BabyWhispererForums.com
EAT => Bottle Feeding => Topic started by: katkniep on May 26, 2014, 17:35:06 pm
-
Hi :)
My LO has been having a DF since 2 months and we're on the 4 hour easy. She wakes for a bottle at about 3-4.30am and it's slowly been getting later. She gets 130ml when she wakes between 3-4.30am and she drinks it all up and quickly, so i do believe she is very hungy!
I've been weaning for about a month and 1/2 but she's not taking more than 100g food at a sitting, but i have noticed the amount of milk she wants in the day time has been decreasing naturally as she's eating more.
What night feed should go first? DF or 3-4.30am, and when? I'm a bit confused as i've read so much conflicting information!
She's big at 9kg and takes about 230ml at 7.30pm and then about 150ml for the DF.
Many thanks in advance :)
Kat x
-
How much milk is she taking in 24 hours? If she is really hungry at that 3/4am wake up it could be that she is not getting enough milk during the day.
Up until she is 1 milk should be the main source of nutrition for her, she shouldn't be decreasing her milk until she gets near the 12 month stage. Solids at her age are meant to be an extra to her milk and are meant to slowly increase and then from about 10 months milk starts decreasing. Milk has more fats and calories than the early solids (which is what she needs to get through the night) so she needs to be taking at least 24oz, most babies are taking 24-32oz at this age with some solids although some need more.
For now, rather than working on cutting a night feed I would look at getting her daytime milk intake back up to where it was (or more if she needs it!). You can do this by making sure that milk feeds come at least an hour before solids and reducing how much solids she gets. If you are offering 3 "meals" I would cut this back to 2 for a couple of weeks - many babies don't get to 3 meals until 8/9 months or later.
I think that if you can increase that day milk, with a dreamfeed you could well fine that she naturally stops waking for the nightfeed.
What do you think?
Laura
-
Hi Laura,
Thanks for replying so quickly! :)
I should have added that she has always woken for this morning feed (before solids were introduced), it used to be twice, but since the 4 hour easy she only wakes once.
She is being offered 3 meals a day and the milk feed always comes about 1 hour before the food - i keep that on the 4 hour schedule. She's reduced the amount she drinks herself without any cutting back from me
She's gone down to drinking about 32oz/950ml a day now, before solids she was drinking about 40oz, she is a big baby - was 4175g at birth!
I could just offer 2 meals a day again and that would increase her milk again and see how that goes.
It was just that i read that the DF should be weaned in the 7/8 month before it becomes a habit so i'm a little concerned :)
Kat x
-
The DF is generally weaned by about 8/9 months but some babies do need it a bit longer. She is taking a decent amount of milk in 24 hours which is good!
See how she goes if you do cut back to 2 meals. I think I would wean the NF first and then tackle the DF, she's only having a small bottle then and it could well be habitual waking at that time now. I feel that reducing the bottle bit by bit is a good way to wean that feed, you offer 30ml less and then resettle for 3 nights, then drop the bottle by 30ml for the next 3 nights etc. Once the bottle is gone if she wakes you just offer a sip of water and resettle.
Have a look at this link for how to stop the DF. Cluster & Dreamfeeding FAQ's - Starting, how to do it, stopping & problems
Laura
-
Thanks Laura :)
I've cut back the solids to 2 feeds today so will see how that goes for a while.
Because she's waking at different times in the morning for the feed and drinking it up, is that habitual? I did cut back the amount a couple of months ago to 120ml. Can babies of this age go that long without a bottle?
kat
-
I thought she was waking around the same time, not a totally random time? If she is waking and needs even that small feed to get back to sleep I'd say it was a prop/ habitual feed and you are better off weaning it. If you want to keep both the feeds and see if she drops them by herself when her milk intake increases again and she starts taking more solids then that's fine too :).
Yes babies can definitely go that long, some babies drop night feeds by themselves as young as 6 weeks so go from a DF to morning. At this age my DD didn't have a DF, so she would sleep from her 7pm bottle until about 2am so that was 7 hours and then her first bottle of the day would be about 7/ 7.30am. We weaned that NF at 8 months.
Laura
-
Hi :)
I wasn't sure whether 3 - 4.30 is around the same time? Some times it's been 2am as well, but 99% 3 - 4.30am. Although saying this, my husband had night duty the other night, she woke up and he resettled her without a bottle, but then she woke at 5am hungry!
Ahh i wasn't sure if she could go that long, another moderator on a board here wrote that babies of this age still need feeding every 4 hours even at night.
I've dropped the last solid meal in the day and increased milk, funnily enough she's become a lot more peaceful at night, she was stirring quite a lot!
-
Ahh i wasn't sure if she could go that long, another moderator on a board here wrote that babies of this age still need feeding every 4 hours even at night.
Some babies will, especially breast fed babies as breast milk is digested a lot quicker than formula. Formula fed babies don't tend to need night feeds as long a BF babies do but again, they are all different!
Glad she is a bit more settled, see how things go over the next few nights!
Laura