dream feeding making things worse?

[Fenella]

I'm back again sadly.  Although our nights had improved typical night has been 3am dummy 4amfeed 5am reflux wake sleep till morning.  The last few nights have been horrendous again the 3am dummy wake has pulled back to around 1.30am again and waking every hour.  He always wakes 1hour or so after a night feed with reflux discomfort but easy to settle so i was wondering if the time he wakes after the dream feed could be being caused by the dreamfeed.  Every now and again he has slept thru.  He naps ok during the day.

[Colin Macs Mom]

Sometimes the DF makes things worse rather than better. For some LOs it can disrupt the sleep cycles/biorhythms and cause more wakings. It did for my DS - the DF never worked for us. You might consider stopping it and seeing if that makes a difference.

[Fenella]

Last night didn't do dream feed but woke at 12.30am for a feed (didn't take any of his bedtime feed) then went straight back to sleep till 6am one of our best nights.  However tonight may be back to square one.

[smasheddragon]

Hello

I have always had night time sleep problems with mine & still do.

We stopped doing the df as we felt it was just disturbing him & he didn't actually need the feed although he gladly took it.

It really helped as it was waking him but also as he was taking it & didn't need it I think he was getting an uncomfy tummy after as he'd eaten too much. He never wanted breakfast the next morning.

We just stopped it one night, he woke but soon went back to sleep. The next night he woke again but a little later, then the same the next & then he was just back to waking his usual amount of times etc.

But if definitely helped us by stopping the feed.

Michelle

[Missie]

Hi Fenella,

I am amazed to see your post, because I just logged on to ask the same questions about dreamfeeds. Have you continued to drop the dreamfeed, how has it been since?
I have been dreamfeeding my DS since he was about 4 months old (he's now 8mth) and although we've had the occasional good night, generally I felt that his sleep after the dreamfeed was more unsettled.
Anyway, I'm back at work this week, and very tired, so last night I lay down for a nap at 9pm and I slept through the dreamfeed
However (and this is the amazing part  ) My DS kept the exact same times as you, woke at 12.30 - I gave him a feed (BF) and then he slept until 6am, which was great because I give him another BF before I leave for work. I'm wondering if I should continue this, and just allow him to wake naturally himself when he needs a feed.

Thanks

Missie