I'm still working on getting a routine set a home, these days my five month old eats less frequently than before. Somethimes she can go 5-6 hrs in the daytime without a feed. Is that normal? I try to feed her every 3-4 hours but if she goes down for a long nap then it ends up stretching the time between her feeds. Any advice would be great!
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Typically, LO eats every 3-4 hours. I'll give you an example of what a full wake-eat-play-nap cycle looks like for me:
Wake up: 7am - EAT and diaper change
Play: 7-close to 9am
Nap: 9am-11am (her morning nap is usually 2 hours)
Wake up: 11am - EATSo, here, she eats after 4 hours have passed. LO is on an eat-play-sleep cycle and it works for us!
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My LO is a hungry woman. She'll go 2-3 hours usually (except at night), still at 7 months, she loves eating. She can go a longer stretch if she's really doing something she finds super fun, but usually it's ~3 hours.
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So I shouldn't let her go that long then? Or is it ok?
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I put my LO on a schedule and ever since, he has been napping better during the day. He eats at 6am, 10am, 2pm, 5:30pm and then bedtime... I would wake him to feed usually at his 2pm feeding b/c I don't want him to go past 2:30pm w/o that feeding since he'll have to eat again at 5:30pm... otherwise, I won't get him unless it's past 11:30am for his morning nap. But now, his body regulates his nap according to feeding so he is naturally awake during his feeding times
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@sunshine44: Gosh, I can barely go 5-6 hours without eating so it does seem like a long time for a baby to go without. Although if she's asleep the last two, it may be okay. I think as long as she's gaining weight, you're fine but it never hurts to check with your pediatrician.
ETA: My LO (13 months) eats about every 3 hrs, alternating between solids and milk.
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I just nursed my son whenever he seemed hungry (rooting at first, then later he started signing, and then now he asks for it) because I figured he would know best.
Now that he's a toddler (27 mo), he'll sometimes forget to eat so I need to remember to give him a snack or small meal roughly every 3 hours because otherwise I'll take him on an errand and he'll be cranky because his blood sugar is low. I've noticed that if he eats well during the day, he doesn't nurse as much as night. If he hasn't taken in enough calories, obviously he makes up for it at night and I don't sleep as well.
Since I've struggled with weight issues my entire life, I really want him to be in tune with his hunger/satiety cues. The great thing is that when we went to Disneyland this summer, I gave him ice cream and when he was full (even though there was still some left), he gave it back to me - he didn't want to eat any more!
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My toddler eats something every 3 hours. As a baby she did the same. I think it's good to keep their blood sugar steady with frequent meals. But I would check this with your pediatrician. 5-6 hours does seem like a long time to me.
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I was shocked that yesterday my 5 month old only had three 4 oz bottles in the 10 hours she was at day care. Obviously I fed her right before I left and right when we got home but it was a pretty long day for her.
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8 comments