Please Help with Seven & 1/2 Month Old!

[Christaldeboer]

Hello All! Things have been going great with my little girl and she is now almost seven and half months old!  I think its time for a major schedule shift though and I don't know how to do it! Any help would be SOO appreciated.
Right now our schedule is:
7am Breastfeed
8:30-10:30am Nap
10:30am Solids (Fruit & Cereal)
11am-Breastfeed
12:30-2:30pm-Nap
3pm-Nurse
4:30pm-Catnap somedays if she's tired
5:30pm-Solids (Veggies)
7pm-Nurse and Bed
10pm-Dreamfeed
Here are my queries..
1.Do we still need the dreamfeed? She always take a full feeding...but it seems like other babies this age don't do this anymore? If so, how do I eliminate it??
2.Should I maybe up her intake of solids so she doesn't want the dreamfeed?
3.Sometimes (quite often) she wakes up at 5am and won't go back to sleep until I feed her. I have let her fuss for over an hour to no avail...if she does fall back asleep before 6am she will sleep until 7am and awake for the day extra tired. But if she is still crying on and off and awake at 6am I usually feed her and she will then fall back asleep for another 1-2 hours which throws off the rest of the day.
4. Milk supply-If I cut out the dreamfeed and the early morning feed that will be only four times of nursing a day...do other breastfeeding moms find this is enough?? I hope to breastfeed for another five months. (Her first year)
Thank you for helping me with this!!! Y'all are wonderful.
Blessings~

[hatshetsut]

1.Do we still need the dreamfeed? She always take a full feeding...but it seems like other babies this age don't do this anymore? If so, how do I eliminate it??
Usually babies can drop the dream feed around 7 months when firmly established on solids. To drop the DF during BF start doing the DF earlier in the evening. So if you usually DF around 10, start doing it at 930. I would push it earlier by 1/2 hour every 4-7 days. Then by the time it is at 8 pm your baby won't want to nurse anyway because she is full. You can also start only offering one side instead of both.
2.Should I maybe up her intake of solids so she doesn't want the dreamfeed?
Yes. You can up solids and offer another BF during the day if you would like.
3.Sometimes (quite often) she wakes up at 5am and won't go back to sleep until I feed her. I have let her fuss for over an hour to no avail...if she does fall back asleep before 6am she will sleep until 7am and awake for the day extra tired. But if she is still crying on and off and awake at 6am I usually feed her and she will then fall back asleep for another 1-2 hours which throws off the rest of the day.
The waking sounds habiutal since it occurs about the same time every day. You would use PU/PD to work on the sleep training.
4. Milk supply-If I cut out the dreamfeed and the early morning feed that will be only four times of nursing a day...do other breastfeeding moms find this is enough?? I hope to breastfeed for another five months. (Her first year) Most people find that demand keeps the supply adequate. You can always pump at the DF time to keep a stock handy and keep your supply going if needed.
Thank you for helping me with this!!! Y'all are wonderful.
Blessings~

[Christaldeboer]

Thank you so much for all your clear answers.  I can't tell you how much I appreciate your help! Does our schedule sound about right?? Should she be able to go 12 hours at night w/o food once I cut out the dreamfeed (over the next month or so) 7pm-7am. Or is that too much to expect?

[hatshetsut]

No that is not too much to expect. I was nervous about dropping the DF, but it was great when we did. 12 hours to myself!!!