Starting DF at 12 weeks?

[melloyello]

Just popping on to see if anyone thinks starting the  dreamfeed now at 12 weeks might be worth a try. For the last few weeks my DS has been consistently waking 2x in the night and the first waking has been getting earlier, now at around 12:30am (last night it was 11:45pm!) when he used to sleep a 7 hour stretch (sometimes more) every night and only wake once.. At first I figured it was a growth spurt as he was eating more during the day too but now it's been a couple weeks so I'm not sure what's going on? I feed him both times he wakes and he will eat for a bit but doesn't seem starving or anything and then is not really hungry in the morning. I wonder if doing the dreamfeed at 10:30 or so might encourage a longer stretch? We tried it initially but it made no difference and he still woke a couple hours later but when we let him wake on his own he WAS doing a much longer stretch of first sleep, however not anymore. I'm hesitant to try it this late in the game for fear it could just encourage him to wake more and earlier in the night...

Here is our current EASY:

Wake and eat 7:15
Activity 7:15-8:30
Sleep 8:30-10:30
Eat 10:30
Activity 10:30-11:45
Sleep 11:45-1:15 (this nap is often disrupted as we usually are out and about here with toddler so he sleeps in his car seat normally)
Eat 1:30
Activity 1:15-2:30
Sleep 2:30-4:30
Eat 4:30
Activity 4:30-6
Sleep 6-6:45
E 7
Activity 6:45-8
Eat 8
Sleep 8:15

Then waking around 12:30, then again somewhere between 3:30-4:30am

Thanks for any advice!

*I should add he goes into his bed awake and falls asleep independently at bedtime

[MasynSpencerElliotte]

I wonder if the  difference in nw might be partly due to needing less day sleep (maybe close to dropping a nap?).  If I remember right average A times around that age are maybe 1.5 hrs so might be time to try a bit of an increase. Two nf's is totally normal at this age so I wouldn't be worried about that but I wonder if tweaking the day routine would get you that nice stretch of sleep again! I did find with my last DD that she had an uptick in nf's when she started getting mobile - was like she could not jam enough calories in the day! 

[melloyello]

Thanks for your reply

I guess I was thinking that since he's settling easily for naps and taking full naps that his A time was ok but that does make sense...

I'm wondering if I bump his A time up to 1.5 hours do I limit naps to 1.5 hours each + a catnap (so 3x1.5 hours + catnap) or just hope for three longer naps around 2 hours each? I think I could move him to 3.5 hours between feeds as he hasn't been as hungry lately.

[MasynSpencerElliotte]

I see you have a thread on nw's so I will stick with bf advice here and pop over there and read your other thread!

At this point (going to 3.5 or 4 hr EASY) many bf babies need a top.up feed as making 4 hrs between a feed is not always going to happen (and may increase nw if they start reverse cycling). I chose to do it closer to nap.time (but not feed to sleep) but some do it close to the first feed time too.

[melloyello]

Could you give me an example of how a top up feed would look within an EASY routine?

[michaeljacknnugg]

Following, interested to see too!

[MasynSpencerElliotte]

Lol my DD3 is not a good routine example.  Basically about 20-30 min before sleep time I did a feed and then had some A time after to avoid feeding to sleep, plus she usually needed a diaper change anyways. Alternatively you could do the top up 30-45 min after the first feed and then have some A time. My DD would never have done that though as she needed to be a bit more hungry! She had long A times though so it was easy to fit it all in.

[melloyello]

Thanks a lot! My LO has a mind of his own when it comes to eating and really hasn't responded well to a top up feed. If he's not HUNGRY he won't nurse. We're still doing three hourly feeds but he's seeming less hungry at them too. I'm worried he's starting to get his calories at night now as he's still waking 2x and eating quite a bit at both and is more fussy, distracted during the day when nursing. I'm hesitant to move him to 3.5 hour feeds if he's doing this at night but maybe if he takes bigger feeds during the day it would help? Once he unlatches during the day there is NO getting him back on!

[*Ali*]

I'd definitely try a DF and the slightly longer A times. Maybe stick with the feeds when he wakes from naps, whatever the time has been, and see how he does. Although many EBF babies may need more frequent feeds, my oldest didn't and happily went between feeds on EASY without top ups. You may have a good storage capacity and plentiful supply if he is happy and doesn't seem hungry before the 3-3.5hr feeds. his last nap will probably naturally shorten as his sleep needs change if you keep pushing the earlier naps a bit later over time.

[melloyello]

Thank you for the reply! I've been pushing A times over the last week and we're almost at 1.5 hours which seems to be getting him good naps. I understand average A times for 4 months is 2 hours (he's not 4 months for a couple weeks yet) so I'll keep gently increasing I guess until we get there.

He's always been an efficient eater and I do have a good supply so I think he does get a good feeding and then just isn't interested until he's hungry again which seems to be between 3-3.5 hours.

I'm going to give the dream feed a shot. I keep thinking he'll go back to his one night waking but it hasn't happened on its own so it's worth a try. I'm worried about it disrupting his sleep because other than the two feeds he sleeps soundly the rest of the night but fingers crossed it won't backfire!

[*Ali*]

Fingers crossed.  Let us know how it goes.

[melloyello]

So crazily enough DS (almost 16 weeks now) has slept through the night the last three nights, 11 hours with no night feeds at all! We tried the dream feed a few nights but it made no difference to when he woke (same as last time we tried it) so I just gave up. Then about a week later he does this! I've probably just jinxed myself by even talking about this... but what about my supply with STTN? He was previously feeding 2x most nights (so 7 feeds in 24 hours) and now with none we are down to 5 feeds in 24 hours. Is this enough to maintain a good supply? Should I pump at some point during the day or try and offer him an extra feed? He takes good, full feedings each time with the ways things are right now.

Any thoughts are appreciated!

[*Ali*]

It's  up to you really. You can maintain a supply with no night feeds yes. Or if you want to build a freezer stash you could pump just before you go to bed to make it a shorter period overnight with no feeds.