Exclusively BF..How do I drop night feedings?

[luann53051]

Hi there.

My four month old has recently been switching to a four hour EASY during the day.  I am trying to drop one of the three feedings that she takes at night.  How do I do that?

Laura

[daisymelan]

If you post an average routine of your day and nights it would be easier to help out.  Not knowing when the night feeds are, makes it difficult to offer advice. 

Sometimes there is one long sleep at night, then they need a feed, it is then easy to stretch out the next feed, pushing the earliest feed to the actual morning feed.

My ds slept through a feed one night, that's how I knew it was time to eliminate a feed and "help" him over the next few days.

[Samuel's mum]

A few questions:
Can you give an idea of the night schedule at the moment?
Is there a feed which you feel she is particularly hungry for or is there one where she doesn't take very much?
Ideally she should be indicating to you which feed she is ready to drop? Has she ever slept through at a particular time?

You could try with settling her to sleep using other methods like pat/shush and she if she does go back to sleep by herself for a decent interval.
You could experiment with starting a feed but giving her less than usual and breaking her off or only giving one breast, then you may need to use another method to settle.

I typed my reply at the same time as daisymelan posted!

[luann53051]

Here is a rough routine:

7:30 to 8:00  Wake and eat
8-9:30           Activity
9:30              Nap
11:00            Wake and eat
11-1:00         Activity
1:00             Nap
3:30             Wake and eat
3:30-6          Activity
6:00-6:30     Catnap
6:30             Wake and eat
7:30            Cereal feeding
8:00            Bedtime

11:00          Wake
2:00am        Wake (starving)
5:00am        Wake (starving)

I don't feed at the 11:00 feeding.  However, I have been feeding at the 2am and 5am just because she acts like she is starving.  For example, I will nurse on one side, then as soon as I take her off, she will start fussing loudly, trying to latch on again.  I know she doesn't need to eat that many times, and that close together in hours at night.  How do I drop feedings?  It would be heaven to drop at least one of them.  I am thinking that maybe I should feed at 11:00, then drop the 2am for now.  What do you think?

Just so you know, I don't do the dream feed anymore.  Everytime I have done that, my baby wakes up every two hours or so.  Don't ask me why.  Maybe now that she is into "more" of a routine at night, do you think I should try the dream feed again?  Maybe she will sleep until the 5am time then. 

Can anyone help???

Laura

[daisymelan]

Laura,

I couldn't do the dreamfeed early on either, but around 5 or 6 months my lo started taking it.  I would recommend trying it again.  But give it one full week to make sure she has had a chance to "catch" on.  It may bring on more night wakings to begin with, but stick it out for one week. 

After one week, I would reassess the situation.  You never know, she may have dropped on of the other feeds herself.  Wouldnt' that be lovely!?!?!

I think I would aim for around 10:30 or 4 hours after her last nursing.  Let us know how you make out.  I'll keep my fingers crossed for you. 

[daisymelan]

One more thing.  If you have a gassy baby and normally need to burp, I would do that for the dream feed because maybe that's why she woke up every few hours.  Usually burping at night only consists of holding htem upright and rubbing their backs.....  but you would know your little one best in this situation.

[CaedensMama]

We too didn't do the dream feed and started around 5-6 months and it worked then. We dropped the 1-2ish feed at that time and stayed at the dreamfeed and somewhere between 3-5 for another feed until ( ) just 2 weeks ago ( ) - I know I waited awhile, there were some reasons there though that made me wait.
When I just dropped the last 2 feeds I did them both at the same time and just offered the paci and a hug and laid him back down and he shocked me and has some wonderfully well. We have maybe 1-2 wakings a night and he settles quck and sometimes doesn't wake at all.

Hope that helps!

[Antoinesmom]

Hi, I agree with daisymelan. My son Antoine took to the df for a month (3weeks to 6 weeks old) and then he started waking up earlier after the df. He also wouldn't take much for the df. We stopped and I would feed him around 1ish in the morning and 4ish. Then, when he turned 3 months I reintroduced it  and he took on to it and ensured to up his calories during the day. He dropped the 2 am feed and the 4 am feed. As daisymelan suggested, try it for a week and reassess then

[luann53051]

Ok.  I am in the process of transitioning to the 4 hour easy.  She is now eating every 3 1/2 hours, instead of every 3 hours.  By this weekend, she should be on the four hour.

I tried bringing back the dream feed, and it didn't affect a thing.  Bedtime was 8pm, I dream fed at 10 (and she ate A LOT during the dream feed--emptied both sides!),  Then, she was up at 12am.    I tried to use the paci to get her back to sleep, and she kept fussing and spitting it out.  By 1am, I finally fed her, and she acted like she was starving. 

Then, she was up at 2am, starving, and 4am starving.  Arguh!  What do I do?  Do I continue the dream feed and see if this gets better?  Is this a sign that my milk supply is low?  Why in the world would my four month old need to eat at 10, 1, 2, and 4?

Help!!

Laura

[Antoinesmom]

Sounds to me as if she needs more calories during the day. When I started to switch my son to the 4 hour, I started to offer him a bottle of formula after he had been bf. YOu could pump in between feeds to up your milk production and offer that to her after her usual feed. Once  she has more calories during the day she may sleep better at night. How long does she feed during the day? Is she a good eater?  Earlier on I realized that my son ate better if fed in his darkened room without any stimulation, the extra calories from the formula also helped alot. What is you DD's personnality?

[daisymelan]

Hugs Laura,

I say stick with it for at least a week.  Giving it one night doesn't giver her a chance to figure out what's going.  Plus, you body needs to get used to producing a full feed at that time. 

Keep updating us.

[CaedensMama]

Laura - if you are on a 3.5 hour EASY and baby is happy I would not stress about it! We were there for a long while - 4 hours was just too long for my LO on most days. Keep in mind the 4 hour EASY is an ideal and does work for a number of babies, but the routine you are establishing is the key, not the clock. If you are successfully putting your LO down to nap and sleep without nursing to sleep and have established a good routine thru your day - I would stick with the 3.5 hours between feeds and maybe in a couple weeks begin to add 5-10 minutes every couple days and see how LO does to stretch it out. This will be easier on your body too.
I would stick the DF out at least a full week before deciding it isn't working - she may surprise you and get the hang of it soon. If you don't DF what times will she wake? We were are 1-2ish and 4-5ish with no DF I think at that age. The DF didn't work for us till closer to 5-6 months. Don't be afraid to try again in another month. That is when we dropped the 1-2ish feed.
One thing I reminded myself of - is that my sleep was just as important and if I was okay getting up for 10 minutes at 1 and 5 rather then fighting it this month, it was okay. Just because "everyone else's baby" sleeps from 10-6 with no problems doesn't mean I am a bad mommy because mine doesn't. It is very normal for breastfeed, esp the exculsive ones that don't do bottles at all, to take a little longer to sleep thru the night. You are being a wonderful mom and giving your child the best milk available! (Okay, I admit I am a little biased to the breast! ) -
Hang in there - you are doing a GREAT job!

[luann53051]

Thank you for the encouraging reply and advice.  I will keep you posted.

Laura