Hunger or Prop?

[merehart]

 I am a mom to a spirited, touchy 5mo DD. I am having a difficult time with the dream feed, though this may actually be an issue in determining hunger vs. prop (fed to sleep)  DD has been on a slightly varied BW since 4wks.  We have had good success with a dreamfeed for about the last month and a half, but lately she has been waking for her dreamfeed.  We have always done it at 10:30pm, but she will sometimes wake completely on her own right before that time and start screaming.  At first we tried to calm her and help her resettle without the bottle (shh pat), but then we just gave it to her.  And sure enough, once she was done, she was out.  She is a very fast eater, and downs 8oz in about 5min.  A few times she has been awake at 9pm, just 2 or so hours after bedtime, and screams until we feed her.  So my question is, is she waking out of habit or hunger?  Are we "feeding" her need to eat to get to sleep? 

Her schedule varies bcs she doesn't always sleep the whole time, and some days she will resettle, but many she screams and howls and refuses to give in.  So those days her naps are short, and we keep her feeds roughly the same but the awake and naps change.  However, very rarely does she have the opportunity to nurse to sleep.  Often I will wake her up slightly to help her get to sleep on her  own.

 But, I seem to have a hard time determining when she is actually hungry.  She is such an efficient eater that I do not know when she is eating more and when she is just eating slowly.  The times I suspect are growth spurts seem to last about a week, and she is a mess the whole time- all off track, sometimes starving, sometimes sleepy, sometimes just cranky.  She is showing signs of teething, but has been for a long time with no signs of teeth coming soon.  She also has random days where she demands to be fed well before the 4hr. period.  I am just so confused with her, and hard as I try to keep her on a schedule, she seems to really fight it.  Even though she is my second, I feel so at a loss and like I have no idea what I am doing!  I am just hoping someone can offer some insight and help me with this issue.


She is breastfed with the exception of dreamfeed, which is formula.  I do not know how much she gets when she feeds, bcs she has the ability to take so much in so little time, but can also take as much as 10min to accomplish the same amount.  Her schedule is fairly consistent in terms of time frame, though she wakes at different times.  But here is her usual time frame:

E 7
A until 9
S 9-10:30 or 11am

E 11
A until 1
S 1-3 more or less

E 3
A until 5
S 5 (catnap until 5:30)

E 6:30ish
S 7

DF 10:30



thanks in advance
Meredith

[Jaime]

hi,

don't have personal experience with the dreamfeed, but your schedule looks great.  i'd wager that the df is just too late now, and you might want to move it sooner, to see if it helps

[merehart]

but is a 9pm dream feed too early?  Last night we did do it at 10pm, but that was after several hours of constant resettling; 

this girl's eating habits are just all over the place and I have no idea what to expect from her.  I know my first post was not all that clear, and I can see we have several issues going on here, I just don't know where to begin.  Its crazy bcs when we initially begin the BW schedule, she adapts beautifully for the first few days- everything falls right into place almost immediately.  Then within a few days, she changes it- she either wakes early and demands to be fed, or wakes early, or whatever!  I thought it was me throwing it off, but even when I try to be more rigid with it, she still fights.  I guess that is the spirited side of her...

thanks again

[Jaime]

yup - when you think you've got it all figured out, they go and change it on you!!  i think it's just to keep mom on her toes.   

personally, i don't think 9pm is too early though