Operation Happier Baby and Momma

 I feed Mr. T almost every two hours during the day.  He nurses at 7:30 before going to bed, gets a bottle at 11:30 from my husband, and then still will wake 2-3 times more that night.  This is not working for me, but what are you going to do?  I have a big baby and he needs to eat a lot, right?  Well, today I learned that he does need to eat more, but maybe we can do something so he isn't needing to do the eating at night. 

This problem solving started when I called the doctor because he started spitting up again. He has gained 1.5 lbs since our 4 month appointment, so I thought maybe he needed his acid reflux meds adjusted.  The nurse did the usual discussion about my diet (and as you all know I am not adding things to my diet, but rather taking things away) and his eating/sleeping patterns.  She is convinced it can be better than it is...it just may take some tweeking.

So here is the initial plan:

• When he wakes up in the morning give him solids before nursing him.  (If he wakes up at 6 I can still nurse him and put him back to bed, but when I get him up for the day I should do solids first.

• Increase his solid intake from two times a day to three and always have either rice or oatmeal as part of the meal.  She prefers the rice cereal because she said it is easier on the stomach. This was not the case with Superman, but T is so different than S so I will try it. The idea is that the rice/oatmeal will be heavier in his stomach and hopefully keep him from spitting up. (I am making my own per the directions in Super Baby Food.)

• Work on getting "good" feedings during the day.  (Meaning: quiet room with minimal distractions and let him tell me when he is done.)  This will be difficult with a toddler, but is something I have already been working on.  

• If he wakes up in the middle of the night, try to get him to go back to sleep without eating. However, if he is hungry- feed him.  Hopefully after a few days he will stop being hungry and we will just need to break him of the habit of waking. 

Wish us luck!