Stopping Dream Feed Cold Turkey???

[albertasweetpea]

Since we started "solids" with Molly a couple of weeks ago she has been decreasing her intake of her Dream Feed bottle. Coinciding with the solids introduction, I increased her bottles from 6 oz. to 8 oz. She is on 4 hour EASY so takes approx. 32 oz. of formula a day plus whatever she eats in cereal and veggies/fruits. I feed her cereal only in a.m. and cereal and veggies or fruit in the p.m.
Looking back over her journals, starting on Sunday her DF has dropped quite considerably! She only took 3 oz. Sunday then down to 2 oz. for Monday, Tuesday and last night simply refused!
Her night wakings have increased to about 6x a night, so when we were up last night at 3 a.m. I thought she might be hungry and tried to give her a bottle. She just lay there with the nipple in her mouth, totally not interested!
My question is...is it OK to drop the DF now since she doesn't seem to want or need it anyways?? I know it's not outlined that way in the BW book but I don't want to force her and have her wake up all unsettled.
Anyone else been in the same boat??
Any advice?  Thanks !   :lol:

[nestor]

Hi there,

In the BW Solves all your PB Tracy's explains how to stop the dream feeds.

 

The process of cutting out DF usually arround 7 mths- has to be done in a 3-day increments, to insure that your baby makes up during the day what you're taking away at night.

Day 1:  Add 1 ounce to the 1st feed of the day, and take away 1 from the DF. Give the DF (now 1 oz less) half an hour earlier, at 10:30 instead of 11.

Day 4: Add 1oz. to the first feed, 1oz. to the second, and take 2oz of DF.
The DF (with 2 oz less) should be at 10.

Day 7: Add 1oz to the first feed, second, and third, take away 3 oz. of DF, and give it at 9:30.

Days 10 (DF at 9:30) Day 14 (8:30), Day 17 (8:00), and Day 20 (7:30):
By continuing ever 3 days to add ounces during the day and take away the same amount from the DF. We end up doing a DF at 7:30 with only few oounces.

So as you can see this is a long process and it is suggested to do this way so we want disturb the night sleep.

She suggest 7 months, but this is at the introduction of solids. So whenever you start solids you stop the DF arround a month later.



Hope this helps  ,
Nestor

[Erin M]

I haven't been in the same boat, but part of me says that if she doesn't want it, don't give it to her.  Maybe try a night without it and see what happens?  Maybe she's dropping it herself.  I want to say that I've heard of people going cold turkey on it and it's worked out fine.  Maybe she'll sleep better without it (6x a night is a lot!) - doesn't seem like it could get much worse - and maybe at least you could go to bed earlier then!

[Deb_in_oz]

as someone who has a near 8 mo old who still takes between 5-7 oz at Df (often one of her best feeds of the day) and is terrified of starting to wean off it - i think you should follow her lead - if she refuses it again or stays at 2-3 oz the rest of this week i think you have your answer there.

with dd1 we kept trying Df but she would still wake at 2-3 am anyway so we just stopped it one night (there was no "plan" in the original book so ignorance is bliss  :wink: )

i think the plan is there for those of us who have been doing it for a long time or whose lo are still taking a lot of calories at the feed.  for a lo who is reducing the amont already i think she is sending you a message that you are doing a great job in getting those calories in during the day.  she is probably still full after 32 oz + solids etc (that is a great amount, i wish we could et our lo to take that much between 6:30am and 7:30pm  )

[me and bean]

hey michelle, i reckon go for it!  bean did the same thing when i introduced solids.  over three days i noticed he was drinking less and less during his df.  so i thought i'd just see what happens if i didn't go in.

and, nothing.

and i have never gone back.  it has balanced out during the day also, by him eating more and more solid food, taking longer breastfeeds in the morning.  i always offer him formula after his last breastfeed at night too cause that one always seems a little light.

i was so NOT looking forward to the weaning off of the dreamfeed, and it ended up not being an issue.

[albertasweetpea]

Hey guys! Thanks for all the advice and replies (gosh I love this site) :lol: .
We decided last night NOT to do the DF and Molly slept from 7 pm until 4 am!! We hadn't had a night like that for a long time! She was up from 4 am - 5:30 am but we'll tackle that "party-girl" attitude another time.   
She wasn't crying for food in the early morning, just wanting to play. Smiling and wriggling about, getting herself unswaddled. Mind you, she had quite the poopy diaper and once I changed her she did settle quite a bit.
So, thanks again! Goodbye dreamfeed, we won't miss you.  :wink:

[Deb_in_oz]

michelle did you feed her at 4am or did you spend 4-5:30 resttlig her since she was not hungry??

just curious.  we are starting the weaning plan tonigt as dd2 is really cutting back at breakfast solids which she used to enjoy. last night she took 120ml and slept til 6:45 so i am terrified of the eventual 4am wake up (hope she does not wake 2 year old)

[albertasweetpea]

Hi Deb. Nope, didn't try to feed her at 4 a.m. as the previous night I did try at 3 a.m. and she wasn't interested at all. She has been doing the "wake up and party" routine for a few nights now so I figured that's all it was!
Wondering now...Molly started increasing her bottle intake at the same time we switched from a slow flow to a fast flow nipple. Have you tried this with Olivia?
Good Luck tonight, hope it goes well!

[Deb_in_oz]

michelle - last time we tried fast flow it was too much, then i got stuck and forgot to try again.  as it happens we started with fast flow this morning 

she took 140 ml (USUALLY 120 max) but the key was she did not bat an eyelid at the change - no choking on the flow, so we are going to stick with it through the day and see if there is a change in volume as she understands that there is a change in teat.  she took a top up of 90 ml after her solids so that is fantastic (and that 90ml was in about the same time as she usually has a 30-50ml top up so already an improvement) 

will see how it all goes! i wish i had tried it a month ago when she started cutting back all her feeds - i kept saying i woudl do it and then forget and sterilize the medium teats  :oops:  and say Ok tomorrow we start... and so on.