7.5 months - wanting to start DF!

[ENMS]

So our situation is 'unconventionnal' - DS is 7.5 months and not eating any solids really at this point - because of severe reflux and food allergies.  We're working on getting that fixed, but for now the result is that he's a hungry boy and drinks close to 40 oz of formula a day (depends on the day of course, some days he eats less).

He still has generally two NW's - one around 1-2 ish, and another one 5:30-ish. If it's 5:15 we can usually feed him and he'll resettle to sleep. 5:30 or later and generally, our day will start then. I don't think he's that hungry at that time though, but it's easier to feed and get him back to sleep 

So we're pretty much exhausted. Someone on another thread mentionned doing a DF - and I thought this was a fabulous idea!  I'm hoping that if we feed him then, he'll wake up later than 1-2 ish and then not wake at 5-ish. Is that a reasonable expectation from the DF?

So first off, he often has 9-10 oz in the last hour before BT. I assume I have to scale that down a little if I want him to feed around 10-11ish?

Also, the best time is between 10-11, is that assuming a 7PM BT? This is what we get, approximately.  We just pick him up while he's asleep, give him a bottle, and put him back down is that right? Is he supposed to stay asleep while I do that?

Thanks!

[Lolly]

To be hnest I'm not sure how it would work with an older baby. You would in theory pick him up while asleep, feed him in his sleep and then lay him back down. The age he is now is usually when you drop the DF and it can disturb sleep as much as help it, it often doesn't seem to work so well for refluxers too - neither of my two took to the DF. My experience with my two was that if they took the DF they actually woke more often after it than they did if I let them wake by themselves.

I guess the only thing you can do is to try it for a few days and then evaluate and see if it is helping at all. I would leave his bedtime feed as it is then you would be topping him up with the DF.

Laura

[babymunkey]

Hun, my thoughts are with Lolly - we dropped it cold turkey about 2 months ago because we suddenly twigged it was disturbing her sleep.

But also, agree the only way to know is to try. I would try to start with without scaling down his BT bottle and see. If he's not keen to take it, then try removing a few ounces from BT bottle and try that for a few days

Hugs for you - I can imagine you must be so tired with the 2 NFs still

[ENMS]

Well we tried it once, it didn't work too well, and then the next night he started waking for his NF around 4-ish instead of earlier, so that made only 1 NF, and we can live with that. So we didn't need the DF!

[babymunkey]

Yay! So really you're doing great - we're still on 1 NF. And 4 is really a perfect time as they're soo much more likely to go back to sleep.