Hello!
My son will be 10 weeks old on Friday and he's a healthy 14+ pounds now (born at 9lb6oz) so gaining steadily and rapidly through exclusive breastfeeding.
He has had several 4-5 hours stretches of sleep and two 6 hour stretches last week all starting around 8:30-9:15. I thought he was ready to try a dream feed so that I can move that stretch of sleep to a more reasonable time for me.
We fed at 6, started bedtime routine at 7:30, fed by 8 and was asleep soon there after with little effort. I decided to express milk for the 11pm feed as I didn't know how to breast feed with out waking him. He took the whole bottle (3oz) but left just a little, so he wasn't looking for more without waking. He has slight reflux and gas problems so it was obvious he needed to burp. I rolled him on his side and he burped and fell asleep with about 3-4 minutes of patting and shushing. Wow - I thought this was simple - I never removed him from the crib. But he woke up at 2:30 - exactly 3 hours after he fell asleep. I tried just giving him a pacifier and soothing him back to sleep and he did - for about 10 min, then the same - pacifier/soothe, another 10-15 min, then he woke again - so I gave up and fed him and then he was pretty much as usual woke around 5:30 for another feed.
So other than delaying the 2:30 feed for about 45 min, the dream feed did not seem to affect him at all.
Did I do something wrong? Should I try something different? Or do I just need to keep trying?
please help! desperately looking for a nice solid 5 hours of sleep!
Here are the answers to the needed questions:
How old is your child? 9 1/2 weeks
What’s his/her daily routine? after morning wake, plays alone with mobile for a while, then we go for a walk or to an activity, he naps for anywhere from 1-3 hours, usually another activity, another nap, then playing with dad, then night routine
What’s nap routine? no nap routine yet - some times he sleeps on the go, sometimes in a swing
How long are naps? anywhere from 1-3 hours
What's bedtime routine? Time? bath, massage, story, feed, swaddle, minimal (less than 5 min) soothe sleep - usually around 8, started at 7:30 last night
Do you bottle or breastfed?? exclusive breastfeeding with occasional expressed milk bottle
How much? or how long? every 2-3 hours, 10-20 min (I have a very large supply and he gets quite a bit quickly)
If breastfed.. one side or both?? (at each feed) depends - if he's full on one, which sometimes happens, just one, sometimes both
How many wakes per night? prior to starting the night feed, around 1:30/2:30, then 4:30/5:30, then 6:30/7 and then up for the day
What’s your LO like when waking at night? How long is he/she up? if gassy until he burps a few times he screams - if not, basically I can swaddle, shhh, and walk away
When you go to him/her is she fussing or crying? Or is it a mantra cry? when he's doing the "angry fussing" - whichleads to screaming if you don't do something.
What have you tried to settle?? yes
What do you do for A time and how long is it? shhing, pacifier, rubbing belly until he fell drowsy
Are there developmental issues such as teething or milestones? not that I know of
Have you introduced cereal? Why, how much, and how many times a day? (for LO’s under 6 months) no
Do they have a prop? If so what is it? pacifier - only sucks for a few min and spits it out, I don't give it back then
Do they have a lovie? no
