ADVICE NEEDED: Should I start the dreamfeed??

[nikki_lou]

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HI there,

My DS is 10 weeks old.  He has  a cluster feed at 5.15 and 7.15 each night (bedtime is 7.30pm).  He wakes anytime from 1.00am- 2am for a feed and usually takes about 5 ounces.  He then sleeps again and wakes between 4am and 5am for another feed.  In this way he is doing  a 6 hour sleep stretch but from 7.30 till 1.30am. 
My question  is should I start to DF at around 11/11.30 and hope that this will stop his later waking and feeding at around 1am-2am? I dont mind getting up to do this feed and would not want to start feeding him at 11/11.30pm and then have him start waking again at 2.00am for a feed again.  Any others out there who have tried this, or any advice???

Thanks
Nikki[/list]

[PaulaP]

Hi Nikki,

I have just replied to your other posting, but was wondering what your lo's routine is during the day - i.e times of bottles and how many oz you lo takes.

Thanks
Paula - Mum to Thomas

[nikki_lou]

Hi Paula

His routine is something like this on a good day. 
He has now however started taking short naps of 45 min and sometimes only 20min!!! Which causes huge problems.  I have tried keeping activity time shorter/not as stimulating, but not helping  at the moment.  Only 1 nap a day is he able to put himself back to sleep for  a second sleep cycle.   This all started about 2 weeks ago, before then our  routine was wonderful and ran smoothly.  Now the shorter naps either mean that my routine is EASAS or if he does not sleep again after his short nap, I have to put him down soon after his next feed, which again has implications for the next cycle in the routine (hope this all makes sense!)

THIS IS THE IDEAL ROUTINE THAT I TRY TO FOLLOW:

E: Wake and eat anytime between 7.30 -8.00am (3oz)
A: 8.20am -9.00am
S: 9.15am - 10.45 am (has started doing short naps now so this time is shorter)

E:11.00am (3.5 oz)
A:11.20 - 12.15
S: 12.30 - 2.00pm (again this nap is much shorter now and spend ages trying to put him back to sleep.

E: 2.00pm (4oz)
A:2.20pm - 3.20pm
S:3.30 -5.30pm (again not always doing this).

E: First cluster feed 5.30pm (4oz)
A: 5.50pm includes  a bath at 6.45pm
S: Does not always do a nap here!  If I see he is very tired, might put him in the sling while I cook dinner and he does short nap, but this appears to be the time that he fonds most difficult to sleep)

E: Second cluster feed at 7.30pm or a little sooner if he is very tired.  usually has feed around 7.15pm and fast asleep by 7.30pm!!!

Wakes again between 12.30pm and 2.00am for a feed and drinks about 5oz, last few night though will drink up to 6oz!
Wakes again between 4am-5.00am takes about 3.5 oz and back to sleep again till about 7.30am.

As I said before this routine worked beautifully up untill about 2 weeks ago when his naps got shorter.  Now I feel as if I spend half my day trying to make him sleep longer and it often throws the routine out the window!! i am a bit of a control freek so I get very stressed when the routine is not going according to plan.  Any advice/suggestions would be great.  He weighs 12.12.  Do you think his is eating enough during the day?  To get him to take more during the day, I feel I have to force feed him.  He is putting on weight well though.

Thank you, I  look forward to hearing from you.
Nikki

[Muddy]

Hi there

I would definately recommend doing the dream feed at about 11 and try to avoid feeding during the night.  I started my little fella on EASY from about 9 weeks, and after a week he was sleeping through from about 7:30pm until 6:30am with the 11pm dream feed.  In the early days if he woke during the night, I just kept sticking that dummy back in his mouth to try to hold him out  until morning.  It was a bit rough for a couple of days, but I figured he's not going to starve if he's not given that 3 o'clock feed and hangs out until the morning.  He's almost 10 months now and our night sleeping is pretty darn good at the moment.  He is pretty good at coping with changes to our routine which helps.  He only gets the dummy when he's in his cot as well and has no 'attachment' to it.  Stick to it - it's worth it.

All the best.

M :wink:

[PaulaP]

Hi Nikki,

That sounds exactly how my lo was - also all over the place with his naps etc.  I say yes I do think that he is eating enough during the day as he would let you know if he was hungry.  When I switched my lo onto the 4 hour easy, I was worried that he was not eating enough as he was only having 4 bottles a day, but he is still sleeping through, so must be quite content. 

What I did was, if he fell asleep and was due a feed, I would wake him up for his feeds so as to not get out of routine.  Usually after his feed he would go straight back to sleep.

I know they say that you should not wake your baby up when they are asleep, but this enabled us to get into a good routine, and now he is always awake when his bottle is due or wakes up about 5 minutes before it is due.

I would not worry about the short sleep periods, my lo has never been much of a sleeper during the day, and usually on has about 3 naps a day, and these are really short, sometimes only lasting about 10 minutes - I call these his power naps as they really seem to refresh him.

If your lo is waking in the early hours of the morning, I would definitely suggest a dream feed then - this may enable you to get him to start sleeping through.  If this routine works for you - giving him a dreamfeed at around 11 - you should be able to slowly start reducing the amount you give him at night and then he should start sleeping through.

What I ususally do on my lo's last bottle is give him the option of taking a bit more i.e. I make up a 9oz bottle instead of an 8oz - sometimes he takes it and sometimes he leaves it, but it does help him last that little bit longer at night.  I also changed my lo onto the 2nd stage formula for hungry babies, and this also enabled him to go a bit longer.

Hope this information, helps - Let me know how you get on.

Regards

Paula - Mum to Thomas