Diary of a dreamfeed wean!

[* Paula *]

Wow I did not know the guidelines were different in Belgium.

Yeah, I would definitely wait the 5 days and see how you get on from there.

Hugs, I hope things improve soon for you.

[Mom_to_L&S]

I will do that then and try your schedule tomorrow. How many grams of protein can you offer according to the guidelines? Hopefully she will stop waking at 11pm out of her own, fingers crossed.

Having spoken to lots of BW moms in my BC, I have found that there are insane differences all around the world when it comes to nutrition for babies. Really puzzling!

Hang in there, I'm rooting for you here

Sophie x

[* Paula *]

To be honest I have never heard of only being able to offer a certain amount of protein a day - My DS had protien twice a day from the beginning when we introduced solids. If you would prefer not to offer protein again, you could always leave the protein out, and stick with veggies etc, and just make the meal a bit bigger.

Let us know how tonight goes.

[Mom_to_L&S]

Well, to be honest, I don´t really follow the Belgium guidelines entirely since I believe they are pretty outdated and so different from our surrounding countries. They also say no dairy untill 1 year but I´m feeding Lena yogurt every day 

Yesterday, she had a great nap-day and ate very well. Screaming fit at bedtime though and it took her untill 7.45pm to settle, definately SA there. I WI/WO my socks off.

Lena woke up around 10pm already  but was still half asleep and just needed the paci, no food. She then slept untill 5am which I was very pleased about. She didn´t resettle though and I caved and gave her a 180ml/6 scoop bottle which she drained and then fell back asleep untill 8am.

She just ate a yogurt, refused any milk/cereal.

Congratulations on reaching your due date, hope things speed up for you now. I know how you feel, I went 4 days past my DD too and was induced. Hugs.

Vadensmommy, how did it go?

Sophie x

[* Paula *]

What time is her bedtime - do you think she could be ready for a bit later bedtime?  Just thinking here.

I am pleased that she re-settled for you last night.  Definitely sounds like a growth spurt - ride it out for the next few days and see how things go.

I have reached my due date and this little madam has other ideas.  Hopefully she will make an appearance SOOON.

Vadensmommy - did you start weaning last night?  How did it go?

[Mom_to_L&S]

Yeah, I think it´s a growthspurt too. I offered her a bit of milk before her morning nap and my reluctant drinker took it.
Her bedtime is 7pm. I strive for 12 hour-days usually. I think she is having SA because she was having her eyes half-closed and dozing off but everytime I left her room, would pop her eyes open and scream, well it was more shrieking, actually.

Sophie x

[* Paula *]

Yup definitely a growth spurt, especially if she usually refuses milk.

7pm is a good bedtime.  If your lo is suffering from SA, you could always try putting her down, and sitting by the side of her cot with your had on her back or tummy not looking at her, but just letting her know you are there.  And every few days, you could just move further and further out the room until you are out of the room completely.

[Mom_to_L&S]

Thanks for the advice. Hope this is not too OT but I read up a bit on SA and it indeed suggested to stay in the room untill LO is asleep, like you say.
But my LO is Textbook/Spirited and the Spirited mostly translates to naps and bedtimes where she is so alert that even the slightest detail, sound etc will attract her attention.
I have had to do TONS of sleeptraining when she was still tiny to teach her that the world doesn´t go anywhere while she naps. She has been an excellent napper for months now and our winddown is very short and minimalistic, a.i. that I just don´t speak to her, don´t sing, don´t caress, don´t pat since this just keeps her too awake. I just put her in sleeping bag, sit for a few minutes in her darkened room, put her in her cot and then leave immediately since she would keep checking if I´m still there if I stay in there.

Now with this SA, I´m a bit umpf as to how to deal with it, she cried a lot yesterday and I really dislike that. WI/WO worked but yesterday, it took longer than usual. In addition to being scared, she also got angry because I kept leaving, I think. Do you know what they recommend for Spirited sleepers in this regard?

Sophie

[* Paula *]

Hmmm I am stumped now.  Your best bet would be to pop over to the sleep boards, or have a look on the FAQ's sections there to see if they have any other recommendations for Sprited lo's.

If WI/WO worked yesterday, do you think that it may take a shorter time today? 

[vadensmommy]

Sorry, I've been out of pocket for a bit.
Last two nights (so Night 1 and 2)
We fed dd 4oz at 10:00 (she'd previously been taking 5oz at 10:30).  Both mornings she has slept later than she has in the past few weeks - 6:30 instead of 5:30 which is great because 6:30 is our ideal wake up time. 
She still hasn't been super interested in eating/bottles, but we've only dropped one oz so we'll see how things go.
She continues to FIGHT her sleep - not just naps, but bedtime too.  I really think she is teething as she is gnawing on an ice cube in a safe feeder currently and loving it.  Well now she is rolling around to get places - her way of crawling.  Once she's asleep however, she has slept great - last night was from 5pm to 6:45am with two DF.  She only took 2x30min naps and was exhausted by 5.  I had to wake her at 7 for her last bottle of the day which she downed in about 10minutes (7oz) and then dh did the lessened DF at 10 which she also downed, and didn't hear from her until 6:45 so we both slept in a bit and I was just late for work   I have sent her with a little more breakfast the last couple of days to the sitter just for good measure, and I am trying to make sure she does supper consistently.

How many days do you wait between decreasing the # of ozs?  I will probably do 3oz next and have dh do it at 9:30.  Tonight will be night #3 with this amount, and I thought about doing 3oz tomorrow night, how does that sound??

[Mom_to_L&S]

Sounds like she is doing great 
I did 3 nights with the same amount of oz and then dropped 1 oz, did that for 3 nights etc.
When I was down to 1 oz, she refused to drink it the 3rd night so we were done!
It took a few days for her appetite to increase during the day too, so I wouldn´t worry about it just yet, give it a little time.

Paula, last night we did the sitting with her at bedtime untill she dropped off and it actually worked, no tears and Lena was asleep within 15 minutes  Thanks for the reassurance.
No waking for food at 11pm either, so I´m guessing the growthspurt is subsiding. I´m still going to keep her calories up during the day though.

Hope you are feeling well,

Sophie

[* Paula *]

Vadensmommy - that is fantastic news - sounds like things are looking up  .  I agree with Sophie, I would do it for 3 days before dropping the next oz, and then do that one for 3 days etc.   I am so pleased that things are going so well.

Sophie, that is great - I am so pleased that last night went so well and that she slept so fantastically for you.  Keep us posted 

[vadensmommy]

Well hmmm,
last night was an interesting one and I'm not quite sure what to do next.  DD took one 1.5hr nap yesterday between around 12-1:30 because she was at the sitters for both naps because I had a continuing education seminar to go to.  So I got her home late afternoon and tried and tried for a catnap, but she wouldn't go to sleep.  So again she finally passed out "early" for the night around 5:30 while eating her last bottle.  Had some errands to run, so dh was home when she woke up about 45min later.  Not sure how long she stayed up, but dh ended up feeding her about 4more oz at that time to get her to go back to sleep - so her "df" was while she was awake around 7pm.  I decided not to feed her the df because she'd sort of had it really early.  She woke at 4 and cried for about a minute, but woke for the day at 6:10 with NO NIGHT FEEDINGS    Very exciting.  The sitter says she ate great today, AND finished her 10:30 bottle with the sitter which she NEVER finishes, has had a great pm nap today, although no am nap. 

But now what do I do tonight.  I am thinking about going back to 3oz at 9:30pm tonight, but since we didn't last night, I don't know about tonight.  I might have to wait and see how she does with supper tonight.  She still hasn't done supper consistently because she's been so tired so early, and is too tired to eat.  What do y'all think?

[* Paula *]

It is completely up to you.  Some mums have had great sucess with dropping the DF cold turkey.

Make your judgement on how her solid intake goes this evening and then decide.

Good luck.  Keep us posted on how you get on.

[Mom_to_L&S]

Hi Vadensmummy,

I'm a day late in replying so I don't know what you ended up doing but here's my 2 cents (even though I'm not a mod here, I'm still butting in, lol)

If it were me, I'd have gone ahead with the 3oz DF and continue the weaning. It sounds like that day was an off-day regarding naps, early bedtime, extra bottle early in the evening etc. so I wouldn't count that as a weaning day but as a day where you just followed your LO's rythm and get back on track today.

Remember that I started weaning the DF when Lena was drinking VERY poorly during the day. A bit of a risk and I had feared horrible NW but it worked like a charm.

Over here, things are going great; the growth spurt has subsided completely and she is back to eating her normal amounts, good naps and good nightsleep. 

Paula, what's the news from your front? How are you feeling?

Sophie x