Feeding Schedule for 5 1/2 Month Old

When my little girl was a baby, I started giving her cereal when she was a month old. I believe if, when you are giving your baby the last bottle before bed, you add cereal it will help them sleep all night long. My baby slept all night once I started giving her the cereal. I do not think it will hurt the baby because you are not giving them that extra bottle. The cereal will make up for that extra bottle and also give the baby more nutrients.

Get this book. I used it with both my children, the dr who wrote it is a pediatric sleep specialist. Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child by Marc Weissbluth. Good luck.

Hi T.. Mother of 5 1/2 baby here also. Not sure how much of an experienced mom I am, but I am learning as I go. I do have an 8 year old daughter, but going through her feeding/sleeping habits as a baby seem like such a long time ago that I feel like a first time mom again. Anyway, I really don't think there is anything wrong with excluding that one more feeding. I try putting my son down to sleep by 8:30 and if he doesn't wake up to eat, I don't try to wake him up. As I have read over and over in some other sites (Babycenter.com for example), a baby will tell you when he's hungry...at least at this age still. He gets the same amount of feedings during the day, takes good naps, and I try to give him his last feeding right before bedtime. He still wakes up during the night to eat sometimes, but some nights he'll sleep the whole night (I love those nights). So again, I really don't think there is anything wrong with not giving your baby that extra feeding. I actually started giving him rice cereal since he turned 5 months. I don't give it to him with a spoon because he really didn't take it, so I just put it in his formula. It's supposed to get their tummies fuller quicker, but I really don't see a difference. But then again, my baby is about 20 pounds right now, so I think that has something to do with him not getting full. Anyway....I hope I helped a little. I may not be the best experienced mom out there, but I'm learning and trying. If you ever need to talk, I'm here. Take care.

as long as she is still getting all the nutrition she needs, relax and enjoy the rest

My son is now 8 months old. He was breastfed till 3 months. At around 4 months he was eating 5 times a day on a 9-1-5 eating schedule (5am, 9am, 1pm, 5pm then 9pm). A little before 5 1/2 months he too dropped to 4 bottles. Dropping the 5am bottle. I was giving him 3 teaspoons of rice in his 5pm & 9pm bottles until he began eating more solids then he dropped to 3 meals a day at around 7 months. He got fruit, rice cereal & bottle for breakfast. Lunch was veggie & meat w/ rice & bottle. Dinner is the same as lunch and just before bed he gets a small bottle of just formula. He was a big newborn (9lbs 11oz) and is growing like a weed! He is a happy, thriving very healthy crawling machine! Hope that helps you.

T.,

This is absolutely okay. Babies this age can easily go 10-12 hours at night. Many babies can go this long when they are only 2 months old. As your baby grows and takes on more solid foods, you will notice a drop in bottles and it is perfectly normal. By 10-12 months, your baby will probably just have milk before naps / bedtime and with meals.

With my first, I tried to force the continued frequent schedule because I was worried she wasn't getting enough to drink. By the third baby, I finally realized to let him drop the feedings naturally and he would be fine. As a side note, I also learned that it is much easier to wean a 6 month old from a bottle to a sippy cup than it is a 12 month old.

Best of luck,
S.

your little one may of had an upset stomach or gas on her tummy. what u are doing by increasing the formula with what bottles she does take during the day is good too.. Also putting her to bed earlier is wise. I always tried to put my son down by 8:30. Of course that way maybe u can start resting a little better too. If u start her on the cereal that will take away from her not eating so many times during the day. If u make the bottle with cereal for her last bottle. she will sleep all night.

LONG ANSWER BUT I HOPE IT HELPS: I have a consulting business called Baby Answers (a division of Nanny For Newborns.com), and I am a newborn specialist parenting coach and infant sleep trainer.

At 5 ½ months of age, babies need about 15-16 hours of sleep per 24-hour period. This should include 10-12 hours at night and 2 naps, each approximately 1-2 hours long, plus a third, late-afternoon catnap lasting 20-45 minutes. Babies tend to drop that late-afternoon catnap between 4 and 7 months.

When I am sleep training young babies 3 months old and younger, I do a ‘dream feed,’ which means that I feed them their evening bottle at, say, 7:00 PM and then I get them up at 10:00 PM and feed them ‘in their sleep.’ (I keep the lights low, don’t talk, and make as few movements as possible.)

Once a baby is older than 3 to 4 months, I no longer do that dream feed. Instead, I feed them at 7:00 PM and they sleep all the way through the night until around 7:00 AM.

That was a long way to say that at 5 ½ months old, barring any medical conditions, your baby should be able to have her evening bottle around 7:00 PM (give or take) and sleep all the way through the night until the morning (at least 6:00 AM.)

The really neat thing about this is that, like you said, we tend to believe that if a baby misses a feeding that they will wake more often at night. The truth of the matter is that it is actually more sleep, not more food that encourages a baby to sleep more. Good sleep begets more good sleep!

Also, one mama responded that ‘babies for the most part will do what’s right for themselves and we are best just to follow along.’ While that is partially true in some instances and for some babies, it isn’t always true; so I have to respectfully disagree with that statement. I coach many new parents who mistakenly fell into that faulty belief, only to find themselves with a baby who still wanted to nurse one or more times at night at 6 months of age or even older.

I certainly don’t want to start a battle over whether or not we should feed our older babies and toddlers during the night, so for those that might be reading this who do that, I say this: if it works for you and you are happy with it, by all means continue it. But if it isn’t working for you, please understand that there is a way that might work better for you.

All healthy babies over 3-4 months of age have the capacity to sleep a 10-12 hour uninterrupted night and take respectable naps during the day. And they (and you) will be much happier for it.

L.
www.nannyfornewborns.com
mamasource rated!

T.,

I think you are doing great. If your daughter can go without another feeding right before you all turn in for the night, don't be worried. Your daughter will let you know if she is hungry....what we do with our son is that we give him an evening bottle at around 7 or 8 and then he either wakes up or we wake him for a diaper change and one more nighttime bottle that has about 50% more formula than the rest.
I have read in a book that the sixth feeding, the one before baby goes night-night, should always be a little bit larger so baby can rest comfortably.

You may want to try that if she starts waking up again...
All the best to you and your family!

T.,
My daughter is 15 weeks old, and she has been sleeping through the night 8p-6a, for about 3 weeks. My pediatrician said the food is no longer needed during those hours. As long as the baby is healthy to your knowledge, the food is not necessary. Your baby will adjust quite easily, and you'll get some solid sleep. :)

My son....who is 10 mnths old now started sleeping through the night at about the same age, but once he started hitting growth spirts he started waking up for his night-time bottle again. The best advice I got while joshua was doing that was to follow your instincts. If you feel like she is ok, then she is, but if you notice her being more fussy during the day or losing a great amount of weight really fast, then she probably needs that bottle.

I have a 3 month old that has always fed on demand. We tried a schedule and that never worked for us. He eats when he is hungry which is normally about every 3-4 hrs. He has also been on cereal since he was 4 weeks per his pediatrican..spoon fed!! And he has done very well. I will tell you what my dr told me...so long as you feed her when she is hungry you have nothing to worry about. As your baby grows her feeding schedule changes. If she is fine don't worry.

T.,

I am no more experienced than you are but since I'm in an almost identical situation I'll share what I've learned. I can relate to you wanting to do everything just right as a fist time Mom- I feel the same way, so I'm constantly reading all I can. My little girl will be 5 months this Thursday. She ussually goes to sleep around 8:30 and doesn't wake up until 6am on the weekdays (we have to get her up) and 7 am on the weekends. During the day she eats 6oz every 4 hours and we've recently added baby food once a day (1/2 jar).I was at first worried when she started sleeping that long that she might not be getting all the food she needed. But my pediatritian said that as long as she's still gaining weight at a good rate then it's just fine. In fact it's good for her. I've read that a baby that is under 1 year should get a total of 14-16 hours of sleep- 8-12 hrs at night and 4-7hrs in naps during the day. I've also learned that babies for the most part will do what is right for themselves and we as parents are best just to follow along :)

Hope this helps.
Chrissy

T.,

I also have a 5 1/2 months baby girl. We feed her every 3 hours starting from 7:30am. So the schedule is 7:30am, 10:30am, 1:30pm, 4:30pm, and 7:30pm. We stopped the dream feeding since she was 15 weeks old. Our doctor told us that if she wakes up, just let her try to fall back asleep by herself. If after 30 mins she's still crying, you can feed her. Other than that, don't wake her up. She will catch up with the food she needs when she's awake :) We'll probably starting on solid soon too. I read from a book saying that if you start solid on your baby early, the baby will have tendency to develop food allergies. Don't know if it's a myth or truth but my daughter satisfy with the amont we've been feeding her. I'll wait till her 6 months check up and will check with the doctor about starting solid. BTW, She eats about 180 to 200 ml each feeding.

When she is hungry she will let you know, take the time to catch up on your own sleep. good luck

I HAVE A BABY TOO THAT IS 5 ALMOST 6 MONTHS AND WHAT I WOULD SUGGEST THAT YOU DO START GIVING HER BABY, AND CEREAL NOW. THAT WAY SHE WILL SLEEP AT NIGHT LONGER, AND THAT WAY YOU CAN AT THE SAME TIME YOU CAN ELIMINATE SOME FEEDINGS. I WOULD ALSO INTRODUCE HER TO SOME SOFT EASY TO SWALLOW TABLE FOOD. MY BABY WAKES UP ABOUT 7:30 AM, I WOULD FEED HIM AND HE WOULD FALL ASLEEP. HE SOMETIMES HAVE 3 FEEDING BEFORE NOON, DEPENDING ON WHEN HE WAKES UP. THEN I WOULD GIVE HIM SOME TABLE FOOD FOR LUNCH. AFTER THAT I WOULD GIVE A BOTTLE EVERY 1 1/2 TO 2 HRS AFTER THAT. I HAVE DONE THIS MYSELF WITH MY 5 MONTH OLD, AND IT WORKED FOR ME.