Bottle before jammies or after

2 Questions to all you bottle feeders...When (before or after jammies) do you give your last bottle of the night? And, how can I stretch the evening to get a bigger bottle in my kiddos? The boys' schedule after the pm nap is bottle at 3:30, solids at 5p, bottle at 6:15, then bath, then jammies, then bed by 7p but sometimes it is 6:45. I would love for them to stay up a bit later but they cant or I am doing something wrong.

We were doing solids then bath then bottle but they are falling asleep on the last bottle and maybe taking 1 or 2 ounces and then waking once a night sometimes twice to eat. The Ped says that they are learning to fall asleep on the bottle and waking for the comfort (possibly). But when they wake they still drink at least a 5 oz bottle. So it has been suggested for us to give them a bottle before the bath and get them to stay up a bit later like until 7:30 so the last bottle will be a bit later and then they make wake later or not at all at night.

Well they love their solids (like 1.5 to 2 jars of Stage 2's) so I am having a hard time rationing them and cutting them back when that is the ultimate goal we are working toward. So it's hard to feed them a bottle an hour after their solids. However, getting my children to stay up past 6:45 is a chore and offering them a later bottle still results in a baby that wants to fall asleep before their bath. I dont think that they are ready to stay up for more than 3 hours past their afternoon nap which ends about 3:30 so 7pm is our wall right now. So any suggestions to stretch the evening just a bit to be able to get more of a bottle in them before they go to bed. They are getting about 23-30 ounces per day (but that counts the night wakings too). They get a morning and evening solids meal and their weights are sufficient for their age.

Any help would be appreciated.

Rachel

 

We have basically the exact same schedule, and I haven't even attempted to try to get them to stay up later. They just cannot handle it. The only difference is that my boys are not big into dinner yet. They LOVE breakfast, do pretty well with lunch, but the solids in the evening are very hit and miss (mostly miss), so I think they're still pretty hungry for their bottle before bed.

The other difference is, we do jammies then bottle. Dh dresses them and plays/wrestles/sings with them while doing this, so it kinda riles them up and they're generally not sleepy for the bottle. They almost always finish 7oz at 6:30pm unless they ate a really big dinner. They do still wake sometime around 4:30/5am though and are very hungry--haven't figured out that part yet .

 

A lot of moms have that same schedule. Mine never went down before 9 PM. It was their body schedule.... all babies are different.

I did solids, bathtime, bottle and then to bed.

 

We always did bath, bottle, bed - bottles were the last thing before bedtime. They always went to bed at 7pm though, we've just very recently been able to move that later until 8Pm.

 

My guys do baths in the afternoon, so we put them in jammies, bottle then bed. My guys go to bed at 6:30-7 and they are really good sleepers.

 

We always do bottle/dinner, then bath, then lotion, prayers and bed. My guys were spitters (not any more thank goodness), but now they are messy eaters. There is NO WAY we are doing any kind of eating after their baths. Plus, we tried to steer clear of having them go to bed right after a meal. We don't do that so I never wanted to start the habit of needing to eat to sleep. I'd try switching it around just to see if that helps. And, maybe you could try giving them some milk in a sippy with their solids. That would give you a bit more formula in them so that you wouldn't have to sweat the last bottle amount so much. Not sure how you can keep them up longer. My guys hit the wall at 7pm. If they aren't heading towards bed soon after, you can bet they will both be having a fit.

Shannon

 

you could always try giving them a "catnap" around 5 or so. mine usually still need it, even if it is only 20 mins. that keeps them much more content and happy until bedtime (7:30ish)
otherwise, even though you probably want to spend a little more time with them, they may just really need that early bedtime. at that age, i think they say they need a total of 14-15 hours of sleep/day (night+naps).
GL

 

here is ours...

6pm
they are striped to there diaper, put in highchairs and given a cup or frozen teether to play with while i get things ready
while they are playing i get there pj's ready, fill bottles. get there solids ready, run the bath water
than i start solids and than let them have there bottle when they are done eating. Sometimes they get sleepy
Than to the tubby, we have two safty first bath seats we Love these
Than hubby and i each take one (after we all look in the bathroom mirror first (they love looking at them selves)
dry off, diaper and pj's than into the glider for last bottle. By now its about 6:45 and by the time they are asleep its some where around 7pm
they usually wake up the next morning around 6:30am
HTH Good Luck

 

Why would you want them to stay up later?

We do solids 4.45 - 5.00 pm, bath & pj's 5.15 pm, bottle at 5.30 pm, stories & songs, in bed by 6 pm. They only take 2 naps, 9 am and 1 pm (until 3 pm, together with their big sister).

So they're basically up from 3 to 6, and honestly they can't take much more than that. My oldest was up from 3 to 6 until 2 years of age, she's now going to bed at 7 pm.

They eat 4 oz of solids (stage 2) and then a 7 oz bottle, basically 30 minutes later. In total they eat 12 oz of solids and about 27 oz of formula, my boy with rice cereal (reflux).

If they're tired, put them down. Keeping them up, will not make them sleep longer and it will only be more difficult for them to fall asleep and stay asleep. They'll most likely wake up earlier, or at the same time, when their bed time is too late.

Another option would be to give them a larger amount of solids and a smaller bottle. My oldest would eat far less before going to bed than the twins, and she would sleep 13 hours straight (twins 11-12 hours). Last week, my twin girl only drank 3 oz instead of 7, she still slept 6 to 6. Like my ped would say ... sleeping comes from the brain, not from the stomach, so as long as your babies are well fed, they'll sleep the amount they're capable of sleeping.

 

QUOTE(Sofiesmom @ Jun 24 2007, 01:47 PM) [snapback]305132[/snapback]
sleeping comes from the brain, not from the stomach, so as long as your babies are well fed, they'll sleep the amount they're capable of sleeping.


I think I will have to make this my new nighttime mantra...