df question & possible crazy idea

[bessie26]

DD2 (18 weeks) & I just started dream feeds 3 nights ago, all going well, I can get her in & out of her bed without waking her & she latches on nicely. :-)

How long do you df for? DD2 feeds so slowly it feels like she could do it all night! I've been taking her off after 30mins, do you think I should wait longer to see if she does ever fall off herself?!

She's currently waking me up every 3-4 hours for a feed at night, so would it be a ridiculous idea to set my alarm to df her throughout the night? At least one of us would get a good night's sleep then! I thought I could start doing every 3hrs & add an extra 15mins on every night until she started waking before me? 

Is it a crazy idea?

[Khalam's Mama]

How long does she feed for in the day? I would give her that long. Or I might try to express and give a bottle so you don't have to spend so much time and be sure she is getting a decent amount.

Personally I have a ds her age and I keep hoping he will sleep longer and longer so wouldn't get into setting an alarm myself then you are just habituating the NF's I feel.

[bessie26]

She usually feeds for 10-20mins during the day. I'll try that for a few days & see if it makes any difference to when she wakes, although it's difficult to judge as recently it can be two or three times. It used to be once or twice when she was younger <sigh>

It's the worry of creating a NF habit that makes me think it is a crazy idea, but we are all happy to do it at 10pm?!

I was also hoping that by her having better sleep at night it might improve her daytime naps (currently only 45min long) but perhaps a few more days of having a good 7hr stint will help that anyway?

Perhaps I need to work out how to get more calories into her during the day instead...

[Khalam's Mama]

That is only really because you are up at that time anyway that it is done at 10pm so it is a way of making sure you get the max sleep. At this age they could be expected to go the rest of the night without a feed (8-10hrs) though I don't get that at the moment. At this age 45min naps can be developmental or a sign to stretch day feeds. Is she on a 4hr easy? She shouldn't be too OT if she goes straight back to sleep after the NF's.

[bessie26]

We've been doing 3.5hr EASY for the last week, am hoping to move toward 4hr this week.  She goes back to sleep after NFs ok, usually during them. She can be a bit sicky, so I have to hold her upright for 30mins after her feeds to give the milk chance to go down which is a real drag in the middle of the night.

Hopefully once she's on a proper 4hr EASY she'll start taking more in during the day & the NW will reduce.  DD1 was sleeping 7-7 (not even a df) when she was this age!! :-o

[Khalam's Mama]

Does she have reflux? Have you tried elevating her head of the cot? My 1st was doing only 1nf with no df long before now too. Have you found the more to 3.5hrs has helped?

[bessie26]

Yes, she sleeps on a wedge (she slept 10hrs straight the first night she had it!) I have had her cot raised on books too, but she just kept sliding down the bed!

I'm not sure if she has reflux or not. Her symptoms seem to come & go, which would suggest to me she doesn't(?) I do winder if she's just eating too much! I'm seeing her reflux-friendly GP again in a couple of weeks, we've tried gaviscon in the past, but it didn't help. I'm going to ask if there's anything else we can try.

[Khalam's Mama]

There are certainly other reflux options. If you are having to hold her upright for 30mins in the middle of the night it sounds significant. I was having to do this with DS before his reflux was under control (with gaviscon and omeprazole). It might be worth a post on the reflux boards about her sypmtoms to get some BTDT eyes on it too.

The other thing you could try is doing the Df 15mins later so you catch her in a different phase of her sleep and maybe she would eat better and quicker???

[bessie26]

Thanks, I've posted to the reflux board to see what they think!