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!
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?
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.
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?
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)