Direction for 4 hour EASY with no dream feed.

[Mum of girl, boy, boy]

Hi ya,

Here is our routine when going smoothly. We have been suffering a little from colds / reflux but in general this is how it goes.

7am EAT (SOMETIMES WILL WAKE BEFORE 7 BUT I TRY AND LEAVE AS LONG AS POSSIBLE IF HE IS HAPPY)
715 ACTIVITY
0830 / 0845 SLEEP - 2 HOURS (CAN WAKE UP IN BETWEEN SLEEP CYCLES. I LEAVE HIM AND HE DOES NORMALLY GO BACK)
11am EAT (NOT ALWAYS THAT HUNGRY)
1115 ACTIVITY
1230 / 1245 SLEEP - 2 HOURS (AGAIN CAN WAKE UP BUT WILL BE HAPPY TO BE IN COT AND GO BACK)
1500 EAT
1515 ACTIVITY
1630/1645 SLEEP NORMALLY JUST A SLEEP CYCLE OF 45 MINS

BATH ROUTINE 1830
1900 EAT (NOT ALLOWED TO FALL ASLEEP ON BREAST)

Sometimes I do a cluster at 5pm / 7pm it depends if DS seems hungry but it's not always easy to get him to feed.

Obviously if I only do 4 feeds and 1 isn't a good feed I run the risk of DS waking in the night but on the other hand if I do a cluster feed he doesn't always take a big feed before bed. DS has slept through for several nights running since 12 weeks with the odd wake up lets say every 10 - 14 days. This for an extra feed.


Does anyone have any suggestions of how I can guide his feeding from here. I would like to wait until nearer 6 months to wean, I am hesitant about doing a dream feed if he doesn't need it but obviously I want to keep him on track. We have moved to a 4 hourly routine although the activity isn't always in line with this as it can be shorter.

I would be grateful if anyone had an advice or guidance how to get us through to weaning and keeping the calories up. (oh and DS wont feed sub 4 hours most of the time). Is it ok for him to do a a couple of catch up days every 10 days or will that cause problems with him sleeping through??

Thanks everyone.

J

[Colin Macs Mom]

I never did a DF either, for a number of reasons, but cluster feeding helped a lot with wakings for us. If your lo is already sleeping through several nights that's great!! The only things that I would suggest would be trying a 3.5 hr EASY rather than 4 and see if you can get a little more in that way. I think your're doing well though - but you're right to not consider weaning yet. Solids really don't have much in terms of calories and it's a myth that they'll help the lo sleep better.

[Mum of girl, boy, boy]

Will try and keep the cluster thing going. When I revert to 3.5 easy we often get alot of spitting up or just won't take a big enough feed but somedays it does woke.

Poor little thing has another cold so can't feed at the moment. The colds are driving me mad. I am still not sure if he gets a bit of reflux or it is just the cold. Hopefully this stage will pass soon and summer will be here.

Thanks again.

J

[LŠuren]

Hi
I also have never done a d/f, Cluster feeding works great for us. Another I get exta into DS is to give him a little milk before and the rest after his bath. However the 5pm then 7pm sounds better for your LO age .

[Mum of girl, boy, boy]

Just an update.

Our routine is something like this for feeds 7am, 1115am, 3pm, 515pm, 7pm approx. Last night I didn't cluster feed and he still slept through but I think the cluster works well because by the end of the day my milk supply is low. The first 1/2 two feeds of the day are just single side feeds but after that DS takes both sides.

I will try and get through to 6months on cluster feeding and then perhaps drop the 5pm and offer some solids instead and give a final breast feed before bed.

I don't think all this snuffly stuff are colds I think it is more a hint of reflux. DS has stopped sicking up so much and the snuffles aren't so bad.

Well theres my update.

Regards

Julie