I need a second opinion on this possible feeding schedule for my 5-month old

[bethanymama]

My 5.5 month old DD is in daycare tues-wed-thurs and doesn't take a bottle.  On work days, I nurse her at 7:45 AM, at lunchtime at 12:30 PM, and at pickup at 4:15 PM. (And lots of times before & after work.)  So I'm working roughly 8:15a-4p with a lunch break, which isn't really enough hours to fulfill my job.  I'm trying to figure out how/when I can drop either the morning or the lunchtime feed.  (If I drop the 7:45 AM feed, my husband could drop off and I could get to work about an hour earlier.) The daycare providers were offering a bottle mid-morning and mid-afternoon, and I guess I assumed she would catch on but she never has.  She used to just play with it and maybe suck a little, and now she's actively refusing.  This week I asked them to try offering a little (expressed breast milk) in an open cup, and then let her play with the sippy cup to see if we can start making progress on that instead. I don't really have hope for a sippy cup to replace a nursing session any time soon though. (Unless anyone has any ideas about how to encourage this??) Although I'd prefer she gets her feeds during the day, she cosleeps and nurses at night so I don't THINK I'm worried about her not getting enough milk.  She is on the small side, but seems to be gaining fine. I just don't want her to be uncomfortable and hungry when she's away from me.

 

So... the feed she does at 7:45 AM, when we arrive at the daycare center, is usually pretty small.  Her lunchtime feed is big, and so is the 4:15 PM feed.  I'm hoping that we can drop the 7:45 AM feed, and start trying some spoon-fed solids (probably mixed with breastmilk) in the morning to hold her over until I get there at 12:30 PM.  We haven't started solids at all yet.  Does this sound reasonable?  Do I have any hope of dropping the lunchtime nursing session before she is closer to 1 year old?

 

Thanks for any advice.

 

Bethany

(mama to 5.5 month old DD and 3 year old DS)

[SeattleRain]

I don't know mama, at that age they still need brestmilk at four hour intervals, at least. I think you still need to work on getting ~4oz of milk into her at each of those feeding times. Is it possible she's refusing the bottle at those mid-morning intervals because not enough time has passed between the big nursing sessions. Maybe she's super full from the 7:45 nursing session to take anything at 10:45 (though that seems like plenty of time)? Have you tried other bottles? Some babies are pickier about bottles than others. We bottlefeed and love the Dr. Brown's narrow neck bottles and we initially used them on the recommendation of some local LC's, so maybe give them a shot. You could definitely give sippies a shot, but again, you might have to try a lot of them to get what works. My Daniel is 8 months this week and we've been through about 4 sippies and he JUST started taking one with water at meals. At 5.5 months, he had no interest in sippies but could drink out of an open cup sip by sip.

You might want to start solids just to get a little more food in ADDITION to the feeding you're already giving her, because even the amount you're giving doesn't seem like a ton of food for a 5.5m baby. I know my son (who is FF at that) can't usually go more than 4 hours without getting cranky and hungry. So maybe try some high density foods like avocado or egg yolk or meats.

[earth-mama]

My youngest sister refused to eat during the day and would only take breastmilk from the breast.  She nursed a lot in the afternoons and evenings when my step-mom got home from work.  She gained and grew fine.  Now she is an adult.  My dad said that she did not take a bottle often, but if she got hungry enough she would (he sometimes took care of her during the day).  

I think that if your DD is gaining weight and is generally healthy to assume that she will eat when she needs to.  Also, my own DD never took a bottle (I was fortunate to be a SAHM with her), but when she started eating solid foods around 6 months she was very willing to eat with whomever was feeding her.  She would become irrate if anyone tried to give her breastmilk in either a bottle or sippy. 

I don't know if that helps, but that has been my experience.