Or anyone else who works with babies a lot. It's been a long time since I've had a wee one!

Do your formula fed babies typically eat every 2 1/4-2 1/2 hours? DCG here weighs about 13 pounds, and drinks 6 ounces at a time. She's 16 weeks old. She sleeps through the night-8:30 pm until 6:30 am, typically. Then she gets a bottle and comes here. By 8:15, she's usually starting to crank...then it's been me playing "is she tired or is she hungry?" game.

I'd like to get her on some sort of predictable schedule here, preferably that she actually sleep during most of nap consistently (the last couple days, she's been making a fuss at naptime, but sleeps before and after nap just fine...argh!).

Also, until last week, she played contently on her mat for long stretches. Now, all of the sudden, she's complaining alot. No signs of teeth...

Goes home at 5:15. She does go to sleep on her own...no rocking or anything, it's just lately she seems to fight it more and today she was screaming like she had horrible pain..turned bright red.

Mom said that on the weekend, she gets up at 6:30 for a bottle, then goes right back down for another 2 hours. She used to fall asleep in the car seat on the way, then I'd move her to bed and she'd continue sleeping. Since that stopped (she wakes), it's really sort of messed her up, it seems.

Sorry..I'm rambling.. see what you can make of that, eh?

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I put all my babies on the same schedule as nannyde. 9, 12, 3 schedule.

Parents are required to feed or at least top off their child prior to arrival.

This baby is old enough to go AT LEAST 3 hours in between if she's drinking in 6 oz intervals.

If she's struggling to make it to the 3 hour mark, I would suggest the parents consult their pediatrician about starting rice cereal.

If she's going for such a long spread at night without waking up, her eating every 3-4 hours should be the norm.

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I take care of nothing but babies. We feed the babies on the schedule the parents provide (some are strict, some are flexible). I would say that the majority eat about every 3 hours. A few are more like 4 and a few (breastfed mostly) are every 2/2.5 hours.

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Major respect!!!!

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Mom and dad by chance start cereal?

Now's about the time many start playing with it. Can cause gas, bloating, firmer movements that are uncomfortable to move and pass and it can mess with sleep schedules.

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no...I don't think so. She was going to wait until she checked with the doc (I think this Friday), and I didn't see it in her notebook. I think I'll double check, though...good thought.

Edited to add:

Doesn't look like it, although it does look like she's pulled the eat-no-sleep-no-eat-no-sleep routine on mom a few times recently. May be time for some tough love, baby...I usually don't have a problem with that, but this one has me wrapped around her finger a bit more than most.

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Put down for nap right when she arrives. Sleep till a.m. feeding around 9

LOADS of belly time about 45 minutes after eating and for 1/2 hour before next feed.

Feed about 45 minutes before nap so you have time to get feeding in and burp cycles and some time to sit up straight

Feed at 3 when all the kids naps are over.

At four months she should be able to do with three feeds in the timeframe she is with you. Parents will need to feed when they get home in p.m.

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so, 9-12-3 feedings, arrival, 12:45, 3:45 ish? 3 naps a day, how long?

Today, I put her down at 8:45 (arrived at 7:30). She had been grouching since 8:15, and I tried bed (cried loud), then bottle (drank 2 oz..obviously not hungry), then back to bed. She slept 8:45-11:30, when I made a bunch of noise to wake her (too long, I think for a morning nap). changed, then fed

Put her back down at 12:30 when she groused, she went right to sleep but woke again at 1:45, drank a 5 oz bottle, and went right back to sleep. It's now 4:30 and she's STILL sleeping. I'm going to wake her now because she needs a fresh diaper and bottle before going home.

So, she's slept more than 6 hours today, and fussed a good part of the time she was awake. She slept 10 hours last night. That's a lot of sleep, and I love sleeping babies...lol.

She has hardly played at all this week..grouching, eating, or sleeping.

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Sounds like she could possibly be going through a growth spurt, too, with all of her eating and sleeping.

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what's your nap time for the other kids?

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12:30-3:30 ish used to more concrete but all infants, toddlers & some partimers now

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time to start oatmeal Dr.s are not going with rice as a first cereal anymore. You want to stay away from baby rice cereal. It sounds like your baby is hungry and needing a bit more. I always go with the babies schedule under one and lean towards my schedule. Another idea is this baby is gassy or teething. Try moving the legs gently up towards tummy and down again after a good burping or between burping. Swaddle like a burrito for rest, they love that close comfort. Pick baby up when happy so he doesn't put crying get's me picked up. Enjoy it is a fun age. Tummy time to gain strength and wiggle out those gasses. Hope this helps. If you have tried everything then Mom needs to take him in to be evaluated by Pediatrician. I am guessing this little one is just ready for a little something more then Formula.

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this is just about what I do here- 4 months old it is prob time to start Oatmeal cereal.

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this is just about what I do here- 4 months old it is prob time to start Oatmeal cereal.

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Had a question too but deleted it. I decided it would be too confusing.

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apparently, my math skills aren't what they used to be.


She's only 12 weeks old, not 16. little difference, and def. rules out the cereal business!

I think I'm going to go back to putting her down for nap right away like before. Even if she's grinning at me when she gets here. I think she just wants more night sleep and can't have it. I''ll try that tommorow and see if it helps get things back on track.

Mom says she's been doing this sleep-no eat-no sleep thing at home quite a bit too. We're probably waiting too long for sleep signals, is my guess.

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What if the child is hungry before 9 or not hungry yet at 9 based on what time they ate at home in the AM? Do you feed them when they are hungry or do you stick to your schedule?

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I can answer for myself, to get a baby on a schedule I offer it at the times that i know I can offer the bottle, and they should be close enough that a child's hunger won't be at an extreme if they deny the first bottle, by the time I offer it again. I would assume the offering times are based around the babies usual bottle time increment - at least for me that's how I do it.

Most of my babies eat at home at 6/6:30 and I offer another bottle at 9:00/9:30 and lay them down for nap. If a baby didn't drink their 9:00 bottle, they will get another offered at 10:45/11:00, when nap is over. Now keep on mind they are 8/9 months - but we have been doing this schedule sice a out 7 months.

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cereal at 16 weeks?

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I would work with the parents to make SURE they are doing a feeding right before brining to child care. I don't do a hand fed bottle within two hours of arrival. If the child ate in the early hours of the morning they would need to do a topper offer bottle right before care. If she's arriving at seven thirty there should not be a problem with a 1.5 hour nap immediately and no feedings during that time.

I would put her right back to bed when she arrives and then do the 9-12-3 schedule. My schedule is ALWAYS for nap.... to get everyone in the house down at nap time. It takes a few weeks to get it going with a newborn but I haven't had ONE that didn't adjust quickly. I also do a ton of belly time and we go outside weather permitting.

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I don't do any solid food including cereal until they turn eight months.

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Babies tend to go through a change/growth cycle about every 2.5 months for the first year. They shuffle their needs for food and sleep. If you don't fight it, it is usually short lived.

Keep in mind I am very child led (so take this advice how you like) but I would go with her needs. She needed sleep and you read her just fine. Usually two or three days of shuffle and you two will find balance again.

For the record, 12 weeks, and even 16 weeks is way too young for solid food. The earlier you start food, the more likely food allergies. Do some research about that before you recommend it to parents.

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I completely agree with everything she said.

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Me too

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Just to clarify...you would do a 9-12-3 feeding schedule?

Nap when she gets here until 9ish. If she wakes up before that, hold her off before I feed her? If she is fussy/hungry again before 12, hold her off? I can do it, but she'll probably be fussy through our (the other kids and mine) lunch. I have noticed then when she acts hungry, sometimes a binky will do for a few minutes....IF I am holding her and distracting her. This could be tricky by myself, with other kiddos to care for.

So, she would be sleeping at 7:45-9, and then stay awake until after the 12' feeding. I'm fairly certain that would also be way to long for her to be awake.

I'm not arguing with you, just wondering if I missed something.

I can't remember any of mine needing so many naps, even at this age. It's been a long time though! BTW, the last young baby I've had to care for was 12 years ago...my son. I took a 10 year break from daycare, and my first few back were older infants...the predictable 2-nap a day age.

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I'm not so sure I agree about the allergies, but I would not give a 12 week old cereal for sure.

We started cereal (I'm 48) pretty early in our day, and food allergies are pretty uncommon in my generation. The trend to start solids later does not seem to have reduced allergy issues. I personally think there are other factors at play.

That said, if a baby is content with formula until later; great. If, however, they are drinking full bottles and still crabbing or waking at night, I'd be likely to try cereal at 4 months.

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I think you are right here to a degree. We had more real food then. Today, so much processing, so much modification of our food...just junk out there. Add all that to other environmental items (antibiotic everything, plastic everything..) and I think we are just sitting on a time bomb.
However, I did start solids later. Not because I was a smarter than average mom, but because we were broke and my kids were happy with breast milk.

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love this!! I can't believe someone could do that either! Good for you! I am hoping to not have to take care of infants!

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I mainly just care for babies too. At 12 weeks old, 6 ounces is quite a tummy full! I would say that every 2.5-3 hours is a perfect length of time in between feedings. I would NOT start any solids yet. And I have found that the time between their first feeding and their second feeding is the hardest of the day and need a nap in between.

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With birth thru three months (newborn) I try to WORK toward this schedule but often they are just too little to go that time. Now that I know she is twelve weeks I'm thinking that the six ounces is a LOT. I do about an once per feeding for every month. So if she is three months... I would be doing three to three and a half ounce feedings.

Try working her in fifteen minute increments closer and closer to the 9-12-3 feedings as long as you are certain the parents are feeding right before care. Once she hits four months you should be there.

What I do with newborns is have them feed the LAST thing I do before the kids go down for a nap and the FIRST thing I do when the kids are waking up from nap. So here I would have her START the bottle at twelve and then give the next feed 2.5 hours from the END of the noon bottle. So if she finished eating at 12:15 then I would give the next bottle at 2:45.

I do belly time right before the feeding... a good ten/fifteen minutes when she is getting worked up for being hungry and then do a hold/walk/rock to get her settle down before the feed. After nap time if she wakes up early I would do the same... have her do a rousing round of belly time before the next feeding.

YMMV on newborns... you have about a month before she hits the four month mark. By then you should be able to have her on the other kids schedule. I've used this system for 20 years and it works with every kid. I am always working towards ALL kids down during nap but the newborn timeframe interupts that. I know with every new baby that they will need to be worked into that. I also like the one to one time with them during nap to get to know them.

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thanks Nan! I will consider this. It's just so wierd that she is suddenly so erratic and "hold me". Until this week, she amazed everyone with her ability to play contently for long periods.

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Finally someone talking sense!

Also, feedings are from the beginning of one, to the beginning of another, not from the end to the beginning. Any child care "expert" should know that.

As for when to feed a baby? When they are hungry. Babies are not all alike. Some may need to eat more frequently and sleep more frequently. Hell, how many adults need to eat and sleep at the exact same time as other adults?

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This expert gets a 2.5 hour nap break day after day... year after year... decade after decade.

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Yeah...that is a motivation for me too.

BTW, after the day I whined here, she has been back to her happy-go-lucky self. I dont know what was going on those couple days. We'll see how she is Monday. Mom was going to try really hard to keep her on our schedule.

Instead of 9-12-3, I am doing 8:30-11:30-2:30, which has been working great. She has a bottle at home at 6:15-6:30, but since she is sleeping 10 hours through at night, I think she is just hungrier in the morning. So, 8:30 for the first bottle is where we are both comfortable. I did have to do a little pacifier and distraction to get her to 8:30, but she was just fussin' a little, not all-out crying, so I think we're doing fine.

Her naps have been 9-10:30, then 12:00-2:30, even 3pm, which is I D E A L. She gets another cat-nap at 4:30 until pick-up, then a bottle as soon as she gets home, a bottle at 8, then bed. She's happy, mom's happy, I'm happy. Next project: more tummy time! Thanks again for your input.

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You don't have to agree with everything Nan says, and I don't always either, but a woman who was a licensed nurse and now has 20 some years experience in the field is an expert, not an "expert".

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awesome possum

She's still a fresh mook so you are going to have some bumps in the road. I highly recommend belly time from the go. Now's the time before she starts to flip. My babies spend a good amount of their pre flip months on the belly.

Rotational grazing: back for sleep, belly, eat, sit UP, belly, sit up for rides in stroller, belly, eat, sit up, belly, back to sleep, belly....

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