My 4.5 mth son is waking early but not hungry, and can’t settle at lunchtime in his stroller
At 4 months I have begun to bring my son’s late feed forward to nearer 10pm. This seems to have the effect of him waking earlier in the morning having done a poo. It was 6.30am but now 5.50am. He is not hungry in the morning. It is a struggle to get him to take 5-6 ozs but the rest of the day he will take 8-9oz easily.
He has not yet cut back on the 10pm (now at 10.10pm) feed; still having 5-6 ozs, which is probably why he is not hungry at 7am, but it seems to be causing him to poo earlier.
I began to wean at 15.5 weeks when he weighed 16lbs. At 11am he is given 1tsp baby rice with 1 cube of sweet potato, at 6pm 3 tsp baby rice and 1 cube apple. At present he drinks 31-36 ozs formula daily.
The problem I have with the lunchtime nap, is that he will sleep well in his cot but not if I go out with him in the car or the stroller. This is the best time for me to go out as I have to fit in with school runs and feed time. I would like to be able to go out once or twice a week at this time knowing he will still have a good sleep. Are there any ways I could get him to settle better in his car seat or stroller?
Although your son is not that hungry at 7am for his feed, it may be better to put the 10.00pm back again to 10.30/10.45 and see if he will sleep nearer to 7am.
The consequence of him having a smaller feed at 7am may be that he needs to begin his next feed at 10.30am. As he is still having milk before solids, then you could give him his milk at 10.30 and his solids at 11am.
Altering the routines slightly to fit in with your son’s needs is important. If you keep pushing him to feed at 10pm with the result of early waking, he is showing you he is not quite ready to do this yet. Leave it for another few weeks and then try again.
With regards to weaning your son, look at the weaning guide carefully and see exactly how the different vegetables are introduced and in what combinations. At lunch time he needs a vegetable such as carrot or courgette mixed with baby rice or sweet potato so giving him the correct balance. Sweet potato is a starchy vegetable full of carbohydrates and is used in combination with another vegetable rather than with baby rice.
Look ahead in the guide to see what vegetables are being introduced and then batch cook and freeze them to have the right combinations readily available.
Getting him to settle to sleep in his stroller or car seat during his lunchtime nap may also need some “juggling”. At his age your son is probably very interested in what is going on all around him and will be able to fight sleep if he wants to, when out and about. Getting the balance between your needs and his will ensure he doesn’t become chronically short of sleep. As much as you can try starting your trip out at slightly different times to see what suits your son best. Will he happily settle to sleep when you first leave at about midday, but then wake earlier than 2pm? Or by leaving earlier, would he stay awake for a while and then settle to sleep perhaps by 12.30/12.45pm and again have a slightly shorter sleep? Which way round seems to affect him least? If you limit your outings to once or twice a week it should not have too adverse affect on him and you could let him have 30 minutes at 4.30pm instead of his usual 20mins if he seems very tired in the afternoon. Again, just making small adjustments and perhaps trying slight variations will help you see what is best for him as well as yourself.
Some mothers do find that draping a cotton blanket over the stroller does help their baby to sleep better, than if he is exposed to all the life going on around him.