Gets up at dream feed

[gpalasz4]

My 5 month old whom i started on this method 2 weeks ago still gets up at night! Now he gets up before i guve him his df!! I dont know if bu nursing him i am giving him mixed signals because the other times he gets up which is usualy 2 more times (2-4 or 2-5) li dont give him any more milk!
Also he has a really hard time to get bck to sleep on his own as i weaned the pacifier a week ago!!! I dont know what to do with so many night wakenings!!! Pls help!!!

[katie80]

Unfortunately the DF doesn't work for all babies and can actually disrupt their sleep more than help it.  What time are you doing the DF at? Can you also give us an example of your EAS routine? Something like this...

W/E 7am
A
S 9-10:30am
E 10:30am
A
S etc etc

Is your baby EBF (exclusively breast fed)? There's a good chance he actually needs more than one NF still. It's pretty common for EBF babies to have the DF and a NF (or two NFs) at 5mo and not drop one of them until they're closer to 6/7/8mo.

As for settling him back to sleep... is he an independent sleeper during the day and at BT?  What are you doing to help him get back to sleep when he wakes?

[gpalasz4]

Hello!!!! Thanx for the response!! The df is at 11 usually!! Today i got up 10 minutes earlier and just got up before me!!! Before he eould sleep through and wake up around 2! Now instead hes waking up for df and sometimes at 2 as well!!! My routine us the following:
6:30-7:00 eats
7-8:30-9 act
8:30-9 sleep (1-1.5h)
10:30-11 eats
11:30 act
12:30-1 sleeps (1.5-2 h)
3 eats
3:30-5 act
5:00 catnap (45 min)
7:00 eats
7:30 act (bath)
8:00 bt
11:00 df

Like i was saying since i weaned the pacifier its hard for him to self soothe but jas learnes to go to sleep on his own at bt and at naps unless he is overtired then i have to help him with the shhpatting! At night i calm him down with the ehite noises which pretty much always works!! I was nf until 3 days ago but because of the df that started ehen i started on easy almist 2 eeeks ago he wad so full during the day!!! Its like i tanked him up at night and before he was already used to only one nf!!! Yes he is only with breastfeeding exclusively!!! Any suggestions?

[katie80]

I think your routine looks good, although I wonder if BT is just a little too late.  After the 45min CN, I'd expect him to go down closer to 7:30pm.  He may be a bit overtired in the early part of his night sleep and that is why he's now waking at that time. 

As for the DF, Tracy thought it was best to give it between 10-11, not later, as later it can disrupt their sleep.  I'd try giving it at 10:30/45 for a few nights and see if that makes a difference.  If not, I'd just drop it again and go back to feeding him once a night when he wakes.  There are lots of babies on here that actually do better without a DF.

What do you think?

[gpalasz4]

Yes i would think bt is too but he eats at 7 and at 7:30 i give him a bath since it relaxes him so much and us ready ti hit the sack right away! Ill try ti get through it a little earlier!

About the df, the thing is if i do drop it im afraid hes going to wake up still fir that one since ive already been doing it for 2 weeks and turned into a habit i think! At first he disnt get up but now for the last 5 days he anticipates me and its like he calls for it!  But the minute he is getting fed he dalls right back asleep! The other thing if i fice the df earlier wouldnt that make him make up earlier too! Yesterday i gave it to him at 10:50 he woke at 5. The day before at 11:15 and woke up at 6. I dont know i dont really like the df at all cause i dont know if it will be harder to drop it later on or just make a habit out of it! And if i drop it give it to him at whatever time he wakes up??? I just dont want to confuse him bu changung him his routine you know, what do u think???

[katie80]

I don't think it's confusing him, I think it's just a matter of finding what works best for him and you.  If you want to drop it, you can just resettle him at that time and he should stop waking within a week or so (as long as there's not another reason for him to be waking). 

I think the fact that he's still waking at 5-6am means he's not quite ready to make it to wake-up (ideally 7am if he's going to sleep at 8pm) with the DF.  You can either feed him a small amount then and put him back to sleep, or give a full feed and then do a top-up upon waking or a little later.  This is a really common issue at his age.

You'll just have to figure out what you think works best... keep trying the DF at an earlier time to hopefully minimize the sleep disruptions for the rest of the night or stop the DF (resettling if he wakes) and then feed when he wakes around 2/3am.

[gpalasz4]

Im going away for holidays with both my kids for two weeks??? Do u rhink i should just stick eith what i was doing or just try and drop the df from now??? Hes been so cranky lately that i cant calm him down easy at all!!! Its very frustrating!!!

[katie80]

Hi, sorry for the delay in reply!

I would do whatever you are most comfortable with.  I always found I was much more apt to just get my LOs back to sleep the easiest way on holiday, so if I ended up nursing a time or two more in the MOTN, that's what I did. Hope you have a good time!