early wakings - please help!!!

[LISAMJS]

Hi DS is 6 months old and is bf 4 hourly through the day. He has 3 meals porrige in the morning then a 125g jar of food at lunch and dinner. He has his bf before bed about 1840ish. He wakes about 2300 (sometimes he does sometimes not) and 0500(or about 0500 can be as early as 0300). I have been advised to gve him a df at 2300 then he should go till 0600.
In the past I have fed him at 0500 and he has gone back to sleep til 0700-0800. I have been advised that by feeding him at 0500 and putting him back to sleep I am encouraging early wakings.
Today he woke at 0100 for a feed and I fed him. He went straight back to sleep. He then woke at 0510 he was chatting in his cot. I left him and he started crying at 0530. I then got him out of the cot at 0600 and fed him. He is wide awake and not tired.
I have been having probs getting to sleep recently myself so am so tired.

My question really is do I introduce a df at 2300? - Apparently if he has this he will not need another feed till 0600 at least.
What shall I do if he does wake at 0500? Do I just feed him then put him back to sleep?
Please help.
x

 

[pilkers]

I am not a BF'er but I think a DF might be worth a try... if it doesn't help the situation you can always go back to the old routine

 

[Becs]

Hello my love,

Two things that spring to mind but not sure if they will help. Not sure how much day time sleep your little one has but try to limit it to no more than 2 and a half hours and if it is much less than this then try going for a couple of drives or long walks to encourage enough daytime sleep as overtiredness can be equally as bad as not enough sleep.

The second thing i would look at is the food you are giving. Shop bought jars are not as filling as home made so perhaps try making some big batches and freezing it in portion containers. Protein for lunch and carbs for dinner. Porridge in the mornng is great as you are doing. Leek and potatoe soup is a great evening meal (I add a bit of full fat cream cheese when re-heating as it contributes to milk intake) a fab lunch is something like chicken casserole. A good guidline for portion sizes is one portion should be equal to the size of the palm of your LO's hand. try to give 3 portions at each mea and and include some veg. I know it is a pain but home made most of the time will leave your LO feeling fuller. Some babies just need the extra bumf in home made where as shop bough contain quite a lot of fillers and a high content of water which doesn't sustain for as long. If you are following Annabel Karmel recipies then add about an ounce more protein than she suggests as her recipies can be a little low.

I used to do a feed at 10/10.30pm but found I was able to drop it and LO slept 7pm to 6.30/7am once on 3 meas a day as above, so maybe in the meantime it would be a good idea to do one if your LO will take it.

Hope some of that is useful!

Best of luck!

Becs

 

[Sherlock]

My question really is do I introduce a df at 2300? - Apparently if he has this he will not need another feed till 0600 at least.
What shall I do if he does wake at 0500? Do I just feed him then put him back to sleep?
Please help.
x

I personally would not. I think dream feeds past a certain age have a negative effect and don't allow baby to adjust to going longer periods of sleep overnight. It just gives them more food when they should only be sleeping and their bodies recharging. We don't eat and sleep at the same time and babies of 6 months don't really need to either. OK, so there are some babies out there who will feed overnight, but often its comfort feeding and they are used to waking up and having a feed, so their body clocks adjust to this. Starts a circle of waking and feeding overnight then.

If you are firm and patient you can hopefully get your LO to adjust to not feeding overnight without a dreamfeed.

Our LO wakes at night again and I am working on not feeding him every time he wakes. Its hard but we are getting there. He is slowly adjusting to not being fed 3-4 times a night but its hard for us as he isn't feeding much in the day at present and is really hungry at night.

I tend to put on music, give him a muslin and don't pick him up if I hope he will settle again. I alwys give him at least 5 minutes before I go to him, or longer if he isn't fussing or making annoyed noises. Often he will go back to sleep on his own and wake later. And I keep trying.