Dream Feed

[Michelle72]

I have had Daniel  who is 12 weeks on Thursday on E:A:S:Y since he was 7 weeks and he is adjusting well. We are now on 3hrs 30 Min's routines, hopefully by 16 weeks we will be on 4hrs.  I stopped cluster feeding when he was 9 weeks.  I  give him his last feed at 7pm before bath, story and bed, then dream feed at 11pm.( I am breast feeding). I Always pump milk through the day to give to him for his dream feed, its just easier that way not having to take him up out of bed, also my partner can feed him and give me a break.  At first though I was not sure how much to give him, which I think can be quite difficult when beast feeding.  So I first started with 5 ounces, but felt this was not enough as he was waking up hungry, gradually progressing to 8 ounces now,  but i am still not sure if this is enough as sometimes he sleeps well and other times he can wake at different times, he starts to get restless about 5am I wait a little to see if he settles himself, sometimes he does other times I have to go in and tell him now you must sleep and he goes back to sleep, but then wakes again to the sound his father getting up for work at 6am as he seems to be sleeping very lightly and stirs at the slightest  sound,  by then though he seems very hungry, but I just wanted to know if what i am doing is right or is there anything I have overlooked. its difficult to know if hes just not getting enough through the day, or not enough for the dream feed, I am not sure it is a growth spurt either as it is different every  night, eg the last three nights, first he slept though till  6am, second woke up at 4am then around 5am then 6am, third woke at 5am then 6am so it is difficult to assess,  I am not stressing over it as I think Daniel has done very well adjusting.     Daniel is also bigger than average,  just under a month ago his weight was 7.6 kilo,  I will have him weighed again on Monday so it will be exciting to see how much he has grown, but i can tell from his clothes that he is much bigger.  It will be interesting hear on what others think or maybe have some advice, as any advice is well appreciated.

[Noelle]

Hello!!! 

It sounds to me like your are doing very well!!    A lot of babies have wake up times between 5:30-6:30 at this age, so when he is waking at 6, I would start your day from there.  If he wakes up at 5:30 and you can get him to wait until 6, I would do that as well as you probaby don't want a "wake-up" time that early 

If it were me, I wouldn't feed more than 8ozs at the dreamfeed just because you want to  encourage more calories during the day.  However, with that said...if he does take more than 8 and that gets him through to 7-8 then I would go for it.  Both of my babies never took over 4oz at a dreamfeed so I'm impressed withthe 8oz 

Since ds is breastfed and sounds like a big eater, it sounds like what is happening right now it right on track.

HTH 

[Michelle72]

Thanks for the reply, I didin`t really like the idea of giving him more than 8 ounces only I was not sure what was right or wrong, because its difficult to know if your baby is bigger.  I have though about giving him more through the day, only its easier said than done when you are breast feeding.

Michelle