Need Help with Where a 5Month Old Baby Should Be

Well, my little girl loves to eat and she is in like the 90th percentile for weight. She eats 5-6 ounces of formula at a time and probably has 5-6 bottles a day, about every 3 hours. I just read in a book that a baby this age should consume 24-36 ounces a day at this age, so my daughter is within that range, but I would really just recommend letting your daughter tell you what she wants/needs. If my daughter is unusually fussy, I first make sure she's comfortable. If she's still fussy, even though it's beyond me that she could still possibly be hungry, I will try giving her a small bottle (3-4 oz).

As for sleep, she sleeps about 11 1/2 hours at night, takes 2 or 3 30-40 minute naps, and one good 2-2 1/2 hour nap, but I don't know what's considered "normal".

Good luck with your baby! My nephew had acid reflux when he was a baby and I know it was very challenging for my sister. He eventually had to be put on some medication for it, which helped immensely. ...Not sure if you're to that point yet, but I could probably get you the name of the medicine if your are interested. Good luck!

S.,

At about 5 months she'll probably eat every 3 hours or so and if you are formula feeding she'll probably be taking about 4-6 oz. As the other mothers said (and I'm sur eyou know since you have 2 kids) all babies are different.

Naps are still about 2 hours and she might be taking about 3 of them. The third one might be shorter though (that's how it was with my boys). Night sleeping My 6 month old goes to bed around 7 and sleeps until 5:30. I give him one bottle before I got to bed and that keeps him from waking up when I am sleeping. I don't wake him when I give this bottle (it's called a dream feed) although he's a lighter sleeper than my first, so he generally wakes up when I pick him up and falls back to sleep again right away. He does sometimes squawk for his nuk in the night, but unless he's hit a new milestone or teething, it's not usually more than once or twice.

Definately talk to your pediatrician at 6 months and if she seems hungry sooner, feed her...ect.

If you don't alreeady have her on one, start a routine. I know it saved me with my oldest, he's got the temperment, where he needs to know what to expect. Routines are not time specified, they are just the same things happening in the same order each day. Some kids just do better with them. In the case of my youngest, he goes with the flow usually, but my oldest just gets too high strung to early if we don't have a consistent routine.

Just an idea, it might help your daughter.

my little girl will be 6 months in a week and she wakes up and has a bottle 6oz takes a 1/2 to 1 hour morning nap eats a jar of baby food and 4-6oz bottle takes a 2-3 hour nap a 6oz bottle 1/2 to 1 hour late afternoon nap eats 1 jar of babyfood at dinner time then has another 6oz bottle before bed and sleeps thru the night so about 4 hours of naps durring the day and 2 jars of baby food and 22-24oz of formula in a day. I hope this helps just make sure you remember every baby and family is different

My goodness I would have never survived if I had kept feeding my boys every three hours at 5 months! Once the boys were over 12 pounds we went to feeding 6 times/day - about every 4 hours. Usually it was a six ounce bottle, but 4 oz if they had another bottle within the 3 hours prior. Since your daughter has acid reflux, I would stick with the frequent small meals so she's not as uncomfortable.

To get started in a routine, first we tried doing different things at different times and kept a mental note of what things we did on a GOOD day. Then we did that again to see if it still was a good day. It took some time and I don't think we had a routine down until they were 8-9 months, if not older, maybe even 11. That was because we would let them sleep whenever they seemed tired, not when it was nap time, and that kinda through a kink into things. One thing we did do to try and get our boys to go to bed at the same time was make everything in the same order from dinner time on.

I remember everyone being so hard core about getting on a routine asap, but it felt horrible to me to say, "ok, now we eat, now we play, now I change your diaper, and oh it looks like your sleepy so lets take a nap." But really, I don't think it's a huge thing to stress over the first year, especially if you haven't been moving all over the place or switching daycares every couple of months.

Anyways, we didn't start with solids or cereal until 6 months. So at 5 months the "routine" was wake up, new diaper, bottle, go back to sleep (some days they woke up at 3:30, and there was no way they were playing), later, eat again (7-8ish) play with rattles, swing, play in exersaucer, etc... all for a couple hours, then nap for 2-3 hours. Wake up, have lunch, then in the afternoons we worked on whatever skill the baby books said they could or should be able to do by the next month. If they were sick, we usually cuddled up with Baby Einstein - even though we're not suppose to. Then nap again for about 2 hours, eat again, read books and/or play until dinner time, which came at 4 or 5ish. Usually after eating we would let them play in the exersaucer, or some activity where we had some freedom to clean up the days' messes, including another small nap if they were tired or overly fussy. Then about an hour before bed time, we did baths and lotion, looked at a couple books (taking 15 minutes or less), gave then their last bottle - usually about 8 ounces at night, then put them to bed @ 8 or 8:30!

They were sleeping through the night beginning right at 5 months - and that meant they slept about 6-8 hours straight depending on the night.

The thing is, I've "heard" that kids with acid reflux are really challenging the first year. If this is the case with your daughter, I wouldn't worry so much about what your suppose to do and just focus on meeting her needs and milestones to get through the first year. Obviously, let your ped know what you ARE doing at the 6 month check up so that he/she can let you know if your making committing any major offenses. Sleeping and eating patterns may be different for your child because eating too much makes her tummy hurt and acid reflux in general makes sleeping for extended periods of time difficult since you can't "stuff" them full of food before hand. What we did was focus on reading our babies cues. By 11 months they were toothlessly taking cereal, playing, throwing tantrums or screaming, crawling and destroying our house. That was when we finally became determined to make sure to follow the rules and suggestions about routines.

As a first time mom to an almost 4 month old, I know how hard it is when people say every baby is different. Sometimes I just want an answer, but every book and every person will tell you something different. Just do what works best for you.

My son was born Sept 11 and I stayed home for 12 weeks. I went back to work as a 2nd grade teacher for 3 weeks and now I am on Xmas break. At daycare (my mom!!) he has a 4 ounce bottle every 3 hours. He eats about 5 times a day. Now that I am home with him over break I breastfeed exclusively and notice he eats every 4 hours or so. Maybe he drinks more than 4 ounces and is full longer? He sleeps about 10+ hours at night and naps 3x/day, from 15 minutes-2 hours. No schedule quite yet, which is OK with me. My mom has done daycare for 25 years and she said that is normal at this age. Good luck!

I agree with the other lady who said you can't compare babies. My oldest was a great sleeper and eater, never had a problem, by 4 weeks he was sleeping 6-7 hours at night, no fussing, very calm happy baby. My youngest didnt' sleep more than 4 hours at night unti lhe was 8 months old, and THEN still woke at 4am to nurse until he was 11 months old.

At 5 months, they both nursed every 3 hours or so, and I let them nurse when they were hungry, I never timed it, nor was I worried about ounces since they nursed what they wanted, and it was obviously much more relaxing that worrying about how much they were eating. I nursed them in the am when they woke, usually 7am, then again at 9am or so for morning nap, upon waking from morning nap at 10am or so, around noon for lunch, and then a quick snack at 1pm for naptime, and again when waking around 3pm, then 5pm, 7pm, an bedtime.

5 month old should still be eating every 3 hours or so. Just go with her flow and try not to force anything on her, just relax, follow her cues, and your time with her will be alot less stressfull.

I know it's hard not to but you really can't compare babies. My first was a great sleeper and slept almost all day and night. My second hardly sleeps at all. He also had reflux (outgrew it around 8 months) that went undiagnosed until he was 3 months old so we had a lot of frustrating days. At 5 months old I just fed on demand and laid him down to nap after being awake for 2 hours (he would wake up around 7 then go back down around 9, sleep until 10:30 then go back down around 12:30, sleep until 2:00 go back down at 4:00, sleep until 5:30 then go to bed for the night around 7:30).

I had a preemie and was obsessed with feedings and weight for like her first 2 years even after she was off the charts and a chunky monkey.

But after she wasn't so tiny and fragile like after 2mos. I never paid attention to how many bottles or how often, she wasn't on a schedule either.My daughter had mild reflux too.. If she was hungry I fed her and she was always hungry every few hours or so, so I didn't worry. They know when they need to eat and when they're hungry.Sometime she would puke up half her bottle and I tried to not worry about it as long as their gaining weight the only time to worry is if they're not thriving or losing weight.

I have a 4.5 month old and we just started her on cereal a few days ago. She has about 2 tablespoons of cereal(dosen't always finish it) and about 2-3 oz of formula for breakfast, lunch and supper. She does get a bottle about every three to four hours and will have about 4-6 oz, and she usually tells us when she is full. and she does still wake up during the night for a bottle every three hours(about 6 oz.) She does kind of sleep when she wants which I know I have to get a little better about that and get her on somewhat of a schedule, but she is still little:) they will eventually get on a schedule, my son 21months usually eats breakfast, then mid-morning snack, then lunch, asnack after his nap(about 2 hours) then supper and a snack before he brushes his teeth and goes to bed! He has been on this schedule or something close to it (maybe one more nap) since he was about 9 or 10 months old! I wish you the best of luck!