me.

What's wrong with weaning at 17 weeks infinite? Until a few years ago the advice was to move to solids at 16 weeks, only recently changed to 26. All the research is pointing to delayed weaning increasing allergies and it's likely it'll go back to 16 weeks again. What's your criticism?

Six months does seem way early for sleep training. The food she has is of low calorific value (bit of baby rice and veg has little protein or fat) so it won't help fill her up. She's most likely hungry, hence crying until she's fed. A lot of babies don't sleep through until after one year, it's quite normal although I know there's an expectation from a lot of parenting books they should go through.

By making her go four hours in the day you're possibly setting her up to feed more at night. Why not demand feed by day and she might go longer at night? If she's eating well I'd move to proteins too which will fill her up.

ELR - you are ridiculous if you believe sleep training a poor baby at 24 weeks is fine. It is cruel and totally unnecessary!!

Miss - stop being so bloody dramatic and judgemental. Baby is being fed throughout the night and OP is asking for advice on whether to sleep train or not. If you think not, please share your wisdom with OP. That kind of emotive language is actually aggressive.

ScarletFedora 'stop being so bloody dramatic and judgemental' - your language is aggressive and you are also a hypocrite.

The weaning guidelines changed in 2003 to 6 months from 4 months (both the WHO and the NHS), so that's about 11 years. It's not just a few years ago.

People often get confused about the current research into weaning age called the EAT study which is looking into the best age to start weaning to avoid allergies. This study is only just in the early days and will take a good while before any results are known. They have definitely not given any advice to change the weaning age recommendations, and the NHS have not changed their advice either. Even the people behind this study recommend sticking to current NHS advice of weaning at 6 months.

Anyway, none of this relates to the OPs question really. OP, my advice would be not to sleep train a 24 week old baby. I don't see how it would benefit them. If she is crying in the night then feed her. Using "controlled crying" methods of sleep training are now typically not recommended under 6 months or even under 1 year. There are plenty of other approaches that are considered more "gentle" that you could try such as Pick Up Put Down (PUPD), gradual retreat and so on.

I don't think that the food she is eating is related to the night waking, and I wouldn't try and increase what she is eating. Milk is by far the most calorific and nutritious food for her at this age. You have got several more months to get up to three meals a day - the NHS advice is by 8 to 9 months. At this stage if she is hungry, give milk.

Please don't sleep train her and don't make her wait for food. If she's hungry, feed her. Dont impose a timetable in her if it isn't working.

Fluffalump The timetable for weaning is now meant to be more about a baby's individual readiness I.e are they sitting up, have they lost the tongue thrust reflex. Some babies are likely to do this earlier than others - most won't be ready at 17 weeks but all are likely to by 26 weeks.