Eating, sleeping, daycare - help?

[jags8]

What are her reasonings for thinking he is so hungry? I've told our babysitter to feed him on demand, not on any schedule. At this age, they should be eating ~25 oz a day. So divide 25 by how often he eats by bottle or nurses, and that's about how much should be in each bottle. Does he take a paci? Will that soothe him to push out a feeding?

As for naps I'm not much help. I tell our babysitter I'm fine with whatever sleep he gets, but that he will be less crabby if he doesn't go more than 2 hours in between.

[Courtniko]

For me, trying to stick to any sort of schedule at this age just leads to stress. Things change constantly, so I don't think that there is a right or a wrong for sleeping or eating. Each baby is so different too, what works for one does not work for another.
Daycare still does everything by cues, and so do I (daycare goes more schedule based at 1). I leave some extra pumped milk in the freezer at daycare incase he eats more than normal one day.

I am curious why she immediatly jumped to suplimenting? What about another bottle, or more in each bottle? There is nothing wrong with formula, but it sounds like a one time thing.

[Courtniko]

BTW, adorable rolls!

And trust yourself, just because you are a FTM does not mean that you do not know your kid best.

[scotty138]

I know every baby is different, but neither of my kids have gone much more than 2 hours between feeds during the day until around 6 months. We haven't done any child care so I'm sure that throws things off a bit. Sleep is always a mess around here so I won't add much advice there. I hope you find a good routine that works for everyone.

[jags8]

Aug 4, 2016 14:28:40 GMT -5 heartbot said:

Aug 4, 2016 14:03:38 GMT -5 buttercup said:

I am having a similar issue. They say he is happy with 6oz bottles. 18 oz? He is nursing five times at home too. D never took more than 4 oz. I have been sending a 5 oz bottle and nursing twice there.

There are a few other kids on breast milk. One has four 6 oz bottles. They were talking about another girl drinking a lot and how she might need solids. I noticed she went to drinking 4oz on average after solids.

Some working moms start solids before six months because their kids want more milk.

The internet also recommends paced bottle feeding.

This just seems like a wild amount of breastmilk for a BF'd baby. Breastmilk's fat content increases as baby gets older, so you don't need to significantly increase the volume as they get older?

That is what I recently learned! I was concerned because DS was getting 5 oz bottles, and I was no longer pumping enough to keep up, and he was blowing through my freezer stash. But I learned the 25 oz/day calculated trick from the Breastfeeding board here! So thankful to learn that just because DS could eat 5 oz doesn't mean he should! So we are back down to 3-3.5 oz bottles.

[jags8]

Aug 4, 2016 14:42:40 GMT -5 buttercup said:

Aug 4, 2016 14:28:40 GMT -5 heartbot said:

This just seems like a wild amount of breastmilk for a BF'd baby. Breastmilk's fat content increases as baby gets older, so you don't need to significantly increase the volume as they get older?

That's what I am thinking. I sent 16 oz with D and often reused a bottle the next day or that night.
I don't know how to address it with them other than just cut down on bottle feeding, which is working for me right now. It is a center so I feel weird telling them to change their ways that they practice with other babies. I have no other issues with them.
Because the other babies are taking so much, I think they expect it to increase and are telling others to send more. They also really push a loose schedule.

They may have experience with kids in general, but YOU are the expert on YOUR kid! If you want something to change, tell them.

[jags8]

Aug 4, 2016 15:41:56 GMT -5 buttercup said:

Aug 4, 2016 15:01:26 GMT -5 jags8 said:

They may have experience with kids in general, but YOU are the expert on YOUR kid! If you want something to change, tell them.

How did decreasing bottles go? With S bring small, I feel bad starving him. I am okay with 5 oz right now.

His babysitter said he was upset the first time, and then was fine after that. For you particularly, with your DS being small, I would talk to your pedi before cutting back. I mean maybe he does need more calories?

[wineallthetime]

No advice on feeding since we ff and she keeps on the same "schedule". With naps, maybe he's just so stimulated there and it's tiring him out more? So frustrating that he's having a hard time at night though and you don't know if that's impacting it. Babies, man.

[None]

I've come for support. I stay home so I don't have personal experience.

I can say when J gets a bottle from someone else they often think he needs more and he doesn't. He wants to suck and be soothed.

We have had a weird nap schedule recently. Could be a regression.

Also hug. I am sure it's stressful.

[creepyeyeball]

Aug 4, 2016 13:35:44 GMT -5 jags8 said:

What are her reasonings for thinking he is so hungry? I've told our babysitter to feed him on demand, not on any schedule. At this age, they should be eating ~25 oz a day. So divide 25 by how often he eats by bottle or nurses, and that's about how much should be in each bottle. Does he take a paci? Will that soothe him to push out a feeding?

As for naps I'm not much help. I tell our babysitter I'm fine with whatever sleep he gets, but that he will be less crabby if he doesn't go more than 2 hours in between.

All of this. When I worked outside of the home I told my sitter to feed whenever and put down whenever. But then again, even now at home FT I feed on demand and just put him down whenever he seems tired. I couldn't even tell you what kind of schedule he is on other than I know he usually goes down about an hour after we wake up in the morning.

Tell her to quit stressing and just go with the flow.

[sammie]

This is the video my hospital's lactation group leader gave us on paced bottle feeding:

m.youtube.com/watch?v=UH4T70OSzGs

[jags8]

Aug 4, 2016 20:19:00 GMT -5 sammie said:

This is the video my hospital's lactation group leader gave us on paced bottle feeding:

m.youtube.com/watch?v=UH4T70OSzGs

Holy shit, thank you so much for sharing that! I had heard of paced feeding but didn't know what that meant! Definitely sharing this with DS' babysitter! Also, the study she referenced at the end is so interesting!