Any observations over this night waking? 5mo

[ladymugg]

Hi ladies

5mo DS was previous dream fed at 10 pm, but one night hubby and I both went to bed early and set an alarm for the normal dream feed time (which we must have set incorrectly as it didn't go off).  Anyway DS slept til 11.45 pm that night!  (We had previously implemented the DF as a 10.30pm WU started happening and decided to take charge a little bit as we are usually 9.30/10pm bedtime people).  BT for DS is 6.30pm.

So we gave it a few nights and the night wakings definitely moved to around 12am ish - sometimes 11.30, sometimes 12.30... one or two times in the past week we have gotten to 2 am!  I had read after this that for some kids a DF actually can disrupt sleep cycles (although I believe it does usually work, as it did for my older daughter).  And after two weeks the dreamfeed is gone, replaced by the 12 am feed. 

So that 12 am feed pushed the next night wake up to around 4 am (previously was 10pm DF, 2 am WU/E, then either WU/E for day at 6 am or small feed at 4.30 am - from 3-5 months of age).

So here is my thought - he seems like he is learning to sleep without waking up for a feed for 5-6 hours.  My thought right now is a 4.30 am wake up after a 12 am feed isn't so bad, but maybe just a small bottle.  Would that be your observation?  And if so, what should I do about it?

I'm still working towards a 4 hour EASY during the day... he's a big boy so it hasn't been smooth sailing as he does get quite hungry, but the bottles are getting less frequent and larger in size. 

Any ideas or observations on the above?  Would obviously love to get that night WU down to 1 feed a night at this age. 

[lolsyb1982]

Hi there

It's all personal preference I think. Going 4-6 hours is totally reasonable for a 5 month old of a night so I think if he's waking at 12 and you're happy to feed again at 4ish (and doesn't impact his morning bottle) then go ahead. Once that 12am feed can be pushed out some more you can then probably drop the 4am bottle and will just have a bottle on wu.
Although when you was giving the DF it only meant you had to do 1 NF at 2  so that would be my preferred option if it were me 

[ladymugg]

Thanks lolsy - with the DF it was 2 but sometimes 3... so I think the way it is happening now is better as fingers crossed it slowly stretches out across the night. 

Thanks heaps!