At 24 weeks, my son is cutting back on his milk and wakes early in the morning
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.
Cutting back too soon on milk can be a problem with babies of this age, especially if they are not very active yet. Until they are rolling a lot, sitting up and beginning to crawl, they are not using up a great deal of energy and this may become apparent in a decrease in food intake. Encourage him to have plenty of floor and kicking times to help him be hungry for his feeds.
Your son’s needs of about 20ozs of milk a day, include the milk used in mixing food. So the milk used in mixing cereal which he is having at breakfast and tea all counts towards his daily total.
As he is not taking a very big breakfast yet, begin to push his lunch time to 11.30am. Use the “tier method” which you appear to be doing already, offering his milk first. Make sure that he cannot see his solid food when offered his formula. Many babies who enjoy their solids will refuse milk if they see what is to follow.
As you are following the weaning guide, you will be starting to introduce protein in about two weeks’ time. When this has been accepted, the 11am milk is phased out completely and replaced with water or well diluted juice to help with the absorption of iron. This often results in a baby slightly increasing his 2pm feed for a while.
Your son appears not to be hungry at 2pm so again push this feed onto 2.30/2.45pm and see if he is willing to take a little more.
Your son’s waking in the morning does not appear to be really through hunger as he is able to wait until 7am for his feed and breakfast. It is far more likely due to him going down exhausted at 6.30pm.
His afternoon nap is quite early, obviously due to his lunchtime nap beginning at 11.30am. If you are able to push his 11am feed to 11.30am and get him down by 12 midday, he should sleep nearer to 2pm. He may still need a very short catnap before 5pm but try to make this about 4.30pm. If his lunchtime sleep is still short, give him two afternoon catnaps of about 15 minutes each. One at 3-3.15pm and another at 4.30-4.45pm. This should help you get him through nearer to 7pm and he will not be going to bed so tired. The effect should be a slightly later waking time in the morning.
Check his room for chinks of light waking him earlier now that it is summer, and also that he is not cold nor disturbed by the noise of boilers or heating systems clocking on.