how can you tell when LO is ready to drop the dream feed? any stories?!

[OriginalSunshine]

 

hi ladies

just started my 6mo (on Tuesday!) on solids and he's taken to them like a trooper!

6:30am bf
9:30am-10:00am nap
10:30 am 9 (!) oz of expressed bm
11:30 am 100g (!) of pureed pear (dcp says he eats it all and wants more!)
12:30pm - nap for between 1 & 2 hours
2:30 pm 9 oz of expressed bm
3:40 pm 100g of pureed pear
6:00 pm bath
6:15 pm bf
6:45 pm bed

I've been waking him (briefly) for a nappy change & dream feed at 10 pm but he really seems only so-so interested in the dream feed

however, I'm scared to drop the dream feed because he has only started (for the first time in 6 months!) to sleep through from 10:30pm until 6:30am

what do you think?! any dropping success/horror stories?!

[RachelC]

Here's a link to dropping the df while bfing.  We dropped ours around 6/7 months and it went very smoothly.  If you have any other questions or need clarifications on what we did, let me know.

https://babywhispererforums.com/index.php?topic=65750.0

[GabrielleD]

I can't remember exactly when we dropped the dreamfeed, but we noticed that DS was only taking 1-2 oz during his dreamfeed and that indicated to us that he may be ready to drop that feed.

[Sydney]

We dropped right around 7 months as she started taking less and less of the df.  One night I just decided to go cold turkey to see what happened and she slept through

HTH.

[MaddoxsMommy]

I just dropped the dream feed last night(I hope).  My son is almost 7 1/2 months and on a 4 hour Easy and is mostly textbook(so nice and predictable.)  I started him on solids(cereal first) right at 6 months and he is currently on 2 meals a day-breakfast(fruit and cereal) and lunch(veggies)-I plan on adding a 3rd meal around 8 or 9 months.  He has been sleeping from 7pm-7am with a dream feed around 11:15pm since he was 12 weeks.  I work part time at night so I feed him right when I get home at about 11:15pm.  I just started a 12 day vacation so I knew this would be my only chance to drop it until my next vacation because I wouldn't be home before 11pm for more than four days in a row(I work tues., weds. thurs.).  So I was going to keep moving it earlier and earlier until it was gone during those 12 days.  However, last night he decided to start biting me while I was feeding him so after a frustrating breast feeding session for both of us-which was never finished-I gave him a bottle of ebm.  He was up an hour later than normal because of the biting situation so I just decided to not give the dream feed at all and see if he woke up.  I was pleasantly surprised because he never woke up and I actually woke up before him because I was so full from skipping the dream feed that my boobs woke me up.   Anyway-we will see if he sleeps through again tonight.  I was really nervous though because we haven't had any night feedings since 12 weeks-not even for the 6 month growth spurt-I caught on to it pretty quick-he gets really sleepy during the day and basically regresses to a 3 hour easy for a couple days-so I started feeding him like crazy-both sides.  Anyway, good luck when you decide to drop it and let us know how it goes.

MaddoxsMommy

[OriginalSunshine]

thanks ladies

MM - let me know how it goes!

We are going to try and feed him his 3:30 solids at 4:30 today, and move bedtime back a little later (until 7pm ish) and then see how he goes tonight without a dreamfeed. At least tomorrow is a Sunday so if I have to get up in the night at least it is not a work day!   

[MaddoxsMommy]

He slept through again last night-so two nights now so hopefully we are in the clear.  He has also started rolling in his crib like crazy this week and sleeps on his stomach a good portion of some nights-so this might be helping too.  I was sooooo nervous when he started this too(sids).  Seems like we are always worried about something I guess.  When I work DH usually feeds him at 6pm and in bed at 6:45pm.  I'm now trying to push his last feed as close to 7pm as possible now that I dropped the dream feed so that he's not going 13 hours between his night and morning feed.   I'm also  hopeing that he will sleep a little longer eventually if I keep him up a little longer so that we aren't doing 5:45am-5:45pm(which I know would still be good) when day light savings time comes.  That extra hour makes a big difference when I don't get to bed until 12 or 1am.   Let me know how it goes.

MaddoxsMommy

[OriginalSunshine]

well I chickened out 

solids were at 4pm, night time at 7pm, and I did a d/f at 9:30pm but he was only half-arsed about it

same again today - if he is 1/2-arsed again at 9:30pm then I might try and drop it tomorrow