rejecting dream feed...any advice?

[iunyper]

my LO is 9 weeks old and on 3-hour (or 2.5 hour) E.A.S.Y. with a dream feed every night at around 10:45.  he's been doing great and just transitioned from a 1-2 am wakeup to a 3:30-4 am wakeup, meaning for a few nights he didn't wake up from when we put him down at eight to 3:30, then ate and went right back to sleep until 6:30 or 7.  suddenly he's rejecting the dream feed and waking up at 2 again!  help...i was getting really optimistic that we were transitioning into just that one waking, and now i'm up 2 or 3 times a night again...if anyone has ideas about what might be causing this or how to get him to eat (we stimulate his palate/rooting reflex, etc - previously he took the dream feed easily), i'd appreciate it!  fyi, we cluster feed at 5:30 and 7:30 and then he goes down at 8:00.  he tends to go down well and will lie awake until he falls asleep if he's not sleepy.

[GraceKellysmom]

Although this is more of a sleep issue than a bfing issue - I may be able to help. I would try feeding him before or after you normally do, you may be hitting him in too deep of sleep cycle. If you have a monitor, listen to him on it and listen for him to stir in his sleep, this will give you a clue as to when he is going through a lighter phase of sleep.

I had to stop the df around 3months old because my ds would wake more often during the night. He was a very deep sleeper, and if that cycle got disrupted he wouldn't get back deep.

FWIW, even when they do "sleep through" they always have waking issues - teething, developmental, growth spurts, gas, etc. They will go through times when they are better sleepers and times they wake many times a night.  :wink:

[iunyper]

thanks - i will give that a try tonight.  i wondered if that was it but we tried last night several times over a half-hour and he was just zonked.  but maybe trying earlier as his bedtime has gotten gradually earlier will help.