Diary of a dreamfeed wean!

[* Paula *]

Hugs Sophie,

Sorry about the bad night - Hope that she naps well for the rest of the day and that you get a good night tonight.

Please keep us posted.

[Mom_to_L&S]

Thank you 

She napped brilliantly this afternoon (2H) and is in good spirits, fingers crossed for tonight!

Sophie

[* Paula *]

Keeping my fingers crossed for you

[Mom_to_L&S]

Night 6 : 90ml/3 scoops DF, 1 NW at 3am, resettled quickly though.

Morning Day 7 : Awake at 6am, clearly hungry again, so fed her, drained bottle.

THEN she dozed off again, so I climbed back into bed as well without setting the alarm (not working today) thinking sheīd sleep untill 8am-ish like Monday-morning but she woke me at 8.45am!!! 
I hadnīt planned on starting the day quite so late. Iīm just going by her A-times now and she just started her lunchnap at 3pm now. Still aiming for a 7.30pm bedtime at the latest.

I have a question though :
* Should I try to get more calories in during the day so she will not wake for food at 6am anymore?  I mean, I am pleased that she is drinking her bottles completely again but in reality, when the DF is out of the picture, she should have achieved an increase in food-intake, right?
Right now, she is drinking much less DF and drinking her old amounts of milk (when I say "old", I mean the amounts she drank before her appetite dissapeared and she was drinking half bottles).
So Iīm thinking I should get more calories in now.

This morning, after she had woken up, I offered her a baby-yogurt which she fully ate. At 12 she had lunch (veggies/salmon), which she ate completely as well.
Will this eventually result in her sleeping untill 7am again (which she has done for months and was our normal starting point of the day)

Thanks,

Sophie

[em_here]

Hi there Sophie, does she drain the bottles you make? If so you could increase them all by an oz and see how that goes.  Well done, sounds like things are going great.  I imagine if you increase the milk intake you should see a change, and as solids naturally increase she should be able to go until 7am

[* Paula *]

I agree with Emma, I would increase the bottles by an oz each and perhaps even her last bottle by 2 oz just incase she wants to take a little more.

You could also try offering a yogurt after meals etc as a pudding to fill an extra gap.  That way you are getting extra calcium in her too.

Wow - How I miss those 8:45 wake ups - could really do with a few now    Glad you got a bit of a lie in.  If she goes to bed a little later tonight, it will still be worth it 

I am pleased that things are going so well.  Do keep us posted.

[Mom_to_L&S]

Evening + Night 7 : Following your advice, I offered her 2 oz more of which she drank 1 so that was great!
DF 60ml/2 scoops

1 NW at 1am, settled quickly and then slept on untill 7.15am! No early wake-up! 

Morning + evening Day 8 : This morning and tonight, she didnīt drink her bottle completely, though, left 50ml in each bottle.
Weīll see how it affects her nightsleep but Iīm not too worried about it since it may have been just a fluke and a day with less appetite.

Will keep you guys posted and thanks for the support, it really means a lot 

Sophie

[em_here]

You are very welcome, we are here for you.  Sounds like you are doing good

[* Paula *]

That is fantastic news - sounds like things are going in the right direction.

[Mom_to_L&S]

Evening + Night 8 : Like yesterday, she didnīt finish her bottle, let alone accept an extra oz like she did 2 days ago.
DF again was 60 ml/2 scoops (2oz) and she only drank 40ml! (1,5oz) I was very pleased with this since this means she is used to not drinking that late anymore (even though she is asleep while she drinks).
The night was good, 1 NW at 4am though that lasted untill 5am when she started crying and whining ( her cue for food)

Morning Day 9:I fed her at 5am, she only drank about 150ml (5,5 oz ) though BUT she slept in untill 8.15pm when I let her drink some formula out of a cup and fed her a yogurt.

Even though I am liking the sleep-ins, lol (and Iīm sure DH will too now that itīs almost weekend), I liked yesterday better, when she slept untill 7.15am (our normal start of the day). Because then, she can be fed and up and going instead of this drinking and then sleeping again.
Iīm hoping her appetite for the 6.30pm-bottle will increase again so sheīll hopefully last longer.

Again, I have a question :
When do I stop offering DF now? Is it needed to go all the way down to 1 oz/1scoop for 3 days, starting tonight?
So far, I have done :
3 nights 4oz, 3 nights 3oz, 3 nights 2oz.

Thanks,

Sophie

[* Paula *]

I would personally go with the 1oz 1 scoop for a few days - especially since she is still waking in the night, and having an early wakings.

See how it goes.

[Mom_to_L&S]

Thanks, Paula, I will offer 1 scoop tonight.

I didnīt do it last night since she was sleeping so deeply and I didnīt really think the 1 scoop was going to make much of a difference.

She has 1 NW at 1am and settled quickly, themn awake at 6am to drink a full bottle and then slept in again untill 8.30am when we started our day.
Her appetite during morning and evening bottles is still only a 180ml/6 scoops (think thatīs about 5,5oz).

Sophie

[em_here]

This story is great, really shows how weaning the DF can work well.

Well done you!

[Mom_to_L&S]

Evening + Night 10 : At 6.30pm, she had a 180ml/6 scoop (5,5oz) bottle, there were 2 more scoops in it but she didnīt want any more.
Following Paulaīs advice, I offered a 1oz/1scoop DF at 10.30pm but she refused the bottle after a few sips! Great news, I think 

The night was a bit off because loud sirens woke us all up around 4am  and Lena couldnīt find her sleep anymore after that, she tossed and turned for about an hour and then I fed her at 5.30am. She only had about 4oz/150ml Dang outside noises 

Morning Day 11 : After eating, she slept untill 7.15am which is when we got up to start the day. I was intending to offer a yogurt around 9am like we have been doing the past few days, but she was clearly tired and ready for bed at 8.45am, after only 1,5H A-time (she usually has 2H30M - 2H45M of A-time) and is napping now 
Iīm guessing this is due to the being awake so much during the night?

This evening, I am going to offer 1oz/1scoop for a DF for the last time and then we should be officially done! After that, I will keep working on getting more calories in during the day thus hopefully going past the 6am wake-ups. The NW around 1am or 3am, Iīm not too worried about and I donīt think they are hunger-related since a little bit of PU/PD usually solves this quickly and she has been known for having spells of these NW in the past.

Oh and Paula, I finally found the Avent No.4-teet yesterday! She drank really fast with it, though and she seems to need some time to get used to it.

OT : I keep looking at your ticker, youīre so close now, how exciting 

Thanks for making this a sticky, Emma Lou 

Sophie

[* Paula *]

Sophie, I am sorry about the early waking - that is awful when it happens. 

Sounds like things are going really well and that Lena has adapted really well to the new routine.  You have done a great job, and this diary will help and give other mums encouragement on weaning the dreamfeed 

I am pleased that you found the #4 teats - if you find that she is battling with them, you can always try and sit her up a little more for a feed so that the milk does not hit the back of her throat too quickly.

9 days for me to go, and I am really feeling it - hopefully this little bean will decide to make an appearance soon 

Good luck for tonight - keep us posted.