Do you feed after evening cat nap? Cluster feed query also!

[Tori29]

Hi there,

I was just wondering if you are meant to feed after the cat nap in the evening- as in before the bath, or if you should do after, before bed?

My twins are coming up to 8 weeks now and just started the EASY routine this week so learning our way around it! SO many questions though!!

Tonight they had half hour cat nap ending at 5:30pm and I fed them till 5:45pm (twin A seemed hungry, so didn't want to give them a bath if they were hungry, and trying to keep them on same schedule so fed twin B at same time- am breast feeding).

Then we had bath time for half and hour (till 6:15pm) and by time had finished twin B - who had first bath- was crying, so got them into sleep suits and sang nursery song and then pat-shushed to bed - both down by about 6:30pm. It feels a bit early (they woke up at 8am today, so this is a short day for them) 
But will be setting alarm clock for tomorrow at 7am to start "on time".

Is it ok not to feed them directly before bed?

Will try to cluster feed at 8pm- do I wake them up for this? or is this similar to dream feed? What is the difference?
And then dream feed before bed at 10:30pm ish. I guess the dream feed is where you barely wake them up and get them to feed half asleep, but wasn't sure what the cluster feed is- slightly worried about waking them up as Twin A is very difficult to get down in the evenings to sleep. Last night was pretty awful- a lot of crying (whilst doing the shush/pat).

Thank you for any help/advice!

Tori

[Pwestbrook]

Hi Tori!

For the cluster feeds, my baby generally woke up but I maintained a night time environment - no talking, darkened room, etc. I did burp him after feeding but tried to keep it as calm as possible. I do think it’s similar to a dream feed, but they won’t generally be in as deep of sleep. You’re correct on the dream feed! My friends who breastfeed (I’ve been using bottles) have found it much easier to settle after the dream feed if it’s done with a bottle of pumped milk. May be worth a try!

I believe Tracy says that if you can only do one, do the dreamfeed and skip the clusterfeed. If it impacts Twin A too much, it may not be worth it. If they’re 8 weeks, you likely wouldn’t be cluster feeding for much longer anyways.

I found this layout of a schedule really helpful: https://noobmommy.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/EASY-Schedule-Cheat-Sheet.pdf

[Tori29]

Thanks so much for your reply! That is good to know about the night time environment

If they have gone down well, I have just been doing the dream feed - can't say it has helped towards stretching their nights though (still waking at 1 and 4, although they dont eat a huge amount then); however, if it's a bad night, we end up feeding during the evening as they are usually awake and hungry!!

Thanks for the link to the schedule! One question I did have- on the 6 week- 4 month schedule, in the evening it says feed at 4, then cat nap 5-6, then feed at 7. What are you meant to do from 6-7pm?!

[Pwestbrook]

I wondered about that too, it’s not clear at all! I decided for us it meant going down between 5 & 6, whenever he cues sleepiness, and napping until he wakes up. He usually only sleeps for 45m-1h. If he’s not hungry when he wakes up, we just play til 7...

[becj86]

Is it ok not to feed them directly before bed?

Yes! Absolutely fine.

BW is actually about listening to your baby and EASY is a routine, not a schedule - ie. you do things in that order rather than expecting baby to eat and sleep like a little robot which is unrealistic and can cause problems for mums if they get too fixated on the schedule. I had a quick look at that cheat sheet and the ages on there aren't entirely accurate to what BW recommends - here's a link to our guide about awake times: https://babywhispererforums.com/index.php?topic=248483.0

Here's some info re: getting started on EASY: https://babywhispererforums.com/index.php?topic=186622.0

In the end, if you're feeding baby and he's growing; giving him the opportunity to sleep and he's sleeping and keeping him clean, warm and comfortable, you're doing what he needs you to do.