« previous next »
Pages: 1 2 [All]   Go Down

Author Topic: Waking up before dream feed  (Read 3526 times)

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

Offline KECA

  • BW Aficionado
  • ***
  • Showing Appreciation 1
  • Gender: Female
  • Posts: 124
    • Location:
Waking up before dream feed
« on: August 08, 2007, 02:50:15 am »
Hi there - I had been considering starting a dream feed for my almost 3.5 mth old...but the last 3 nights she has been waking up herself at around 10:30/11pm before I can get to her.  Is this ok to consider as her dream feed or should I be going in there before 10:30/11 and trying to do a true dream feed.  I don't want feeding to become a prop.
I have had some difficulty getting her to have the catnap in the late afternoon - so this may have something to do with it.  I'm wondering if we should be starting a transition to 4 hr EASY?

She has also been waking up more frequently during the night where she used to sleep at least for a 6/7 hour stretch, now seems to rarely do more than 2 or 3 hours without needing to be resettled.  Her other naps during the day are generally around 1.5-2hrs (with exception of the catnap).
« Last Edit: August 08, 2007, 04:43:59 am by KECA »
Logged

Offline momofclaire

  • Resident BW Chatterbox!
  • *****
  • Showing Appreciation 130
  • Gender: Female
  • Posts: 4239
  • No, I want to marry daddy!
    • Location: Lexington, Ky
Re: Waking up before dream feed
« Reply #1 on: August 08, 2007, 12:14:14 pm »
How long has she been waking more often?  Could you post your current routine?

At her age you probably should be moving towards a 3.5-4 hour easy.  Let's take a look at your routine now and see how we can transition smoothly. 
I wouldn't do a dream feed after 10:30. 
Feeding won't become a prop unless you are feeding when she isn't really hungry. For example, if she doesn't know how to put herself back to sleep and so you feed her to sleep you could end up with a prop.
Logged
[img width= height=]http://newtickers.bump-and-beyond.com/6/687/68748.png[/img]

Offline KECA

  • BW Aficionado
  • ***
  • Showing Appreciation 1
  • Gender: Female
  • Posts: 124
    • Location:
Re: Waking up before dream feed
« Reply #2 on: August 08, 2007, 21:37:43 pm »
She's been waking the extra 10:30/11 slot for almost a week now.
She's pretty much the standard 3 hr EASY starting at 7am and bedtime around 7:30/8pm.  I just have the worst time getting her catnap in the late afternoon because somewhere in the day we have usually had one of the feeds go 1/2 hour late and so her 4pm feed is often waking up at 4:30 and feeding and then she gets tired again around 6pm... maybe I should move the bedtime up?  I'm just nervous that the 6pm bedtime will result in a 6am wake time ... I kinda like the 7 or 7:30am wake time if I can be picky :)
Her main feed last night was at 1:30 (woke up around 12:30 and since I had done a feed at 10:30 I didn't think she would be hungry but an hour later she was still upset and when she fed she had a very large feed).  She then slept till 7am (waking at 5 and 6am but surprisingly resettled herself to sleep again - that's a first for her early morning wakings!)
Logged

Offline KECA

  • BW Aficionado
  • ***
  • Showing Appreciation 1
  • Gender: Female
  • Posts: 124
    • Location:
Re: Waking up before dream feed
« Reply #3 on: August 08, 2007, 21:43:08 pm »
I just looked at the sample 3.5 hour EASY and I had been thinking that the first wake time (at 7am) needed to be stretched to 2 hours and I had no idea if my LO would be able to do that - but I see that it's the 2nd awake time that you start stretching - I think we are probably already almost at the 2 hours already - I think I may try this 3.5 EASY - just not sure what the result will be throughout the night.
Logged

Offline momofclaire

  • Resident BW Chatterbox!
  • *****
  • Showing Appreciation 130
  • Gender: Female
  • Posts: 4239
  • No, I want to marry daddy!
    • Location: Lexington, Ky
Re: Waking up before dream feed
« Reply #4 on: August 08, 2007, 23:08:01 pm »
I think stretching her A times is a good idea.  It may help with the cat nap in the afternoon as well.  Resettling herself is a great thing at this age. 
When you did the feed at 10:30 had she woke or did you df?  Does she take much at that feed? What would happen if you tried to settle her instead of feeding?
Logged
[img width= height=]http://newtickers.bump-and-beyond.com/6/687/68748.png[/img]

Offline KECA

  • BW Aficionado
  • ***
  • Showing Appreciation 1
  • Gender: Female
  • Posts: 124
    • Location:
Re: Waking up before dream feed
« Reply #5 on: August 09, 2007, 00:14:55 am »
She woke herself at 10:30 - and she didn't take as much as a normal feed so I think she would easily be resettled - I don't think it's waking up from hunger.  Due to a longer wake time today, and her usual 1.5 hour nap, our schedule got bumped back - so she ended up going down at 7pm (after 2.5 hours of awake time - not ideal, I know).
Logged

Offline momofclaire

  • Resident BW Chatterbox!
  • *****
  • Showing Appreciation 130
  • Gender: Female
  • Posts: 4239
  • No, I want to marry daddy!
    • Location: Lexington, Ky
Re: Waking up before dream feed
« Reply #6 on: August 09, 2007, 00:35:49 am »
If she wakes tonight before the df I would attempt to soothe her back to sleep, feed at the next waking and hope that gets her through till morning. 
Sound like a plan?
Logged
[img width= height=]http://newtickers.bump-and-beyond.com/6/687/68748.png[/img]

Offline KECA

  • BW Aficionado
  • ***
  • Showing Appreciation 1
  • Gender: Female
  • Posts: 124
    • Location:
Re: Waking up before dream feed
« Reply #7 on: August 09, 2007, 08:00:52 am »
K - so she didn't wake up till 12:30 and so I fed her - she took a really good feed.  Now she's up again at 3:30...am so tempted to feed her, but I know she's full from her 12:30 feed so I'm trying to resettle her - it's taking a long time though.  Should I have tried to resettle her at 12:30 instead?
(recap - last feeding was at 6:45)
Logged

Offline KECA

  • BW Aficionado
  • ***
  • Showing Appreciation 1
  • Gender: Female
  • Posts: 124
    • Location:
Re: Waking up before dream feed
« Reply #8 on: August 09, 2007, 11:03:15 am »
So I gave in...ugh... at 4:10 and gave her the breast.  She took it, but not the same way as she did at 12:30.  I cut her off as soon as there was some slowing down and put her down.  With a little time she settled by 4:30.  Then she was up at 6:30am...  That isn't very good consolidated sleep...for either of us :)
Logged

Offline momofclaire

  • Resident BW Chatterbox!
  • *****
  • Showing Appreciation 130
  • Gender: Female
  • Posts: 4239
  • No, I want to marry daddy!
    • Location: Lexington, Ky
Re: Waking up before dream feed
« Reply #9 on: August 09, 2007, 12:50:48 pm »
K, I think I would have fed her at 12:30 because her last feed was almost 6 hours prior. The hope would be that she would eat and then go another 6 hours till morning. It is possible that she needs two night feeds.  :-\   I would keep doing what your are doing for a few days and note changes and patterns.  If you notice the 3:30 wake is consistant you could do w2s to stop it.  I know it feels like you are getting nowhere but you are.
Logged
[img width= height=]http://newtickers.bump-and-beyond.com/6/687/68748.png[/img]

Offline KECA

  • BW Aficionado
  • ***
  • Showing Appreciation 1
  • Gender: Female
  • Posts: 124
    • Location:
Re: Waking up before dream feed
« Reply #10 on: August 09, 2007, 13:59:59 pm »
Thanks so much for your help - I'll see what happens over the next few days and also see if the 3.5 hour routine will work for us.
Logged

Offline momofclaire

  • Resident BW Chatterbox!
  • *****
  • Showing Appreciation 130
  • Gender: Female
  • Posts: 4239
  • No, I want to marry daddy!
    • Location: Lexington, Ky
Re: Waking up before dream feed
« Reply #11 on: August 09, 2007, 16:53:38 pm »
Keep me posted.
 :)
Logged
[img width= height=]http://newtickers.bump-and-beyond.com/6/687/68748.png[/img]

Offline KECA

  • BW Aficionado
  • ***
  • Showing Appreciation 1
  • Gender: Female
  • Posts: 124
    • Location:
Re: Waking up before dream feed
« Reply #12 on: August 11, 2007, 07:22:01 am »
What a mess!
So our day went ok - here's what it looked like:

6am - awake, resettled
7:15 - awake
7:30 - E
8:45 - S
10:30 - E
12:30 - S
2:30 - E
4 - S
5 - couldn't resettle - so awake
5:30 - E
Bedtime routine
6:45 - E
7:15 - S

Now she has awoken this many times so far tonight:
11 - resettled after a bit of work
12:15 - awake
12:30 - fed
2:40 - awake (3:20...still awake - won't resettle)
???  Can just imagine what the rest of the night will be like!!

Why is she waking up so much?  There was a time she used to only wake up 1x at like 2:30 for a feeding...
This is VERY frustrating!
Logged

Offline KECA

  • BW Aficionado
  • ***
  • Showing Appreciation 1
  • Gender: Female
  • Posts: 124
    • Location:
Re: Waking up before dream feed
« Reply #13 on: August 11, 2007, 07:45:01 am »
So I finally just fed her (3:25) - and she took a pretty good feeding....maybe I'll be lucky and she'll sleep till 7 now...*crossing fingers*

The thing is -the last few 7/7:30 feedings she hasn't eaten much at all - not sure how to change that up - so that she eats less during the night and eats a good meal at 7/7:30.
Logged

Offline KECA

  • BW Aficionado
  • ***
  • Showing Appreciation 1
  • Gender: Female
  • Posts: 124
    • Location:
Re: Waking up before dream feed
« Reply #14 on: August 11, 2007, 07:51:03 am »
Oh - and similar to Katiush, my DD has discovered her side and seems to enjoy going to sleep on it, but later I'll find her asleep on her back as usual.
And when she woke at 2:40am tonight - her blanket around her head was wet from spit-up.
Could either of these be playing a role?
Logged

Offline momofclaire

  • Resident BW Chatterbox!
  • *****
  • Showing Appreciation 130
  • Gender: Female
  • Posts: 4239
  • No, I want to marry daddy!
    • Location: Lexington, Ky
Re: Waking up before dream feed
« Reply #15 on: August 11, 2007, 13:40:24 pm »
Could she be going through a growth spurt?  There is a pretty big one between 3-4 months.
How did she sleep after the feed?
Not being able to get into the position she wants could cause her to wake. 
Logged
[img width= height=]http://newtickers.bump-and-beyond.com/6/687/68748.png[/img]

Offline KECA

  • BW Aficionado
  • ***
  • Showing Appreciation 1
  • Gender: Female
  • Posts: 124
    • Location:
Re: Waking up before dream feed
« Reply #16 on: August 15, 2007, 20:04:46 pm »
So everything went down the drain when we went camping this past weekend - but now we're almost back on track.  She tends to wake at around 12:30 and then again at 4am - both for night feeds...(going to be around 7/7:30 and up anytime between 6 and 7am).  We're pretty much on a 3.5 EASY.
Any recommendations on how to eliminate one of the night feedings?  And which one?
Logged

Offline momofclaire

  • Resident BW Chatterbox!
  • *****
  • Showing Appreciation 130
  • Gender: Female
  • Posts: 4239
  • No, I want to marry daddy!
    • Location: Lexington, Ky
Re: Waking up before dream feed
« Reply #17 on: August 15, 2007, 21:51:02 pm »
What happens if you don't feed her?
She may still need one of those feeds. How is she eating during the day? Does she take a full feed overnight?
Can you post todays routine?
Logged
[img width= height=]http://newtickers.bump-and-beyond.com/6/687/68748.png[/img]

Offline KECA

  • BW Aficionado
  • ***
  • Showing Appreciation 1
  • Gender: Female
  • Posts: 124
    • Location:
Re: Waking up before dream feed
« Reply #18 on: August 16, 2007, 01:57:15 am »
I'm not sure what would happen if I didn't feed her  :-\
Today went as follows:
Awake/Eat - 7:40
Sleep - 9:15
Awake/Eat - 10:45
Sleep - 12:45
Awake/Eat - 2
Sleep - 3:45
Awake/Eat - 5:15
Sleep - well, went down at 7:15, though didn't settle/fall asleep till 7:45...guess she was a bit overtired...

She eats pretty well during the day from what I can tell (BF) and the feeds at night seem to be reasonably significant.  I'm definitely ok with one feed at night - just would like to eliminate one.
Logged

Offline momofclaire

  • Resident BW Chatterbox!
  • *****
  • Showing Appreciation 130
  • Gender: Female
  • Posts: 4239
  • No, I want to marry daddy!
    • Location: Lexington, Ky
Re: Waking up before dream feed
« Reply #19 on: August 16, 2007, 02:18:20 am »
Well then I guess you should try not feeding and see what happens.  :)
She may not have needed to go to sleep until 7:45 seeing as she woke at 7:40. 
Remind me again, are you doing the df? 
Is there a feed missing in your routine above?  Do you feed as part of windown? 
Logged
[img width= height=]http://newtickers.bump-and-beyond.com/6/687/68748.png[/img]

Offline KECA

  • BW Aficionado
  • ***
  • Showing Appreciation 1
  • Gender: Female
  • Posts: 124
    • Location:
Re: Waking up before dream feed
« Reply #20 on: August 16, 2007, 11:30:37 am »
Ah yes - missed mentioning that one - there was a feed at 7pm - no dreamfeed at this time.
So far tonight she has been up at 10:15pm (not resettled till 10:45) and then up at 1:30am (fed) and up again at 3am for a good 40 minutes and then up again at 5 for another 45 minutes or so.  I did not do a 2nd feed this time and she seemed to manage that ok.
She doesn't cry to any extreme, just fussing.  Sometimes I think she's asleep and so I go back to bed and then she starts up again.  I wish we could figure out how to have her sleep a big more soundly.  I'm starting to think she's just going to be one that doesn't sleep so great at night...
She ate a really good feed at 6:50am.
Logged

Offline momofclaire

  • Resident BW Chatterbox!
  • *****
  • Showing Appreciation 130
  • Gender: Female
  • Posts: 4239
  • No, I want to marry daddy!
    • Location: Lexington, Ky
Re: Waking up before dream feed
« Reply #21 on: August 16, 2007, 17:55:50 pm »
If she isn't really crying, I would wait and give her the chance to go back to sleep on her own.  do you think a df would work well with her? Have you tried?
Logged
[img width= height=]http://newtickers.bump-and-beyond.com/6/687/68748.png[/img]

Offline KECA

  • BW Aficionado
  • ***
  • Showing Appreciation 1
  • Gender: Female
  • Posts: 124
    • Location:
Re: Waking up before dream feed
« Reply #22 on: August 16, 2007, 18:54:25 pm »
It's mostly a cough like cry - off and on.  She could do it for a long time...I would say at least 30 minutes - is that ok to leave her?
I tried the dream feed one night and woke her up when I put her back down...have been reading many posts on here and thought I'd leave it be.  Do you think at this age it's possible that if I gave her a dreamfeed she could make it from 10:30/11pm to 7am?
Logged

Offline momofclaire

  • Resident BW Chatterbox!
  • *****
  • Showing Appreciation 130
  • Gender: Female
  • Posts: 4239
  • No, I want to marry daddy!
    • Location: Lexington, Ky
Re: Waking up before dream feed
« Reply #23 on: August 17, 2007, 00:34:58 am »
It is fine to leave her while she is fussing of and on just make sure to go to her when she cries.  I am sure you can tell the difference in her cries. 
I had a lot of luck with the df but not everyone does.  It is a trial and error thing.
Logged
[img width= height=]http://newtickers.bump-and-beyond.com/6/687/68748.png[/img]

Offline KECA

  • BW Aficionado
  • ***
  • Showing Appreciation 1
  • Gender: Female
  • Posts: 124
    • Location:
Re: Waking up before dream feed
« Reply #24 on: August 17, 2007, 12:20:50 pm »
What is a Mom to do???  I'm sooo confused!

Yesterday's day went as follows:
Awake/E - 6:50
S - 8:30-9:45
E - 10 (Dad fed her with bottle as I was away, it's been awhile since she has fed from a bottle and didn't take much apparently and was a mess for her entire wake time - cause she was hungry but Dad couldn't get her to drink any more than 2-2.5oz)
S - 11-1
E - 1
S - 3-4:45
E - 5
Bedtime Routine - 6:20
E - 6:30
S - 6:50pm

So that went ok...
THEN the night...
Awake at 10:30 - left her to resettle herself - took approx 15-20 minutes
Awake at 1 - fed
Awake at 2:30 - left to resettle herself - took approx 15-20 minutes
Awake at 4 - left to resettle....fussed for 20 minutes, then for the next hour fussed off and on with quiet periods.  We have a video monitor and so were able to see that she was just looking around and playing with her legs/feet.  Finally by 5:30 I though maybe she wasn't going back to sleep cause she was hungry (though I really wasn't sure I believed it cause she wasn't crying significantly...but could NOT figure out why she'd still be awake)  She smiled when I got to the room - not crying for food...but I still fed her ...a little... and then wanted to play and talk.  I put her back down and she stayed awake till about 6:10!
I was so confused.  I thought maybe since I had been feeding her at 4 for about the past week (with the exception of the night before last) that maybe she was hungry and waiting for me to feed her... but it really didn't make sense cause she wasn't crying significantly...but I didn't know what to do!!
So I set my alarm to wake her at 7:30 to ensure that she knew that was daytime.  She fed well and is as happy as can be!

Should I really have just continued to leave her?  Why would she be awake for so long in the middle of the night???

This parenting stuff around sleep is so confusing for me!!!
Logged

Offline KECA

  • BW Aficionado
  • ***
  • Showing Appreciation 1
  • Gender: Female
  • Posts: 124
    • Location:
Re: Waking up before dream feed
« Reply #25 on: August 18, 2007, 09:12:37 am »
Same thing tonight - minus the 10:30 waking... but instead woke at 12:15 - so fed her early...then up again at 2:30, now again at 4:30 - not serious crying - but still crying off and on...went in for a bit, but she doesn't seem to need resettling as she goes quiet the minute I'm in there - wanting to smile and just looking around...
she's almost 4 months...*sigh*
Logged
Pages: 1 2 [All]   Go Up
« previous next »