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we dream feed but not sure if helping????????
ok i feel like all i do on here is moan but i really really need advice help whatever really i am sooo tired!
i have mason who is 19 weeks old and a 2 year old - live in small house, you can here everything we didnt have a 3rd bedroom so mason was in our room he was awful baby bad colic and wind probs etc so we have come a long way but no way near enough!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! hubby built him a bedroom downstairs so we could ytry getting him more settled and io would have even a bit of time without him attached to me (what it felt like)
anyway so the day sort opf trundles a long - he wont talke bottle before 8am as he has night feeds he obviously isnt that hungry till then although wakes before that! then he gets tired every 2 hours and has a short 30/40min nap - never any longer!
we bath boys at 7pm and bottle and then i put down awake but tired with dummy and sometimes goes off others i go in few times put dummy leave etc....
then hubby does dreamfeed - this is where it all goes wrong!!!!!!!! at first used to dpo a feed at 10.30/11ish when i went up and he was in our room but he had usually been downstairs not proper asleep more nap in evening - then would wake after that feed about 4.15then morning....
but since getting him down in evening he wont take df until about 12 - hubby tried and he just asleep and wont feed at all - at around 12 hubby does it and like last night he took whole 8oz....
he then wakes - last night was 2.30am i did dummy run till after 3 as was like you cant be hungry... then he woke again at 4.15ish and i thought this is silly - did dummy run for what seemed for ever by this time had duvet on sofa as his room downstairs and all i was doing was laying down then shut eyes getting back up... gave in and fed at 4.45 then abo0ut 5.10 he went down - he took another 3.5oz.............. then he woke at 5.30am dummy etc same at just after 6 - toddler was up at 6!
sooooooo as you can see somethings sooo isnt working!
do you think dream feed making him think he should always eat etc....???
wont wean just screams !!!
have tried not df and couple times we have woke at 12.30/1am and again 4.30ish so 2 night feeds!
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i have mason who is 19 weeks old and a 2 year old - live in small house, you can here everything we didnt have a 3rd bedroom so mason was in our room he was awful baby bad colic and wind probs etc so we have come a long way but no way near enough!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! hubby built him a bedroom downstairs so we could ytry getting him more settled and io would have even a bit of time without him attached to me (what it felt like)
anyway so the day sort opf trundles a long - he wont talke bottle before 8am as he has night feeds he obviously isnt that hungry till then although wakes before that! then he gets tired every 2 hours and has a short 30/40min nap - never any longer!
we bath boys at 7pm and bottle and then i put down awake but tired with dummy and sometimes goes off others i go in few times put dummy leave etc....
then hubby does dreamfeed - this is where it all goes wrong!!!!!!!! at first used to dpo a feed at 10.30/11ish when i went up and he was in our room but he had usually been downstairs not proper asleep more nap in evening - then would wake after that feed about 4.15then morning....
but since getting him down in evening he wont take df until about 12 - hubby tried and he just asleep and wont feed at all - at around 12 hubby does it and like last night he took whole 8oz....
he then wakes - last night was 2.30am i did dummy run till after 3 as was like you cant be hungry... then he woke again at 4.15ish and i thought this is silly - did dummy run for what seemed for ever by this time had duvet on sofa as his room downstairs and all i was doing was laying down then shut eyes getting back up... gave in and fed at 4.45 then abo0ut 5.10 he went down - he took another 3.5oz.............. then he woke at 5.30am dummy etc same at just after 6 - toddler was up at 6!
sooooooo as you can see somethings sooo isnt working!
do you think dream feed making him think he should always eat etc....???
wont wean just screams !!!
have tried not df and couple times we have woke at 12.30/1am and again 4.30ish so 2 night feeds!
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Replies
I tried dream feed last week as I was feeding around 12-1am and 5am, so thought if I dream feed around 11 ish might sustain her through but it had the opposite effect. She woke at 2.30 and I knew she didnt need a feed but she wouldn't settle for 2hrs and then she was due her usual 5 am feed again.
I know some experts suggest it but others say its crazy to wake a baby to feed as it effects their natural sleep/hunger cycles etc. I dont know what's best but went back to usual feeds and she's now stretching out to 2am and then 7am (well she's done this last 2 nights and as no two nights have never been the same before hoping it will happen again tonight and then ONE MAGIC night she might sleep through!)
In fairness Scarlett doesnt drink enough in the day coz of reflux so Im probably not best place to share experience, but I had a feeling dream feed wouldnt work for her and it didnt.
Inka xxx
I EBF - feed 5pm/6pm and bed at 6.45pm. She now usually stretches until 2am and then feeds once and gets up at 7am. However sometimes wakes at 11, 12 or 1pm then will usually need a little top up at 5am to see through until morning.
Try cutting out df and see what happens!!
xx
he didnt wake until 6.30am which is a miracle... strange thing is yesterday he took less milk than normal, 8oz at 8am but then only 4 at 11.30, 3.5 at 3.30 and 2.5 at 7.30! i even tried to top up feed when asleep at 8.30 thinking surly he will take some more - i was panicking he would be starving and night would be bad!!!
xx
Was he waking all through the night anyway before the df was introduced? Only other thing I can think is maybe if he is only napping 30/40mins during the day then it's affecting his night sleep. Ive been working on Brody for the past 9 days with his day sleeps to get him sleeping through again and it's finally worked.
All I can say is if you are changing anything for them - it's a change that they aren't used to. So it may take a couple of days for them to adjust. It's easy to drop what you are trying and revert back but it may be harder in the long run to achieve what you want to with him. It's been a hard 9 days for me retraining Brody but now Im reaping the benefits and it was worth the pain. More importantly, he seems much more settled in himself. So take a step back, go with your instincts and be strong to know whatever you choose you are doing the right thing.
x
last few nights been strange as hubby didnt feed last night till 1.30 as fell asleep on sofa - but mason hadnt stired, he ook 5oz and hubby did struggle to get him off he said he was wide awake - then he woke at 4.30 but i put dummy in and he went back off then again 5.30 but it took lots of dummy runs trill 6 and he went off till 7am!
we need to eaither have the dream feed earlier as silly doing so late or just scrap it and see when wakes and hope its not twice in night!
Brody used to have a 6-7oz dream feed until about 10 wks and then started waking in the night so hv advised to up it to 8oz. So he now has an 8oz ff at 7pm, then an 8oz ebm at 11pm. If he cant take more milk then maybe try a hungry milk if you think it would help?
I also recently read something about sleep cycles, cant remember it all. But maybe feeding him later (at 130am) it's breaking into a deep sleep cycle?? Just throwing it out there as I dont really know but either way, like you said, it would be better to do it earlier or scrap it altogether. Whatever you do, try to stick to the same times as his body clock will be in that routine then.
we played around with the dream feed and concluded that it wasnt for us (well ds) he would end up waking up for an extra feed instead of dropping one! we would feed and put down at 7pm and then see how long he lasted, within days of giving up on df he was sleeping until 3am, taking a few ounces and then slepping until 7ish, gradually this waking got later and later until he wasnt waking until 5am(ish) at this point i stopped offering feed as it was interfering with first bottle of the day (always 8am) and just gave him dummy, after a few weeks of this routine my lo shocked us all and slept right through until 7.30am without so much as a moan all night! i am sure if we had tried to force feed (aka df) he would still be waking in the night as it was interfering with his natural sleep patterns.....5 weeks on and he has slept 13 hours each night...heaven!!!
good luck with what you decide.....think Shakespeare got it wrong....
"to dream feed or not to dream feed!"
Keeley and Rafferty 19 weeks
the thing is getting the feed in him as i know if he only takes few oz he will prob wake at more 12 then again 5or something!!!!!!!!
xxx