when do you feed your three bottles?

We are getting ready to try a drop to three bottles a day. The boys just aren't that hungry for their midday bottles, so I think they are ready, plus we can give a few ounces in a sippy cup, I believe, without any trouble.

Obviously they will get a bottle in the morning and at bedtime. I'm wondering about the midday bottle. I can drop the 10:30 bottle and replace with sippy and lunch, or I can drop the 2:30 bottle and replace with sippy and a snack. What do you all do?

Here is the schedule I am thinking might work for us - I think dropping the 10:30 bottle is going to be easier as far as working around church, family outings, etc.

6:30am - 7 oz. bottle
8:15am - breakfast (cereal, formula and fruit)
8:45am - nap
9:45am (or whenever nap is over) - 2 oz. formula in sippy cup
11am - lunch (protein, veg, and a bit of fruit) (this would be around 10:15 on Sundays because of church)
12:30 or 1pm - nap
2:00ish (whenever nap is over) - 7 oz. bottle
5:30pm - dinner (protein, veg, fruit)
7pm - 7 oz. bottle
7:20ish - bed

I know a lot of people give the midday bottle before the afternoon nap. My concern is, they often fall asleep on the way home from church around 12:30, which means we would either have to take along bottles and stay there and feed them, or wake them up when we get home (which means cranky babies and messed up nap), or wait until they wake up to get their bottle (which means they probably wouldn't nap as long and would mess up bedtime - they are earlier risers, so an earlier bedtime is NOT an option). So I guess I'm wondering if anyone does it this way, or I am just crazy thinking this may work??? They will be getting the same amount of formula and solids, just at slightly different times of day.

I also considered making lunch when we get home from church around 12:30, but I'm afraid they will be starving in the nursery, plus messing up naps, etc. if they fall asleep on the way home. I'm thinking it makes more sense to feed them a little early and then if they are hungry at home, I can adjust for it once we get home....

 

I would drop the 10:30 bottle based on what you said.

Church is once a week, right? I would not base my schedule on what works best for church days but rather on what works best for other days. Then, I would find a way to work with that for church--even if that means bringing bottles along. I can't remember what formula you are using, but Similac makes these great prefilled bottles that you just pop a nipple on so that is very convenient for us. We don't use them a lot, but for a situation like church, that would work well.

 

This is our schedule:

They get up at 7, so by the time everyone has a clean bum and is downstairs it's almost 7:30,
7:30am Bottles, William gets his first, drinks 8oz, NAthaniel gets his around 7:45, he drinks 7-8 oz. I am alone which is why I feed one at a time.
8:00am cereal mixed with their milk and fruit
9:00am Usual nap time, although lately I am lucky if they take one, they seem to be dropping it. I may get a nap in the morning twice a week.
11:30am, same as 7:30 am
Noon they get 1 jar of veggies each and a jar of fruit
12:30-12:45 they go down for a nap usually until 3:30-4
When they wake up from their nap they get a sippy of water with a cookie, usually a mum mum
4:30-4:45 I do the same as I do at 7:30am
5:15 supper which is a protein with veggies and fruit
6:00 bath
6:45-7 bedtime

 

Hmmm...I am having a really hard time remembering. I'm going on Annabella as she was the most recent. And I want to say I didn't drop that fourth bottle until almost a year old. Bottle upon wake up, before lunch, after nap, and before bed. So when we were done with formula, she was down to three/day-and that was sippy cups of milk with breakfast/lunch/dinner.

Good gosh, she's 16 months old and I have no clue! And I agree-I would do what works best for most of the week vs one day/week.

 

The thing is, the ONLY formula they can take is the premixed Nutramigen. They cannot take powder, they cannot even take the 2 oz. travel bottles - anything but the regular RTF is a problem, and it only comes in 32 oz. cans., which can't be resealed and once opened have to be kept cold. So if we take bottles, we have to keep them cold and also have some way to heat them up. And if we stay at church and feed them, then we don't get home until after 1pm, by which time WE are totally starving. I can't ask the nursery people to feed them either - there are usually 8-10 kids in the nursery with 2 adults and one teen - our boys are the only babies on bottles right now, but the rest are very active toddlers who need lots of attention. I can't ask two of the three workers to have their hands full feeding our boys while the toddlers all run crazy. I wish we had a baby room where you could see the service from the room so DH and I could feed them, but we have a very small church, and that is not our set-up. I know you guys say don't base the schedule on one day, but church is VERY VERY important to us and we have got to have a schedule that allows us to go to church weekly. Also, skipping that bottle gives us more time on days we need to go out and run errands, etc. without having to take along bottles.

My other concern is, I don't know that I want to throw in a "snack" already at this age, and I feel like if I drop the 2pm bottle, they will need a snack to make it to dinner. If I drop the 10:30 bottle, I'm not including a snack. Our boys are 75th and 90th percentile, and I really don't want to add the calories of a snack, even if it is something fairly innocent like a mum-mum. I would prefer they stick to formula and solids right now. They also are typically very hungry in the evenings as opposed to the mornings, when they are so-so.

I wish they could hold their own bottles reliably - that way I could send the bottles along in the nursery or even give them to them in the car. They try to hold the bottle, but they can't keep it turned up enough and end up sucking air. Maybe I just need to stick with four bottles for now - they just seem so not hungry for those two midday bottles, KWIM? I don't have to force them to eat it, but they eat really, really slow and act like they just don't care so much - I've cut those bottles back a bit, too, because they don't seem too worried about them.

 

Are they eating yoguart yet? What if you were to give them a small yoguart like a minigo at 10:30?

 

They can't have any dairy or soy right now. We tried yogurt and it was a total disaster,

 

I don't think there is any reason they need to have their bottle before their nap. You have to do what works for you and--considering the formula transporting issue you have--your bottles really need to be scheduled. What time of day they eat certain foods is much less important than making sure they eat enough per day. Mine are way hungrier in the evenings too! So I just go with it.

I tend to think as they get a bit older it will be easier and easier so maybe just trying to take things as they go each month. Soon, they will be holding their bottles/sippy cups. And at some point they will transition to one nap, so that will really mess up your schedule. But, hopefully, they will soon be doing better with milk and soy.

 

Have you tried Goat's milk? William has a milk allergy and I give him goat's yoguart

 

Thanks. Yes, the formula we have to use is such a pain - I really wish we could use powder, or at least the travel bottles. I hate having to have such a rigid schedule, but if we don't, we never get to go anywhere. I've figured it out very carefully to make sure they will get the same amount of formula when I switch so I don't totally throw them off.

Anyway, I guess I just wanted to hear some feedback and make sure I'm not totally crazy for trying it this way since most people don't. Or maybe I'll just wait until they can hold the bottle themselves and then they can have their bottle in the car on the way home....decisions, decisions! Kids need to come with a manual. :laughing:

 

We tried goat's milk very early on - we were hoping we could use that, or at least part goat's milk, to cut down on the cost. But they still reacted to that - the pedi said it does have some lactose in it, so that is probably why. That was months and months ago, though - I have to wonder if they would tolerate it better now. I'm not sure I've ever seen goat's yogurt at the store - do you get it at the grocery store with the regular yogurt? The pedi wants us to try yogurt again in about a month and see what happens - and if regular yogurt doesn't work, try soy yogurt.

 

Apparently, there is also coconut milk yogurt and rice yogurt.

 

Not all stores carry it. If you have a gricery store with a big health food section they usually carry it.

 

Thanks. I will check - we have a Kroger with a big health food section, and also a Martin's (part of Giant). We have two local health food stores, too, that may be able to order it for me. The pedi said if they can't do cow's milk or soy milk at a year old, we can try rice milk, we'll just have to add a multivitamin. I have already seen the rice milk at our Martin's, so they may have the rice yogurt, too.