cluster feeding and dream feed

[sleeplessinseattle]

our ds is now just 3 months old and doing really well with eating.  But - I'm wondering when to stop cluster feeding and/or dreamfeeding (i read that its best to rid of the dreamfeed around 7 months??)  He seems fine with all of it...happy to cluster and the dreamfeed works really well with him...so its me 'thinking' more than him. Anyway - here's what we do...usually 5-6oz at 6ish, 9, noon, 3, 6 and then the process for bed...activity, bath at 7:30ish, loves etc..followed by 2 oz right after bath and he falls asleep with this..then a dreamfeed of 5 oz. at 11.  Should I be getting rid of the cluster feed? wonder if its 'bad' for the future idea that he has to have a bottle to go to sleep?? He still doesn't sleep through the night....although last night we had guests and so he didn't get to bed until 9 (which is late as he usually goes down right after the 8 cluster feed)...did the dreamfeed and he made it all he way to 5:15 this morning!!!!!  Ya-hoo!!  So - do i wait until he is sleeping through the night before changing things...or change to allow him to sleep through the night??

thanks!

[LŠuren]

If it's not broken don't tweek it  

Firstly, your right about the d/f the book suggests to sop at around 7months, but I have also heard other people saying their LO dropped it themselves.

Clusterfeeding is great for us, and I still do it to an extent. DS feeds every 4.5hrs during the day, so his last bottle is 2.5-3hrs from his last one. We did 2hrly cluster feeds when he was really young.

It is BRILLIANT your Lo is sleeping until 0515 n the mornings, you will find very soon that you will need to start tweeking your routine, as your LO will want to chnage to 4hrs, etc so it will disrupt your routine for a while during the transition.

You are doing an EXCELLENT job !!!!

Lauren

[sleeplessinseattle]

thank you so much for the words of encouragement.  I needed that tonight as its been an interesting week with dad gone all week- my job falling apart - and my lo not getting a good nap this afternoon (brilliant me took him for a walk this afternoon - started to rain - so i thought i should bring him in and that it was a good idea to move him to his crib - no dice).  So - we went on with our night and he was so tired that when i was putting him in his jammies after the bath - he lost it and it took a bit to get things settled!!

I do have another question for you.  I have been thanking my lucky stars but, I am confused with what to do when he wakes at 5:15.  The past two mornings I was thinking that it would be like his 3:30 a.m. feeding that he was doing for weeks...where he ate 2oz.  I fed him 4 oz. but, I think he would have had a ful 5-6oz..  then i fed him again at 6:30...he took one oz. each day at this time.  So - do i feed him a whole meal at 5:15 and just move from there with a 3 hour EASY?  Do I feed him a full meal and back to bed...waking him at 'morning' time which will be his eventual (we hope) breakfast time of 6:30 give or take?  Do I feed him him a full meal and then try to feed him again at 6:30..trying to get him back to sleep in between??  so confused!! 

and - as you said - the routine will change..just is ineresting trying to figure out how??  LOL

thank you for your help!!

[LŠuren]

I do have another question for you.  I have been thanking my lucky stars but, I am confused with what to do when he wakes at 5:15.  The past two mornings I was thinking that it would be like his 3:30 a.m. feeding that he was doing for weeks...where he ate 2oz.  I fed him 4 oz. but, I think he would have had a full 5-6oz..  then i fed him again at 6:30...he took one oz. each day at this time.  So - do i feed him a whole meal at 5:15 and just move from there with a 3 hour EASY?  Do I feed him a full meal and back to bed...waking him at 'morning' time which will be his eventual (we hope) breakfast time of 6:30 give or take?  Do I feed him him a full meal and then try to feed him again at 6:30..trying to get him back to sleep in between??  so confused!!

This is what the books say;

When he has a full feed between 5 & 6am, you need to put him back to sleep and treat this as a night waking. He will need a top up by 6.30am (if that is when you start your day/1st feed), to keep his feeding and sleeping times on track. If he has slept to 5 or 6am and you do not give the top-up feed, he will get hungry nearer 9am and not settle for his nap. This will have knock on effect of altering the rest of your days naps and feeds. Only once he is sleeping through the night, his first feed should be his hungriest.

Are you giving him 2oz at the 0330 feed? is this because it is all he will take? My DS used to get 3 or 4oz, you may find increasing this see's him through to wake up time    If he still wakes at 0500 will he take a smaller feed??? remember your aim is to ensure that once he is capable of taking bigger feeds that his main intake is between 0630 and bed time.

If you want to start the day at 0630, the 0500 ish feed should be treated as a night feed and put him back to bed and wake him at 0630.

Hope this answers your question.

[sleeplessinseattle]

thank you so much.  I need to get her new book.  He had his df at 11 last night and slept through until 4:45 - a little earlier than the past 2 days but, still good.  He ate 4 oz..then we tried to top him off at 6:30 ...took him to 7 to get 1 oz.  But - still a top off!  So - glad that we did it this way.  I have wondered if i should try to reduce the amount he takes at 5ish to enable him to eat enough at the 6:30 feed.  I'm sure it will all figure itself out.

before these past 3 mornings of a 5ish wake-up...he had been waking at 3ish..and then again at 6:30 (no wake in the 5 o'clock hour).  we had been trying to wean the 3 a.m. feedings...since he was taking less and we were hoping this feeding would be the first to go.  That is why only 2 oz. at 3 a.m.  Instead - he has dropped it but, woken earlier at the 5ish time.  that's just fine with me...but, didn't know if i should treat it like the 'morning' or the 'middle of the night'.  So glad to have your recommendation

[LŠuren]

from experience with DS (and no D/F) the 2/3am feed was the first to go, he then brought his 5/6am feed closer to 0400/0430 - sp you have 1 feed.
So your Lo sounds to be going the same way, you will probably have a 0430 ish feed for a while yet, DS inly droppedhis at 5months, just all of a sudden.