Stopping Dreamfeed

[Shawn]

We read the FAQ's page and had a few questions. If we choose to do the cluster feeding and continue to back off and 1 ounce and 1 half hour off of the dream feed. What is the conclusion to this. We keep backing off the ounce and half hour until we get back to the bedtime.

Our question when we get back to sleep time do you keep doing the cluster feeds. How does the baby get the same amount when breastfeeding if you take out the cluster feed or dream feed. It didn't seem real clear in the book.

Thanks for the help.

[MJMom]

How old is your child?  What kind of a routine is it that you are looking to do exactly?

[Shawn]

He is almost 6 1/2 months old.  We don't know what type of routine we are looking for.  We just want to eliminate the df.  Here is his current schedule.

6:00 wake and nurse
7:00 solids
9:00 sleep
9:45 awake
10:00 nurse
11:30 solids
12:45 sleep
2:15 awake and nurse
5:00 sleep
5:30 awake
5:45 solids
6:30 nurse
8:00 sleep for night
10:30 df (between 5-6 oz in bottle from Dad)

[MJMom]

Does he have a lot of solids when he eats?  Also, does he wake at all in the middle of the night?

6.5 months might be too young to eliminate the DF, but it depends on the child.  The thought is if you are slowly eliminating the ounces, then they start making up for it elsewhere.  Each child would resolve this differently.  Some babies will start eating more else where without the cluster feed if you eliminate the ounces slowly.  Others will need the clusterfeed, and then as their bellies get bigger, the cluster feeds start consolidating as well. 

So, not to give you a wishy washy answer, but it somewhat depends on your child. 

[Shawn]

He normally eats a couple of oz. at each feeding - combination of cereal and fruit in morning.  Veggies at lunch and then combo of fruit/veggies/cereal at night. 

He is inconsistent at night.  Sometimes he wakes up and sometimes he doesn't.  Out of the last 4 nights he's slept from 8:00 - 5:00 except for one night when he woke up at 2:00.  But when he does wake up, the only way to console him and get him to sleep again is to BF. 

We were going to do this gradually, take an oz off for 3 days and then continue that process as outlined in the book and other postings.  Right now we are doing the cluster feed.  We are flying to Atlanta over Thanksgiving and it would be good to have the DF done by then. 

He also is teething so that might be impacting this too!! 

[MJMom]

Teething could DEFINITELY be impacting this.  Have you tried Hyland's Teething tablets?

I think your plan basically sounds good.  Just watch your childs' cues.  They will tell you pretty quick if it's a good idea to give it up or not yet