Posted by
crj
19 yrs ago
Hi
Our baby is 4 1/2 months.
He goes to bed at 7pm.
We wake him up at 11pm for a feed and nappy change.
He sleeps until 6:30 am.
He has been doing this for about a month now.
More and more we really have to wake him up for the 11pm feed, and think he might be ready to drop it.
We are debating between two methods:
Method 1:
The gradual way
Move the feed up to 10:30 for a few nights, then 10, then 9:30, then 9, etc... until it becomes the last feed of the day around 7pm.
Method 2:
Just do it
Just don't wake him up at 11 and see what happens.
We, of course, are terrified that what we do might cause him to wake up at 3am again.
Can you please share:
1. What method did you use?
2. How old?
3. After, did you still have random 10/11 pm (or worse 3am!) times when baby would cry for food?
4. Any advice?
Thank you!!!
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Waking a sleeping baby?????
Just try to drop it and see what happens (on a weekend) - if he doesn't wake up at all for a few nights then bingo - it is completed - if he does wake up then try the other method (10:30 feed).
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Hi CRJ -
With my older one, I didn't drop the 11:00 feed until after she started solids (around 7 months.) Then I just dropped it - no gradual nothing. She just stopped and she never woke up.
I feel the same way as you do about my second (she never wakes up and she seems really sleep when I do wake her up) and so have been tempted to drop it, but have decided to wait until she is also on solids as well.
If your baby just seems like he's not eating much, let him eat what he wants and then let him go to sleep. You could gradually reduce the amount of food he eats at that time until it's almost nothing. Some people recommend reducing the amount of time spent feeding and not necessarily adjusting the TIME you fed, as some sleep doctors say that the first THREE hours of sleep are the most deep. (so if you were to wake up your baby, at 9:00, he'd be in such a deep sleep he wouldn't wake up to eat anyways.) Just a thought.
You could give it a test run for a week - if nothing happens then you're good to go. If not, then you just go back to the original schedule.
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kooni
19 yrs ago
Dear CRJ,
I have had the same worries. With #1, I was so nervous that we waited to drop this "dream" feed until he was about 6 months. We just dropped it and his sleeping patterns did not change at all. Maybe we could have tried sooner? I kept thinking that he needed this nutrition, but it turned out I was wrong. With my current 5 and a half month old, we just dropped it about four nights ago, and it's been no problem. We had also tried when he was about 3.5 months, but that only lasted a few nights because he started waking at odd hours of the night. I should add that with both children, more than planning and deciding to drop this feed (which I really was trying to do), I was just so tired by 7PM that I passed out and decided to forgo staying up until 10/10:30 to feed, and just deal with it if they woke up. I think you may just want to try now to drop this feed "cold turkey" and see what happens. Good luck!
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crj
19 yrs ago
Great advice.
The funny thing is, he does eat a lot during this feed, but I get the feeling any baby would if you put a boob in their mouth!
But I have also been noticing that at the 6:30 am feed - I go into his room, he is awake and smiling and happy - but never that hungry. He is more happy to be in my arms and smiling than he is to be eating. While in the past he would gulp down the milk and was obviously really hungry.
Kooni - I try to go to sleep at about 9 and wake up for the 11 feed most nights - staying up is only on rare nights and usually kills me for the next day.
I might give it a try over a weekend as Dimac suggested. And not do the 'gradual' method because of the deep sleep HKCC mentioned.
One other question- if we do drop the 11pm feed - will this negatively effect my milk supply?
Thanks for the help on this one...
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kooni
19 yrs ago
Hello, again. I found that my little one was not taking as much during his first AM feed as well, so stopping the 10/10:30PM feed seemed like a good thing to do. Since I dropped it, he is much much more interested in "breakfast." We have not introduced solids yet -- though that will probably take place within the month.
As for the milk supply, I would just be prepared to feel engorged by morning the first few days. More important, you will not hurt your milk supply at all. I had so many issues with breastfeeding with my #1, that I can say this without hesitation. As long as you do not start supplementing with formula and continue on with his feeding directly from your breast initially, then you and your little guy should get along swimmingly. I am always amazed at how our bodies adjust. Just my 2 cents. :)
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crj
19 yrs ago
THanks Kooni, that is probably just what I neede/wanted to hear!
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CRJ -
dropping the 11:00 PM feed will be similar to when you dropped your 3:00 AM feed - as Kooni said, a bit engorged at first but your body will adjust. (if you want to make more breastmilk for your supply in your freezer then perhaps pumping before you sleep will be a good thing.) it's won't be too bad as Kooni said and our bodies are truly amazing in the way the sort of adjust to our baby's needs...
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based on my brief experience so far, i would say leave it and see what time he wakes up on his own - he might pleasantly surprise you and sleep too!My 10 week old baby used to wake up around 11pm for a feed, then mid-morning for another before his 7am feed for the next day. We never wake him up for his feed and one night, he just missed his 11pm feed. He would then wake up around 1ish, then later 2ish and then 3ish. At such times, I would give him a very small amount of milk as he can't seem to drink very much at this time anyway. Then this week, he's gone beyond - basically he didn't have any milk from 7pm to 7am!
It still doesn't mean that i get an uninterrupted sleep- he sleeps with us so i hear every noise he makes and constantly wake up at his usual feeding times in anticipation but he's actually asleep. He does cry sometimes but nothing that a redoing his swaddle and a cuddle can't resolve.
But before I break out the champagne, I must qualify that it's just a few days so far and I am prepared that it might reverse, etc.
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In case my previous post was unclear, what i meant was after he dropped his 11pm, he would wake up at 1ish and then a few days later, 2ish and dragging it towards 3.30am-4am. Cos what i wrote reads like he wakes up 3 times in a night for a feed, which is even worse!
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crj
19 yrs ago
Ruth - I wish! my period came back less than 3 months after giving birth... and I am full time breast feeding. Strange and annoying, but apparently normal in some women.
I think the pumping before bed is a very good idea - I wake up engorged to some degree most mornings anyway.
Wheelymate
When our baby dropped the 3:30 am feed, I was like you - I woke up in a panic thinking I missed hearing him. It took me weeks to sleep!
Well, it is almost 10pm now, and we are considering giving it a try... of course, if he wakes we will feed him, but we'll see if he does.
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crj
19 yrs ago
HE DID IT!!! 7:00 pm - 6:30 am.
Not a sound, not a peep...
of course my husband and I barely slept as we were listening for him all night :)
Now, let's see if he does it for a whole week.
Thank you all so much for your advice. I was showing my husband this thread last night and saying how helpful you all have been!
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Well done for you being so brave and baby for being so wonderfully considerate!
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kooni
19 yrs ago
very well done! i think it's very funny how they end up getting all the sleep, and we stay up all night worrying! :)
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congrats CRJ - i'm so glad it worked for you! hope it keeps up this week as well...
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