Dreamfeed help needed

[J-mum]

Hi,
Hope someone can help. I have an almost 8 week old and for last 4days introduced a dreamfeed.

Before introducing the dreamfeed lo would go to sleep around 7:30pm and sleep to 11:30-12:30 (mostly recently getting closer to 12:30 more regularly) then wake again between 3-4am sometimes a bit later.

Now I give dream feed at 10:45/11 lo wakes between 1-1:45am and again around 4am.

On night two lo woke completely at dreamfeed and then slept till 4an but the other 3 nights where she slept through the feed woke after around 3hrs or less.

Lo now taking more oz in a day and feeding more frequently at night. Is this normal and if so when does she start sleeping longer?
I'm worried lo will get used to eating as regularly as during the day and lose the ability to sleep longer at night. Doin more damage than good.

[Martini~]

Are you feeding with a bottle?

[J-mum]

Yeh feeding with bottle

[Martini~]

Can you post how much oz your baby is taking? Before and after DF?

[J-mum]

She drinks on average around 30oz a day. Some days it's 26 others up to 35.
Yesterday she had:
6:25 3oz
9:20 3oz
12:25 3oz
3:25 3oz
6:15 3oz
11 4oz (dream feed)
1:15am 4oz
4:25 4oz

Yesterday wasn't a particularly hungry day she normally eats 4-5oz at each feed.
The day before was 5oz at every feed with the exception of breakfast and the dreamfeed where she only took 2.5oz

[Kimbayley]

My 6 week old is feeding similar to your baby before you introduced DF. We are hoping to introduce aDF soon so also interested in how you get through this one. Frustrating when DF doesn't seem to work! Good luck!

[Martini~]

Ok, so it can be normal - but it would be wise if you are bottle feeding to try to make her drink more during day. Is her intake as you posted before? I am sorry I haven't reply for so long - just life got on me LOL.

[J-mum]

Hi Yeh, in take roughly that.  We gone through a week or so of barely getting 3oz in her usually 1.5 /2 she's now takin 3-4oz
Her averagely oz intake has gone from 30oz to 23oz that's including a dreamfeed.
She drinks less now at 12weeks than she did at 8weeks.
The last week she has been awful with night wakings and settling back down and I'm wondering if it's down to less food intake. But no matter what I can't get her to take more

[Martini~]

Before changing routine and habits, I would check food intake. 23oz is still fine, but dropping by 10 oz withing a month may (doesn;t have to!) suggest some problems. Have you checked reflux and possible allergies? IS her bottle/teat fine? IS it possible she has ear infection any possible medical concern you consulted with a doctor? Is her weight gain fine with this intake?

I will ask someone with bottle feeding experience to come by and check what can be a problem.

[Lolly]

Marta asked me to stop by!

There could be a number of reasons for feed size dropping, common ones are needing to switch to a faster teat or needing to increase the time between feeds. Both my formula fed babies were at 4 hours between feeds by 12 weeks, they couldn't do 2 hours A time for a proper EASY but we fed at 4 hours and had a mixed up EASY until they could do 2 hours. If the teat is to slow they eat just enough but don't take a full feed because it's hard work, a faster teat means they can eat quicker and take more.

Does your LO actively look for food at 3 hours? I would try leaving a 3.5 hour gap and see if that makes a difference for a few days, or just try 4 hours if she isn't actively demanding food. It's very common for formula fed babies to need longer between bottles as formula takes much longer to digest than breast milk.

Neither of my two had a dream feed, they either wouldn't feed in their sleep or they woke more often after it. I tried for a week or so then stopped it and just let them wake when they were hungry. They were waking around midnight and then that stretched out to 2/3am which suited me better .

Reflux is also a possibility - have a look at this link, it has a list of symptoms so see what you think.https://babywhispererforums.com/index.php?topic=654.0

HTH!!
Laura

[J-mum]

Hi both, thanks for your messages.
I have changed her teat, I now don't feed before 3hrs unless she looks for it. Because she doesn't nap well I was aware all here hitting her maximum wait time just as feed time approached. Night time seems to be better but day time sleeps a night mare but her intake has increased again.

[Lolly]

Thats good new about the intake. Have you posted on the naps or EASY board for some help?

Laura

[Martini~]

Very happy that nights are a bit better and intake increased as that's the base for any routine tweaks:)!

[J-mum]

Sorry for late reply.
Yeh I posted for nap help but unfortunately we have no improvement.

She will only nap in my arms often she will wake regularly but I can get her over to sleep again.

We've been quite busy these last few days and out the house a lot an sher daily amount of sleep has fallen by quite a bit because I couldn't put her to sleep in my arms.
The few days prior to that I was trying to consistently put her down at bap time but it resulted in no naps.