help me with a feeding schedule

[calendula]

I don't know why my brain can't figure this out but DH was kind of at a loss too so I think we are both just running on empty. Help?

Daycare has been kind of all over the place lately with feeding Lou and we think we need to give them more firm guidance. It used to be we fed at 6:30 am, daycare would do 9:30, 12:30 and 3:30, and I would pick up from there for our nighttime routine. All bottles were 4 ounces except the 12:30 one, which was 6. Now, she's getting solids at 12:30 when all the babies do lunch together, which is fine, but between that and her longer daytime naps lately, the rest of the bottle schedule is kind of a mess. Yesterday she only got two bottles,  which I was unhappy about. 

Should I mess around with the bottle schedule so that there is more of a gap around lunch, so she's hungry for the solids? So feed her more often than the 3 hours? This would probably get messed up often due to naps (which can be long but aren't predictable).

Or should we drop to two bottles and increase the amounts to 6+ ounces, so there is more flexibility in timing for long naps and lunch? This might result in an overall decrease in intake though, and I'm sensitive to that since she isn't eating overnight anymore.

Why can't I figure this out? Lol. 

[mintyblueair]

Can they give her 12:30 bottle right at noon, followed by solids? The solid meal shouldn't be replacing that bottle. The bottle plus lunch would probably get her through to 3:30 for the next bottle.

[mintyblueair]

Or could they feed her bottle at 12:30 when the other kids are sitting down to eat, then have her join them for the last part of lunch?

[calendula]

mintyblueair, I think the problem is that if she has that bottle right before offering solids, she won't be hungry for the solids. We've found that the bottle should be at least an hour before. I don't want to replace the bottle with the solids, but keeping the solids in her day is important to us for exposure.

[nevertoomanyshoes]

What’s her nap schedule like now?

[leatherpants]

Can you change switch up her big feed to two smaller feeds around lunch? So like 3oz at 1130 or 12 and then 3oz again at 1 or 130 depending on naps and lunch time?

It does seem like a head scratcher ha ha

[calendula]

leatherpants, that's a good idea. I think we will try either that or just bumping all her bottles up to 6 ounces and trying to reduce the number she takes....

nevertoomanyshoes, its all over the place. She usually takes one in the morning and one in the afternoon, with the afternoon one being longer. I'm not big on nap schedules since we are always on the go and both my kids were decent stroller/car sleepers. It would be nice if they got into a better routine at daycare but as long as she gets rest at some point during the day I'm ok with it.

[mintyblueair]

OK, what about starting your morning a little earlier, at 6? Then she could have bottles at 6, 9, and 11:30. That's the only way I could see the same number of bottles in the day.

Otherwise bumping up the number of oz per bottle is probably your best bet!

[nevertoomanyshoes]

calendula that is hard, I hear you. On the one hand routine means you can plan things like bottles more easily but damn it’s restrictive at times, especially with siblings.

I think I’d do more ounces per bottle as a trial and see if ounces per 24 hours works out right, seems the easiest thing to start with.

[calendula]

mintyblueair she sleeps until 6:30 or 7! Soooooo more ounces per bottle is the obvious answer. THANK YOU. Crowdsourcing parenting is clearly the only way to do it.

[yianna]

I would definitely even out the ounces between the three bottles!