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4 week old - should I introduce dream feed?

4 replies

LCnewmum · 25/01/2007 17:03

My baby is feeding roughly 3-4 hourly in the day (bottle) about 100-140 ml each time. Normal pattern is 7am, 10am, 2pm, 5pm, 8pm and then he goes straight through until 3am or 4am. Am wondering whether to dream feed him around 11 in the hope he may go through the night but don't know whether it is too early to disturb his own pattern. I also don't know if he will be hungry then because he appears to be satisfying his daily needs (according to average amounts for his age) by the end of the 8pm feed. Any thoughts?

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Mumpbump · 25/01/2007 17:09

I'd try it and see what happens. He might go through until 7 or 8am if you're lucky!! Isn't the daily allowance over a 24 hour period so if he drops the 3/4am feed as a result, there shouldn't be any overall increase in his daily intake...

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LCnewmum · 26/01/2007 04:13

oh well - did not work as planned! He only took 55ml at dreamfeed. He was fast asleep. Did not want to wake him up. Woke as usual just before 4 and wanted a full bottle. Am I doing it right?

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Mumpbump · 26/01/2007 09:22

I would persist with the dream feed for a few days. I think it can take them a while to get used to something new. Or even wake him up to feed him - that's what I used to do with ds (admittedly I was bf him at the time) and he never had any problems going back to sleep afterwards...

How old is your baby? I am having difficulties with ds wanting milk in the middle of the night as he seems to be very hungry following a gastric bug. I have started watering it down a bit so it fills him up, but he doesn't get too much in the middle of the night. My theory is he will eat more in the middle of the day to make up for the missing calories. But he is almost a year and has slept through the night before so I know he is capable of doing it.

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LCnewmum · 26/01/2007 15:41

He is only 4 weeks - hence the hesitation in messing with his pattern. Easy to forget that 2 weeks ago could not sit and eat a meal in evening so am not complaining. Would be nice though if he could have his long sleep a litlle later. When do they drop the night feed?

Hope your DS is fully recovered. No doubt he will level out soon