how early? (also in born in jan)

cosmosucks · Feb 22, 2010 12:10PM

is too early to drop all nighttime feeds for LO?

i started dreamfeeding my LO at 4 and half weeks and at 5 and a half weeks she dropped her only through the night bottle (4am) and was basically sleeping 8pm-7am (with a 10.30/11pm dreamfeed) but the past 4/5 days i've been really struggling to get more than 30mls into her at her dreamfeed. last night i gave up after 20mls fully expecting her to wke during the night being hungry but apart from a little whimper at 4.50am (where she settled herself back off) she didn't wake.

if this had happened last week i would've been quite confident about giving her another few nights of dreamfeeding to see if it picked back up or if it tailed off more and then letting her go the whole night if she wanted, howevver...my HV came out last week and she had a right go at me telling me i should be waking LO every 3 hours for a feed coz i'd left her so long without one during the night?! now i'm a firm believer of letting the baby let you know what they want and when but the HV has made me question that now

what would you do? would you let a 6 and a half week old go a full 12 hours through the night if they were happy to or would you keep trying to do a late night feed?

(p.s - she was only 6lbs9oz born at 41 weeks but has been steadily putting on weight and is a perfectly happy content baby so am i just being silly letting health visitor upset me when i was so proud she was sleeping 8 hours at 5 weeks old?)

d7p · Feb 22, 2010 10:53AM

Hi Jemmykins,

I haven't fed my little one at night now for a good number of weeks. He is 10 + 1 and has his last feed at around 7pm and then his first of the day at around 6:30am. I too was worried that this wasn't enough, but he takes 5 or 6 oz at each feed and so has around 23oz over a 24 hour period. I couldn't wake him to feed - the HV wanted me to do this as he lost 1lb in the week after his birth and so they referred to him as the "weight loss baby" and expected me to wake him and that he would feed once woken. That didn't happen - he feeds only when he wants to. Anything else, he would refuse the food and get distressed.

I mentioned the lack of night feeds to the HV this morning and she said I was lucky that my baby wasn't waking at night to feed, so I am not as worried as I was. I think I need to up the oz a little as he is now draining his bottles, but as we have an issue with reflux, I am reluctant to do this before I have been to clinic this week and discussed it there.

I think what I did was to trust that baby will take what he needs and will let me know when he has had enough, or wants more. A friend of mine said that a baby won't starve itself, so I am sure that my baby is not going hungry. He is also putting on weight which is another sign that he's doing well. I am sure you're doing a great job and you know what's best for your baby. Please don't feel you have to do something that isn't right for your baby just because the health visitor's made you question yourself.

Hope this helps,
Dx

Nikki_Ann · Feb 22, 2010 12:10PM

I think your HV was a bit out of order. The problem is they have to go by the book, which doesn't take into account that all babies are different. Your LO won't starve herself. As long as she is gaining weight and you have plenty wet nappies, she is doing fine, you are just a lucky one that has a baby that sleeps through! My LO is no 13 months and has always gone down at 5.30/6 and sleeps through until 6.30/7 plus has 2 naps in the day, lots of people say that it too much sleep but it is what she needs, I don't force her to sleep. And BTW she was only 2lb 11oz born, and dropped her night feeds fairly quickly. Be proud of yourself for giving your LO a good routine which enables her to get a good nights sleep. x

Nikki_Ann · Feb 22, 2010 12:10PM

I think your HV was a bit out of order. The problem is they have to go by the book, which doesn't take into account that all babies are different. Your LO won't starve herself. As long as she is gaining weight and you have plenty wet nappies, she is doing fine, you are just a lucky one that has a baby that sleeps through! My LO is no 13 months and has always gone down at 5.30/6 and sleeps through until 6.30/7 plus has 2 naps in the day, lots of people say that it too much sleep but it is what she needs, I don't force her to sleep. And BTW she was only 2lb 11oz born, and dropped her night feeds fairly quickly. Be proud of yourself for giving your LO a good routine which enables her to get a good nights sleep. x

how early? (also in born in jan)

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