how to - DF?

[shaylid]

Hi
I would really like to hear how people do the dream feed as i think i am stirring my 14 week old a bit too much for this feed, making it a night feed rather than a dream feed. I found that i have to stir him a bit to get him eating properly (which is still only half of what he takes during the day). At the moment i am unswaddling him and picking him up out of the cot - he goes into light sleep. some times he will open his eyes for a few seconds and drift off again and sometimes won't ope eyes. I make sure he doesn't go into any deeper sleep than the light sleep before i put him back down. I am wondering whether i am actualy APing and this is in fact falling asleep on the bottle. He wakes up at 2:30am and needs to be resettled and i wonder if this is the cause (am following this for a week to see if habitual). after he resettles he can sleep until any time between 3:30 and 5:00 - no real pattern there yet.
How are people doing the dream feed? what is recommended? how can i do it better?
Thank you.

[Lolly]

Hey there! We have never had much success with the dreamfeed with either of my two. Sometimes they would just drink a good feed beautifully while still sound asleep - as the dreamfeed should be - then not stir at all going back into the cot. More usually they would refuse to feed at all or just have an oz or 2 then wake up again anyway. We have stopped doing the DF with DD (and stopped with DS) and just wait for her to wake for a feed which she does between 1am and 2am then goes straight back to sleep most nights.

What time are you doing the DF? You could try it a bit later or earlier (but not after 11pm) to see if catching him at a different part of his sleep cycle makes a difference. If the 2.30 wake is habitual, wake to sleep should help with that. He could also be hungry at that waking as if you DF at 10.30 it is about 4 hours after a feed which is also why he is waking again soon. How much is he taking in the day - are you still on 3 hour EASY?

Laura

[shaylid]

Hi
I am not sure it is habitual - it seems to come at two consecutive nights and then a 3am or a 4am or a 5am. last night he woke at 3am and i thought I'll try to resettle for a few minutes and see... if not will feed. As i was trying to reswaddle him he went into a frantic state, so picked him up and even before i got the dummy in he was already dosing off... I do wonder whether it is hunger but would he settle and go back to sleep so easily if it was? some nights he will go back for another 2 hours. also, a few nights ago we had a couple of DF where he took 120ml - still woke up, one of those couple of nights at 2:30.

its an interesting question about the 3 hour routine. Only at the beginning of last week, he started to manage a 1.5 hour A time (before that he couldn't hold more than 1:10-1:15). also when he feeds at 4:00am (usually it is a big meal - breast) he isn't hungry at 7:00am, when we start the day. i offer the boob or bottle (depends if i become engorged - so i express) every 10 minutes until 8:10 (don't know if o.k but i make sure they'll be at least a 20 min A time after what ever he takes). he might take 30ml or not take anything at all. sometimes he will wake at 10:00 but sometime at 9:20-9:30 hungry again. i am mostly breast feeding (except lunch and DF) - so it is diffcult to say how much he is taking but it does seem that recently some feeds he takes in a lot and others not so much.
I thought of waiting a week to see that the 1.5 hours of A time is typical and then try to move on to a 3.5 hour EASY.
is it time for a 3.5 hour EASY? Does that usually have effect on the night waking?
another reason i think he might be ready is that yesterday over 2 naps he woke at 40 minutes, looked around his cot, smiled a bit, and was generally happy and then after 15-20 minutes dosed off again. usually if he wakes at the 40 minutes he would cry to him me resettle him.
so - is it time for 3.5 hour routine?

[Lolly]

It is possible he is ready for a longer EASY but if he has only just managed 1.5 hours A I would see how he goes for a while like you suggested. If you do manage to resettle and they are truly hungry they will usually wake a short time after, so if he goes back he probably wasn't hungry at that wake. At his age, another wake for feeding after the DF isn't unusual, in fact it's good he only wakes once!

Also, as you are mostly BF I would post over there and get some advice on feeds as totally formula fed babies generally manage 4 hour EASY before bf babaies as formula takes longer to digest so they can last that bit longer.

Laura