SLEEP > General Sleep Issues

Should I drop the Dreamfeed if DS is still waking at night?

(1/2) > >>

Jrolph:
Hi Everyone,

My DS is almost 8 months old and I know that I shouldn't be giving him a dreamfeed any longer but he still isn't sleeping through the night and I don't know if this will encourage him to wake up twice instead of just once.  Right now I will give him a dreamfeed around 10:00 and he will wake up between 1-3:30.  I am afraid that if I drop the dreamfeed that he will wake up around midnight and then again around 5:00 or so.  Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Jen

GG:
You should definitely drop the dreamfeed.  At his age, he should be able to sleep through the night.  Has he started on solids?  If not, maybe you should start introducing them slowly.  It sounds like he is either (1) not getting enough calories during the day or (2) used to waking up at certain times in the night.

If you don't think that it's neither of those, it's definitely possible that he just needs a little more food during the night.  In which case, see how many times he wakes up w/o a dreamfeed.  If it's still those 2 times before sunrise, at least that's 1 less feeding.  :)

Jrolph:
Hi GG,

My DS is on solids, I started him just before he was 6 months.  He doesn't wake at the same time every night it varies from night to night.  I think that I am going to try gradually getting rid of it and see how he does. 

Thanks for your help.

GG:
Oops... I just realized that you mentioned he wakes up once after the DF.   :oops:   Anyway, you have nothing to loose by dropping the DF for a couple of nights and see what happens.
My DS would wake up every 2 hours if I gave him a DF.  I stopped it and now he usually only wakes up 1 or 2 times (which vary) before 7 AM.

Deb_in_oz:
can you post what his day looks like for food - feed times and amounts of milk / solids.  maybe we can see if he is getting too little food etc.  if he is taking a good amount i would say drop the DF and see what his "natural" waking time would be - you might find he would now go until 1am and have only the 1 waking, but as he takes more solids this will go away.

there is no rule about when a baby will sleep thorugh - they all have different stomachs and digestive systems.  some don't take as much in evening feeds/dinner to hold them over yet so don't think he "should" be doing anything. 

if his waking is erratic and he is taking a full feed than he his hungry.  if he is snacking it could be comfort or the DF takes the edge off and if you remove it he will take a full feed in the night and last until 6-7am.

Navigation

[0] Message Index

[#] Next page