Please help with Dream feed

[Doj]

Hello

I am new to the EASY program and my 7 week old currently takes in about 4-5 oz every 3-3.5 hours. What is the amount that I should be giving to her for the dream feed. Is it usually the same amount? Should I be adjusting the amounts during the day?

Last night was the first night that I gave her the dream feed. she ate the 5 oz in about 5 min she was starving, needless to day she spit everything up and then i had to change her and woke her up. How do I avoid this?

Once she fell back to sleep she then woke  up at 3 and 6 her usual feeding times.
What do i do? last night i gave her the bottles, but she didnt eat that much. what do i do? Do i just give her a paci and hope she goes back to sleep?

Any suggestions?

[C-line]

I always offered the same amount at a dreamfeed as any other feeding.  I'm not sure why she'd spit it all up, unless she was full or didn't need all that.... or I guess had a reflux problem.  Perhaps you should offer less until you find the right amount?  My son would usually just stop eating when full. 

I'm not sure what to say about the waking at 3am and 6am, other than she's used to waking then so it may take a little while for her to not wake then AND she's only 7wks old, she might be hungry.  You said she didn't eat that much though, so I would offer the pacifier first and see if she goes back to sleep.  If not, I'd feed her.

[Noelle]

I agree with C-line.. let us know how it goes. 

[Leanne]

I'm trying to perfect the dream feed too.

I've tried a couple of times in the past and found I was just more exhausted cos I'd stay up late to DF, then have to wake at the usual times the babe wakes to feed (usually around 2am and 5am.) And he's never taken a full feed during a DF.

We just tried again tonight. Ben's last feed before bed was at 7pm and was less than his usual feeds (usually 5 oz, he consumed 3.5 oz.) Because of this I figured he'd take a full 5 oz during an 11pm DF, but he only took 2.5 oz.  I'm contemplating returning with the rest of the bottle to see if he'll finish up.

[Beam79]

I sympathise, my LO is 4 mths, we have been DF for 2 mths and it was working well, would DF at 11pm asn then sleep till 6 or 7am. But the last few nights he wakes between 9 and 10pm screaming and hungry, then dooesn't settle back down for hours! Last night stayed awake until midnight!! We are on a 3 hour EASY and i think perhaps we neeed to transisiton to 4 hour EASY as LO doesn't seem so hunry every 3 hours...Does anyone have any advice/ideas.
I would say stick with the DF though because it does work, it can take a week or so for it to kick in though. x

[Doj]

thanks to everyone that responded.
I tried the dream feed again last night, this time only 2 oz. Not a lot, but I wanted to see if she would spit it all up again. We had success in that she did not spit it up and slept right through the whole thing, however she did wake up at her usual 3 and 6 am feedings. She ate 4 oz at 3 so she was definitely hungry, but nothing at 6. I tried to giver her a paci to see if she would go back to sleep, but no luck.
Today I tried to up her feeding by 1 oz ( she didnt eat the extra oz) and I going to try and give her a little more at her DF to see if we can eliminate at least one of the night feedings.

When starting out, was anyone adding more to their lo day feedings to help them get through the night?

[Noelle]

Hi again!!  Sounds like things are going pretty normally.  As far as the pacifier....not sure what you are doing, but I would offer it 2-3 times, if a no go, then feed.    As far as daytime feedings go...if she is finishing the bottle then definitely add another ounce or two 

[Leanne]

Doj, are you cluster feeding at 5 and 7pm? If so, what amounts is your LO consuming at each of those feeds?

I just read a bit on getting the dreamfeed to work (wish I'd read it sooner  ) it looks like these feeds should be reduced in an effort to ensure your LO is hungry for the 11pm DF and therefore consuming a full feed.

I'm going to give this a try tomorrow so I'm curious to know if that's what you've been doing.

[Doj]

Leanne, I am not cluster feeding as I read that this should only be done until 8 weeks. I think I should only do this after 8 weeks if my lo is going through a growth spurt. Did I read that correctly?

 My lo will be 8 weeks tomorrow and since I just started the DF last week, I didnt want to introduce it
The paci is not working at night and I am trying to get her to eat more during the daY, but I am not successful,therefore she is still waking up in the night hungry even with the dream feed.

I will continue to try and hopfully we will achive some sucess

[Doj]

Hello

Any suggestions for me?
It has been another couple of night and still she is waking up hungry.
I make her 5oz bottles and she usually only drinks about 4 oz so she is rarely finishing a bottle.
She is taking the DF bottle of about 4.5 - 5 oz every night and then waking up at 3 for another 4.5 - 5 oz
Not sure what else i can do. I know in the book tracey says that this is a mismangement of food and to add more during the day, but she is not taking it.
Am I aming to high with a 8 week old?
Am I misunderstanding the cluster feeding in that it should stop once the lo is 8 weeks old or does she mean do not do it past an 8 week duration?
If you are cluster feeding say at 7 and 9, but the lo goes to sleep at 8 do you give the 9pm bottle like the DF in that you do not wake them up?

thanks

[Noelle]

I agree with the above poster in regards to cluster feeding.  I clusterfed both of mine for a long time.  And I really still do with Zoe.  Her snack time now used to be a bottle at around 2-3pm and we have dinner at 5:30 with a follow up with the before bed (not always anymore, only when she eats a small or early dinner).  So no worries on that.  It does sound like she is still hungry at 3:00 am, and that is perfectly normal...I would say the "average" baby does not sleep through at 8 weeks.  If that is her only night waking, she's doing really well.  I would give the df another couple of weeks and see what happens.

 

[kezzi78]

If you do decide not to cluster feed i found that moving her df to 10pm worked for us and it meant we were in bed at a reasonable time