dreamfeed,sleeping through, and other night feeding questions...

[aj's mom]

DD is now 3 months, 2 weeks and her nighttime schedule goes like this: 

falls asleep: 8-8:30
dreamfeed: 11
wakes for feed on her own: 2:30, 5, 6:30
wakes/feeds for the morning: 7:30 (she takes a little nap in between her 6:30 and 7:30 feeds.

Last night we decided to see what would happen if we skipped the dreamfeed and she woke up at 12:30, 1:30, 3, 5, 5:45, and 7....

When do you cut out the dreamfeed and will she always wake up so much if I do that? 

At what age are they just waking for habit as opposed to hunger? 

DD seems to start out starving - for night wakings, DH changes her, passes her to me and I feed her, and she passes out at the boob after eating for a few minutes.  During her diaper changing, she is screaming and is very eager to get to the boob, but she calms immediately after I put her on the boob. 

Opinions?

[Erin (redstarfalling)]

Babies can wake from habit pretty early on, but a lot of babies also need a feed overnight through the first year.  That said, I have a couple of thoughts!

My first suggestion would be to stop changing her overnight.  At 3 months, unless she's had a huge poo, or she's been having major problems with diaper rash, just slather on diaper cream at the start of the night, and leave it be.  Otherwise, it'll start reinforcing the waking and wake her up even more.  For nightwakings, you really want to treat it as night - very little light and little interaction.

Next, it's really normal to have 1 or sometimes 2 nightwakings at that age too.  So, after a dreamfeed, she might wake at 2:30 and need to eat and then again in the morning.  But, I'd be surprised if she's HUNGRY at 2:30, 5, 6:30  AND 7:30 am unless she's not eating well during the day. Babies are often in really light sleep after about 4 am, so I'd suspect that at least some of those early morning wakings are not hunger.  Also, you say she nurses briefly at all those feeds and falls asleep. Do you use a paci? You could try other soothing methods if you're suspecting hunger's not the issue.

Finally, about cutting the dreamfeed - some babies don't even notice the change!  In her case, she really seems to need at least some milk overnight, so I'd be reluctant to get rid of it yet.  Hope that helps a bit! 

[aj's mom]

Erin, thanks so much for your suggestions.  I will try what you said -  I have tried to not change her and then DH gets on my case because he changes it at 5am and says her diaper weighs 18 lbs with all that pee!!  I will try to convince him!  Do you think I should try the 5am with a paci instead of milk?  Maybe just one feeding for now and see how it goes?  Which do you suggest I replace with a paci?

[Nicola_G]

Just a note on the no-change suggestion - I too was concerned with the huge volume of pee overnight, and my ds was actually waking up wet (and most likely cold!). To remedy the situation, I did not go to changing the nappy, I simply bought a larger sized nappy and put one of those on over his regular nappy for nighttime, so he's wearing an emergency nappy for overflow 

Anyway, the thing about disposables is that they wick the moisture away from the baby's skin so there is no problem leaving a wet nappy on, just the leakage issue. I've found the overflow nappy works really well, and in fact I tend to reuse it for 2-3 nights as it generally doesn't get wet, maybe it just holds the underneath one closer to his body so it doesn't leak?!

[annas mum]

Also re the nappy thing - when they're not getting up in the night to feed you are going to leave them for 12 hours in the same nappy aren't you? - So you won't wake a sleeping babe in the night just to change his nappy - so no difference as to why leave him in the same one now

HTH
Clare

[daisymelan]

I would have to agree with the other mamas.  I quit changing the diaper overnight around 2 months or so.  he does stay in the same nappy now for 12 hours or so. 

I am still doing the dreamfeed and my little one is 6.5 months old. I thinkn most leave in hte dreamfeed until after 7 months or more.   But my little guy still needs it at this point, but he doesn't get any other feeds during the night.  Leave in the dreamfeed and tackle one of the others.  As one mama suggested, do you use a paci?  I found it great for trying to tide my little one over until the next feed.  Sometiems all they need is the sucking motion.

What is the daytime feeding routine like?  Is your little one getting enough during the day? 

Good luck!   Keep us posted

[Erin (redstarfalling)]

As for which feed to tackle - that's up to you, but I'd go for one where she usually doesn't seem to eat much anyway.

[CaedensMama]

I would agree with the no change - we haven't changed in awhile and he is fine.

I am feeding at DF and after 3:30-4 - Any other time he wakes we just settled him back - once he stops waking and doesn't need settled we will try and stop the 4:00 feed - just cause DF is the easiest for me cause I am often awake still.  And we are almost 8 months - I would say you should stick with maybe 2 feeds a little while longer- she most likey needs it!