Feeding FAQ: 3-4 months

Up until the last 2 weeks, my daughter of almost 4mths had been sleeping until 5am after her last feed of formula at 10:30pm. I had been following the core night method and she did manage to sleep through till 7am on two occasions. However, now she is waking up anytime between 3am and 5am. She will no longer accept cool boiled water or a dummy but will only settle if I give her a full feed. Once I have fed her she will happily sleep until I wake her again at 7am.

Although she is still only waking once in the night, I don't feel like we are making any progress and I'm worried that now she is waking earlier, she may eventually start waking twice. Where am I going wrong?

I have thought about weaning as her hand- eye co-ordination is fantastic and she constantly has her fist in her mouth, but she doesn't cry after her feeds and she is normally happy to go 4 hours in between feeds.
Also I doubt her weight has doubled since birth, although I haven't weighed her for a few weeks now.
I have kept her on the 3-4 month routine and still split feed at 5 and 6:30. I tried dropping the 5pm feed but she cut back on her 10:30pm feed and always woke before 04:30am. She sleeps no longer than 3 hours a day. Sometimes she falls straight to sleep and sometimes she needs to cry down for anything up to 15 mins.

She has always been a quick feeder and will not feed very long, but my doctor said this is because I have a fast letdown and she is a very efficient feeder (as was my last daughter).
Up until now these routines have been a life saver, as I experienced a lot of problems with my first child (now 2yrs) who didn't have a proper routine and didn't learn to sleep on her own until some drastic sleep training when she was 18 months.

My daughter is breast fed at 7.30am 5-10mins, 11am 10-15mins; this feed may be earlier if she hasn’t fed well at 7.30am. If she feeds for only 10minutes I will give her a 2oz top up of formula.

2.15pm 5-10mins, 5pm 5-10mins, 6.30pm 10-15mins, 10.30pm 5-6ozs formula followed by 5-10mins breast feeding.

My daughter naps at 9-9.45am, 12-2.15pm and settles at 7pm.
Team Response

I have a 3 year old son who was introduced to Gina's routines after an awful first 2 months. It took 6 days of the routines until he slept through the night and he has been a contented child ever since - we never looked back and it was the best thing we ever did. So I know that Gina's routines do work because I know that my eldest son was simply hideous before I put him into the routine but I am beginning to think that maybe it was a case of beginners luck because my second son (aged 15 weeks) seems to be all over the place.

There are 3 main issues:
1 He still wakes up 2 - 3 times a night
2 Although he takes a bottle with no problem at 10pm he will only take a couple of ounces at any other time before screaming his head off
3 He rarely takes a full feed and seems to prefer to snack - in particular he does not seem to take much between 7am and his lunchtime nap at all

My son sleeps well during day and in line with Gina's routines. He goes down well at 6.45-7pm and can settle himself. We wake him for the last feed when he takes 5 - 6 oz of formula. However, he still wakes twice, sometimes three times a night - first waking is around 2.30am. I have left him to cry but he does not go back to sleep and seems genuinely hungry. He does not seem able to go more that 4 hours between feeds. When he does wake, he feeds and goes back to sleep - so when I am up it is only for 20 - 30 minutes at the most. I can cope with getting up once but 2 or 3 times seems excessive

Another related problem is that he seems to snack rather than take a full feed. He will be breast fed for 10 minutes or so and then sometimes want feeding an hour later. I have tried feeding him expressed milk from a bottle so that I know how much he is getting and this week I have dropped one of his breast feeds and have introduced formula at 11am (which he often has to have early) but he only takes an ounce or two and then has a fit! He screams and won't take the milk - I have even tried splitting the feed and giving him some 45 minutes or so later to no avail. I am worried that he will not feed from a bottle (even though this has never been a problem at the last feed at 10pm). If I offer him the breast, he calms down straight away and feeds. I want to deal with this as I plan to breast feed until he is 6 months and aim to drop another feed in another month so that by then he will be having breast milk just in the morning and before bed.

Finally, he seems to drink little between waking in the morning and going to sleep at lunchtime. How can I change this? I am sure that if he drank more he would not wake up so often in the night.
He feeds at present at 7am 10mins breast, 8.45am 5mins breast, 10.30am try to give formula, 2ozs maximum taken at present, 2.15pm 15mins breast, 5pm 10mins breast, 6.30pm 10-15mins breast, 10.15pm 5-6ozs of formula, 2-3am 10-15mins breast, 5am 10-15mins breast.

He weighs approx. 13.5lbs

My son naps at 9-9.45pm, 12-2pm and 4.30-4.45pm. He is settled at 10pm
Team Response

We started the CLB routines when my son was 10 weeks old, and in order not to be too harsh, we put him on the 4-8 weeks routine first and gradually advanced to the 8-12 weeks routine.

My son is always fretting after his morning nap. He never sleeps more than 45 minutes and is usually awake after 30 minutes. For the first time in 4 weeks after putting him on the routine, I gave him 40 ml expressed milk and 60 ml formula milk this morning (On normal days, I breastfeed him first and then offer him formula milk after that. He usually takes about 40-50 ml of formula milk. However, I realized that since introducing him the bottle, he's not sucking so ell when breast feeding , so I am in doubt how much he actually gets when he is latched on. That's why I gave him expressed milk this morning, so I know precisely how much he is eating). Like other days, he frets almost immediately after he is awaken today. We try to entertain him and as time goes by, nothing seems to interest him at all. I then started to breastfeed him almost at 10:45, and by then I can see that he's hungry. As I do not wish to fall into the trap of demand feeding, I always drag till 10:30-10:45 before giving him milk. But it means he is unhappy for about an hour. He is usually unable to wait until his next feed and will show signs of fretting - usually his noon feed and late evening feed. Should I do a split feed?

My other problem with him is, he fights sleep, every single time he is being put down. The only time he does not do it is after his last feed at around 22:45. He can cry and scream up to 30 minutes. We don't comfort him anymore after he is being put to bed. And I always wait until he does not want to drink anymore before stopping feeding him which means he shouldn't be hungry. For 4 weeks, he has just been fighting sleep and it does not seem to have improved at all. We used to hold him in our arms or sling until he fell asleep, and many a time, he just woke up again, and we had to continue the same until he eventually fell into a deep sleep without waking. We simply do not want to do that anymore. How can we ensure that his crying will shorten? It really hurts to hear him cry and scream like that. He sleeps in a baby “cabin" (used together with a push pram). For your information, he has been sleeping right through the nights the past 5 days.

My son feeds at 7am breast feed followed by 40-60mls formula, 10.30am breast feed followed by 70mls formula, 2.30pm breast feed followed by 70-80mls of formula, 6.15pm breast milk followed by 110mls of formula, 10.45pm milk from 1breast then 60-100mls formula. He weighs 5000gr.

He sleeps at 9-9.30am, 12-2.30pm and 4.30-5pm. He settles at 7.30pm.
Team Response

We have been trying to get our daughter onto a bottle as I cannot carry on breast feeding her. She used to take the 10:30 am feed by bottle when she was 6-8 weeks old and would also take some at 10:30pm. She then became ill and was permanently on breast and since then she has refused to drink from the bottle. We try when she is half asleep and sometimes she might take a bit, most of the time she wakes up and gets upset if we try with a bottle. In the end we have to breast feed her. Usually when feeding on the breast in the morning she will do up to 1h, and likewise in the evening she might do anything up/and over 1h. (taking the time to burp her and sometimes change her)) We are at a wits end as we really need her to start to take the bottle and do not know how to go about it. We have tried trying the bottle and then taking it away and waiting till the next feed which she seems ok with.
At present she feeds at 7am for 1hour, 10.30am 20-30mins, 2.30pm 20-30mins, 5.30 15-20mins, 6.10 20-30mins, 10.30pm try with bottle then will take 15- 20mins.
She naps at 8.30-9.10am, 12-2pm and 4.30-5pm.
Team Response

I would like advice as to when it is appropriate to stop the 10.30pm feed. My daughter who is now 3.5 months old has slept through the night from 9 weeks of age and continues to do so. I find it difficult to know how much milk she gets at 10.30pm and what she still needs. I suspect she only receives a small feed at this time of only 50-100ml as when I express the other side (if she only feeds from one breast) then I only manage to express 40ml (with great difficulty). I have received very conflicting information on this issue and we have considered giving her an expressed bottle at this time just to see how much she gets. I am really quite confused.
My daughter is fully breastfed. She feeds at 7.15am 10-20 mins one side, occasionally both. 11am 10-25 mins breast or 200mls expressed, 2.30pm 10-25 mins breast or 200mls expressed, 6.15pm 15-35 mins breast, both sides or 200 mls expressed. 10.15pm 10-20 mins sometimes both sides. She weighs 15lbs 8ozs.
My daughter naps at 9-9.50am, 12-2.15pm and 3.45-4.30pm
Team Response

I am finding it difficult to get my daughter to feed more at each feed. She only drinks 2-3ozs at each feed, occasionally 4ozs if she really wants it.
Her weight gain is dropping slowly. At present she weights 12lbs 2oz.The health visitor has advised me to demand feed her for a couple of days, but it has been terrible. She is very agitated at each feed and takes her time. I never know if she is really hungry this way or just distressed. On the routine she fed every 3-4 hrs, but would only have a small amount. On demand feeding it is even worse as she sometimes only takes 1oz. This was supposed to increase her weight.
She does have a bit of a cold and cough at the moment and demand feeding has put her sleeping all over the place, making her grumpy.
In the past she had problems with colic and a little bit of reflux. How can I get her better settled and to take more milk?
The report which follows is not a reflection of every day as she has been catnapping with demand feeding.
6.15am 4oz, 9.00am 2oz, 10.45 3oz, 2.25pm 2.5oz, 4.00pm 2oz, 5.50pm 3oz, 6.40pm 1oz, 8.00pm 1oz, 12.05 6.5oz, giving a total of 25ozs.
She slept 12.50am- 6.00am, 6.50-8.20am, 11.30am-12.15pm, and settled at 8pm-9.20pm.
Team Response

I think I am running out of milk. The past 2 nights at 10pm I have expressed and got less than 1 oz; I usually would get 4-9oz. I started to follow the increased supply routine yesterday; when I expressed at 2pm today I only managed barely 1oz, and when I had fed her she was still hungry. Initially I thought the problem was only there at the end of the day - until now. I have expressed since she was born so I know what to do and usually have no problems. My health visitor told me to just give formula but I don’t really want to; I am worried that if I give formula then my milk will dry up more and soon she will be formula fed. I don’t know what to do.
Team Response

My 3-month-old daughter has been on Gina's schedule since 2 weeks. She is generally a contented baby and sleeps well. I have 2 problems: the first relates to her low weight gain at about 4.7oz per week. She rarely seems hungry - even after sleeping through from 11pm to 6.30am. Since 12 weeks, she's beginning to take shorter feeds on the breast (10mins) rather than in the past when it was closer to 15-20mins. She often seems uncomfortable and fussy during the feed (after 5 minutes) I have tried splitting the feed as well as giving the breast 15-20mins later in order to increase her intake, but she is often reluctant and doesn't take any or only a little more (5 minutes on breast). Since I'm breastfeeding, I don't know how much she is taking but suspect it could be between 2-3oz (this is the amount I get after expressing one breast). At 5 feeds a day, this level of milk intake is very concerning! The second problem I'm facing is getting her to take the bottle; I have tried introducing it since the 3rd week. Initially she did not seem to know how to "suck" as the milk would just flow out of her mouth. Now she can take no more than 2oz of expressed milk per feed from it and I have to be out of sight. I am not sure if this is because she is not keen on the bottle (and she could have fed more on the breast), or if this is the amount she is really contented with. In any case, I am really worried about her daily intake which I am certain is too low.
Team Response

I want to avoid painful, engorged breasts when I begin to stop breastfeeding, which I plan to do when Leo is around 4mths old (he is 3mths now).
With my first child it took a long 2 or 3 months to give up, as I tried to drop feeds and only express a little to give relief.
Leo has just started to go through the night and I am finding it painful just dropping this feed. I don't want to start expressing milk in the night, but I am awake with pain in the right breast and under my arm. The right breast is producing a lot more milk than the left. I only express a tiny amount (60mls) from the right side, now only in the evening as Leo has formula at 10.30 (160mls). Lately I have felt I could/should express more than this, as I am going to bed with full breasts and know that will cause a problem in the night. I have not increased the amount I express at 10pm as I have been trying to drop this feed for 4 weeks. How can I stop feeding more easily? I don't really like breastfeeding, and I sometimes feel it is getting in the way of enjoying time with my baby.
Team Response

My son of three months, who weighs 16lbs 4ozs, will take 4-5ozs quickly at each feed, but them struggles to finish the last 2ozs. He sleeps from 7pm to 7am, yet even after this twelve-hour sleep, it can take up to 45 minutes to persuade him to take the last 2 oz.I also have an 18-month-old and I need to find a way to speed up my young baby’s feeding.  I don’t really want to do split feeds, although my baby often seems hungry at 5pm, as I need to be able to concentrate on my toddler at this demanding time of day.
Team Response

My baby of 3 months who weighs 14lbs 7ozs is still taking a large feed at 4.30am. He falls asleep before taking a full feed at 10.30pm and takes a smaller feed at 7.30am.

Feeding details

4.30am: 7ozs
7.30am: 5ozs
11.00am: 8ozs
2.30pm: 8ozs
4.30pm: 3ozs water with squeezed orange
6.15pm: 8ozs
10.30pm: 5ozs

Daily milk intake 40ozs

My son naps at 9-9.45am, 12-2.15pm and settles at 7pm.
Team Response

My daughter of 3.5mths is currently doing very well on the routines, goes down well at 7pm and just in the last week has started sleeping through from the last feed at 11pm until around 7am most days. I am now starting to bring forward the 11pm feed by 5mins a night and am going to reduce the amount offered as she is starting to eat less at 7am. The lunchtime nap is still a struggle but I am currently trying to train this through taking her out in the buggy for two hours (she will sleep the whole time) or taking her to bed with me if she wakes after 45mins and refuses to go back down. My husband doesn't get home from work until 6.10pm and likes to be involved with bath time, so I have adapted the routine to the extent that we split the feed with a feed at 5pm, playtime till 6.20/6.25pm, bath around 6.30pm with the final bottle in the nursery at around 6.45pm.

My problem is that I am going back to work four days a week in four weeks time, and this will involve my daughter being dropped off at nursery at 8am and being picked up at 6pm (my husband and I are sharing drop offs and pickups). We are fortunate in that our nursery is around 2mins walk from our house and on our way to the railway station. Currently my husband is up at 6am to get ready for work, and when I return to work we will both be up at 6am.

We have a small two-bedroom flat which makes it hard to get ready and not disturb my daughter, despite her being in her own room with the door shut. I'm worried how we are going to get her up, fed, dressed and at nursery by 8am particularly once we start introducing solids. Should we adapt the routine for a slightly earlier start 6.30am with a longer nap around 8.30am instead of 9am? Similarly, at the end of the day our current routine with the later bath and split feed should work. Is this a reasonable adaptation of the routine? And again, once weaning commenced, should we continue to split the feed and when should the solids be given?

My daughter feeds at 7.15am 160-200mls formula, 10.45am 200-230mls, [often has this feed by 10am as hungry]. 2.15pm 180-210mls, 5.00pm 60-160mls, 6.45pm 130-200mls and 11.15pm 130-200mls.

My daughter weighs 14lbs 12ozs.

My daughter naps at 9-9.45am, 12-12.45pm, 1.15-2.15pm and 4-4.30pm.
Team Response

I have problems with my daughter’s feeding and sleeping. The bottom line is that she's not taking in enough milk in the day to ever go through the night (she takes anything between 25-29 oz). Some days she starts off well but then slowly takes less and other days, like today, she will start the morning at 7.15 a.m. and won't take more than 1 and a half oz (having not had a feed since 11 p.m. last night at which time she took 5 oz). I know by 10.45 a.m. today she'll be starving.

Last night the first time she woke was 2 a.m. - I leave her for a while but the more she moans the more she wakes herself up so I go to her, put her dummy back in and she goes off again. She wakes anything from 2, 3, 4, 5 times in the night and we just put the dummy back in and she goes back off. At first I worried that she was waking in the night through hunger but she's putting on weight and due to the fact that she doesn't take much milk at the 7.15 a.m. feed decided it was out of habit. But I'm desperate to try and find a solution because I know that my daughter has it in her to go through from 7 till 7 and I feel I'm obsessed with the amount of milk she drinks and unhappy (and a bit depressed) from getting up every night. I honestly feel like some days I don't enjoy my daughter as much as I feel I should or want to.

She goes down at night at 7 p.m. every evening and we dream feed her at 11 p.m. We have been advised not to feed her at 11 p.m. seen as she doesn't wake for that feed but we've tried that and find it mentally harder because we go to bed knowing that we'll be up feeding her in the middle of the night.

For the 6.15 p.m. and 10.30/11 p.m. feeds I feed her Aptimel Extra (Hungry Baby milk) and I wonder if this bloats her out and puts her off her morning bottle but I'm worried that if I stop this she'll wake up even more in the night?

Because my daughter only took 1 and a half oz this morning I just know that I'll spend the rest of the day trying to make her take the full 7 oz bottle at every feed, knowing that if she doesn't I'll be up early and more times in the night.

She naps at 9 a.m. every morning but only for half an hour and when I get her up, let her have a kick about I find she gets tired again quickly and cries for her bottle at 10.45 a.m. (because she doesn't have a good enough feed at 7.15 a.m.) - I try to hang her out but find I just pace the room counting down the minutes while my daughter gets more aggravated because she wants food. At lunch time she can easily nap for a couple of hours if I sit at home but most days I go out otherwise it's a lonely life stuck at home with a baby so she has shorter naps. She can't get through the afternoon from 2.15 until 7 p.m. without another sleep. Even if she has another half an hour sleep (no later than 5 p.m.) by 6.30 p.m. she's crying with tiredness while I try to give her the bottle of formula. But it all seems such a vicious circle and I know she's probably more tired in the day because she's not sleeping so well at night.

I find myself analyzing and worrying over my parenting every single day when really all I want to do is enjoy our little girl and not feel like I'm forcing her to eat or sleep but deep down I know that if I just tweaked something then it might all fall in to place. Trouble is I just don’t know what else to try.

My daughter feeds at 7.30am 2.5ozs, 10.45am 5.5ozs, 2.30pm 6ozs, 6.30pm 7ozs and 11.30pm 6ozs. She weighs 13lbs.

My daughter naps at 9.30-10.15am, 12.15-2.15pm and 4-4.30pm.
Team Response

My 3.5 month old daughter has been following the CLB routines for 3 months with varying degrees of success. The present problem is that she is waking at 4 in the morning and not able to settle herself back to sleep. I dropped the 10 pm feed at about 2.5 months as she was sleeping well from 7 pm through until 6.30am, this was fine for a while but now I feel that I dropped it too soon. I have tried to reintroduce the 10 pm feed but it leaves her very unsettled and waking at 4 am anyway and not taking her 7 am feed. This leaves me with a very grizzily baby for the rest of the day as she has never napped well in the day.
When she wakes at 4am she does not cry, just babbles to herself and if I look at her she smiles- it seems that she wants to play! Should I try to reintroduce the 10pm feed again, or leave her and hope that she will start to settle herself back to sleep in time.

At present my daughter feeds at 7am, 11am and 2pm taking 6-7ozs, 4pm, 3-4ozs and 6.30pm, 7-8ozs She weighs 15lbs.

She naps at 9.30-10am, 11.45-12.30pm, 2.30-3.30pm and 4.30-5pm. She is settled at 7pm.
Team Response

Since I started my son on the routines, he has been brilliant. He sleeps beautifully at all the times he should and we have recently cracked the 'waking after 45 minute problem' at lunchtime and he now sleeps well for 2 hours. He still wants about 30 minutes in the afternoon too usually from 4-4.30. He is so tired after his bath that I just cannot keep him awake until 7pm, so he is normally in bed by about 6.40-6.45pm. If I don't put him down, he just falls asleep either in my arms or on my knee.

He sleeps through from his 10.30pm feed until 6am really well, but I cannot seem to get him to go to 7am. If I feed him at 6am (at which point I breastfeed him) he only feeds for about 10 minutes and will then resettle until 7am/7.30am with no problem at all. This leads me to think that he does still need the sleep, and is not particularly hungry - so how can I get him to just sleep right through until 7am? I have also tried to keep him awake for longer at 10.30pm but it just doesn’t work. I have tried to split the feed allowing him to kick in between, but he is not interested in the second part of the feed and so wakes at about 4.30-5am and is quite hungry. If he has the full feed, he will take 8oz but then fall asleep straight away. Nothing will keep him awake.

When he wakes at 6am (which is always to the minute!), I have tried leaving him to cry (which had been successful with sorting out the lunchtime nap) but he just will not have it and works himself in to such a frenzy he will not resettle at all. Also, even after a small feed at 6am, it puts him off a good feed at 7am and so he wakes from his morning nap at about 9.45am and is really shouting! He will drink 7oz - sometimes more - without even pausing for breath.

My son’s feeds are 6am breastfeed, 7/7.30am breast feed, 10.30am formula 7ozs, 2.20pm 8ozs formula, 5.15pm breast, 6.15pm 6ozs formula, 10.30pm 8ozs. He weighs 16lbs 4ozs.

My son naps at 9-9.45am, 12-2pm and 4-4.30pm.
Team Response

My daughter is thirteen weeks old and still not sleeping through the night. She wakes around 4am each night. In addition she will not sleep more than 45 minutes at lunchtime despite trying all the methods in the CLB book.We have reduced her 4am feed to just 3ozs [1/2 water and ½ formula] as she refuses to drink water at any time of the day. For two weeks I increased her milk intake during the day but she still woke at night and she out on 22ozs in a fortnight. She started being sick a lot [she suffers from reflux and is on Gaviscon] so I have now reduced her feeds to those shown below.

In the daytime she has 3 naps all for 45 minutes. Again for the last three weeks I have held her, let her cry and even lay down on the bed holding her for the following hour but she still refuses to sleep more than 45 minutes. However despite this she sleeps well from 6.45pm until 7-8am each day only waking for her 4am feed and then goes straight back to sleep.My daughter takes feeds at 7.30am, 10.45am, 2.15pm, 6.15pm and 10.30pm of 5ozs. She has 3ozs at 5.00pm and her diluted feed of 3ozs at 4am. She weighs 12lbs 4ozs.

She naps at 9-9.45am, 12.15-1am, 3.45-4.30pm.
Team Response

My twins were three weeks early and have slept an eight-hour stretch at night since they were eight weeks old. They seem to need a lot of sleep during the day and as long morning and afternoon naps keep them cheerful (they\'re very grumpy without them) without interfering with their night-time sleep I have kept them long.
Now they are 16 weeks I am hoping to drop the 10pm feed, but am not sure how to tell if they're ready. For several nights they have gone through to 7.30am on 1.5oz at 10pm: if I don't offer them the bottle again after they stop to wind they will easily settle again. But if I do offer the bottle again, they will still take up to 5oz at that feed. They never used to mind being woken at 10pm, but they are now becoming more and more bad tempered when I wake them, thrashing about and arching their backs (especially Beattie) when I try to feed them. I tried leaving them to go through once a couple of days ago, but they woke at 4.30am. They weren't hungry then (and I think Beattie only woke up because Charlie was crying) and weren’t too hard to re-settle, so I suspect it was just habit that meant they woke nine hours after going down... but I'm now too scared to try again in case the waking in the night starts again. I’m not sure whether not to try again until they start on solids (which I don't think will be very soon): all my friends' babies started going through the night from 7 to 7 the first time they tried it. They're so peaceful when I go in at 10pm these days I can hardly bear to wake them for the sake of an ounce!

The twins feed at 7.30am 7-8ozs, 11am 9ozs, 3pm 5ozs, 4.15pm 4ozs diluted pear juice, 6.15pm 8-9ozs, 10pm anywhere between 1-5ozs.

They nap at 9-10.30am, 12-2.15pm and 4.30-5pm. They are settled by 6.45pm.
Twin 1 weighs 15.1oz and twin 2 13lbs 13ozs.
Team Response

My daughter is 16 weeks old and I am struggling to get her to stretch her 10.30am feed closer to 11am. I am convinced this is due to the fact that she only takes a very small feed at 7/7.30am. I have tried some of the suggestions on the website such as holding off until 7.30/8.00am to feed her, but she will still only take a very small feed (4oz) and even then she doesn't take it all in one go. She already only takes a small amount of milk at 10.30pm and I am worried that if I start cutting that back she will wake up for a feed. She is pretty much sleeping through to 6.00/7.00am. She isn't a particularly big eater anyway and I am lucky to get her to take 5oz each feed. The exception is the 5/6pm feed when she takes a split feed of 7oz before and after her bath. She will always take about 3oz and then I need to let her have a play for about 30mins/45mins before she will take the rest.

My daughter feeds at 7.30am 4ozs, 10.30am 5ozs, 2.30pm 5ozs, 5.30pm 7ozs split before and after bath, 10.30pm 3ozs.

She weighed 12lbs 2ozs at 13 weeks.

My daughter naps from 8.45-9.25am, 11.45-2pm and 4.30-5pm. She settles by 6.45pm.
Team Response

I am struggling to get my 15 week old daughter to take more milk during the day. I might be wrong but I think that she is waking early morning genuinely needing to feed. She has never slept through from 10/11pm. About a month ago she was waking as early as 2:30am, but then I was still breastfeeding and knew that I had problems with my milk supply. I was already topping her up with formula.
Since she's now fully formula fed I have noticed her intake varies a lot each day, and I'm wondering whether she's still not taking enough in the day.
The last 24hrs she fed : 5am 4oz, 7:30am 5oz; 10am 5oz; 11am 1oz; 11:45 3oz; 2:30pm 2 oz; 3:10 2oz; 5:10 6oz; 6:20pm 1oz; 10:30pm 7:oz
She woke again at 4:30am - I offered water ( she took 2oz) and she had 3oz. At 7:30 she took 7oz.
Is her waking due to hunger? Usually if she feeds at night before 4/5am she takes a full feed at 6:30am, although the last two days we have had to wake her at 7:30am for her feed. I normally offer water first, but she has only ever settled with that once (when she had taken 12oz between 10pm and midnight!!!). However the water/core night methods did seem to deal with the 2:30am waking, which is another reason I think that she may still be hungry.
I have tried split feeding at 10/11am, 5/6pm and 10/11pm. Sometimes she takes the first part of the feed and refuses the second. I use the faster teat when it seems she's losing interest. When she's very hungry the variflo teat is too fast for her - she chokes and spits and gets upset. I always try not to feed after the times per the book, but that doesn't always work if I am offering a top-up.
She sleeps 9-9:30; 11:50-1:50; 4-4:20 (in buggy).
I allow 30mins max in the morning because she wakes during her lunchtime nap. I found that she sleeps better then, if she had 20-30min in the morning rather than longer.
I put her to bed at 6:45/50pm. She had been waking at 9:45pm but that has stopped in the last week or so and we now wake her at 10:30pm.
My questions are:
- how much should she be taking during the day? I thought for her weight it should be around 35oz? She weighs 14.6lbs.
- If I split the feeds is there a way of knowing how much to give as the first part, so that she's still hungry enough to take the second?
- should I (try to!) increase the 2:30pm feed? What is the biggest that feed should be? The top-up at lunch time seems to affect her appetite at 2:30? Should I give her less at 11:45am?
- I'm aware that the 10pm feed should be getting smaller - but should I still increase this, given the waking?
- What else can I do to get her to take more at each feed?
Or is all this just because I may need to wean her soon?
Team Response

I have always tried to follow the schedules, but firstly I could not properly breast feed, then my son suffered horribly from acid reflux in his first 2 months. After his first week of treatment with Zantac, he was angelic. His schedule just fell into place. Then things went very wrong and he continues to buck and thrash when I try to initially give him his bottle. He will settle after a few minutes, but then he has exhausted himself so, that he can barely take 4oz at a time. The only time of day that is predictable is from 5 pm until about 4-5am. He can manage the schedule and with a split feed, can take 6-7 oz at dinner. I have been back to work for a week now and the nanny confirms the same. He struggles to eat and it is affecting his sleep. Naps are not much longer than 45mins. This bucking and wriggling also shows up when he is tired. When he has had enough and is tired, he will cry/scream. Walking and jostling will settle him only briefly. If I were to try to lay him in his crib at this point it would be an all-out fit. Some days he sleeps 3-4 hours, some days only 2-3 hours. He has been chewing his hands since he was 8 weeks and it is getting worse, but no teeth are breaking in.

My son is a lovely baby, giggling, generally happy and easy going, but we struggle to get him to feed and sleep on any schedule. His early months I tried to accomplish errands when he was wake and he sometimes spent short spurts with the nanny. Currently I drop him off to the nanny at 8am and collect him by 5.30pm. The nanny has to drop of my niece and nephew to school between 8.15-9 and pick them up from 2.30-3pm. So my son’s only "quiet time", alone with the nanny is from 9am-2pm and I have my doubts that she tries to follow the schedule as strictly as I do. I also know that my niece and nephew scream down the house playing in the afternoon, so it is quite hectic.

He feeds at 4-6am: 2-4ozs, 7-8am: 2+ozs, 10.30am: 4-6ozs, 1pm: 2-4ozs, 2pm: 4ozs, 5pm: 2ozs, 6.15pm: 4ozs, 10.30pm: 4ozs. Water is given throughout the day when necessary, he takes around 4-6ozs daily. He weighs 12+lbs.
He naps at 9.45-10.45am, 12-1pm, 2-3pm. He is settled at 7pm.
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My daughter is my third baby on the CLB routine because it was such a success with older siblings. I started the routine even in hospital, but she still very quickly developed problems feeding. Initially breast fed, she gulped air as she fed, and as soon as the milk hit her stomach I could hear loud rumbling. She only fed for a bit before screaming, or feeding for a few minutes and refusing any more. Huge burps kept coming - excessive wind I think caused by ingesting so much at a feed. I introduced an expressed bottle in the second week which went fine, but no formula until 6 weeks. As she got older she sometimes fed for longer but would often bring up the feed. Still I would persevere with the routine feed times and sleep times, but often splitting the feeds. I tried all the colic remedies on the market with no success.
At the eight week check, the doctor said she had bit of colic, reflux and an immature digestive system, and that I was to preserve until 12 weeks when it should get better.
In the last 3 weeks I have put her on infant Gaviscon which although seems to be keeping the feeds down, she seems to be taking less and less. She is getting fretful even with the first ounce of milk, taking a few gulps and then not wanting any more. I can’t split the feed when she’s only taken 1oz so I try and wind her, put her down and try again 10mins later in a different position or sitting up in her chair. As you can imagine, she and me start to get distraught, until she falls asleep (at the right time, but only to wake up ½ hour later screaming and even then not wanting to feed at the lunch time nap). I'm keeping a diary and she takes only 20-24 oz in 24 hours.
I now feel like a first time mother who hasn’t a clue. I don’t want to abandon the routine as I know no other way but I need some help as to how to handle the feeding. I have tried different bottles: Dr Browns and Haberman with no success.
The worst time for getting food down her is in the morning. She goes from 11pm until 5ish. She might take 1-2oz between 5 and 7am, but hiccups and screams if I try and feed her at 7/7.30. I give her water if she wakes before 5.
Have you seen this before? How do I handle the nights when I know she’s not taking enough during the day? How can I persuade her to take more in one go?
I have tried the following things:
- Sitting somewhere quite to feed her
- Playing music/TV as background noise to distract her
- Lying her on a bean bag so her back is straight
- Sitting her in her upright chair alternating with a dummy
She weighs 11lbs7ozs and feeds at 5.30am 1-2ozs, 7.30am 3ozs, 10.30am 2ozs, 11.30am 2ozs, 1pm 1oz, 2.30pm 3ozs, 5.55pm 3ozs, 6.30pm 3ozs, 10.30pm 3ozs.
She naps at 9-9.40am, 12-12.50pm,1.30-2pm, 4-4.30pm and settles at 7pm.
Team Response

My son is 16 weeks old. Over the last two weeks has become increasingly difficult to feed, and has started to wake in the night again, although he doesn’t appear to be hungry when he wakes. He dropped the night feed at around 11 weeks old yet, despite not feeding after 10.30pm, he is fairly disinterested in his 7am feed, taking around 100ml. Until recently, though, he has fed well at the other feeds. He has always had a problem with wind and has released a lot from his bottom since he was just a few weeks old. He has also started to regularly wake in the night again, between 3.30 and 5.00am and will chat in his cot for up to half an hour before crying. He does not seem hungry, and will settle when I soothe him, usually with a dummy, and will then sleep until 7am. This week, however, he is taking as little as 60ml at the 7am feed and then cannot go to 11am for the next feed. He then struggles with all the other feeds taking between 60ml and 150ml, depending on how well he fed at the last feed, but he struggles with each one. This week, he has taken as little as 780ml in 24 hours when I believe he should be nearer 1,100ml. He starts the feed well, but then pushes the bottle away and screams as though he is full of wind. I thought as babies got older the wind problem decreased - could it actually be getting worse? I moved him to Avent size 3 teats about 3 weeks ago, but have changed him back to size 2 thinking this might be the problem, however, it doesn’t appear to have solved it. I have used Infacol since he was a week old, and more recently also tried Gripe Water, but I find it very difficult to get him to swallow this. Please help!
At present he sleeps at 9.15-9.55am, 12-2pm and 4-4.20pm.
He takes SMA Gold formula at 7am 90mls, 10.45am 170mls,2.15pm 110mls, 5.00pm 70mls,6.15pm 40mls, 7.10pm 100mls, 10.30pm 140mls.
Team Response

Should I split the 6.15pm feed so my daughter gets a proportion of it at 5.15pm, as she becomes very grumpy at around 5.50pm(bath time) then starts whinging and crying non-stop until she becomes hysterical at 6.10pm! She was born with clubbed feet and wears boots with a bar for 23 out of 24 hours a day. They come off at 5.10pm for an hour (to have a bath and exercise) and I don't know whether she is getting hysterical prior to them being put back on or whether I'm being ridiculous and she's too young to know any different, as she's had them on since she was 6 weeks old. The only thing that calms her is her 6.15pm feed and she takes this so greedily in fact the 220ml bottle is drained within 5 minutes - no exaggeration! If I split the feed will it have a negative impact in other ways? She is taking 180ml of formula at 7.15am, 10.30am, 2.30pm and at 6.15 she takes 220ml followed by 180ml at 10.30pm. She presently weighs 13lbs
Also, our house is being refurbished and we are away for a whole month staying in Surrey for 1 week, Isle of man for 2 weeks and Spain for a further week. I am dreading the effect this will have on the routines as it could be very disruptive with flights etc. Please help!
The routines have been my salvation and my daughter has been a CLB sleeping through until 7am from 10.15pm for 3 weeks.
Team Response

My daughter Niamh, who is now 14-weeks-old, was following the routines both with sleeping and feeding until just over 12 weeks. She then began waking again and needing a feed at 3/4am having slept through previously. I fed her for three nights then managed to settle her with water for a few nights but she is demanding a feed again, taking 5ozs which means her daytime routine is now not so good. She seems unwilling to settle for her daytime naps at all, and often wakes again after 20 minutes. She is then too tired to take a full feed, falls asleep, then wakes again because she is still hungry.
At present I breast feed her at 7am and 6.30pm, with bottles at 10.30am:4oz, 12.15pm:2oz, 2.30pm:2oz, 5.00pm:6oz and 10pm:4oz. I find it impossible to keep her awake longer than half an hour at this last feed.
During the day I find it hard to encourage her to take more of a feed when I think she hasn’t taken enough, or to keep her awake when she is tired. Her present weight is 13lbs 6ozs. Until recently she was napping and feeding so well so why has it all gone wrong?
Team Response

Henry weighed 9lb5 at birth - at 12 weeks weighed 16lb. He has 8oz at 7am, 9oz at 10am and 4oz at 11.30am, 8oz at 2.15pm, 6oz at 5pm and 8/9oz at 6.15pm. At the 10.30 feed he takes 2/3 oz. His daily total is 44-46oz. During the day I keep having to increase feeds. He chews his hands, dribbles profusely, gets restless in-between feeds and watches others eat intensely. I have tried introducing baby rice but I am nervous about it all. My health visitor advises me to stick to official health advice and not wean before 4-6 months. Please help.
Team Response

Please help me with a problem that your books don't seem to address and it seems nobody can solve, including health visitors. I have a lovely baby boy who is 16 weeks and only drinks 17-20oz of milk per day. He was born at 38wks - 6lb 7oz and is an Indian baby. He was breastfed for the first 8 weeks but developed colic and mouth thrush at around 4 weeks so, being inexperienced, I put him on the bottle. He was only feeding for 5-6mins every 2-3hrs on the breast and I was worried he wasn't drinking enough.
Colic would make him moan and bring his knees up to his chest every morning around 6am. He sleeps now around 6 hours every night from 1-2am to 7am and only drinks 1-2oz at this time. He then sleeps for another 2-3hrs. I feed him every 4 hours and each feed lasts between 11/2-2hrs e.g. start at 12pm, he will finish 3-4oz by 1.30pm and I will feed again around 4-5pm. I should also mention whilst drinking I can hear loud rumbling noises in his stomach and he will kick and shout and stop feeding. He also pulls his hair whilst feeding and, although I make sure the teat is full of milk, he wants to feed on the arm of the sofa or a pillow. He drinks Aptamil for hungrier babies from 3months, after starting on Aptamil First. I use Avent bottles and teats (no.2) and have tried the faster flow Avent teat but it made him cry and choke. He doesn't cry when he's hungry like most babies but may moan a little. I feel like I am force feeding him most of the time. Should I change the brand of milk? I also do give him gripe water after most feeds. I forgot to mention that my son sleeps on his stomach as I was advised this would help his colic.

He weighs 13lb 9oz and seems to be very intelligent, alert and active. He naps every couple of hours for approx 30-40mins. In the last few days for a couple of hours but no difference to feeding amounts.
I want to get him into the contented baby routine but at 16 weeks where should I start if he only drinks 17-20oz per day? I eagerly await and gratefully appreciate any advice you may have regarding this matter.
Team Response

My 3 month old daughter was diagnosed with a urinary tract infection 2.5 weeks ago and had to take antibiotics (Augmentin) for 1 week. During that week, her appetite reduced dramatically. She used to take 5.5oz each meal and only took 2-3oz while she was on antibiotics. She has since recovered and it's been 1.5 weeks since her last dose of antibiotics but not only has her appetite not returned to normal, it has reduced even further. Now, she would only take 2oz and cries and cries. I have tried splitting her feeds but it's not working. The baby clinic that I visit suggest I use a syringe to feed her the milk but my daughter would still cry and I really am not sure whether this is such a good method. Her daily intake of milk is reducing on a daily basis, from 27oz before she was ill to 20oz now. She seems to be taking less and less and not interested in milk at all especially the 7am feed. Her weight gain has been slower than before but apart from feeding problems, she seems happy. Also, in your books, you suggest the milk intake should be 2.5oz per pound. She weighs 5.3kg now, which means her daily intake should be close to 30oz but her daily intake is well below what you suggested. At present she feeds at 7.30am 2-2.5ozs, takes a further 1oz by syringe, 10.50am 5.5ozs, 2pm 3-4ozs, 5pm 2ozs, 6.15pm 0.5-1oz but normally have to use a syringe, 10.30pm 4-5ozs. She weighs 12lbs. She naps at 9-9.45am, 12-2pm, 4-4.20pm and is settled at 7pm.
Team Response

This is a question rather than a current problem. My baby has been diagnosed Reflux and we are managing with Gaviscon powder and Zantac. My question is whether I need to take more care at the time of introducing solids because of the reflux problem - I am worried if the problem will be aggrevated by weaning and if I should try to delay weaning until her stomach is a bit more developed (eg at 6 months).

Also, please can you review the daily progress report and comment on whether I should cut back the 10pm feed further with the aim to cut it out soon, as she is very unhappy to wake up at 10:30pm and it has the knock on of her not being interested in the 7:30am feed.

At present my daughter feeds at 7.30am 150mls expressed breast milk. 11am and 2.30pm, 200mls formula, 6.15pm 200mls formula and 50mls expressed breast milk, 10.30pm 50-100mls expressed breast milk which she is not really interested in at all. My daughter weighs approx 12lbs.
Team Response

My 3.5mth daughter has been following your routines since she was 1 week old and with only a couple of hiccups she is doing brilliantly. Her sleeping is great and 2 weeks ago I decided to drop the 10pm feed as she hated being woken and was grudgingly taking 2oz. She has slept 7pm-7am fine since I dropped it. The problem is that she is such a bad feeder. She never appears hungry and when first offered the bottle (at every feed) she refuses it by shaking her head side to side, up and down and kicking her legs and getting very upset. We'll have 5-10 minutes of this before she finally gives in, even then her suck is so weak that it takes ages and she spills half of it. She still tries to fight it and gets very upset. I'm sure she doesn't suffer with wind as she always brings it up very easily and doesn't seem to have any discomfort in her tummy. We've tried feeding in another room, calming music, swaddling to stop her arms from fighting it. We feel awful as we're practically force feeding her. This last couple of days she has got even worse and I'm sure she knows when feed time is coming as she starts before I even put her bib on. Tonight’s bedtime was horrific and very distressing for her and me. She has always been bad but now we're at the stage where only I can feed her. She has gone from taking 31oz a day to 24-25oz. We've also tried every teat there is including the Tommee Tippee variflow which you recommend but the only one we have half a chance with is the Avent fast flow. No wonder she wouldn’t breastfeed! She is 17 weeks and everyone I speak to says solids is the answer but I feel she should be draining bottles happily first. Please help; she is otherwise a very happy baby.
At present she feeds at 7.20am 8ozs, now down to 6.5ozs, 11am 8ozs, now down to 6-7ozs, 2.30pm 7ozs, now down to 6ozs, 6.15pm 8ozs, now down to 5ozs. She weighs 14lbs 3ozs.
My daughter naps at 9-9.45am, 12-2.15pm and is settled at 7pm.
Team Response

My baby is nearly 17 weeks old today, and I was adamant that I was going to wait as long as possible before starting solid food. She is taking four 9oz bottles of formula a day with a smaller feed of 5/6oz at 11pm, amounting to a total of 40oz a day. She sleeps through from her last feed until 7.30am every morning. But she is no longer sleeping well at her lunch time nap, and when I go in to try and settle her back, she is stuffing her fists in her mouth. I don't know whether this is hunger or just frustration at not being able to get back to sleep.
She is fairly content most of her awake time but is stuffing her fists in her mouth the whole time, so much so that she actually cut herself with gnawing them so much. I have ended up giving her the dummy more than I would like to. Also in the evening she goes crazy until she gets her bedtime bottle. I can't do a split feed in the evening as I have a 16 month old daughter, and I just don't have the time to give her tea, and feed the baby.
I am so confused about whether she is ready to be weaned or not, she is a big girl and I am already dressing her in 6-months+ plus clothes, and she is only 4-months-old.
Team Response

Osian weighed 10lb 2oz at birth, is gaining 6-7oz per week, and has been following the routine since day one. He is now three months old. He has always been difficult at feeding time. I believe he suffered from colic and have used Omneo Comfort and Colief. I went away for three weeks and the symptoms went away. I carried on using Omneo but he was very hungry. I therefore gave him a milk for hungry baby (Novalac Satiete) and he fed very well - 5 bottles of 7oz sometimes 8-9oz at 6.15pm feed.
He then started to reduce his daily amount of milk. I was not worried and let him take what he needed. I carried on feeding him but he would then refuse to drink at the 7am feed. I changed the milk and put him on SMA Gold as I thought the milk was too rich, but he is still refusing to drink. He always took 30-45 minutes to drink a bottle but he now stops at 2oz and waits 15 minutes before taking another 2oz. He is still very windy but I don't think that it is the problem as before he wanted to feed but was in pain and now he pushes the teat with his tongue. He can drink a bottle in 10 minutes as he has done last night and still wake up at 6am, so I don't know what the problem could be.
My health advisor thinks that he doesn't like milk and I should wean him as he always chews his hands and cries for food before it is time - to take only 4oz.
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I have 3-month-old twins, they seem to be doing very well on your schedule but I do find they get very sleepy before 9.00am and I find it difficult to keep them awake. They do not sleep through the night yet waking up between 3.00am and 5.00am and feed 10-15 minutes. Otherwise they do well through out the day except they have cat naps throughout the afternoon but I never have a problem putting them down at 7.00pm.
How do I know if they are getting enough milk as I am solely breastfeeding them? I do give them a bottle of 5-6oz at 10.30pm. But I cannot imagine I make 5-6oz per breast at each feed? So far they seem content but they both are starting to make sucking sounds and a lot of watery mouths?
Do you have any tips on twins as your book only mentions the one routine?
At present they feed at 7.30am 40 mins, 10.30am 40 mins, 12pm 5 mins, 2.30pm 40 mins, 4.15pm baby tea, a few sips, 6.15pm 40 mins, 10.30pm 5oz expressed bottle, 3-6am 10mins breast. The girls weigh 10 lbs and 12 lbs.
They nap at 9-9.45am, 12-2.15pm, 4-4.15pm 5.15-5.30pm.
Team Response

My daughter has always had great difficulty bringing her wind up. I have tried Infacol, gripe water and cooled boiled water. All these methods have no impact whatsoever, however when she reached about 10 weeks she was able to bring her wind up alone. The past week however has been terrible; half way through her feed she screams out in agony and then will very rarely take the bottle again. I thought when babies reach 3 months they find it easier to burp. I’m at the end of my tether, I have spoken to the midwife and she has said try all the remedies which I already have done.
My daughter feeds at 8am 5ozs, 11am 3-6ozs, 2pm 3-6ozs, 5pm 3-6ozs, 8pm 3-6ozs. She uses a Dr Brown bottle with a level 2 teat. She weighs 11lbs 11ozs.
She naps at 9.30-11.10am, 11.45-1.30pm and settles at 8pm.
Team Response

My 3-month-old daughter is only having a bowel movement every 3-4 days, which is a fairly dark yellow/green/brown colour, and the consistency of yoghurt (although it can be more solid). This bowel movement is huge, and completely fills the whole nappy area. She never seems distressed when passing it, and is never fussy or irritable at other times. She is the quintessential CLB, and has slept through from her 10.30pm feed to her 7am feed since she was 9 weeks old. I fed her on only breast milk until she was about 6 weeks, then introduced a bottle of formula at 10.30, which she accepted readily, since then I have been following the weaning plan to get her onto formula exclusively. Currently only her 7am and part of her 6.15pm feeds are breast milk, both of which I express. She always feeds happily, seemingly not bothered by the transition to the bottle. I do give her one drink of cooled boiled water between her 2.30 and 6.15 feeds. The nurse at the paediatrician’s office suggested giving her 1oz of prune juice diluted in 1oz of water, which I haven't tried yet. She also suggested tummy massage and inserting a thermometer into her rectum to stimulate bowel movement. (We are currently living in the USA). I'm sure the problem has something to do with the transition to formula (the one I use is fortified with iron, and made specifically for newborns to 6-month-olds), but as she seems happy with it I thought it was going well, but I am worried about the infrequent bowel movements.
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