Ideas for dropping a dream feed

[frac09]

Hello!

I've searched over the info on here about dropping a dream feed, but nothing seemed that good unless it was a bottle fed dream feed. Anyway, I would just like some more/other ideas of what worked for other bf babes.

My lil monkey is 8months in couple of days, weighing in at 20lbs and very happy!
He nurses in the am then eats breakfast, nurses around 11 then eats lunch, then nurses in the afternoon and then has supper. He often has a lil snack before supper too! Then he has a 6oz bottle before bed and a dreamfeed between 10-11.  I think it's time to drop the dreamfeed! He's eating a lot of solids and even likes feeding himself Cheerios and a few other finger foods.

I feel like just totally skipping the dream feed to see if he can make it, but I dunno! Or some suggest cutting back the amount of time i nuses but I hate the idea of going in there disrupting his sleep only to give him a min nurse and expect him to go back to sleep.

Anyway, what worked for you guys!

[Erin M]

Have you seen this? "How do I implement/drop the dreamfeed?"

We did much as described with my two who would take it, did it earlier and earlier -- when we got to around 9 I think we just dropped it completely and resettled. 

[amayzie]

We went COLD TURKEY!!! Basically it was at 6 months when i couldn't be bothered getting up for the DF (i'm very lazy) and he stirred one night then resettled on his own and so i ust left it! It worked fine... except 3 days later he had the 6 month GS and it was pretty huge! You should not have that problem

Basically- i'm not suggesting cold turkey will work for everyone... but it worked for us!

[eva026]

Cold turkey worked here too:)

[frac09]

Thanks ladies! He's gone three nights now with the dreamfeed dropped cold turkey. I guess I was just too chicken to try it and needed to hear that it worked for others too!

[Fiver]

Great update! Thanks for letting us know

[Erin M]

Great!

[amayzie]

Sometimes bravery pays off! You would have worked out pretty quickly if you'd made the wrong decision! That's the only think that was tricky with the DF- you don't know if they would have dropped that feed on their own if they were just doing it as a feed. I never wanted to test that!

[frac09]

I know! Not when your sleep is on the line! Haha!

[Tintinmum]

Thanks ladies! He's gone three nights now with the dreamfeed dropped cold turkey. I guess I was just too chicken to try it and needed to hear that it worked for others too!

So glad I find this thread! My son is 10 months old and I have been thinking to cut the DF for months since Tracy suggested cutting it at 7-8 month. But I was too scared about the early wakings and night wakings (which are still a problem).

Am thinking to try to cut it cold turkey- but a question for bf moms- do u pump before going to bed after cutting the df? Is it ok not to feed/pump for 11-12 hours? Would it affect the supply during the day?

[Erin M]

If you feed engorged you can pump a bit to relieve the pressure but I wouldn't do more.  Your supply should be well established at this point so you don't need to worry about that.