Help Please!

Hi everyone.
I have a 7 and a half month old son. I am having trouble trying to figure out a routine with his bottles and solids.
I was feeding him 4 bottles a day 4 hours apart with 3 solids in between his bottles. But then it seemed to me that he was trying to drop out the fourth bottle, so I cut him down to 3 bottles a day with the same 3 solid feeds.
The problem is he used to be going to bed at 8:30-9"00pm. But now he is older I am tring to get him into bed by 7:30-8:00pm. He goes to bed at this hour fine. But I am having trouble fitting in the 3 bottles and 3 solid feeds a day.
Just wondering if anyone has a basic plan set out for feeding times. As I am at a loss. He needs his bottle in the morning and he definatly needs his bottle before bed. I just cant seem to fit it all in without feeling like I am starving him or he is hungry. I think it is because I got so used to the 4 hour routine. Now Im real stuck.
Please if anyone has a eating routine that works or you think may work please let me know.
Thank you
Mel

DS didin't really start solids much at all atil about that age.
there are a couple of things you can try, either 3 bottles with a small amt solids after each, or just 2 solids feeds, in between the bottles.
I didn't start DS on 3 feeds of solids a day until about 9 months, but then he wasn't overly interested in it either.

what time does he wake up in the morning?
all you can do is try your best. if he is hungry he will let you know, and if its not 'time' to eat then so what.....adults don't always get hungry to a schedule, so while a routine is great, it can be more around the sequence of the events than the timing of them.

I hope that makes sense.

Hi there...
I know Your DS is on 3 bottles but this is how my day went on 4 bottles (then ill give you the new routine)

Chelsea is on a 4 hour routine as well. Prior to monday this was her routine:

8am-bottle
930am-toast
10am-bed
12pm-bottle
2pm- sandwich, fruit or yoghurt
4pm-bottle
430pm-bed
6pm-dinner (what ever we were having)
7pm-shower
8pm-bed

Now Chelsea is on 2 bottles a day:

8am-gets up and plays
830am-bottle
10am-fruit
1030am-bed
12/1pm-sandwich, fruit, yoghurt/gel/custard
230-biscuit,fruit
4pm-bed
6pm-dinner what ever we are having
7pm-shower
8pm-bed

And i offer water all day long and other snacks as she wants them.

I agree with you rayray, I tried a routine & thought how great it would be to feed same time each day etc but it just never seems to work.
I was thinking how to answer this & realised we are all over the place too LOL. I've cut back on breakfast as I started a week or so ago & he wouldn't take the bottles then. I also make sure milk is given first & then solids about an hour later...though try to keep it all around the same time each day but they all vary. Also most days we are now down to 3 bottles, depending if it's an early or late wake up. An early wake up results in 4 bottles. Usually a bottle in the morning, in arvo before lunch & then usually sleeps til late in the day so has dinner & then the bottle before bed (lunch in there somewhere too).

Thanks rayray.

He doesnt wake up untill 7:30-8:00am

Yes I understand where you are coming from. I think I might cut him down to 2 solid feeds a day. and just let him tell me when he wants a bottle maybe.

Wow I answered rayray and there was to more replies LOL. As I said maybe I should just let him tell me. I guess it all depends on how hungry he is that certain day.
Thank you kimbaz for your routine I will have a look and see if just feeding him when he is hungry with 2 solids a day will work and then if that doesnt I will try some sort of routine LOL

Just thinking to myself then I was only thinking routine because Im worried that if he has his last bottle to early he will be waking up for night feeds????

my girl is 8.5 months and up until yesterday was having 3 solids a day and five bottles a day, with the last one at 10pm, am today changing it so her day is based around 3 meals a day (how it should be), with bottles afterwards, and her last bottle at 10pm... so something like this

7.30am breakfast
8.30am bottle
12noon lunch
1.30pm bottle
5pm dinner
7pm bottle
10pm bottle

not sure if that helps, but it shows you how we fit in the 3 bottles during the day (plus an extra to get her thru the night).... if it were me i probably wouldn't be cutting out a meal, as three meals a day is what you want them to be having, iykwim... at 7.5 months i was offering the bottle before the food, but now as she is approaching 9 months i am swapping them around... i've been told from 9 months they don't get all they need from the milk and its better to offer solids first so this is what i am working to. not sure if any of it helps u though!

Hi Mel, here's my 9mth old DD's routine. Like your boy, she was having 4 bottles roughly 4 hourly and 3 solids and since 8 mths old she's on 3 bottles and 3 solids. She also goes to bed at about 7.30, but she does wake at 6.30 am, which is great on weekdays but seems ridiculously early when I want a weekend lie-in!

6.30am - wake up and bottle
7.30am - breakfast
8am - sleep
11am - lunch
1pm - sleep
2.30pm - bottle
5/5.30pm - dinner (we were feeding her at 6.30 when the rest of us eat, but she seems to get hungry by 5)
7pm - bottle
7.30pm - bed

In reality, it's only the 6.30 wake-up that actually happens at that time every day (I'm sure DD has a built-in alarm clock), everything else is roughly around the times I've put.
btw, when DD was having 4 bottles, they were at 6.30, 10.30, 2.30 and 7. So I've kind of replaced the 10.30 bottle with an 11 o'clock lunch and give her more brekky to keep her belly happy until then.

I hope this helps.

Wow all these routines seem great. But DS doesnt wake up till 7:30-8:00am, which is why it makes it hard to fit in the bottles and sloids. Everyone I talk to says there baby wakes up around 6:30-7:00. Is my darling son waking up to late? should I be waking him up myself to get him into an earlier routine?

unless you think he is underweight, there is no way I would be messing with his overnight sleep when it sounds like he is going really well.

there is no reason a bottle and solids can be in the same block between sleeps either, or if your child is still sleeping well during the day, you can even offer solds immediately following a bottle.

I just gave DS his first bottle on or close to waking, then some food in between that and his next bottle, bottle around 12-1ish, food in between and last bottle before bed.

Its pretty much been a bath-bottle-bed nighttime routine at our place,a nd now that he is older theres is story in there too.

hey there, sometimes we get lucky and our girl doesn't get up until 8am or later, then the whole day is adjusted because of the late starting time, so naps are later, lunch is later etc, and most likely bedtime is a bit later too, but we still fit in the same amount of bottles etc...

when i was doing the bottle before food, i would sometimes offer food 15 minutes after.... but now if i offer the bottle too soon after food she wont drink it...

Hey Mel

I have a 7 month DD and she also wakes up later than most babies. This is roughly our routine although she is on 2 solid meals a day. My MCHN said to get to have 3 meals but I tried earlier in the week and she wasn't interested.....so we are sticking with this for a while longer.

8.30-9am bottle
11-11.30 solids
nap only 30mins
2pm bottle
nap 1-2hrs
5pm solids and bottle
bath
7.30-8 pm bottle
8-8.30 bed