What time should I give him lunch?

[TheBish]

My son has been on solids for about 5 weeks and is doing well. I've been loosely following Annabel Karmel meal planners and I started as she suggested by giving him his lunch inbetween his lunchtime milk feed (offering one boob first then the other after solids). The problem is, he loves his sleep and has his biggest sleep of the day before lunch (starts 11.30-12pm). For the past few weeks this has sometimes been up to two hours so by the time he has lunch, it's sometimes 1.30/2pm or later. I know most babies/toddlers seem to have their lunch about 12 before their nap. I've tried offering him lunch between 11-12 before his nap but he's too tired to eat properly and cries a lot. I was also worried it wasn't ideal putting him straight to bed after eating. Should I keep trying with the early lunch and try and get him used to it or not worry and stick with the late lunch after his nap? I was going to start giving him tea this week so would a late lunch impact on that and make him less likely to want to eat at this time?

Stick with the late lunch as it seems to be working for you.

does he sleep at all in the morning? What is the rest of his routine? Ours is like this:

7am milk then solids (cereals)
9/9.30 - nap for 30 minutes
11.45 - lunch
12.30 - sleep for 2 hours
2.30 - milk
5.00 - tea
6.30 - milk
7.00 bed
the little nap in the morning might help him to go a bit later for lunch??

I give DD her lunch before her midday nap as I figure as she gradually gets to stay awake longer that will stratch to be in the right place anyway.

Currently she gets:

4am Night feed

7am up

8am milk followed by breakfast

9-10am nap

11am milk followed by lunch

12-2pm nap

2.30pm milk

4pm dinner

5.30pm bedtime milk

6pm asleep

the bish - if you son is happy to wait for lunch till 2ish and he sleeps ok, then i wouldnt worry about having late lunch

or you can try and have a later am sleep (9-10) and thrn lunch at 11.30 he shouldnt be so tired and then sleep 12.30 - 2.30

becky if your child is old enough for solids, i feel that they shouldnt be waking up at 4am for feed

all babies i have had have slept through the night from 8/12 weeks

try cutting old this feed

Hi - he does have a sleep in the morning. He can't seem to go more than two hours without a nap bless him. Our routine is this at the mo -

7am - milk
8am - breakfast
9am (nap 30 mins to an hour)
10/10.30 - milk after he wakes up from nap
12/12.30pm - nap
1.30pm (should be this time but this is the one that keeps getting later if he sleeps longer) milk and solids
3/3.30pm - quick nap (20/30 mins)
4/4.30pm - milk
5.30/6pm - tea
6.30/7pm - milk and bath and bed

However he's just gone 7 months now and I think he's probably having too many milk feeds so this is probably more like what it should be -

7am - milk
8am - breakfast
9am - nap
10ish - milk
11.45/12pm - solids
12/12.30pm - nap (2 hours if poss)
2.30pm - milk
3.30/4 - quick nap
5pm - tea
6.30pm - milk and bed

This would be one less milk feed though - do you think it's too early to drop one?
Thanks for your help

my 5mth

7am/7.30 wakes has 7oz bottle and rest mixed with baby porridge

9-10ish sleep

11.30/12ish 6oz milk lunch of puree veg

12.30 - 2.30 sleep

3.30/4ish 6oz milk and tea of veg puree

5ish - sleep for about 45/hr

6.45/7 bath and 7oz bottle then bed

times vary depending if picking up older brother 3 from nursery and fitting in 5 and 3yrs tea/homeowrk

but hats a rough guide

@ blondeshavemorefun - I didnt actually ask for an opinion on my child's night feed?? But since you gave your opinion I will say that, yes I too would expect it to be phased out soonish, but my DD is currently teething plus she goes to sleep at 5.45-6pm so sleeping until 4pm is technically more than sleeping through the night... At this age I think it's asking a bit much to expect her to go for 13.5 hours without a feed regardless of whether she's on solids or not.

I'd try and drop the 10am milk feed personally - I think that is supposed to be the easiest one to
drop once solids are firmly established - but its all horses for courses after all.

I think that they should be having a max of 21oz at this age in 24 hours and this includes anything cooked with milk (cereals/rice pud/sauces etc) (according to my research anyway).

If you are wanting to drop the night feed (and I know you said you weren't really) you could try replacing with water for a couple of nights (but I agree that 13.5 hours is a long stretch for a baby to go without milk).

sorry - the milk feed dropping bit was for the Bish

blonde, you have been very lucky that all the babies you have had have slept through from 8/12 weeks. Its not the norm.

becky - sorry didnt mean to offend -just seems a bit mad for you to have to be woken at 4am by your dd - maybe you can give a dream feed about 11pm?

then least you get a decent nights sleep xx

poshtottie - to me it is the norm - thats my job and what parents pay me for xx

a good routine, 5 feeds in the day and it is possible x

@ blondeshavemorefun - No worries... She has skipped it quite a few times, so I'm happy to leave it where it is for now rather than start moving things around. DD is only 5 months so currently on fruit and veg purees only... once she gets to 6 months and is eating more substantial food (and hopefully the worst of the teething will be over!) I'll gradually reduce that feed down

I'm also a maternity nurse.

Do you have children of your own?

i am not mnt trained but i have done a few mn positions and a lot of sleep training/ getting tiny babies to sleep through night

i have several friends who are mnt and again they have always got babies sleeping by 12 weeks

what age do you generally get babies to sleep through?

maybe i am lucky

Well I have had babies who were on strict routines who yes have slept through around 10 weeks.

Ds didn't sleep through until around six months, but if I felt he needed a feed in the night I fed him. He is now 2 and usually sleeps well but all children can vary.

Sorry to hijack the thread.

The Bish - your DS sounds like mine. He likes to sleep loads in the morning and barely at all for the rest of the day. Plus he won't take solids and milk at the same time, if he has one he refuses the other.

He has his lunch at 1.30 or so and it works really well for us (he sleeps really well at night) so I'm not going to mess with it. It does mean that we are on a different timetable to everyone else and can make it quite hard to go to all the baby activities as they all seem to be mid-morning.

Anyway, our day goes like this (he is 8 months):

7.30 - milk
8.30- breakfast
9.30 - sleep (for 1 and a half to two hours)
11/11.30 - milk
1.30 - lunch
2.30 - sleep (usually about 30 minutes to an hour)
3.30 - milk
5.30 - dinner
7pm - milk and bed

He seems to be losing interest in the 11am milk now so I think that will be dropped soon in which case lunch may move a bit earlier. We will still be on a different timetable to most though because of how sleepy he is in the mornings!

My dd is 6.5 months and I've been weaning for about 3-4 weeks. I was giving 5 milk feeds between 7 and 7 but now she is on 3 meals (well within reason) I've dropped one.
My day is someyhing like this

7am - bf
9am - breakfast
9.30 - sleep
11ish - bf
1ish (earlier if tired due to lack of morning sleep) lunch
Afternoon nap - varies depending on what we are doing but fits somewhere now
3ish - bf
5 - tea
7 - bf

Has a bf sometime between 2 and 4

I would love to drop this night feed but she is only on the 2nd centile and I don't want her to lose weight.

I also worry that I'm not doing ot right!!

Oh I'm also thinking that sometime in the future I'll drop the 11 am bf and bring forward lunch.

sunshine, don't worry that you are doing things right. If you are happy and you have a happy healthy baby that is all that matters.

agree with poshtottie... i was very scheduled with my first DD but with second (6.5 months) I'm just feeding her when we eat our meals. Makes life much easier.

Hey Bish,
I think I did what you did. I liked having the AK book to know what could work.
Have a late lunch if it suits, early if it'll work for you!
We still do breakfast, elevenses, lunch, snack, dinner (with my own 18 month old and my minded children). I'm sure some of these got missed when first starting solids and on 3 meals as I never interrupt sleep.
I think at 7 months they still do a nap 2 hours after last woke up don't they? So they may not fit 2 meals (1 solid, 1 milk) in those 2 hours.
By 7 months I know I was only doing 3 BFs, first thing, 2ish and last thing at night - HAD to do this on a weekend as working (had my daughter brought to me to feed on a short afternoon break (dressed as a rabbit!)) and built up to it slowly so the week and week end matched.