DF seems to cause shorter sleep for 14 week old - should I stop it?

[koochooloo]

For the last few weeks, I’ve been giving DS 2-4oz of pumped breastmilk in a dream feed. His longest stretch at night varies between 5 and 7 hours. It’s great! He typically wakes 1-4 times in the night.

One night I was unable to give him the milk at night, so his last meal was the usual feed. He’s on a 3 hour EASY. That night he got 7.5 hours!

As an experiment, I’ve not given him the milk and the number of night wakings is now 2. His first stretch is closer to 4.5 hours, now followed by another 3.5, then another 2 hours. So the 7.5 hour stretch was a fluke, but his night wakings are reduced.

Should I ditch the dream feed? I’m worried he won’t continue gaining weight, although he was full term and has been in the 95th percentile for weight from the beginning. His sleep (and mine) seems better with.

Any advice?

[deb]

If he's sleeping better and still thriving, I'd go ahead and try dropping it. Odds are that he'll up his intake during the day anyway, especially since he's likely past the 3-month growth spurt and probably upping his physical activity too.

[koochooloo]

Thanks for the reply! He has become so efficient at feeding, I didn’t think that getting enough during the day would be a possibility. Feedless dreams for the little guy it is!