Author Topic: How should i stop feeding in the night?  (Read 1693 times)

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Offline hana1978

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How should i stop feeding in the night?
« on: September 04, 2005, 08:05:52 am »
My DS is 5 months old now, corrected age 3 months and still wants to feed twice in the night (this includes the dream feed) at 1.30 & 5.30 and then doesnt want anything until about 9.30am which throws everything off.  Ive tried to give him less and feed him at 7am anyway but he plays with it and doesnt even take 1oz.  I know im feeding him too much in the night which is why hes not taking enough in the day but how do i switch this?  On average he take about 4-5oz every 3 1/2 hours which i know isnt allot still.  He used to do a 6 hour stretch at night but hasnt done that in weeks.  Should i stop feeding him twice at night?  Ideally id like him to feed once at say 3am then i know he will be hungry at 7am but how do i do this without him screaming all night?
Hana.xx

Offline Deb_in_oz

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How should i stop feeding in the night?
« Reply #1 on: September 04, 2005, 09:56:18 am »
Hana - your ds is probably going through his 3 mo growth spurt right now but even if he wasn't i would say he is right on track for 3 months old (even some 5 mo olds).

about the daytime amounts - 4-5 oz  every 3 1/2 hrs might seem low to you but it is actually fine if he is happy with that amount and making it 3 1/2 hrs between feeds.  my 6 mo old only takes 5 oz a majority of the time (and then takes 6-7 oz sometimes or only 4 oz at times).  if he took  4-5 oz and then was crying for food 2 hrs later i woudl say you had a snacking problem, but otherwise it sounds fine.


Quote (selected)
still wants to feed twice in the night (this includes the dream feed) at 1.30 & 5.30
what time are you doing the DF - do you mean at 1:30am or are you doing it betwen 10-11pm and then he is hungry at 1:30 as well? if you are doing it between 10-11 how much is he taking?

if you mean that 1:30am is your DF - then there is your problem - the DF is meant to be between 10 and 11pm so that it does not interfere with their daytime feeds the next day.  if you feed him at 10:30 and he wakes for a feed at 3am of his own accord then you feed him and he will take a feed in the morning (does not have to be a 7am feed to start the day - you can pick whatever start time works for you BTW)

the 5:30am feed is not "technically" a night feed - more an early waking and you can give a quick feed and put back to bed or try to resettle hoping he will sleep another 45 min and get up after 6am.  if he takes a feed at 5:30 you can choose to wake him sometime between 7-8am or whatever tiome suits you.  yes, he might not take a big feed but maybe that morning you do the 2nd feed at 3 hrs to get him back on track and satisfy his hunger - you can  bet he will take a nice big feed at the 2nd one  :wink:  The hope is that this feed will push out to between 6 and 7 am naturally as he takes more in te day or that night feed carries him later into the morning.

i know it is common to hear about babies sleeping through at a certain age and expect the same of your lo, but please know he is doing well and not all babies sleep through at this age.  their appetites vary, and other things can factor in.  my dd2 was sleeping throug hat 10 1/2 weeks and then hit 3 mo growth spurt and woke 2 x per night AFTER 11pm Dream feed and did not sleep though again until after 4 mo. and then sporadically.

please let me know about your Dream feed first as i suspect that is the key factor in this.
Debra - a New Yorker living in Australia married to a Brit

dd1 - Textbook/Angel, born July 2003
dd2 - Spritied through & through, born Feb 2005

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Offline hana1978

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How should i stop feeding in the night?
« Reply #2 on: September 04, 2005, 11:24:33 am »
Hi Debra thanks for your reply!  Really he could easily feed every four hours no problem its just that i worry about him not getting enough food so i feed every 3 1/2 hours.  The thing that convinces me that he doesnt need to feed twice in the night is at 1.30 he plays with it and takes about 2-3oz before falling asleep.  I dream feed at 10pm, he takes about 4oz - he has his last feed at 6pm (about 6-7oz, the only time he takes a big feed) before bed at 6.30pm.  For weeks i dream fed him at 10pm, he woke at 3am then again at 6.30am and took full feeds, now he takes a little at 1.30am which means hes hungry again by 5.30am which means i now have to feed him twice in the night which then has a knock on effect on his 7am feed as hes not hungry then.  I thought anything before 6am was classed as a night feed  :? He does normally go back to sleep after the 5.30am feed but only for about 30mins - never has he gone to 7-8am.
Funny you should say about the 2nd feed do at 3hrs as i did that today to see what happens - he took about 5oz.  I just dont know how to get him to take more in the day, the book says add an extra oz but thats no good he wont take what i give him in the first place (7oz bottles) so it would go to waste :lol:

Im not really expecting him to sleep through the night yet, i dont think hes ready yet but im pretty sure he is ready for just one night feed - i guess with work just around the corner (5weeks) im beginning to panic.  As it is i get about 5 hours sleep a night as he stirs ALLOT !!  If it was one feed me and DP could take it in turns each night, but two plus the fact id have to get up at 5.30am anyway to get ready for work.........i sound selfish dont i? :cry:
Hana.xx

Offline Deb_in_oz

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How should i stop feeding in the night?
« Reply #3 on: September 04, 2005, 11:46:18 am »
Quote from: hana1978
Really he could easily feed every four hours no problem its just that i worry about him not getting enough food so i feed every 3 1/2 hours. 

ok - if he can really go 4 hrs between feeds try to let him and see if he takes more at each of those feeds. if he still only takes the same amount, keep the feeds at 3-3 1/2 hrs to get the extra bottle in.

he actually sounds similar to Olivia - she is really erratic and takes between 4-8 oz but usally the least in the morning (and she currently has no wakings for feeds after 10:30 DF) and naturally has her biggest feed at 7pm. her DF can vary from 3oz - 6oz and if she takes 3-4 oz she willwake closer to 6am and if 5-7 oz she sleeps til 0650 - 0720  :?

we can't add anything to her daytime bottles either (a lot gets poured down the sink in our house) and i am not sure when we will be able to get rid of the DF because we cannot use the strategy in BW of adding the oz to daytimne bottles!


Quote from: hana1978
  The thing that convinces me that he doesnt need to feed twice in the night is at 1.30 he plays with it and takes about 2-3oz before falling asleep.

do you rush in at 1:30am?  have you tried to let him resettle or tried resettling him with pat/shh or PU/PD?


 
Quote from: hana1978
I dream feed at 10pm, he takes about 4oz - he has his last feed at 6pm (about 6-7oz, the only time he takes a big feed) before bed at 6.30pm. 


have you tried moving the dream feed to another time? if he is not waking around 10pm and forcing the DF i would try holding out until closer to 10:30 - 11 and see if there is a "magic" time that results in a waking closer to 2-3 am so that the chances of him going to 6-6:30 increase.  i would not try a different time every night.  try 10:30 for the next 3-5 nights and see what happens.  if you see it move a little, try 11pm and see if you get the result you want.  you have 5 weeks until work starts it might change a lot by then as well.



Quote from: hana1978
   I thought anything before 6am was classed as a night feed  :? He does normally go back to sleep after the 5.30am feed but only for about 30mins - never has he gone to 7-8am.
i know it is a "night feed" but it is so close to "morning" and a lot of babies do this temporarily as they shift their waking time closer to a "civilized hour" so i tend to view it as a transient thing and say go with the flow and feed as a night feed but psychologically don't think of it that way - if you focus on "multiple" night wakings you might feel more stressed, etc whereas if you just address the "real"middle of the night one you might find the knock on effect takes care of this on its own - therefore i only see 1 feed to address here and fingers crossed you wil eliminate the 5:30 issue.  KWIM?



Quote from: hana1978
i sound selfish dont i? :cry: 

you are not selfish - just stressed and tired and thinking ahead to starting back at work - i can understand. even without being the one to get up in the night Dh found his ability at work suffered with the nightwakings (we had 2 per night between 11pm and 4am between 3-4 mo = DF + 2 night wakings and then a 7am start)
Debra - a New Yorker living in Australia married to a Brit

dd1 - Textbook/Angel, born July 2003
dd2 - Spritied through & through, born Feb 2005

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Offline hana1978

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How should i stop feeding in the night?
« Reply #4 on: September 05, 2005, 07:35:00 am »
Hi Debra - well yest he pretty much did every four hours and at 3.30pm took 7oz !!!!!!!!!!!  :shock:
Ive tried four hours before but like you said he didnt really take much more so i stuck to 3 1/2 but yest he did take more so im going to try again and see what happens.
Wow our bubs do sound alike, my DP was saying its like we sometimes want to eat more some days then we do others - why cant babies want to aswell?  Makes sence !
I do just stick a bottle in his gob at 1.30am as im tierd and just want to get him back to sleep  :oops:  bad bad bad i know!  But last night was a bit of a shocker !  I did what you suggested and DF at 10.45pm instead of 10pm - he woke at 1.45am but settled himself then woke again at 3am for food, then up at 6.40am for the day GREAT !!  Then he took 5oz at 7am which he hasnt done in weeks - yaaaaaaaaay !!
Your a bloody genious  :D   If he does it again tonight i know it was a DF problem all along - doh - why didnt i think of that !
Thanks so much for your help - will let you know how i get on tonight - fingers crossed  :D
Hana.xx

Offline Deb_in_oz

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How should i stop feeding in the night?
« Reply #5 on: September 05, 2005, 07:38:10 am »
so glad to hear it is going well - please keep me posted!  so happy for you. 

BTW - i know all about feeding in the nigh cause it is easier.  i did it with Liv because her room is right next to alex and i was afraid (needlessley) that she would wake alex up so i would rush in in the first few months b/c i was afraid there would be crying  :roll:
Debra - a New Yorker living in Australia married to a Brit

dd1 - Textbook/Angel, born July 2003
dd2 - Spritied through & through, born Feb 2005

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Offline hana1978

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How should i stop feeding in the night?
« Reply #6 on: September 06, 2005, 20:10:38 pm »
erhem....and 3.30am AGAIN woo hoo  :D
Hana.xx

Offline Deb_in_oz

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How should i stop feeding in the night?
« Reply #7 on: September 06, 2005, 21:29:17 pm »
yay!

i know you are excited - just remember if it varies not to get upset - there can be other reasons so if there is a waking at 2am he could still eat and make it to morning as long as he tales a good feed.  or if you hear him in the  night remember to give him a chance to resettle...

on the positive i hope this conjtinues for a while and then one day YOU wake at 4am realizihng you did not hear anything (and then you wake at 4:30, 5 and 6 until you accept that he HAS slept through the night and then you do the happy dance all the way to work  :lol: )
Debra - a New Yorker living in Australia married to a Brit

dd1 - Textbook/Angel, born July 2003
dd2 - Spritied through & through, born Feb 2005

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Offline hana1978

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How should i stop feeding in the night?
« Reply #8 on: September 07, 2005, 08:17:40 am »
I DF him at 11.00pm last night and he woke at 5am  :shock:  :shock:  :shock:  :shock:
Your right i shouldnt get too excited about it as it will change again but for now GREAT !!  Cant belive changing his DF by an hour has made such a differance......or maybe its just a conincidence.
Thanks again for all your help  :D
Hana.xx