Seeking Some Advice on Feeding Issues

Hi C.
my name is L. and am a mother of 2 little girls. I am just wondering if the baby takes a pacifier? I learned with my first daughter that it was always that she was hungry but that she wanted to suck. So I wonder if your aunt tries the pacifier more often if that would help with some of the feedings. Hope this helps.
L.

A 3 month old should be eating more than 4 ounces at a feeding. He could probably have 6 to 8 ounces every 3 to 4 hours during the day. She also needs to set a first morning feeding to get his routine started, but it should be eat, play, sleep on a rotating 3 or 4 hour schedule. So, if you start with a 6am bottle, he should then nap from about 8 to 9:30, another bottle at 10, followed by an hour or two of play time, then another bottle around 2 or 3, then play and a nap, then a bottle at 6. Note that the times are approximate. He could go 3 hours for one part of the cycle, then 4 hours for another part, then 2 hours the next time. The important part is the order of things: eat, awake time, sleep. The 6pm feeding would be followed by bed time routine stuff -- play, bath, read books, then bed time around 8:00. He might wake again around 10:00 for a bottle, then be put right back to bed without the "play" part of the cycle.

Also note that he probably can't stay awake longer than 2 hours at a stretch. Staying awake longer, even if he seems perfectly happy, may over-stimulate him, which can make him not sleep well.

Another pattern for the afternoon/evening might be a longer afternoon nap with a short evening cat-nap. Both of mine did this: after the 10am bottle, nap from about 11 to 3, take a bottle, play for a while, then take a short half-hour to an hour nap at 5 or 6 (for my daughter this was usually the ride home from daycare), then have a bottle at 6 or 7:00, then get a bath and bed time story and go to sleep for the night for 10 -- 12 hours. For my daughter, bed time was 8:00 (with no additional bed time bottle). My son would crash at 7:00 and to this day (20 months) will usually be asleep by 7:30.

My son did the same thing and I ended up having to give him more ounces of fomula instead of just 4 and that seemed to work, just make sure to burp every couple of ounces. I tried the whole cereal thing with my son and all that did was make him hungrier so I ended up stopping that. Once I started giving my son more ounces of formula he seemed to go longer between bottles so that might need to be what your aunt needs to do.

I would try bigger bottles too and encourage more during the day. I'd stop the cereal. A baby that age cannot really digest cereal, the system is too immature.

Good luck!

I am the mother of two year old twins. You should never feed a baby ant type of cereal until at LEAST 4 months old. And really you should wait until 6 months. If given earlier then they increase a chance of developing food alergies. Also, you are fostering a baby. Remember they are supposed to wake up every two hours for a feeding. I would expect to wake up for at least a few more months. That's what babies do! Enjoy this cuddly stage because before you know it, he will be crawling all over the place! Good luck!

Good Morning C.,

I refer my clients to a book called, called Baby Whispery solving all your problems by Tracy Hogg.

I agree with you, baby is hungry. The book suggests that babies wake because they are hungry. Feeding him good during he day and then upping the meal before he goes to bed helps them sleep at night.

If this doesn't work then he is not metabolizing his food correctly and a trip to the Chiropractor will help take pressure off his nerves to his digestive system and allow him to digest correctly and be satisfied. It is very safe and very effective for infants, children and pregnant moms.

Trust this helps

Dr. Sue H. D.C.
____@____.com

Hi friend. My advise/suggestion would be to put him on a more strick schedule. The routine will benefit him AND the parents. At 3 months he should be eating every 3 hours (7am, 10am, 1pm, 4pm, 7pm, 10pm). It is VERY IMPORTANT to do feed, WAKE, sleep. Sounds like he is falling alseep with a full tummy. They should TRY (goal) to keep him awake for an hour and a half (including feeding and wake time) and let him sleep an hour and a half. Normal 3 month olds wake up about 45 minutes into the nap, fuss, and go back to sleep (if you let them work it out/cry it out). With both of my girls we did this schedule and it was wonderful! So, those are the feeding times I suggest. The naps I suggest are 8:30-10am, 11:30-1:00pm, 2:30-4:00pm, cat nap from 5:30-6:30, feed at 7pm, bed time 8pm, WAKE HIM/HER UP at 10pm for another feeding (I know it may sound weird, but it helps with sleeping through the night). Another note...if he's not awake by feeding time (ex. 10am feeding), WAKE HIM UP! This will begin the schedule. He will soon wake up on his own and be on a great routine. At about 4 months you can move to a 3 1/2 hour feeding schedule (making wake time 1 hour 45 minutes and sleep time 1 hour 45 minutes). Around 5 months you can drop the 10pm feeding all together and just have 2 big naps and one cat nap. By that time he should be doing a little rice cereal.

This is a lot of information. Please ask any questions! I just know it worked for me and most of my friends.

A.
Mom of a 26 month old and 6 month old

C.,

My son to is 3 months old also. He is taking 5 6 ounces bottles a day. He takes his bottles at least 4 hours apart. You might want to suggest to your Aunt that she try upping his ounce intake per bottle. But be sure and burp him really well after the entire bottle. We did this for my son and it worked wonders. He just started on cereal over the weekend and is loving that also.

I don't know if your aunt is still having problems, but I thought I would share my thoughts. I too was a foster mother and have since adopted my little boy. He also wanted to eat all the time for the first couple months that we had him. We discovered that his birth mother had always given him a bottle to keep him quiet, so that is what he was used to. We tried a pacifier, but he was used to receiving formula to calm himself. He eventually got on a normal schedule and has always been right on track for weight and height. He is now 2 and just as perfect as he can be! Just remember that these little souls in foster care often have been through more than we have in our adult lives. Good Luck!

Hi C.,

I have a 10 week old and he is on a schedule that really works for me - he has a bottle at 7 am, 10 am, 1 pm, 4 pm, 7 pm, and 10:30 pm. He typically eats about 6 ounces at a feeding (which is more than my first son, but he seems to do a lot better with it and he usually eats it all). I have found that if I feed him and then make the effort to keep him awake for an hour or an hour and a half and then let him sleep things go a lot more smoothly. I do wake him up to keep him on a three hour routine during the day. He quit needing the middle of the night bottles a few weeks ago. I put him to bed for the night around 7:30 and wake him up at 10:30 to eat one last time before I turn in and he goes right back to sleep. I think keeping a solid three hour routine during the day may help him sleep longer at night. Then, when he sleeps through the night she can begin to lengthen his routine during the day to four hours instead of feeding every three. That's just what I've found to be the best routine for our family.

I wish your Aunt the very best in fostering kids. That is a very giving and thoughtful thing to do. I hope she is enjoying it!

I would also recommend the book Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child by Marc Weissbluth to her. It give great information about sleep and babies. It could also help her out a lot.

Hope this helps a little!
C.