Awake after dream feed

[edadhw]

My son is 7 mths and has been getting an 11 pm dream feed for months (until 6 months was BF, now the 11 pm is a 5 oz bottle). We feed him and put him back in the crib and he always goes right back to sleep.

For the past week he seems to be asleep throughout the feed and when we put him back in the crib, but within 5 minutes of being in the crib he's wide awake, singing, playing, and doing his new favorite activity, banging the pacifier against the crib bars! this usually lasts until about midnight when he goes to sleep. he doesn't cry or really fuss much, but since we live in a one b/r apartment in manhattan, we can't fall asleep until he does.

We've been thinking of gradually getting rid of the dream feed anyway and i'm wondering why all of a sudden he's so awake after the feedings. i'm wondering if he no longer needs the 11pm and giving it to him is waking him and causing this - now that he's older and more alert he just wants to play. but if we skipped the feeding he's do fine.

any ideas/comments?

[oilerbaby]

If you skip the feeding does he still sleep through until his wake up the next morning?  I've read on the site that once you establish a good feeding routine with solids when they're six months that you stop the dreamfeed soon after.  My ds is 4 months and he's down to 3 oz. at 10:00.   If you skip the feed and he's fine, still sleeping through then you probably don't need it.

[NikkiSurrey]

Hi there edadhw,

Has your LO been sleeping through the night otherwise?  How much has he been taking at the DF?

I gradually withdrew the dreamfeed when DS was 4 months as it seemed to be disrupting his sleep; this coincided with him becoming more alert and aware of the world.  My LO has always been a good sleeper at night and I dropped the DF early as I didn't want to jeapordise it. 

I think Tracy recommended dropping the dreamfeed by around 7 months; she goes into it in more detail in BWSAYP.

Shauna, sounds like your DS could be dropping it gradually?  I know quite a few mums on this site who dropped it at 4 months.

There's also an FAQ page on this site which explains how to drop the DF:https://babywhispererforums.com/index.php?topic=54662.0  Just now when I was looking for that, I saw this thread as well, which you might be interested in: https://babywhispererforums.com/index.php?topic=72130.135

The way we did it was, every 2 days, we reduced the amount of milk offered by about 2oz at the same time as bringing the time forward by around 15 mins.  However, once we got to 9pm we were down to 3oz (though he was taking only 2oz) and it didn't seem to be a good idea to wake him any earlier for any less milk!  I had planned to do it over about 2 weeks but DS started taking less and less anyway so we sped the process up and we were done by just over 1 week.

Hope that helps.  Good luck.

Nikki

[edadhw]

We give him 5 oz at the dream feed and just yesterday reduced it to 4 oz with no adverse effects. He still played for an hour but then slept exactly as he did when he gave him 5 oz.  So he's probably not hungry

We've never tried skipping it entirely because until we started giving him solids i thought he might wake in the middle of the night to eat. Now that he eats solids 3x/day i'm pretty sure that he's getting enough food.

Sometimes we don't get around to feeding him til 11:15 but at 11:00 he's already moving around. Wouldn't this indicate that he's just habitually waking up rather than really needing the feed?

In any case, do you guys agree that we should drop the dream feed and that its the waking for the dream feed that's probably causing him to be awake and alert and ready to play?

Thanks again!
Debbie

[NikkiSurrey]

Hi Debbie,

Yes, IMO it's a good time to stop the feed.  It's up to you whether you want to try dropping it 'cold turkey' or gradually, but it sounds like you've already had a go at doing it gradually.  IMO there is a chance he could be stirring habitually at around the normal DF time.

There was an info box in the BWSAYP that said if a DF happened after 11pm it might disrupt night sleep - one of those mysterious things that Tracy just seemed to know from experience.  However, in any case you'll need to bring it forward at the same time as reducing the quantity.  That way, I guess your baby, physically and psychologically, doesn't still 'expect' it at the same time every night - or put another way, it kind of gently weans him off that expectation, IYKWIM?  That also might help put a stop to the potential for the wake-up to become habitual.

Cheers
Nikki

[oilerbaby]

I agree with Nikki - sounds to me like he's ready to drop the feed and I think that's definitely what's waking him up.

Nikki - I'm pretty sure we're getting around to dropping it.  He's not even all that hungry in the morning so I'm hoping it'll be done and he might eat more in the morning but who knows right?  I'll be sad when it's done though cause I quite like the quietness and the easy feed with him!   

[NikkiSurrey]

Hi,

When we dropped the DF, I was pleasantly surprised to find that DS started eating more during the day... 

Shauna, IKWYM with the quiet feed.  My LO is quite spirited and a real squirmer.  At around 5.5 months he started to refuse to take his bottle in someone's lap so now we sit him in a corner of our old sofa or in the high chair, where he can kick and squirm to his heart's content but still somehow get the milk down him! 

Nikki