Feeding FAQ: 4-6 months

My daughter is not settling well after her 6pm feed and it is taking my husband and me a long time to settle her. Once settled she wakes up within half an hour and this continues until about 9pm. She then only has about 1 hour sleep before we wake her up for her 10pm feed. We have tried leaving this feed but she wakes around 12.30am. This has been happening now for a week. During the day she is sleeping for about 45mins in the morning, between 1hr & 1.5 hrs at lunch and she has a 20/30 min nap about 4pm. If she doesn’t have this nap she falls asleep when feeding or is so grizzly that bathing is impossible. In the mornings I can simply put her in her cot and she goes off to sleep within 5/10 mins but we can’t seem to do this at night - she cries intensely. Do you think she is hungry? She appears to have finished breast feeding when I try to put her down.

At present she is fully breast fed. She began this week with baby rice at the 11am feed.
Team Response

My daughter is very difficult to breastfeed. The problem started at about 8-10 weeks. She takes the first 10 minutes of a breast feed very well. Then it will become difficult .She starts crying and pulling away from breast when offered. If I persevere, she will eventually take the breast and finish feed although the whole process is tiring and time-consuming. Initially I thought that she was full after first 10 minutes. She seemed happy enough but would not settle well for naps and then would be very distressed at 6 pm and cry a lot during feed. I realize now that this was probably a build up of hunger during the day and she would need a top-up of milk I expressed earlier in the day to settle at 7pm. However, over last 4-6 weeks I have stopped expressing and just making sure she takes a full feed at each feed and she settles well for naps and does not need a top-up at 7pm.

This problem is worse in the morning, at 7 am and 11 am. If I manage to cajole her into having a full first feed, I have less of a problem feeding her at 11 and 2:30. Her 6pm and 10pm feeds are fine. I have a strong let-down although this does not to seem bother her too much, although she does pull off sometimes but goes straight back on the breast happily. I have tried leaving her until 8am so that she has had a good play and is tired but this doesn't really work either. I have also changed position so she is more upright. This helped a little. I also find that she favours the right breast so if she is refusing the left breast I swap to the right breast for a few minutes and then swap her back. Sometimes this works, other times it doesn’t. I also make sure I feed her in a separate room with no distractions. This helps a little. I have also tried to reduce her 10 pm feed. I tried this twice but she woke at 6am.

It is frustrating as apart from this, I have absolutely no problems with her. She is a very happy and contented baby. She presently weighs 14lbs.

My daughter feeds at 7.30am 10-15mins, 8.15am second attempt and will take full feed by 9am. 11am 20mins each side with a lot of encouraging, 1 cube of fruit or vegetable, 2.30pm 20mins each side, 4.30pm 3-5ozs water, 6pm 20mins each side followed by 2tsps baby rice, 10pm 10mins each side.
She naps at 9-9.45am, 12-2.15pm.
Team Response

My son was a happy contented baby pretty much since starting on the routines. He took to them immediately and always slept at the times suggested. I had to wake him after an hour in the morning, had to wake him after his lunch time nap and he always took a good nap in pram or cot for the afternoon. He was progressing well at nights, was pushing his 4am wake-up from his 10/11pm split feed and 1 day (August 10th - 11 weeks) he actually slept to 7am. At 12 weeks he started waking more in the night and we thought maybe it was because he was still swaddled and struggling to get his arms out. We stopped swaddling but he started waking maybe 2 times in the night a few nights a week. He would be breast fed at all times with some top ups of expressed breast milk (he would take maybe 1-2oz ) and a bottle of expressed breast milk at the 10/11pm feed. At the beginning of September he was still sleeping well in the day (he was a happy contented baby - no crying) and settling well at 7pm - waking naturally between 10 and 11pm, but at night he would wake twice: at 2am and 5am or 3am and 6am. Then a week or 3 into September he started waking at 12.30am, 2am, 4am, 6am and would have to be woken at 7.30am.
He would rarely settle without a feed at the night time wakings. (I never knew how much since it was a breast feed but the few times my mom stayed with him he would eat around 2-6oz at each waking). We tried water one night, but that only got him to last for 30 minutes before he was crying again. I decided to not feed him at 4am and let him cry one night for 12 minutes, I went in, gave him his dummy to settle and stroked his head - then he cried for 8 more minutes and went to sleep.
The next night it was the same thing but 5 minutes and 2 minutes. I was coping because my mom would take him in the morning (happy baby again) and I would sleep for 3 hours but when my mom left on Sept 14th I just lost it due to exhaustion. So I put him on SMA White at the 10/11pm feed and he stopped the 12:30 waking immediately. Around this same time his daytime sleep started going awry. He would wake up after 45 minutes of his lunchtime nap and would only settle with some more milk. Then his 7-10pm sleep went awry - waking up at 8.30pm for more milk then again at 10- or 10.30pm. I was getting to the point of doing controlled crying until I went to get him weighed and realized that his weight gain (which had really slowed down since hitting 12 weeks) had actually stopped. A couple of nights ago I tried offering him 4 oz of expressed breast milk after his bath (I usually give him a breast feed) and he had 3.5oz and when I expressed afterwards I only got 2 oz. That night he slept until 9.40pm so I figured he must have been hungry. I started topping him up with expressed milk at the lunch time nap for the past 2 days and now he sleeps an hour and a half.
Right now his nights are just exhausting me. He sleeps from 7-9.40pm-ish; he has 5 oz when he wakes 9.40 (sleepy feed) then we keep him awake until 11pm; yesterday he had another 4 oz and went to bed at 11:20pm half-swaddled with draw sheet. For the past week he has been waking up every hour and half and will mostly only settle with milk - not even a dummy will do the trick. I am confused now because of his weight gain (or lack of it) that it could be hunger BUT how can he be hungry at 1 or 2 am when he drinks 7- 9oz at 10/11pm split feed? The other thing could be he has associated feeding with sleeping. So over the past 2 days I have tried to wake him up after feeds to burp him and put him down awake. I let him whinge and cry for about 10 minutes and then pick him up and he gets really sleepy. When he is almost going to close his eyes I put him in the cot; he then opens his eyes and moves a little, but goes straight to sleep. The other day he really went for it at lunch time and after 25 minutes I went in and he was all red in the face and his face was wet with tears, I immediately started to cry and picked him up and he let out a huge burp (not sure if he had it before all the crying).
I am so exhausted; I know its affecting my milk supply and all the expressing has made my nipples sore. The below is a sample of yesterday. Weaning was started at 17.5 weeks. His feeds are listed below:
- 6.30am: breast feed, 1side, ½ second.
- 7.30am: top up breast feed.
- 10.30am: one side
- 11am: 3/4tsp baby rice and ½ cube of pear
- 11.45am: 3ozs expressed feed
- 2.15pm: breast feed (5-6mins)
- 3pm: 2ozs expressed followed by another 2ozs greedily at 3.30pm
- 5.15pm: 1 side, ½ second.
- 5.40pm: ½ tsp baby rice
- 6.30pm: 3-4ozs formula or expressed
- 9.40pm: 5ozs formula, sleepy feed, wakes fully after burp.
- 0.40pm: 4ozs formula
- 1.30am: small breast feed 3-5mins, asleep by 1.45am
- 3am: small breast feed 3-4mins, asleep by 3.20am
- 5am: large breast feed 6-8mins, settled until 7.50am.
He weighs 15.6ozs. He naps from 9-10am, 12.15-1.45pm, 3.20-3.30pm 4.45-5.15pm.
Team Response

I have had a contented dream baby up until the last 5 or 6 days. He is waking more frequently, he seems starving, his hands are in his mouth etc. I would like to hold off solids until 5 months, and keep reading everywhere that he should be able to be sustained by breastmilk until then, but I feel as though my milk is drying up. Admittedly I am under some stress; my husband is away; we are due to move overseas in 3 weeks; our 18 month old is fairly demanding; I have no time to put my feet up! I have been feeding him at 7am, 10.30am, 2.30pm, 5pm (he has always been starving for this feed) and 6.15pm then sleeps 7pm to 7am. 2 nights ago he woke at 5am, last night at 1.30am and 4am for feeds; he was ravenous. I am expressing at 12.00 midday (all of 1 oz) then 8pm (1oz again) then 10.30pm (2oz max) is there any way I can increase my milk production further? I am not sure of his present weight, he was 7lbs 8ozs at birth.
Team Response

As I had some problems with my latch-on in the early weeks of breastfeeding, my son had some problems gaining weight. As a result, we put him on formula top-ups twice a day to ensure he was getting enough to eat and to take some pressure off me. As he has grown, so has the amount of formula he can consume. Now I am worried that he is eating too much even though he is not gaining weight excessively. My friends are amazed when I tell them that Miles is capable of drinking nearly 240 ml of formula after a breast feed (although I have been limiting him to 210ml because I am worried).
I have just started on CLB and Miles has adapted well to the structured day. He is going down well most times, although he is still waking during the lunchtime nap. He slept from 11.45pm to 7am for the first time yesterday. The CLB requires breastfeeding from both breasts at each feed. I have never done this before, so I am worried that by introducing it now, will mean that I do not have enough supply for his age and weight. Also, what should happen to his formula feeds? At the moment I am doing a combined feed twice a day.
In addition, my son is now very distracted at the breast, pulling off and looking around after a few minutes, even though I feed him quietly in the nursery. The advantage of the formula is, that he always drinks everything in the bottle, getting upset if I try and take it away. He is totally focused when he has a bottle feed even if he has just come off a very distracted breast feed.
At present he weighs 6.4 kilos. He is 4.5mths old. He takes a breast feed of both sides at 7am, 2.30pm and 10.30pm. At these feeds he takes one side for 25 minutes and the 2nd side for 10mins. At 10am he has one side for 25mins then a 180ml top up of SMA using an Avent bottle and a no2 teat. At 6.15pm he takes 25mins from one side and 210mls. At 10.30pm he takes both sides and sometimes a top up of 60mls.
Team Response

Amelia has been following the 3-4 month routine well. A week ago she began to take less milk at 2.15pm when she is bottle fed, stopping after 3.5 or 4ozs. Even if I wait 20 minutes she will not take any more milk and push the bottle away. I expressed milk at 11am a couple of days ago (when I normally breast feed) and found I only had 4ozs of milk. I am worried that she is not getting enough milk by day which is causing her to wake in the night between 3-5am. I do not feed her in the night if she wakes, but she still doesn't seem hungry at 7am. She is never really hungry at 7am even when she hasn’t woken early. She is usually happy to chat for 1/2 hr until I get her. Should I be weaning her? Amelia weighs 15lbs 7ozs. What do I do about her decreased milk intake at 11am and 2.15pm?
Team Response

We had our first baby, Evie, 18 weeks ago and generally she has settled into your routines, which we have been following since day one. She has always been small and has regularly gained only 4oz each week; she had 2 weeks where she gained 7oz and 1 week where she lost 1oz. Her birth weight was 7lb 1oz and she now weighs 12lb 1oz. I am breast-feeding, but my partner gives her formula at 10.30pm and again when she wakes in the night, around 5am (we introduced formula at 14 weeks). We do, however, have a few concerns. Firstly, she struggles between 4pm and 5pm, as she will not nap unless she is in the car. She is tired and fractious, and seems to want to sleep, but should we try to enforce a nap and, if so, how? Secondly, would you expect Evie to wake in the night because of her weight? As a result of her not yet going through the night, we don’t feel we can move forward on the split feed before her bath, cutting out the 10.30pm feed or starting her on solids.
Team Response

I am having a MRI scan in three weeks. I have been told not to breast feed for 48hrs afterwards due to the contrast dyes used.
I used to give Sonny 1 bottle a night using expressed milk but haven’t done so for over a month. He has also taken formula on the odd occasion. He enjoys breastfeeding and I am worried how he will take the 48hr abstinence. I have a few frozen feeds of breast milk but not enough to last the whole 2 days. He now consumes all the milk I produce so I don't think I could express and freeze more.
I want to carry on breastfeeding after the scan, and was hoping to do so fully. We are due to go away on holiday a week after the scan, and it would be easier if I did not have to take bottles with me.
If I introduce formula now in preparation, is my milk production likely to reduce so that I won't be able to return to full breast feeding afterwards? Will expressing over the 48hr period be enough to maintain my milk production? I never seem to drain my breasts through expressing as Sonny does when feeding.
He has five feeds a day and is on day 16 of weaning.
Team Response

My baby is almost 6 months old and seems quite happy with a mixture of formula and breastfeeds. I plan to start giving him solids soon but wondered if I should be changing the formula to one of the follow-on ones that say they should be used from 6 months.

Fiona Hinton's Response

My baby is four months old and has been quite happy with her formula until recently. However, she has just started getting grumpy a few hours after feeds and I think she might be hungry. Should I try one of the formulas I’ve seen that are supposed to satisfy hungrier babies?

Fiona Hinton's Response

My 5 month old daughter who weighs around 14lbs has never been an eager feeder. I held back on beginning to wean to try to improve on her milk intake, but she started to wake in the night as well as showing the other signs so I commenced at 19 weeks. I am having a problem with the 10pm feed which she still needs to help her get through the night but is reluctant to take when woken.

I am taking the weaning process slowly. She is now waking between 5 and 6ish and I leave her to talk to herself or drop off back to sleep until 7-7:30ish.

I begin to wake her at 10pm and try to feed her at 10.30pm. She will take 1-2ozs before losing interest. It is only when I put her down and the lights are off that she will then fuss and then takes a feed of 4oz close to 11pm. I know at this stage I can't cut back on this feed as she isn't going through the night properly yet and must be hungry if she takes 4oz. How can I move this feed closer to 10pm and not let it go on for an hour?

7.30am: 6-7ozs
11am: 4ozs formula followed by 1 cube sweet potato then 3-4ozs formula.
2.30pm: 4-6ozs formula
5pm: 1oz formula mixed with 2 teaspoons rice, 1 cube apple or pear.  1oz water
6.30pm: 6-7ozs formula
10.30/50pm: 4- 5ozs formula

Daily milk intake 26-30ozs.

She naps at 9-9.45am, 12-1.30pm and 3.45-4.30pm. She settles at 6.30pm.
Team Response

My 18 week old son has been a very CLB and has been following the routine like a dream child since he was 10 days old. Over the last week feeding has become an increasing problem. Until recently he has always fed well. Over the last couple of days each feed is becoming increasingly difficult. It started out about 2 weeks ago with him leaving 2 ounces at each feed (on average I was offering him 7 oz per feed). Over the week this has progressively increased and yesterday and today he is leaving as much as 4 oz in the bottle at each feed. I have moved him from a size 2 teat to a 3 as I thought that could be an issue but it has made no difference. I have also tried splitting the feeds but it just means he takes less at the second sitting and in aggregate eats the same. He takes the first couple of ounces well and then pushes the bottle out with his tongue and if I persist he arches his back and starts crying. I have also tried giving a short break but he refuses the bottle once the initial intake is over.

I have spoken to the HV and she seems to think there isn't a problem as he seems happy in himself but I hardly recognize the baby I know when it comes to feeding. He is barely taking 24 ounces in a day which just can't be right given his weight - he was taking around 30 – 32 ozs.

I have not introduced any solids for obvious reasons. He is also waking at night now, although this is not included in the report of sleeping times. Two nights ago he started to wake at 4 and 5am. I am sure he is hungry but I am confused as to what to do as I don’t want to just feed him and then reinforce any bad habits that are developing.

My son feeds at 7am, 5ozs, 11am 4ozs, 2.30pm 3.5ozs, 4.45pm 1.5ozs, 6.30pm 5ozs, and 10pm 3ozs.

My son naps at 9-9.45am, 12.30-2.15pm and 4-4.30pm. He settles at 7pm.
Team Response

My 4mth daughter slept from 10.30pm until 7.30am at eight weeks of age and by 3 months we were able to drop the 10.30pm feed so she was sleeping from 7pm until 7.30pm which was wonderful. She then got a cold and started waking during the night between 3-5am. She could only be settled with a feed. As this showed no sign of stopping I decided to start with the 10.30 feed again. She only takes 2oz at this time and is still waking during the night. I want to try and leave her but I am nervous she will wake my 2 year old in the room next door. I am frustrated that she is back on to 6 feeds a day when we had it down to 4. Should I stop the 10pm feed and see what happens or continue with this in the hope that she will eventually drop the night feed? I changed her from Aptamil 1 to Aptamil 2 on the advice of my health visitor but this hasn't made any difference. She takes about 4-5 oz during the night. Should I try and dilute this feed?
She has got reflux and takes infant Gaviscon so is now under control.

She feeds at 7.30am,11am and 2.30pm taking 6-7ozs, at 6.15pm she takes 7ozs. At 10pm she takes 2-3ozs and then 4-5ozs at 4am. She weighs 14lbs 4ozs.

She naps at 9.15-10am, 12-2.15pm and 4.30-5pm.
Team Response

I am new to your techniques and am a bit desperate for help! My daughter is just turning 5 months old. At 3 months, she would have 5 bottles (6-8.5 oz), approx. 3.5 hours apart during the day, and was sleeping for a good 10 hour stretch between feeds at night (usually 8pm until 6.30ish). Her weight is now around 16lb 7oz. At 6 weeks, she was diagnosed with acid reflux and has been on Infant Gaviscon ever since. We have tried reducing the doses recently - but found that the reflux returned very quickly.

The feeding problems began immediately after her first immunizations (at 15 weeks - done later than usual due to a mix up by our health visitor) as she began teething and got a cold - which threw her feeds off completely and she began waking more and more at night for extra feeds (usually 1st at midnight and then again around 4am). She'll take anything from 4-7oz at these feeds. The knock-on effect of this was that she would sleep later in the morning and not want a first feed until around 10am. Although the cold has now gone (she had another over Christmas) - this problem has continued.

As I'm due to start back at work in a few weeks - we decided to start weaning her at 17 weeks as I wanted to be involved in this before she starts at nursery, and we also wanted to see if this would help her start sleeping through the night again. We also began waking her at 7am each morning to try and encourage a better daytime routine. We follow the same bath time routine from 6.40pm every night - ending in a milk feed before bed at 7.30. She naps at roughly the same time every day - 9-9.45/10am 12-2pm, 4-4.45pm (although the two hour nap sometimes occurs in the morning if we've had a particularly fretful night). She goes down for naps and at night pretty well - although this took time to establish - but has always seemed to be able to get herself back to sleep ok - if she's not hungry.

The problem we have is that the teething (we assume) is causing her to reject feeds - she struggles off the bottle, or chews the teat but then cries as she is hungry. We sing to her, rock her; carry her around - anything to distract her. And sometimes this works - but it’s a real struggle to get her to take more than 6.5 oz, and sometimes it’s as little as 3oz. She takes the solids just fine - I guess because this doesn't hurt her gums?

We tried using a 3 hole Avent teat, instead of a 2 - but this just streams over her chin. We've also tried delaying starting the feed - as you suggest - but this rarely seems to make a difference. We also split feed - with a bit of play in between - to relax and calm her down (as she gets quite distressed). I use Calpol and Detinox to help with the discomfort too (I'm scared that we are making her afraid of feeding!). Today I tried laying her in the baby gym to feed her - which was a little more successful but I worry about feeding her this way due to the reflux.

As she is not getting sufficient milk during the day (we are lucky if we scrape up to 28 oz) she needs more to get through the night. At present - she'll take two lots of 4 oz (at midnight and 4am). This results in the 7.45am feed being a joke most of the time though, as she is not hungry. But even after her 9am nap, when she is clearly hungry - she'll rapidly drink 4 oz of the next feed - and then struggles to take a few ozs more.

As I've been following the weaning programme suggested by Tracy Hogg - the feeding schedule is:

6oz milk plus 1 tablespoon cereal - 7.45am (rarely takes more than 3/4 oz)
8oz milk - 11am (rarely takes full feed)
8oz milk - 2.30pm (rarely takes full feed)
6oz milk plus 1 tablespoon baby rice and fruit puree - 5.30 (rarely takes more than 4 oz)
8oz milk - 7.15pm bedtime (takes 6-8oz)
(Plus 4-8oz at night)

Each of these feeds are a struggle - except for the 7.15pm one and those that are done at night.

Please help! Should we try giving water at night instead? We don't like the idea of waking her at 10pm for the feed -preferring her to wake when she is hungry if possible. But - how on earth do we improve her intake during the day - to reduce the night feeds so she is hungry at 7am? She's a very happy and contented little soul otherwise!

My husband thinks that we are feeding her too much too often - and that she simply isn't hungry... I am very confused and tired! I'm getting increasing anxious about how things will be when she starts nursery if this situation does not improve by then.

I would very much appreciate your advice. I should add that today I've tried her on your routine for the first time (for 4-5 month olds) - and so far she's had 6oz of milk at 7am, and 4 oz milk plus 2 tsp baby rice and 2 tsp carrot puree at 11am. She also had 3.5oz at 2am this morning. She then woke at 6.20am, and I got her up at 6.40am (pretty close to the desired 7am!). The first 3.5oz was taken quickly at 7am - with the rest a bit of a struggle.
Team Response

Until six weeks of age my daughter was fed with expressed breast milk. This was due to latching problems in the early days as a result of early medical problems. My supply began to dwindle and by 11 weeks my daughter was fully formula fed. Once the change from breast milk to formula began to take place my daughter became a fussy bottle feeder and had problems with constipation. Due to this condition I was advised to switch formulas twice as lactose intolerance and colic were suspected. On further medical advice from the pediatrician who had cared for her at birth I changed her formula back to Aptamil from the soy based formula and commenced weaning, which had been advised by a GP on call. My daughter weighed 6kg at the time and was 4 months old. Once back on Aptimel my daughter began to drink formula again but in same manner as before, i.e. often difficult to get her started, drinks a bit then cries. I began to wean her using the Contented Weaning Guide and she really took to solid food. As an added bonus she now has a stool movement almost every day.

I'm now at the 4th day of month 5 to 6 of weaning and she really enjoys solid food. However there are still difficulties around her bottle feeding. Most days I have to really press her to take her bottle or she would not get 20 ounces of formula. Her first feed is generally ok, although sometimes she has to be coaxed. From her second feed onwards however it can be hit or miss. Occasionally she'll open her mouth and take the bottle without difficulty, more often however she will close her mouth or cry when she sees it, however if I persist and she gets started she'll take anything from 2 to 7 ounces. She usually wakes between 7am and 7.30 am and so has her 1st feed around then. However she can easily refuse her second bottle at 11am if allowed to but will happily take her solid food. I find myself making excuses such as she's teething or she had a big feed last but I seem to be always making excuses. Over a week ago she was refusing a lot of bottles but taking solids and after 3 days of this I brought her to the GP who diagnosed a sore throat and prescribed an antibiotic. Today is her last day taking the antibiotic but she is still difficult when it comes to taking her formula. At her 1st feed today she took 8 ounces with 1 break. I haven't started breakfast yet as she is not showing signs of hunger before her second feed and don't want to make the feeding even more problematic. At her second feed she took 1.5 ounces then started to cry and push the bottle away and it took another 40 minutes and many attempts (accompanied by crying and pushing away) to get her to drink another 3.5 ounces. After this she took 4 to 4.5 cubes of sweet potato, swede and green bean very easily. But the length of time feeding took will either push back her 3rd and 4th feed or make her less hungry if I deliver them on schedule. I would really like some advice on what to do. I'm considering cutting out solids to see if that increases her hunger for formula. I don't want mealtimes to be a fight where she cries and I try to coax her as I feel this is very unhealthy in the long run.

Her feeding is usually at 7.30am 6-8ozs; 11am 4-6 ozs followed by solids, 2.30pm 4ozs, usually taken with a break of about 30 minutes in the middle, 6.30pm 7ozs, with 3ozs extra used to make up her baby rice. Again this feed is taken with a break mid feed. On most days her intake is 20ozs or less. I feel to get anymore milk into her I have to really coax and persevere with the bottle. She weighs 15lbs.

My daughter naps at 9-10.30am, 12.30-2pm and 3.30-5pm. She settles at 7.30pm and sleeps until 7am.
Team Response

18.

From birth my daughter was always very good at feeding and would finish every bottle, until she got to approx 10 weeks when she started to take less and less, and then would start to scream, shake her head and flatly refuse to take the bottle, her body would go stiff; eventually after this performance at every feed she may take a couple of ounces. But when offered water from the same type of bottle with the same teat she would drink this immediately but the moment we swapped bottles, even before she tasted the milk she would start to scream, she was never sick and the moment you stopped feeding her she was completely happy again. The heath visitor suggested she may have reflux and we were referred to the GP who agreed that this could be the problem and put her on Gaviscon, we tried this for 1.5 weeks but it made no difference and the problem seemed to be getting worse, (in the meantime we had also tried different teats and bottles). We went back to the GP, as she was dropping weight, and showed her exactly what happened when we try to feed her, she was shocked and couldn't understand how she would take the water and referred us immediately to the hospital. At the hospital they also decided that it must be reflux and put her on Ranitidine, they said that after a few days she should be back to normal. She did start to take more feed gradually but then started to drop oz's again, I spoke to the doctor after her taking the medicine for 7 days and she said for 48hrs don’t try to force her, just let her take the amount she wants from each bottle and then she may realize she's hungry and start to feed. She has now started to feed better, we don't have the screaming anymore, but each feed is hard work and she never seems comfortable when having her bottle and she will never take all of her feeds fully and has gone from taking 30oz a day 4 weeks ago to taking 20-28oz if we are lucky now. I wanted to know if you think a baby with reflux should be acting this way with her feeds, or if you have any suggestion?
But the real problem is if we go out she will not feed all, she may possibly take 1oz, so we have resorted to not go out around feed times because we feel she cannot afford to drop this amount of milk when she is already not taking enough, so therefore this has become very restricting and we never seem to be out of the house for more than 1hr.
She also will not sleep any more than 35mins at a time and when she wakes she absolutely screams (she never used to do this), so the midday sleep is a nightmare, sometimes I can get her back off after 20-30 minutes of battling for another 35 minutes. (I feel like most days I spend 2hours in a dark room!) This has been going on every day for over 5 weeks, I have tried catching her when she is stirring, I have tried letting her cry for 5-10 minutes then re-settling her and repeating, I've tried letting her sleep in her bouncy chair, swing chair, but nothing seems to work. I would be quite happy for her to have another nap after her 2.30 bottle, but no matter how tired or grumpy she is, she will not go back to sleep until around 4pm, and then between 5-6pm she is so grumpy I seem to be continually holding her.
Please could you give me some advice because at the moment I feel like I am in a vicious circle and never being able to go out to enjoy things with my baby because I am constantly worrying while we are out is she going to feed/sleep.
Team Response

For over two months my son of almost 6 months has put up a fight with his milk and taken it less and less willingly. In the past week I have had him at hospital as he arches his back and screams and only ever drinks his whole bottle, if that, at night around 7pm. Since he was two and a half months he started sleeping through the night. In the past three months he has started stirring in the night. Now he wakes nearly every hour shouting and sometimes crying. He only takes to his teatime solids and is not fussed with breakfast or lunch.

The hospital dietician advised to put him on a lactose and allergy special milk which I have just tried, giving him a bottle of half the new formula mixed with half of his own. He just spits the teat out. Today all he has taken is 2 oz at 7.30am, 4 oz at 11.30am and 2 oz at 3pm. He just won’t take anymore. In himself he is very content, smiley baby, apart from meal times. I was advised to start him on protein by my health visitor.

I make all his food, so he has chicken or fish pureed with vegetables.

I thought it may be reflux, so we have him on Gaviscon sachets which maybe beginning to work. I don’t get much sleep and with every feed time a battle I just don’t know what to do. He had not put any weight on in 2 weeks recently, but I was advised to give him as much dairy full fat food as possible. I use cheese, full fat yoghurt and avocado to do this. He has now put 5oz on in a week but still won’t take hardly enough milk. I have to feed him on demand at night if he wants it therefore I am going backwards and now any routine I had has gone out of the window! I’m also having him in bed with me as I just need to sleep!

At present he feeds at 7am 2ozs, 11am 4ozs, 3pm 3ozs, 5pm 3ozs, 7pm 6-7ozs and 11pm 3-4ozs, giving a daily total of 21ozs. He weighs 15.10ozs.

I try him with baby cereal and fruit around 8am but he never takes much. His lunch is at 12.30pm, chicken and vegetable with fruit afterwards. Again not much is eaten.

Teatime is at 5.30pm and he chicken and fish with vegetables followed by yoghurt.

My son naps at 8.50-9.20am, 1.30-2pm and 4-5pm. He settles at 7.30pm. He may wake at 1am, 3am, 5.30 and 6.30am. If he cries a lot I offer him milk to get him back to sleep.
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My son, who is almost 5 months, has begun to fight his bottles over the past week, except for the one given at 11pm. He takes 4-5ozs and then stops for winding [which he initiates]. I then struggle to get him going again. He goes rigid, screams, pushes the teat out with his tongue and pushes the bottle away with his hands. Eventually he will take it, but it takes about an hour. He never cries for his bottle anymore and he never seems hungry, not even for his bottle in the morning.

I tried weaning him at 4 months. He started with baby rice at 11am for a week and then I moved this to 6pm. At the beginning he enjoyed his solids but then gradually started to fight this so I stopped a few weeks ago.

Am I feeding him too much? Before we introduced the rice he was taking 7oz bottles with no fuss at all.

He is fine at other times, and sleeps with no problems. I though he might be teething as he quite often has rosy cheeks and his hand is constantly in his mouth. When I put my finger in his mouth he grabs it and tries to bite onto it vigorously and with great effort. This is becoming upsetting as every feed is a struggle of wills.

At present he takes 8ozs at 7am, 11am, 2.30pm, 6pm and 3ozs at 11pm. He will take 2-3 ozs of cool boiled water at 4pm. He weighs 18.7lbs.

My son naps at 8.30-9.15am, 10.30-11am, 12-1pm and 3-3.45pm. He is settled at 7pm and wakes at 6.30am.
Team Response

My son was diagnosed with reflux from 3 weeks old and is currently on infant Gaviscon. The trouble is, that no matter how hard I try and get him established on the CLB routine he refuses bottles, particularly in the morning. He eats really well during the night (he will have a bottle at 10.30 and another at 2.30am) but come the morning he won't have anything until usually sometime during the afternoon. If he does manage to drink anything it will only be a couple of ounces at a time. I have tried giving him water during the night but his stomach rumbles so much where he is hungry that I usually resort to giving him a bottle but I do water the bottle down slightly so although he thinks he is getting a good feed (he is in fact only taking about 4 ounces of water with 2/3 scoops of powder). He sleeps really well during the night and goes to bed like a dream at 7pm (at the latest 7.30pm) and does drink his bottle really well before going to bed but because he won't feed very well during the day his daytime naps are affected. I have tried a different formula and bigger teats. I have tried giving him solids instead of the bottle if he refuses it, with the hope that in his next feed he will drink really well but he just doesn't. On a good day he will have about 24 oz (and that includes the night feeds). Any ideas? I am quite happy to do controlled crying but I do work evenings until 2am and have to get up again at 6.30am to take my daughter to school (she is nearly 5 years old). So I would rather try and get him to feed better during the day so he goes through the night on his own, which I know he can do because I have forgotten to feed him at 10.30pm before and he managed to go through until 1.30am (which is 7 and a half hours).

He weighs about 16lbs. He feeds at 7am 2ozs, 11am 4ozs, 2.30pm 3ozs, 6.00pm 6ozs, 10.30pm 7ozs, 2.30am 5ozs. He takes 1teaspoon of rice or 1 cube of fruit at 7am and 1tsp of rice with 1 cube veg or fruit at 6pm.
He naps from 9-9.50am, 12.30-2.30pm and 4.30-4.45pm. He is settled at 7pm.
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My son of four months never takes a full feed at 7am; the maximum he normally manages is 5.5oz. This is worse if he has his 10.30pm feed where he may take as little as 4oz. I have tried giving him a split feed but this makes no difference. He has slept through from 10.30pm to 7am since 10 weeks and more recently has also been sometimes sleeping 7-7 following a very large feed at 6.15pm (8oz) as well as a bottle at 5pm (4oz) which he has not appeared keen to drop. His other feeds he will take 7 ounces, he always seems to end up taking about 30oz a day over his feeds. He has regularly put on 8oz a week since he was 2 weeks old. He weighs 14.12oz.
Team Response

My son has been a 'perfect' Gina baby for 15 weeks but always has been quite difficult to feed. Bottle feeding is getting consistently worse - he cries when the bottle is put in his mouth for 50% of his feeds, despite trying him in all positions and in a chair. Remainder of feeds are okay and he will always take a full feed when he gets started (which sometimes takes 30mins); it is getting him started that is the problem! The best time he takes the bottle is at his 10pm feed: there is no resistance and he takes this down really well.
Since getting a slight cold 3 weeks ago, he has started to bring up some of his feeds - mainly the 6pm one! He sometimes fights this bottle so I have started to feed him earlier to rule out tiredness and still give him a short nap at 4.50pm. Even when he takes the bottle and his solids okay, he will sometimes bring everything up when he is put down in his cot. After feeding he is usually happy but he can be a bit twitchy. As soon as we lay him down he is sick probably 3 nights out of 7. He will then take down more milk but I am concerned that he is starting to bring up solids as well.
He has had solids for 8 days and takes them really well - I don't think bringing up his feeds are connected as he is really happy and not constipated; except when I am trying to give him a bottle. He is currently on a 3 hole teat, but I have tried with variable flow as well and haven't seen any improvement.
Please help : how can I make him happier having his bottle and stop this teatime sickness?
Team Response

I have two problems. My first concerns feeding. My son of almost 5 months is refusing his 7am bottle. He's not crying, but is turning his head in all directions and pushing the teat out with his tongue. He just doesn’t seem hungry. I persist, but he still doesn’t drink. I've stopped his 10pm feed, cause I thought that this would make him more hungry, but that hasn't made a difference. He has also started refusing his 2.30pm feed, but for this feed he starts crying and arches his back. Then when I take the bottle away he still continues crying unless I stand up and distract him. If I persist with this feed he eventually drinks. I thought that it could be cause he's teething, but even if I rub teething gel on before, he still cries. I'm so worried that he might lose weight. He eats his 11am feed and 6pm feed fine. I'm following the complete guide to weaning, so I don’t know what the problem could be.
At present he takes: 7am 180ml, 11am 210ml, 2.30pm 180ml, 6.20pm 240ml. He also has juice at 8.30am 25mls, 1pm 10mls and 3.30pm 50mls. At lunch he has 2 tsp rice cereal with 1 cube turnip and at tea he has 5tsp rice cereal and 2 cubes veg or fruit. He weighs 8kg.
My second problem is that my mother-in-law looks after him in the morning because I work, and since I finish work at 1pm I let her put him down at 11.30am so that he can have an hour and half sleep before I fetch him. When I start pushing his 11am feed later in the day, how can I change the routine, so that I can still collect him at 1pm and spend quality time with him when I'm not at work, without causing a problem? At present he sleeps 9-9.45am, 11.30-1pm, 4-4.30pm and settles at 7pm.
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My 4-month-old son has drastically reduced the amount of milk he is taking over the last month. Apart from during growth spurts, when he has taken up to 30 oz, he takes only 20oz a day with a lot of difficulties. He hasn't demanded his feeds for a long time. I am very worried he is not taking enough milk. He happily takes his baby rice at 11am.
His feed times are 7.15am 5-7 ozs, 11am up to 4ozs, but recently none, 3pm up to 4 ozs, but even less frequently, 6pm 6oz with difficulty, 10pm up to 4ozs. He takes 1 tablespoon of baby rice at 11am and is offered diluted juice in the day; he takes about 1 oz of this. He weighs 6.52 kg[14.6lbs]
He sleeps from 9-10.30am, 1-1.45pm, 3-3.30pm and settles at 7pm. He sleeps to 7am from going down at 10.30pm.
Team Response

I cannot get my son to take more than 4oz of formula and never have. He was never that interested in breast milk and the maternity nurse I had with me told me to stop breast feeding. She left after a week as she said she couldn't do anything with him and that he would start sleeping when he went onto solids. He's now 5 1/2 months old and on 3 meals a day and still won't take any milk. Even if I mix it into the solids he gets upset. Consequently he is still waking in the night. Can you recommend anything for babies that seemingly hate milk, even their mother's! He's my second baby; my first one went through the night at 8 weeks and was a very good eater/sleeper.
At present he weighs 18lbs 14ozs. He feeds at 7.30am 2ozs. He takes a ramekin of baby cereal with 3-4ozs of milk. 11am 2ozs, 2 cubes of vegetable with rice and 2 ozs of milk. 2.30pm 3-4 ozs, 4pm 2 ozs water, 6.30pm 2-3 ozs and 2 cubes fruit, rice mixed with 2 ozs milk. 2.30am 4 ozs.
He sleeps at 9-9.50am, 12-2.15pm and settles at 7pm. After his feed at 2.30am he will sleep until 5.30am.
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I have two problems with my 24-week-old son which may or may not be connected.
He has never managed to sleep 7pm to 7am. Ay present he goes to bed at 6.30pm and wakes at 6am, although this has recently moved to 5.30am.
My main worry is over his milk intake which has declined recently. He was weaned at 4 months and now has three "meals" a day.
At 7am he has 7ozs milk, 2 tsps baby cereal with 1 cube of apple puree.
At 11am he will only take 1oz of formula, possibly 2 ozs before refusing any more. He will happily eat 3 cubes sweet potato, 1 cube carrot and 1 cube of courgette.
At 2/2.15pm he will take 1-3ozs formula.
At 6pm he takes 8ozs with 6tsp rice mixed with 2 cubes of pear.
I have followed the weaning guide, so feel I have not introduced the wrong types of food or are overfeeding him. He presently weighs 18lbs 4ozs.
He is barely taking 20ozs of milk a day but gets upset if I try to give him any more. I worry he will soon begin to demand a night feed as he has so little milk by day.
Because he is waking from 5.30/6am he is tired by 6.30pm and I cannot get him to 7pm. His early waking is also affecting his daytime naps. At present he sleeps at 8.30-9.15am,11.30-1pm and 3.00-3.30pm.
Team Response

I was just wondering what comes first: less daytime sleep or cutting out the 10pm feed? For the last 3 weeks (despite interruptions of colds/teething) we have been down to 2oz at 10pm but just lately it seems to be putting her off the 7am feed when she's only taking 5/6oz - normally she takes about 7oz (I don't know whether it's all the rubbish she's been swallowing). I try to top her up with another ounce or two 30 minutes later just to try and keep her on track (she's not having breakfast yet).
After putting a post on the message board for some feedback, for the last couple of nights I've offered her 3oz water at 10pm just to see if it is the waking time she needs, not the milk, but it backfired as I ended up giving her a watery feed at 4am. She has a total of 9oz Aptamil-2 and solids at 5.45/6.30pm and I felt that should be enough to get through the night.
I was also wondering whether the 30 minutes she's awake for at 10pm means she wants more sleep in the day (she wakes up very easily at 10pm). She has 30 minutes at 9:15, 2 hrs at 12:15 and then a quick 10-15 minutes at 4:45. She can’t seem to make it to bedtime without this nap. If she didn't have 30 minutes awake time at 10pm, do you think she would need less sleep in the day? I just can't seem to find the right balances.
The other trouble is that I have am and pm playschool/group times which messes up feeds and sleeps.
At present my daughter weighs 17 pounds 4oz and is taking: 7am 5-7oz Aptamil-1, 11am 5oz Aptamil and 1 cube of potato with 2 cubes of vegetable puree, 2.30pm 6oz Aptamil 1, 5.45pm 6ozs Aptamil-2 and 1 cube fruit with 2ozs baby rice, 6.30pm 3oz Aptamil-2, 10pm 2oz Aptamil-1.
Team Response

I have a hungry baby and cannot seem to get the balance of milk and solids right to stop her waking early in the morning, despite still having a 10pm feed.
1 month ago (weight: 8lbs 7 oz at birth) she was taking 7-8oz Aptamil-2, 5 times a day. She then started showing all the signs of needing to be weaned early. We monitored it for a while and checked with the health visitor. She was started gradually on solids at 14/15 weeks at the 11am feed with the basic purees recommended by CLB for her age. She loved them. Two weeks later she began to be fretful around 5-6pm, so I started her with a little solids around 5pm. As I also have a 3 year old, I find 6pm chaotic.
I noticed she was beginning to cut back on her milk, so I switched her back to Aptamil-1 in the day, but stayed with Aptamil-2 at 6.45 and 10pm.
She then began to lose interest in her 7am feed, so I changed the evening bottles to Aptamil-1 as well, hoping she would increase her feeds by day. I also felt as it was getting warmer, the no2 may be too rich for her. At 10pm she has either 4ozs no2 or 5ozs no1.
I read in the Contented Baby Book to try to give her 6oz at 5.45pm with solids and then a top up at 6.30pm. This did work for a while but she is now refusing the 6.30pm top up. She takes 5ozs no1 at 10pm but has begun to wake at 5.30am hungry. She will take 6-7ozs and settles back to 7am and then is happy to have a top up of 3ozs at 7.30/8am to keep her on track.
She sleeps from 9-9.45am, 12-2pm and 4.45-5pm.
At present she weighs 18lbs+ and takes 7oz at 5am, 3oz at 7.30am, 7oz at 11am, 5-6oz at 2.30pm, 6oz at 5.45pm, 1oz at 6.30pm and 5ozs at 10pm. She has the equivalent of 2ozs of solids at 11am and 5.45pm; these are basic purees combined with potato at lunch and rice at tea.
It has all become very confusing for me; is it better to give less milk but use Aptamil-2 at 10pm? Does she need more solids such as breakfast? Or should increase her Aptamil-1 at 10pm?
I am so tired of her waking in the early morning, although this early start means she is sleeping two hours at lunchtime, but I think I preferred it when she slept through the night. What should I do?
Team Response

Although I have been following CLB for 6 weeks and have also started to wean my 20 week son using the weaning guide for 4-5 months he is still waking every night and taking a feed.
He is doing really well on the weaning timetable so I think he is taking all the milk he needs in the day. But every night he wakes between 2.30/4am. I have started to reduce the milk he takes in the night, at present I am offering him 3ozs, but he then wakes again around 5.40/6am very hungry. Feeding him at 6am then affects the rest of the day.
His present feeding schedule is: 7.15am 8ozs, 11am 7ozs and 2 cubes of vegetable or fruit, 2pm 5ozs, 6pm 8ozs and 3/4 tsp baby rice with 1 cube fruit, 10pm 5ozs. At present he weighs 17lbs.
He settles well at 7pm, and at 10pm is difficult to wake so has a "dream feed". During the day his napping is more erratic. Some days he will only have three 30 min naps, other days he will manage 3 hrs worth.
At lunchtime he may settle for 1 1/2 hrs but usually 30-45 minutes. It is never for 2 full hours. He will sleep 30 minutes at 9am and again from 3.30-4pm.
He has had a difficult start; severe colic, reflux and tongue tie but now he is well in himself. I am getting very disheartened that despite following the CLB routine and weaning plan, he is still nowhere near sleeping from 7pm to 7am.
I am not sure what to do next and am suffering from post natal depression, so the constant night waking is adding to my exhaustion. He is a lovely little boy but often grumpy from being so tired.
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Having had to return to work I have introduced Wilfred to drinking from an "AnyWay Up" beaker. This took him some time to adjust to but he will drink from it. However after nearly three weeks, he is still not taking enough formula through the day and is roughly one feed down. He was weaned at 4 months following the weaning book. He presently weighs 10kg.
After no sleep problems since he was 10 weeks old, I am now experiencing Wilfred waking at 5am. Today it was 3.30am and 5am. He will go back to sleep but only by sleeping with me. I tried giving him some milk in a beaker this morning to see if he was hungry or thirsty, but he refused.
I am concerned that he is in nursery and still not getting all the milk he needs by day. Should I try re-introducing the 10pm feed to ensure he gets enough?
Wilfred is having a breast feed at 7.30am and 6pm. During the day he is taking 90-120mls of formula at 11.30am, although this is the feed most likely to be refused. At 2.30pm he takes 150mls formula, most of which I get down him, but it takes ages.
His solids are 4 tsps porridge cereal mixed with formula and 2 cubes of peach; 2 cubes sweet potato, 2 cubes parsnip and 2 cubes courgette; 4 tsp of baby rice with 2 cubes pear.
Team Response

I have some concerns regarding my daughter. She is 18 weeks old and she has two instances during the day where she can get quite hysterical! The first instance is after her morning nap. I wake her at 9.45am, gently rousing her without immediately picking her up. She is content for about 15 minutes then she starts crying and is only consoled by holding her over my shoulder. I would like to try and get her closer to an 11am feed but I am worried that she's getting hungry. I don't want to feed her too early as I want her to sleep well at lunchtime.
She is woken at 7am and given nearly 7oz of milk. The second instance during the day where she is really unhappy is between 4 and 5pm. She actually gets quite hysterical and I don't know what is wrong with her. She takes 5½oz at 2.15pm. She also has 6-7oz of milk at 10.45-11am. She always sleeps well during her morning nap and always has to be woken up. Her lunchtime nap generally goes well but sometimes she wakes up and cries for 20-30 minutes. I never go into her and hope that she will settle herself back off. The only problem with this is that her brother of 25 months is in bed in the next room and I'm concerned he'll be disturbed. Alicia is given a split feed at 5.45pm and 6.15pm of 7ozs as she cannot take it all in one go. We have just dropped her 10.30pm feed as she was down to 2ozs. For the last 5 days she has slept from 7pm to 7am and doesn't wake up crying for her feed.
She weighed 6lb 2ozs at birth and now weighs 11lb 9ozs. She has only put on 6ozs in the last two weeks. The problem is that I cannot physically feed her more food. After 6ozs of food she starts griping with discomfort and looks in pain. Alicia, I believe, suffers from silent reflux and her GP has only just agreed to refer her. She is on Gaviscon Infant however I have noticed recently that she is bringing up milk again.
Should she be drinking more milk? Why is she so hysterical during those two times each day? Does the strict routine suit her or is she unwell? Can anyone help as her GP and HV are very reluctant to give me advice? Do I need to start weaning her? She chews her hands all day and her tops are always soaking wet!
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Henry is four months and he is more irritable between feeds, whereas before he was content. Up until the last week he has been contented between feeds, happy to sit in his chair and 'play' with his toys, only crying for food and sleep. However, he now seems to cry more in between feeds, I find the afternoons difficult as he is now tending to cry until he is picked up. Up until now we've deliberately tried not to hold him for lengths of time to avoid this problem occurring! I wake Henry at 7am, and he normally wakes happily. Again, up until recently, he was sleeping through from his last feed at 10.15pm to 7am, but he has been crying out (I wouldn't really say he has been waking up completely) sporadically during the last week. When waking him at 9.45/10pm for his last feed (which we've started to bring forward from 10.30pm as per CBB instructions during the last 10 days) he seems to be in such a deep sleep that he doesn't open his eyes and starts to scream and cry. The routine to waken him, which he has always responded to well up until now, is for me to unbutton his sleeping bag, turn the light and radio on low, and I potter around until he is awake. We leave him to cry, but he seems to get himself in such a state that we end up picking him up to cuddle him. This works two ways - he will either open his eyes, stop crying and be fine, or he'll continue to keep his eyes shut, and cry until he eventually wakes. Once he is awake from either method he is always seems happy. I feel I'm waking him when he doesn't want to be! But according to the CBB routine he must still have this feed until he is 4 months (which he now is) and on solids (which he isn't). Why isn't he finishing all of his feeds? Prior to Christmas I could guarantee Henry would finish each bottle. Now though after 5oz he gets distracted and sometimes will not take any more, or he'll finish the bottle but it's a struggle, he tends to keep putting his fingers in his mouth. This seems to be the opposite signal to what you would expect if he was ready for weaning. Is it because he isn't satisfied by milk alone? - but surely if that was the case he would still finish the bottle? I look forward to your advice on these points.
Team Response

My daughter Alicia is now 18 weeks old. She is my second child. My first is a boy of 25 months called Jacob. Both children were introduced to Gina’s routines since they left hospital. Alicia took very well to the routine. However, her weight gain isn't in line with Gina's recommendations. Alicia weighed 6lbs 2ozs at birth and she was born a week and a half early by elective c-section. Her weight came as a bit of a shock as my son weighed 7lb 11ozs and he came a week early by emergency c-section. Alicia has only generally gained on average 5ozs a week. She had one of two weeks where she gained closer to 8ozs. She was weighed at 17 weeks and is now 11lb 3ozs. From the age of 2 weeks she has been exclusively fed on Cow & Gate Premium 1 formula. Around that time we noticed that she was very uncomfortable after being fed and would scream if she was put in her chair or laid on her back. Our Health Visitor said that she was suffering from colic. I found this hard to believe as she would go down to sleep at 7pm and would not wake up other than to feed.
I then read your testimonial about Alice and I realised that Alicia was suffering from reflux. To start off the GP would not believe me as Alicia was not always sick. However when she was sick it came up through her nose and she brought up about half her feed. Eventually the GP prescribed Gaviscon Infant. That has helped Alicia to settle down. However, she has now started to cry again after certain feeds. I'm not sure if she needs to be re-assessed again by her GP. Should I insist that she sees a specialist? I find it very hard when my child is rigid with pain. I also get very confused by what is wrong with her. For example, today after her 2.30pm she started crying around 3pm and didn't settle until 4pm. She was wriggling in pain and was chewing her hands almost as though she was hungry but after 5ozs I couldn't see how that was possible. Am I feeding her enough?
I also need some advice regarding the 10pm feed. Alicia currently has 2-3ozs at this time. My son had dropped this feed by 14 weeks. Alicia has been sleeping from this feed until 7am since she was 7 weeks old. Can I now drop this feed? I am a bit concerned as she is still small for her age. Alicia's daily feeds are as follows: 7am - 6oz; 11am - 6oz; 2.30pm - 5 1/2ozs; 5.30pm - 4ozs; 6.15pm - 3ozs; 10pm – 2-3oz. I am still splitting the 5.30pm and 6.15pm feed because Alicia cannot cope with 7ozs in one go therefore I thought it would be better to split it. She also starts crying around 5.30pm. Should I try and encourage her to take more milk during the day to try and increase her weight gain. I'm just a bit reluctant as she can't seem to cope with more than 6ozs in one go.
I was also going to wait with regards to weaning her particularly as the guidelines now say 6 months. Also my son has had problems with his stomach since we started weaning him. He has some food intolerances that can cause him to frequently soil his nappy. My only concern about waiting until she is 6 months is that she is showing signs now of wanting solids. She is dribbling so much. Her tops are always soaking wet. She is also constantly chewing her hands. Are these signs?
Hopefully you'll be able to give me some guidance on my concerns. My daughter is a great example of how routines work and when she is not in pain she is a beautiful child.
Team Response

My 19-week old son sleeps well at night (from about 8pm to 7am), although I have to wake him and give him a full feed at 10-11pm. The problem is that up until three weeks ago he was taking 6-7 oz at each of his five milk feeds. However, over the space of about five days, he began to take less and less, and was down to about 2-4 oz from each bottle, except the last one at night which he usually finished. Nothing seemed to work to get him to drink his milk again - he would cry if I even brought the bottle near his face. I decided to try mixing some with baby rice and he took that fairly easily. Over the last two weeks I have introduced solids three times a day after his milk feeds in an attempt to try to get him to eat a bit more. He is almost exactly the average weight for his age, and takes his naps and sleeps well at night. What I am worried about is how to get him to drink enough milk. He seems much happier eating his solid foods than taking his bottle, and I always offer the bottle before the solids - he is still on five feeds a day. Why would a baby take against the bottle? Is it a mistake to have introduced three solid meals a day so quickly?
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My 5-month-old son, who weighs 8.46 kilos, is on day 13 of the weaning plan. When offered sweet potato and apple he has gagged and bought it all back. He enjoys baby rice when mixed with pear. He only just manages to eat carrot and pear on their own. Should I keep trying new tastes but stop again if he gags and offer them in a couple of weeks?

My son takes his formula well and since starting on baby rice he has slept through the night. I am sure he won’t like the baby rice and courgette to be offered in a couple of day’s time.

Feeding details

7.00am: 7oz formula
11.00am: 8oz formula, 1 cube pear puree
2.30pm: 7oz formula        
4.40pm: 2oz diluted apple juice
5.45pm: 7ozs, 3tsp baby rice mixed with 3oz formula
6.50pm: 4ozs formula

My son naps at 9-9.40am, 12-1.20pm and 4-4.35pm. He settles from 7pm- 6.30am.
Team Response

I think my baby of nearly 5 months has reflux, although not diagnosed by a doctor as we live overseas. But he has most of the symptoms. He has always had problems with wind but, since starting solids, his sleep at night and during the day has become disrupted. Despite sleeping 11pm - 7am since he was 6 weeks old, he started waking up several times a night at 3.5 months, and will only settle back to sleep once he has been winded. He is feeding according to the times in the CLB. I noticed that some foods make him worse (apple, carrot). Are their particular foods that I should avoid, that would prevent him waking up with wind? Feeding Details 7.00am - breast feed, one side for 20-30minutes 11.00am - breast feed, one side for 20-30 minutes followed by 3 cubes of vegetables such as sweet potato, butternut squash, courgette or carrot. 2.45pm - breast feed, one side for 15minutes 5.45pm - breast feed, first side for 30minutes followed by 5tbsp of potato and leek flavoured baby rice or plain baby rice and 2 cubes of pear puree 6.45-pm - breast feed, second side for 15 minutes Daily milk intake:Five breast feeds Nap times: 9.15-9.45am, 12.30-2.30pm and settles at 7pm.
Team Response

38.

My 5mth daughter does not want any solids. I have been following the weaning guide, but she is not interested. I have to force her to eat any and she never finishes 1 teaspoon of vegetables or baby rice. She drinks approx 800 ml of milk a day and if I try to reduce her 10pm feed she wakes earlier than 7am. Should I stop offering her solids for a while until I see her appetite increases, should I reduce her milk, or should I continue as I am?

My daughter was taking full feeds of 240mls so on the recommendation of my doctor I started to wean. This was to happen at 4mths but she then caught a stomach bug. I waited for this to clear and her appetite to return before beginning to wean her although she did not seem as hungry as she was before she was before the illness.

My daughter feeds at 7am 200mls, 11am, 150-200mls followed by 1teaspoon sweet potato which is rarely finished, 2.30pm, 100-150mls, 6pm 200-240mls followed by 1tsp baby rice with carrot, rarely finished and 10pm, 80-150mls.

She naps at 9-10am, 12-2pm and 4.45-5pm. She settles at 7pm.
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Having been a perfect CLB from birth, everything has started going wrong this week! My son is 18wks and 14lbs and showing all the weaning signs in the CLBBW, most notably waking at 4.30am/5am for food when he slept through 11-7 at 6 weeks and dropped his 10pm feed quite happily at 12 1/2 weeks after a growth spurt - he was only taking about 3oz of EBM and hated being woken.

We are on day 2 of the weaning plan and he's loving the baby rice and grabbing the spoon to put it in his mouth, but now his lunchtime nap is going wrong, having never been a problem before. Today he woke after 1hr and 15 minute’s and wouldn't resettle. He woke just less than 2 hrs after going down yesterday and again was in a real strop.

Sometimes he has hot pink cheeks and dribbles but other times 's fine - he cries so rarely that this is really stressing me out as I don't know if he's hungry or teething or what!

In the CLBB it suggests dropping the 10pm feed at 3-4 months p.116 if the baby shows no interest (which he wasn't) but elsewhere on this site people are saying don't drop it until weaning is well established. I don't really want to regress as I haven't been expressing for a month now and am not sure if I will have enough milk to express to feed him at 10pm. I'm really confused as everything was going so well until now.

My son is fully breast fed at 7am, 10.45am, 2.00pm and 5.50pm. He takes both sides and the feeds take around 15 minutes although at 5.50pm he can feed for nearer to 30 minutes. He is having 1 teaspoon of rice at 11am.

My son weighs 14lbs.

He naps at 9-9.30am, 12-2pm and 4.15-4.45pm. He settles at 6.45pm.
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I have been following the CLB weaning guidelines to the letter, and all was going great till about a week ago, when my daughter started to wake up in the night with a dirty nappy and what sounded like wind. I have been trying not go to her and letting her get herself back to sleep. She was really quite good at getting herself to sleep but now she seems to be really struggling and cries for about an hour which makes me think it might be wind. I started weaning her quite late (5 months), as we were travelling in the UK (we are currently living in the US), and I did not want to change her routine too much while we were away, so I waited till we got back. I am concerned about why she has suddenly started to wake in the night normally around midnight. She is going to bed at 7/7.30, she has her solids at 5.30/5.45 and her milk after her bath, and sometimes she wakes with a dirty nappy.

I am wondering if the two cubes of fruit she has at tea time is too much for her and I am thinking of cutting it out to see if that helps her. If I did not give it to her at teatime could I change her meals around and give her the veg at tea time instead and fruit earlier on in the day? I am also worried she might actually be hungry, which is why she is waking up and crying so hard. She has also started to wake at 6am, rather than 7am which was her normal wake-up time.

At present she takes 7ozs at 7.30am, 7ozs 10.45am, 6ozs at 2/2.30pm, 2ozs at 5.30pm and 7ozs at 7pm. Her solids are 1-2tps baby cereal at breakfast, 2 cubes carrot and 2 cubes of potato at lunch, 4-5 tsp baby rice and 2 cubes apple or pear at tea. She currently weighs 18lbs.
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My 2-year-old daughter is a Contented Little Baby and maintains a routine with a 2 hour nap at lunch time (1pm to 3pm), tea around 5pm, bath and bed 6.30pm to 7pm. I am having difficulty fitting my 4-month-old son’s routine into this, particularly in the 5pm to 7pm slot. Please can you give me some advice on how I can organise his bath (5.30pm), milk (currently at 6pm) and bed (around 6.15pm), and how I can adapt this when he begins solids. Please bear in mind that I am alone for the bath and bedtime routine and so am having to give my son his bath, bottle and bed with a chatty 2 year old in the background and often have to put him in bed and leave the room quickly to prevent her from disturbing him. Also, I note that my son should be awake for at least 10 minutes before I give him his 10.30pm feed and should be awake for 45 minutes in total. When he wakes for this feed, he always cries and is really fretful and I find myself feeding him after 5 minutes as I don’t want him to wake my daughter – do you have any advice for calming him?
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I have been following the routines since my son was two weeks old and have found it great. Although we have only had a handful of nights where he has sleep through to 7am we have enjoyed the structure of the days and the fact that we only have to get up once in the night. We have tried and failed with the 10pm feeding and therefore ask a lot to go for 12 hours! The 10pm feed seems to make him hungrier and we are up at least three times if we did a 10pm feed. However the last few weeks have seem him been very unsettled in the night - sometimes up every two hours! At the advice of the health visitor we started weaning at four months and have been following your weaning guide. My biggest problem is that at 6pm his milk intake has gone down dramatically. He used to drink 6oz at 5pm and then 7oz at 6.30pm before bed. Now that we have started solids he will only drink a total of around 7oz during this time. We still spilt the feed and offer the solids at 5pm as he is just too hungry and the mess created during feeding seemed silly to do after a bath. With his milk intake being lower now at this time, I wonder if this is why he is waking up. When he wakes in the night - he is hungry and we have to feed him to settle him back to sleep. Also he seems to dislike the baby rice - any suggestions on an alternative? He eventually eats it - but what a struggle.

My son takes feeds at 7am 7ozs, 1 tablespoon of banana porridge with 1 table spoon of fruit [peach, apple or pear], 11am 7ozs, 4 cubes of vegetables offered. He eats between two to four cubes. 2.30pm 6ozs, 5pm 4ozs, 4 tsp baby rice mixed with two to three cubes of fruit. He eats anything between half of this to all of it. 6.30pm, 4-5ozs. During the night if he wakes he takes 4ozs to settle. He weighs 17lbs.

My son naps at 9-9.40am and 12-2pm. He settles at 7pm and may wake around 2am.
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My son is now 5 months 3 weeks and I cannot get him to drop his 10pm feed. Admittedly we started weaning him later than the book suggested - getting over Xmas in UK and then to take out breast feeding - but today he is taking 5 (probably smaller then normal) cubes at lunch and 5 teaspoons plus 2 cubes at 6pm. His milk intake is however lowish and he has become very fretful on the bottle at feed times so needs a lot of coaxing.

My son feeds at 7.10am 180mls formula, 11.10am 120/130mls formula before solids 40/50mls afterwards. 5 cubes of vegetables such as 3 potato, 1 sweet potato, 1 green bean.
2.30pm, 130mls, 6.00pm, 210mls plus 40mls to mix with 5 teaspoons baby rice and 2 cubes of pear.
10pm, 80mls given, recently cut down to this but he drinks it all.

He weighs 7.1kg [15.7lbs]

My son naps at 9.07-9.37am, 12.10-1.55pm, and 4-4.4.20pm.
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My daughter still needs feeding at 10pm and 3am. I don’t know whether to go onto 3 solid meals a day [breakfast, lunch and tea] or whether the time has come to convert over to formula. Which should I do first anyway? With regard to formula feeding at which feeding should I bring this in? I have a feeling my baby will reject this initially. How do I deal with that? I do need to do something as my daughter still needs feeding every three hours and I realise I need to make the time between feeds longer.

At present she is fully breast fed at the following times: 6.30am, 9.30am 12.30pm, 3.30pm, 6.00pm, 10pm and 3am. She takes 3-4 tablespoons of vegetables or cereal with fruit at 10am and 3-4 tablespoons of baby rice with fruit at 4pm.

She weighs 16lbs.

My daughter naps at 8.30-9.30am, 11.30-12.30pm and 2.30-3.30pm. She settles at 6pm.
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I am concerned whether my twins are eating the right amount. My girl seems fine, but my boy appears to be putting on weight pretty fast and is getting a bit podgy! They eat very similar amounts. Are the amounts they're eating normal for their age and weight? And if it's too much, how can I cut it down without them (especially him) getting upset at having their bottle taken away?

My son feeds at 7.45am 7oz formula, 11am 6ozs, 2.30pm 6ozs, 2.30pm 6ozs, 5.30pm 7ozs. At 7.45am he takes 1 teaspoon baby rice [given because of lactose intolerance], 11am 5 cubes of mixed pureed vegetables, 5.30pm 4teaspoons rice with 2 cubes pureed pear. He weighs 18lbs.
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The problem I am having with 17 week old son is that he is crying for a long time before both the 11am & 6pm feeds (sometimes 1-1.5 hours). He chews his hands, dribbles excessively & sometimes shrieks and claws behind his ears - I have tried Calpol thinking he may be teething, but it does not seem to help. At 16 weeks he began to wake in the night again (has slept 11pm-7am from 11 weeks) and my HV recommended beginning to wean, which I have done. He is following the weaning plan in the book and seems to enjoy the food - he is back sleeping through the night again, but it does not seem to have solved the crying problem. His milk feeds are OK although it is a struggle to get more than 7oz down him (apart from at 6pm, when he will take 8oz easily). I have cut his 10.30pm feed down to 4oz - should I reduce this further in hope of a better 7am feed (I have tried feeding at 7.30am & this makes no difference)? Please help - the crying is making me feel quite low & I don't understand why it is happening when we have followed the routines to the letter.
At present my son takes 7ozs at 7am and 11am. He will take 5-7ozs at 2.30pm and 8ozs at 6pm. He takes 4ozs at 10.30pm. After his 11am feed he takes 1 cube of apple puree. Following the 6pm feed he takes 3teaspoons of baby rice. We are on days 10-12 of the Weaning Guide. He weighs 14lbs 10ozs.
My son naps at 8.50-9.20am and 12-2.15pm. He is settled at 7pm.
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My baby is always hungry! He gobbles up whatever is given to him and always wants more. He is very long so although his weight is high he is in proportion - he wears 9-12 month clothes. He weighs just over 9kgs. My eldest son at 7 years wears age 9-10 clothes and is very tall and I am nearly 6 foot. He seems not to be satisfied with what food he gets as he cannot go long between feeds. I make him last to the times shown but he drinks a bottle in 10-15 mins, and a slower teat causes fury. He sees his spoon/bowl in the dishwasher and is excited and opens his mouth thinking he will be fed! When not hungry he is very happy, enjoys playing with 2 big brothers (7 and 5) and loves nursery (8-6 3 days a week, they follow his routine and are very good, both elder brothers went there so we know and trust them). Rolls around very active gurgles, grabs toys laughs etc. Should I introduce protein? We are all vegetarians. My son takes 8ozs at 7.15am, 10.30/45am and 2.15pm. He takes 6ozs at 6pm and 4-5ozs at 6.45pm He eats 1 heaped tablespoon of sweet potato or potato mixed with 1tablespoon of carrot, butternut squash or parsnip and 1 baby yoghurt at "lunch" after his milk at 10.30am. At 6pm he takes 2 tablespoons of rice mixed with 3ozs formula and mixed with 1 tablespoon of a vegetable different from that given at lunchtime. He naps at 9.15-10am and 12.45-2pm. He sleeps from 7pm -7am
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Recently I have got to the stage where my son seems to be requiring large amounts of solids. Due to the fact he is only just 5 months old I have not introduced protein yet, however the amount of rice and fruit I give him at his 6 pm feed seems to becoming more and more. I am concerned that this is affecting his stools as they are slightly firmer than usual and he also seems to be windier and have stomach ache at times, especially during his light sleep periods. My son has always made stirring noises during his light sleep and he resettles himself, recently he seems to cry out although he goes back to sleep himself. It appears to be discomfort that is bothering him. He just does not seem as settled. I am positive it is not hunger as he would cry for me. He is also teething at the moment but I am unsure whether that is the cause.
Here is a summary of what he feeds daily so you can see if I am doing the right thing.
Between 7am and 8am, 8oz formula followed by 3tsps porridge oats mixed with formula and 2 cubes of apple, pear or peach puree.
Between 11am and 12am, 4 to 5ozs formula followed by 5-6 cubes of vegetables.
2.30 - 3pm - 6-7ozs formula milk
4pm offer water - does not always want this
6pm 9ozs formula feed followed by 6-8 tsps rice mixed with formula then mixed with 3 cubes of fruit puree.
10pm - 3ozs formula milk.
He weighs 16lbs.
My son naps at 9-10am, 12-2.30pm pm and 4.30-4.45/5pm.
Please advise me whether I should keep increasing the amount of rice and fruit puree as he gets hungrier or should I give tea at 5pm? Should I introduce protein at lunch? Or keep increasing the volume of vegetables? My son has infantile eczema so I am also concerned about weaning certain foods too early due to allergies. I hope you can help me as I want to have my contented little baby again.
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My 5 month old baby (I was overdue) has been a contented baby since birth, despite his low birth weight: 5lbs 3ozs. I am now becoming concerned as to when I should wean him. The reason I have contacted you is because the case studies of small babies are usually premature. There were a lot of tests done on my son at birth by the hospital but nothing was found as to why he is small. My health visitor is currently telling me to wean him even though he is only taking five feeds of 150-180mls each feed. Having done your routines with my 3 year old I am determined to wait as I don’t think he is ready. In short, do you have any advice on how to increase his intake/weight (he is staying perfectly on the centile line on which he was born so no concerns there). He presently weighs 11lbs 13ozs. I have tried to split feeds but he still takes the same amount through the 24hrs. Once he reaches six months (only 4 weeks away) will I have to wean him ready or not? He does sleep more than the routines suggest but he seems to need that amount.

At present he takes 180mls at 7.15am, 10.45am and 6pm. He takes 150mls at 2.30pm and 170mls at 10.30pm.

He naps at 9-10am, 12-2.30pm and 4-5pm. He is settled by 7pm.
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My wife and I have started to introduce solids with our baby at 5.5mths. She will be 6 months in a week; however, we’re still introducing new vegetables and fruits. Our query is mainly that in the book of Weaning, it says to give 3 days before introducing any new fruit or vegetable, and at the same time at 6 months she’ll need protein. However, our daughter is still taking max 1 cube of puree as she is still being introduced. Can you please tell us what stage we should follow? She is quite a small baby but is gaining weight, which her doctor tells us is the most important thing.

Our other question is with regards to the 4.30 pm drink of cool boiled water or well diluted juice; we have never really followed this as her milk intake wasn’t so high, so we were concerned that it would affect her milk intake.

Basically, we’ve introduced baby rice (which she still hates) for 1 week; carrots for 3 days; pear for 3 days; courgette for 3 days; now on apple.

At present she feeds at 7am, 150-180mls, 11am, 120-150mls and 2-3tsps puree, 2.30pm 140-180mls, 6pm 240-280mls 4-6tsps baby rice, sometimes mixed with 1 cube of fruit. She weighs 6.05kg.
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My 4.5mth baby has started waking in the night, a week ago. Putting this down to size and readiness for food, we decided to wean, but he has, so far continued to wake in the night, around 3-4am. On one occasion he put himself back to sleep, but has not found it possible again, despite leaving him for 20mins. We are unsure whether to reintroduce the 10 pm feed at this stage and then drop it over a period of weeks, or continue with the night feed until the bulk of the rice/fruit puree kicks in after a while. Additionally he is finding it harder and harder to resettle himself on waking during lunch sleep, some days being perfect, other days sometimes an hour and a half.
He is fully breast fed at 7am, 11am, 2.15pm and 6pm. My son is having 1 tsp of rice after his 11am feed.
He presently naps at 9-9.45am and 12-2.15pm.
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My daughter is now 5 1/2 months and we are still feeding her at 10pm. I am not sure whether I can drop this feed yet as she is still not taking enough solids as she should be according to the weaning plan. Getting solids down is a real struggle, but am attempting the tiered feeding at lunchtime, which works sometimes. Should I start to decrease her 11am feed a bit or offer only a tiny amount of milk first? Also at bedtime I cannot get her to take any more solids, even with the split way of feeding. Would it be OK to move her solids to 5pm and see what happens? Also, we would really like to drop the 10pm feed now; do you think she would make up for this at the 7.30am feed? Sometimes she does wake briefly between 5am and 6am and I don't want her waking up at this time for a feed.
I also wanted to find out, because I started weaning her a little later and she has not increased her solids very much yet, if I still need to start protein at 6 months or wait a bit longer? When should I introduce breakfast as a the moment she is showing no interest in it. I am finding it very confusing knowing where I should be in the CLB weaning schedule as I started a bit later.
At present she is taking feeds at 7.30am 5-6 oz, 11am 6-7oz, 2.30pm 4-6 oz, 5.45pm 4-5oz, 6.30pm 3-4oz, 10pm 3-4oz. She weighs 16lbs
She takes 2 cubes at 11.30am, one sweet potato, the other a vegetable or 1 tsp baby rice and 1 cube of vegetable. She will drink 4oz first, have her solids and then finish her milk. At 6pm she takes 2tsp baby rice and 1 cube of apple or pear.
My daughter usually sleeps very well at nap times, although sometimes wakes after 40-45 minutes at her morning nap and very occasionally after 1 hr 1/2 at lunch. She settles herself to sleep well at all her naps with 10-15 minutes and doesn’t wake in the night.
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I have always given my 4.5-month daughter a split feed in the evening (I tried moving to one feed but this changed what is usually a grizzly time into a nightmare!) She currently has 4oz at 5.30pm and 5oz at 6.30pm. She has taken to baby rice well at the 11am feed, so I intend moving it to the evening as per the guidelines. My question is, given that her evening meal will ultimately be around 5pm, would it be OK to introduce the rice after the 5.30pm milk feed, when she is more awake and happy, or is there a good reason it should be done later on?
At present she is taking 8oz at 7am and 11am, 7oz at 2.30pm, 4oz at 5.30pm, 5oz at 6.30pm and 4oz at 10.15pm.
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My son welcomes the first two or three spoonfuls of food but then starts to get fussy and turn away. When I distract him with a toy he will take more; usually about 3-4 cubes at lunch. At teatime he will only take about 3 teaspoons of rice and 1 cube of pear - we have been stuck on this quantity for a good couple of weeks.
We are starting to decrease lunchtime milk (down to 4 oz) and he is slightly increasing the amount of solids he has. He seems to hold food in his mouth for a long time before swallowing. It takes a good 30mins to feed him as her doesn't open his mouth readily and wolf it down!!
At teatime I daren't push his solids too much as he is prone to bringing it all up again.
Although (touch wood) he has not started waking up any earlier yet, he is starving in the morning and will usually take his milk really fast and then frequently bring it all up again. I am still giving him 2 oz at 10pm but plan to stop in the next two days.
Can you please give me ideas on how to increase his solids and try and get him to take them more readily? In addition, can you please give guidance on the texture and thickness of solids at this stage?
My son takes 6oz at 7am and 2 teaspoons of porridge, 11.20am 4ozs and 3-4 cubes of vegetables, 2.30pm 5ozs, 6pm 6ozs and 3 teaspoons rice mixed with 1 cube of pear. He weighs 16lbs.
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My daughter of 5.3 months old is currently enjoying being weaned as per Gina's guidelines. The only thing I am not sure about is cutting out the 11am milk feed. She is now having 5 cubes of a protein recipe from Gina's weaning book and one cube or organic veg puree (this has been built up over the last week or so). So she is nearly ready to drop the milk at 11am, but I am not sure how much she should have at the moment (as she is on 5 cubes protein rather than 6) and how much water. When we drop the milk completely the book says to give a drink of water but is that 1 oz or 4 oz or more? The same question applies to tea time. Also she seems hungry long before lunch; can she have it early or should she have something in between? Lastly she is too tired to take all her milk at bedtime in the evening, should I do a dream feed at about 9pm (she wakes up about 9.30pm hungry most nights)?
She presently has 6ozs at 7.10am with 4tsp Ready Brek and 2 cubes of pear. 10.30am 1-2 ozs 11am 5 cubes chicken casserole and 1 cube of carrot, 1.30pm 6oz, 4.45pm 4ozs and 6 cubes of vegetables, 7pm 3.5ozs.
My daughter naps from 8.50-9.30am, 11.30-1.30pm and 3.30-4pm. She settles by 7.20pm.
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My daughter is 4.5 months old but is still on the routine for 3 month olds and has not yet been able to sleep through the night solidly. She has done it a few times but her waking-up time is generally 6am. At that point I only give 1-2 oz of water and put her back to sleep till 7am. At each feed she takes approx 5oz and if I'm lucky 6oz. She is growing well and very happy. CLB suggests starting to wean at 4 months, however, my daughter does not drink more than 6 oz per feed and her average daily intake is approx. 25 oz whereas Gina says that it should be approx 8 oz per feed. Should I wait until she starts to drink more and sleeps consistently through the night before I introduce solids? Also, am I doing the right thing by giving her water at 6am and then putting her to sleep until 7am?
At present she weighs 6.14kg. She feeds at 7.30am 5oz, 10.30am 3oz, 11.30 1.5oz, 2.30pm 5oz, 5.30pm 3.5oz, 6.30pm 2.5oz,11pm 6oz, 6am 1-2oz water.
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My 5-month-old son sleeps exactly at the times that the CLB book recommends; the problem is: he seems ratty about 10.10am every day and remains ratty until after his 11am feed! He did cut his first tooth last week but this has been going on since he was about 16-weeks-old. This was the reason I started weaning him and he presently has 3 spoons of rice at 6pm and 1 cube of carrot at 11am. I did think that he may need more, but he refused more today at 11am, despite crying since 10.15am. Yesterday and today I also gave him rice at breakfast but this didn't seem to make him any happier. Today he had Calpol before his 9am nap, this didn't make a difference and I do use Ambesol liquid on his gums. I'm confused; I don't know if he needs more food or he is teething. He is having the amount of milk suggested in the book. I did wait until now to wean, due to the health visitor saying that the recommended age was now 6 months. I also have a 20-month-old son so I really need to establish what is causing this crying and resolve it ASAP as it is making my other son unhappy, which makes him start seeking attention! Also, I don't want to be overfeeding him or introducing food too quickly, if it is his teeth that are bothering him.

At present my son weighs 17lbs 13oz and feeds at 7am 7ozs, 11am 7ozs, 2.30pm 5/6 ozs, 6.15pm 8ozs, 10pm 4ozs. He takes 2 tsp rice at 7am, 1 cube of carrot at 11am, 3tsps rice at 6pm. He may have 1oz of water at 4.30pm.

One last point: when my son has his 11am feed, he doesn't drink the milk like he is starving, he stops after about 5oz and then takes ages to drink the remaining 2oz. With sleep, I do find that he can't quite make it through the afternoon, so he usually has about 30 minutes between 4.30- and 5pm to prevent him from crying at bath time and falling asleep with his milk.
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18.

I have been following the CLB weaning guidelines to the letter, and all was going great till about a week ago, when my daughter started to wake up in the night with a dirty nappy and what sounded like wind. I have been trying not go to her and letting her get herself back to sleep. She was really quite good at getting herself to sleep but now she seems to be really struggling and cries for about an hour which makes me think it might be wind. I started weaning her quite late (5 months), as we were travelling in the UK (we are currently living in the US), and I did not want to change her routine too much while we were away, so I waited till we got back. I am concerned about why she has suddenly started to wake in the night normally around midnight. She is going to bed at 7/7.30, she has her solids at 5.30/5.45 and her milk after her bath, and sometimes she wakes with a dirty nappy.

I am wondering if the two cubes of fruit she has at tea time is too much for her and I am thinking of cutting it out to see if that helps her. If I did not give it to her at teatime could I change her meals around and give her the veg at tea time instead and fruit earlier on in the day? I am also worried she might actually be hungry, which is why she is waking up and crying so hard. She has also started to wake at 6am, rather than 7am which was her normal wake-up time.

At present she takes 7ozs at 7.30am, 7ozs 10.45am, 6ozs at 2/2.30pm, 2ozs at 5.30pm and 7ozs at 7pm. Her solids are 1-2tps baby cereal at breakfast, 2 cubes carrot and 2 cubes of potato at lunch, 4-5 tsp baby rice and 2 cubes apple or pear at tea. She currently weighs 18lbs.
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My son has always fed extremely well (on milk); He is currently drinking 8oz at 7am, 11am, 2.30pm and 6.15pm. He went onto the CLB routine very well and dropped his 10pm feed 10 days ago with no problem, sleeping from 6.45pm until 7.30am without waking up.
At 18 weeks I decided he should have some solids, also due to dropping the 10pm feed (where he was having 5oz), as he was starting to become fractious half an hour before his feed were due. He weighs 17lbs.
I started with baby rice and he refused to accept the spoon, instead sticking out his tongue in a rigid fashion, which makes it impossible to get the spoon between his tongue and upper gums. I left it a couple of days and tried again. It has now been nearly two weeks and he is still refusing to let the spoon into his mouth, despite trying pear as an alternative food.
I had thought that this might be the reflex that makes them push foreign objects out of their mouths still working and that I should leave it a couple of weeks and try again, as I do not want him to gain a nervousness of a spoon at this early stage, however he is clearly hungry and in need of more food, but he is taking his maximum amount of milk at each feed. Should I re-introduce the 10pm feed for a couple of weeks and then try again? I am loathe to do this as I am enjoying him sleeping 7 until 7 and don't want to revert. What would you suggest?
Team Response

My daughter slept through the night from 12 weeks on for about 2 nights a week on average. I was hoping that once I introduced solids she would sleep through consistently. I started her on baby rice at 17 weeks and when we moved the 2tsp rice to the evening she slept through for 5 nights in a row. Then she suddenly started waking again between 5:30- and 6.30am. Because it was so close to 7am I resorted to give her the dummy because she fell asleep straight away until woken at 7am. I also introduced the dummy in the afternoons, where she gets really fretful sometimes, to calm her which worked. So she has been used to the dummy for about 4 weeks now. Suddenly she started waking around 4am and I refused to give her the dummy then, because I think it will just make things worse. I am sure she doesn't wake because of hunger because she hardly takes 6oz at 7 or 7.30am.

My other problem is that I can't get her to take full bottle-feeds. She will take 5oz happily but the rest is usually a struggle. I usually try to feed her the rest 20min later so she will sometimes get 7oz but she also brings up a little milk a few times after the feed, so I am afraid of overfeeding her. I hoped that when I reduced the amount at 10.15pm she would take more in the morning and we were down to 6.5oz at 10.15pm but she still only took 6oz at 7:30am. For 10 days now she is waking nightly but still takes no more than 6-7oz with a struggle in the morning. I have taken the 10.15 pm feed down to 4.5oz but she still takes no more at 7am. The last 3 days I tried controlled crying when she wakes, and I am not giving the dummy at all anymore. She still wakes at night (usually after 3am). Her daytime naps are good, sleeping at 9-9.45am, 12-2.15pm, 4.15-4.35pm

I try to feed 4-5oz at 5.30pm followed by 4tsp rice mixed with 1 cube pear or apple as suggested in the weaning guide. After the bath at 6.45pm she takes anything from 2-4oz. She is always very tired then. I even tried putting her down earlier (6.50pm), but she is still very tired even with her 20- or 30min nap in the afternoon. I fed her on Cow and Gate formula for hungrier babies, but on my search for answers to her probably not taking enough milk and not sleeping through, I read the case study of Antonia 12 wks and I realized she shouldn't be on that formula, so I switched to SMA Gold. The nursery is pitch-black and the only noise are the birds outside in the morning.

She takes on average 30-34oz a day (without rice). She weighs 15.14lbs. Should I begin to increase her night-time rice to 5tsp as stated in the plan? Or should I stick with the solids she has now, waiting for her to catch up, or reduce them to see if she takes more milk? I am scared she will wake even more then. I have not fed her before 7am since 16.5 weeks because after waking she was always happy to lie in her cot once I got her up and didn't take a full feed. Because I started controlled crying, I increased the amount I give at 10:15pm to 6oz again.
Team Response

From around 12 weeks, my son started to sleep from his 22:30 feed, which he still has, to somewhere between 05:00 and 07:00. Around 15 weeks, however, he started waking again in the night. I have tried to put him back to sleep or give him a dummy to suck, but to no avail because he seems extremely hungry. He now wakes between 03:45 and 04:30 as a matter of routine and consumes effortlessly, a whole 8oz bottle of formula! As I have to be up for work at 05:30, the night waking is very exhausting.

After trying hungry-baby formula (a disaster, as it did not agree with him), the health visitor gave us the go-ahead to wean at 17 weeks. We are now in week two of weaning and my son now has solids (pureed banana, baby rice, or gluten free cereal) at two feeds (14:00 and 18:00) and takes 4/5 teaspoons at a time. While we are guided by how much he wants to eat, I am concerned about giving him too much as the advice leaflets talked in terms of starting off with one spoonful of solids. There is, however, no appreciable difference to his appetite or night hunger.

Is it just a matter of time until my son's diet gives him enough nutrition to be able to sleep through the night again or is there anything we are doing wrong or could do better (e.g. should we be feeding more solids)? By day he is receiving 5x 8oz feeds and the one in the night giving him a total of 48ozs. He weighs 18 lb 1.5oz.
Team Response

I am just a little confused about what the balance of my twins boys’ milk/ solids should be, as they are being introduced to solids later. In the weaning book it starts at 4 months i.e. still offering the milk first followed by 1tsb of baby rice etc. Should I be offering more solids to my boys than the book suggests for 4-5 months, as they will be 6 months next week. In the book it says they should be on 3 meals a day by 6 months and cutting down on their milk intake.
I am concerned that I am still offering them too much milk and not enough solids - what is the correct balance for babies of this age?
At present they have 1 cube of carrot puree at 11am and 2 tsp baby rice mixed with 1 cube of pear at 6pm.
Team Response

My son has always had quite slow weight gain (4oz a week on average) but is perfectly contented and happy. He feeds and sleeps really well. My H.V. made me worry that this wasn't enough and advised drastically increasing the amount of solids he is eating. I am following Gina’s weaning book guidelines religiously and I am confused about whether increasing amounts too quickly is a good idea. Could it put him off his next feed or reduce the amount of milk he is taking? I am on day 13 of weaning, and would like to know whether increasin