Should i cut her feeds?

[tattoo_mama]

DD is 3 months old and is having 6 x 150ml feeds over a 24 hr period, usually 6am, 10am, 2pm, 5pm, 8pm and 11pm (that is a dream feed so technically she sleeps 9pm to 6am).

doing dream feed doesnt really bother me but would sometimes like to get to bed earlier, i was thinking maybe if i give her more per bottle e.g. 180mls, over 5 feeds, could i possibly get her to sleep from overnite without dream feed?

i tried it the other week but she woke up hungry at 2am, but those were only 5 x 150ml bottles so prob not enuff for her.

what do u guys think - continue 6 feeds including the dream feed, or try giving her 5 larger bottles? TIA

[MrsFabuloso]

Honestly..., well I wouldn't mess with what's working, but to me your baby sounds like an angel! She's sleeping longer overnight than my two year old does, let alone my one year old!!

[tattoo_mama]

lol yes im pretty lucky so far, she only wakes up when shes at her Dads cause he doesnt stick to her routine grrr. would just be nice to get to bed at 9pm and not have to set me alarm for 11pm for the dream feed, yawn

[Mrs Jak]

Hi Emma,

You could try her with a bigger bottle and see if she drinks it all. Does she always finish her 150mls?

[tattoo_mama]

MJ: not always, usually between 120 and 150 mls but if im giving her 5 bottles i can spread them out abit more and make her abit 'hungrier'?

[Mrs Jak]

Does she let you know when she's hungry or do you sort of just go with the same set time intervals?

If she seems happy enough to stretch out the feeds you could try the bigger bottles and less feeds, otherwise I'd just keep going as you are and try her with bigger bottles if she continues to finish the 150mls and looks like she could have more.

Sounds like you are doing a great job

[butterfly_warrior]

Just a thought... we had Sam on a very similar schedule... He'd wake at 6am, and then we'd go 10am, 2pm, 6pm (bed), 10pm (dreamfeed). Do you think that might work at all? She can obviously go 4 hours between bottles, is there a reason it reduces to 3 hours in the evenings? Over time, Sam gradually shifted to a 7am wake up with an 11pm dreamfeed, but that worked for us as a later bedtime gives him more time with Daddy after work. It was such a relief when we were able to drop that dreamfeed at last! Unfortunately, it didn't happen until we introduced a solid meal for dinner.

BW

[tattoo_mama]

I do her feeds closer together in the evening as she gets more niggly and won't last as long between feeds. Think I'll keep her on 6 until she starts refusing one? Her dream feed she rarely drinks all of it, usually 100ml, but wakes up in the middle of the nite if I don't offer it

[Indadhanu]

I think that she's that young still I would leave it, let her drop it when she's ready. Sounds like you are getting a great amount of sleep, and your daughter sounds like an angel baby, I wouldn't mess with what is working or it'll probably turn around and bite you in the butt.

[shellbell3]

My DD is nearly 6 months and she still has 6 feeds, she has 6x 180, I've tried giving the 210 but seeing as she doesn't always finish the 180 doesn't work.
I'd just keep going I think she is doing pretty good, prolly better for you to give dreamfeed than have to get up in the night. DD wakes at 1am everynight.

[*TripleJ*]

i only upped the formula when ds drank every drop of every bottle no dream feeds here he wakes at 2 or 4 every night after eating at 8 and then back to sleep till next feed at 9

[tattoo_mama]

Thanks for the advice girls, I tried giving her 5 bottles a day for a couple of days and it totally screwed up her sleep/feed patterns (won't settle, wants to play at 11pm instead of it being a dream feed) so back to 6 bottles today I really hope she goes back to the way she was before, damn I shouldn't have changed anything!!

[Indadhanu]

Ah bugger! It's always the way... hope she settles again for you soon. And remember, if it ain't broke, don't try to fix it