Diary of a dreamfeed wean!

[grahamsmama]

Uh oh ladies, I think we might be starting to wean the dreamfeed.  Without mommy's consent!  I love the cuddle time I get during the DF, but the last few nights she's been fussing (asleep but fussing) and refusing to take more than a few ounces.

Vadensmommy- Well done!  Sometimes my dh will ask me how the baby slept and I figure if I can't remember, then it must have been pretty good.  LOL

[vadensmommy]

Good luck grahamsmama!!  It really wasn't nearly as painful of a process as I had worked it up in my mind to being!  I know what you mean about missing the cuddles though.  DH often has to work very late (self-employed) and many days we're out the door before he gets up, and dd is asleep before he gets home.  So I got him to start doing the DF once I went back to work, and there have been many many days that is the only time he has gotten to spend with her, so I felt really bad about having to get rid of it-probably another reason we waited so long.  He seems to really enjoy that time as well.  But some things are slowing down at the office so hopefully he'll be able to get away a bit earlier and see her for a while before bedtime.  Good luck!!!

[* Paula *]

That is fantastic news that she is sleeping so well.  Congratulations on dropping the DF 

[vadensmommy]

Well just when  you think you have everything figured out . . .
DD woke up at 2:45am last night and I tried for at least 20min to get her to go back to sleep - very very unusual, and a very unusual time as well.  Ended up having to feed her - she sucked down 4.5oz - and only because I wouldn't let her have any more.  She did not feed to sleep, and when I laid her down, she instantly settled, closed her eyes, and I didn't hear another peep till 7:20am.  I am 90% sure this is a growth spurt - mostly because of how great she's been sleeping the last week or so - has taken 2 loooong naps every day, and has been sleeping really well at the sitters (also unusual).  So a GS makes sense.  Glad I have at least had a weeks worth of good - non DF or NW nights, otherwise this would have been super confusing!  I am going to try and get more solids into dd today, and hopefully that will help have no NW tonight for food! 

Paula - that is such a sweet picture of the two of your lo's!

Grahamsmama-how are things on your end with the Df?

[grahamsmama]

I don't know!!! 
Last night she would only take 4 ounces and was up at 5-something to eat.  That's not really ok with mommy.  So, we will see what she does tonight.  She's kind of starting to only want to take 4 ounces in all her bottles, so I'm not sure what's going on.  She's been really distracted and hard to feed during the day too. 

[vadensmommy]

yeah, 5am is never ok with this mommy either 
DD is also terribly easy to distract.  I have a really really really hard time feeding her anywhere other than in her room.  And there was at least a couple week period where the lights had to be off and the noise machine on for me to get her to eat well - and that was around 6mo.  Is she teething?  I seem to blame just about everything on teething, but she STILL doesn't have any yet!!  Ha!

[Mom_to_L&S]

Vadensmummy, the exact same thing happened to us : weaned DF succesfully for about a week or so and then, bam! a growthspurt. It lasted 5 days and all is well again now (well, aside from Lena messing up her rythm due to the clocks changing, but thatīs another horror-story for another day  )
Donīt get discouraged!

Sophie

Paula : That picture just melted me 

[* Paula *]

Thanks for the compliments ladies 

Vadensmommy - Definitely sounds like a growth spurt to me.  Thomas would sleep a lot when going through a growth spurt too.  Let us know how you get on with the increase in solids today.

[vadensmommy]

Well last night went fine, and dd slept through just fine.  She did stay up a lot later though, and therefor her last bottle of the day was more like 7:30pm - and it is typically at 6, so I don't know if that had any affects or not.  She slept till 7:15 this am which was fab - I was off work today, so we layed in a bit and I thoroughly enjoyed it.  Being at home all day more than just one day (sat) has helped me see there are things that are a bit awkward about our routine, and I'm going to do a bit more looking into timings of EASY for this age group.  I am going to try and do later nights this week, although it is hard for us to do later mornings, in order to try and not be up at 5:30 Sunday morning - when our clocks change.  Thanks for the encouragement!

[* Paula *]

That is great about last night.

Keep us posted about the later nights.

[mimicoto]

Hello all!  First, a big thanks to you all for posting your DF weaning experience...very helpful :-). At Paula's suggestion, I'm going to do the same (post that is ;-)  My 5.5 mo has been drinking less and less during the day for the past week or so, and although he hasn't started solids yet, my sense is that it's time to drop the DF.  He is on a solid 4 hr EASY, sleeps well at night, naps well - all that part is good.  But he is not hungry for his first feed, second feed...and lately 3rd feed.  He takes about 4 oz each time and then outright refuses the rest.  He takes his 7 pm feed reasonably well (about 7 oz) and DF well (6-7 oz) for a total of about 26-28 oz per day.  Thinking about it today, he did the same thing when it was time to drop last night feed.... He's a big boy, but has never really had a voracious appetite...that is to say, he drinks the normal amount and doesn't want more. Sooooo....

I'm going to give the gradual approach a try...started last night with 1 oz less and DF at 10:00 instead of 10:30 (it had already been at 10:30 for about a week - Papa was away and I was just too tired to make it to 11:00 - so I have a head start! :-)  It didn't affect his consumption today - so far it looks like this:

7:00 4 oz
11:00 4.5 oz
3:00 4.0 oz

and the rest remains to be seen...I'll post when I can to let you know how it's going...and if you're reading this Paula, congratulations!  I hadn't realized that Abigail arrived so recently!  So kind of you to have helped me out on the other board with such a new baby in the house - a big thank you!

[* Paula *]

Thanks for the congratulations  Feels like Abigail has been here for ages, I cannot believe she is already 5 weeks old.  Time flies.

With regards to the weaning - it can take quite a few days for you to start noticing any difference in the morning feeds, but once the DF is completely eliminated, you should notice a difference.

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

[vadensmommy]

welcome to the DF posts mimicoto!! 
I wish you the best of luck!  I know I was terrified to drop it, but it was SOOO much easier than I thought it would be.  You'll get some great advice from Paula - she is fabulous!!  I'll probably keep an eye on your progress as well   I will say this - it took a while for dd's daytime appetite to increase.  We were probably down to just a couple of ounces before I saw a change in her solids intake, so it may take a week or more for him to really start to up his daytime bottles, but who knows - each one is so different!  Fingers crossed with you!!

[mimicoto]

Thanks for your welcoming words and encouragement ladies    Lovely way to start....

[mimicoto]

Hello ladies (and gents of course ;-)  A quick update to let you know how the DF wean is going. We're 3 nights in and so far it is been pretty uneventful - which is great news    You were right vadensmommy - I'm not sure what lies ahead, but it hasn't been at all scary so far....no major NW, nothing out of the ordinary - however, I find his sleep has really settled into a nice routine - daytime naps are particularly good.  Here's what it has looked like so far:

*Note - you'll notice that the DF actually went up the 2nd night - b/c I had been offering 6 oz (1 oz down from his original 7.0 oz) and the first night he took 5, and the 2nd - 6 oz...

Night 1

10:00 DF 6.5 oz

Day 1
7:00 4oz
11:00 4.5 oz
3:00 4.5 oz
7:00 7.0 oz
10:00 5.0oz    Total 25 oz

Day 2
7:00 4 oz
11 4 oz
3:00 5.0 oz
7:00 5.0 oz
10:00 6.0 oz  Total 24 oz

Day 3 (today)
7:00 - 8:00 6.0 oz (it was in divided feeds, but he took it, which is a VAST improvement!)

The plan for the weekend is to reduce the DF by a further 2 oz and bump the time up another 1/2 to 9:30. Wish us luck!