Baby won't take Dreamfeed - she won't suck!

[charliered99]

I don't know if i'm doing something wrong, I go to my baby at 11pm, she previously had 4-5 oz at 8pm and generally is asleep by 8.30, however i cannot get her to take it.  I pick her up gently taking care not to wake her and I get the teat into her mouth and she either pushes it out or grimaces if the milk touches her mouth.  I've tried stimulating her sucking reflex by touching the teat on her tongue and by touching the top of her mouth but she generally just lies there, and I'm worried if I persist too much she will wake up...

What do i need to do? She is 5 weeks at the moment and sleeps for 6 hours from when we put her down, so generally wakes up between 2 and 3am and then again at 6 or 7am.

Any ideas?
 
Thanks

[kim&savannah]

Honestly, it sounds like things are going GREAT for 5 weeks!  Some babies don't take a df--we used to have problems waking dd some nights too.  You could just stick with the current schedule you have and figure she will slowly lengthen her asleep time (if you are lucky  )

If you really want to keep trying, maybe try a little earlier-- I think it can depend on what stage of sleep they are in.  Maybe at 11, she is in a deep sleep, but if you caught her at 10:30, she might be more receptive.

HTH
~Kim

[charliered99]

Thanks for that - I was going to try that last night but I struggled to wake her for her 8.00 feed!  she was so tired I couldn't wake her - so I tried then to DF her and she still wouldn't have it!  I changed her nappy, made lots of loud noises and the most she stayed awake for was 20 mins where she struggled to take 1.5oz.  so i put her back to bed at 9pm and she stayed asleep until 4.30.  I was amazed!

Is she sleeping so well at night just because she is soooo tired from the day and her poor body just cannot wake up?

She took almost 60z at 4.30 this morning and again she woke us at 7.30am and took almost 6oz.

I think I may just have to wait and see what happens when she hits the 12 week stage...apparently most babies "get" routines etc etc at that age...would that be correct?

[charliered99]

Well I tried to DF her tonight at 10pm Some how she took 2oz! I was in shock when she started to suck.  Then all of a sudden she spat out the bottle and wouldn't take anymore.

Should she take a full feed for a dream feed if she has not had anything for 2-3 hours or is it used as just a top-up?