Waking for dreamfeed?

[redpope]

Has anyone had their LO start waking right before the dreamfeed?  It seems like my LO has now started waking up right before I go in to give him his dreamfeed every night.  I do the dreamfeed at 10:30 and he started waking up between 10 and 10:30 as if it's in anticipation of getting the food.  When he wakes up, I've been giving him his paci and he settles right back down immediately and I try to not give him the dreamfeed until he falls back to sleep.  Any one had this happen?  How should I handle it?  I've thought about dropping the dreamfeed just to see what happens to see if I can get him past this habitual waking for it, or does it matter?  After I do give him the dreamfeed, he goes right back to sleep and then has an early waking around 4:30-5:00, which I can usually halt with a paci, but then he's up again an hour later, which sometimes I can hault with a paci, sometimes not.

 

[Peek-a-boo]

bumping this up for you

[judsonsmommy]

My little boy (7 months in a few days) has also been waking for his dreamfeeds. And he also wakes up a couple times in the middle of the night. I no longer feed him during the NW's. I typically just go in, pat him for a minute, and leave. I just stopped giving him the paci because he began wanting it up to 5 times in the night and couldn't self soothe. Now, eventually he falls back asleep, but sometimes it takes up to an hour. Ick. I will follow your post to see what kind of advice you get because I need it too!

[~ Vik ~]

Hi redpope   How old is your lo?  And do you breast or bottle feed?

Have you seen http://babywhispererforums.com/index.php?topic=54662.0 ?  There's a section towards the bottom on how to deal with a habitual waking caused by the dream feed.

TBH, my ds often woke for his "dream" feed.  Because I was bfing it was actually easier when he was awake, so I would just feed and he would usually doze back off and I would pop him back into his crib.  Hopefully some other moms who have BTDT will be able to jump on with some better tips for you!

[~Sara~]

From about 4-6 months, my DS was waking up in anticipation of the DF.  I tried doing wake to sleep anywhere from 30 minutes to 1.5h before the DF time in hopes it would right things.  I didn't have any luck until I moved the DF time to before he was waking for it.  We moved it up by 30 minutes, and lo and behold, the habitual wakings stopped.  For us, it was that the DF was disrupting his sleep when we did it at 10:30.

HTH a bit!

judsonsmommy--usually the DF is weaned starting ~7 months, as long as LO is eating well during the day.  Have you considered trying that to see if the NWs will go away (the link Vikki posted describes how to do it)?  Some babies just don't respond well to a DF at all, regardless of the time.

[redpope]

Sorry for not including more information.  My son is 14 weeks old and he is breastfed, although we give him the DF with a bottle of EBM.  After the DF, he doesn't seem to need to eat for close to 7 hours, we do hear from him a couple times in the early morning hours with what seems to be habitual wakings since he's satisfied with just a paci and maybe a shhh/pat or two...although as it gets later I start to wonder if he is getting hungry.  Would you ever just not do the dreamfeed one night to see what happens?  Tonight I might try giving it to him before he wakes to see what happens.  I do wonder if we're disturbing his sleep too much, he's typically in such a deep sleep when I get him out of his crib, that I wonder if it's the right thing to do... 

[~Sara~]

Would you ever just not do the dreamfeed one night to see what happens?

You could try that; but the chances are still very high that LO will need to eat at night.

Tonight I might try giving it to him before he wakes to see what happens.  I do wonder if we're disturbing his sleep too much, he's typically in such a deep sleep when I get him out of his crib, that I wonder if it's the right thing to do...

I'd try the earlier DF time first, tbh.  Just give it ~3 days to see if it's making a difference before cutting it out.  Just my two cents' worth   If you're doing the DF in a good part of his sleep cycle (the deep sleep part), then it shouldn't disrupt his sleep afterward.

Good luck--let us know how it goes!

[~ Vik ~]

Did you try it any earlier last night?  Did it make a difference?

[redpope]

Well, last night he was very restless, so I'm not sure if it was a good night to test it.  We were giving him his dreamfeed at 12 a.m...I know this is late, but I'll explain.  Before the time change we had been giving the dreamfeed at 11 p.m. and he was waking at 6 a.m. (after a couple habitual wakings), I actually want his wake up time to be 7 a.m., so when we changed the clocks, it worked out great.  We wanted to stay consistant with how he had been sleeping, so I actually kept his times the same - this is confusing, but basically he was sleeping from 7 p.m., DF at 11 p.m. and waking up at 6 a.m., so when the time changed, I started putting him down at 8 p.m., DF at 12 a.m. and waking up at 7 a.m...so for him, he didn't even have to acknowledge the time change.  The waking for the dreamfeed started happening before the time change.

Anyways, he's been waking up around 11:30 now, so last night I was going to give him the DF at 11, but he was awake from 10 p.m. until after I fed him at 11.  Maybe he was extra hungry?  He also didn't nap well yesterday, so maybe that was making him restless.  I'll try again tonight.

Thanks for checking on me!  By the way, do you think it's too much to expect him to sleep from 11 to 7 a.m.?  I know it's a long stretch, but if I give him a paci during his EW's, he will go back to sleep until around this time...am I pushing him too far through his hunger in the morning?

[~ Vik ~]

Tracy always recommended doing the dream feed no later than 11pm because any later disrupted their sleep patterns - though I do understand your reasoning behind yours.  Here's an excerpt from BWSAYP (p119):

"Janet called me because her son was waking up at 4:30 or 5 every morning. “But l’m doing a dream feed,’ she insisted. The problem was, she was feeding four rnonth old Kevin between midnight and 1AM.  At his age and for his size (he was 8 lb. at birth), he should have been sleeping at least 5, if not 6, hours during the night. But because Janet was unwittingly disrupting his sleep with a too late dream feed, he slept fitfully. After all, babies’ sleep patterns are affected just like ours would be if we are disturbed or overtired. If we’re kept up, we don’t sleep soundly and are more likely to toss and turn."

 

Maybe he was extra hungry?  He also didn't nap well yesterday, so maybe that was making him restless.

Could be either, really.  There is a big growth spurt at 4mo (give or take) so you *could* be looking at that, but I bet OT is more likely.  Bad naps, even only one day of them, can lead to OT which can definitely lead to restless nights and early night wakings like you describe. 

By the way, do you think it's too much to expect him to sleep from 11 to 7 a.m.?

'
TBH, I think it may be.  It's actually very, very normal for an ebf baby to still need one (or even two!) night feeds in addition to the dream feed at this young age.  You also may find that once you hit that 4mo growth spurt that he simply won't settle without a feed.  Some ebf babies do STTN even at this young age, but more often than not they do still need to feed.  Have a look at this FAQ:  http://babywhispererforums.com/index.php?topic=98183.0 for more info

I hope that things are going well tonight