Should i wake my 15 week old for his dream breastfeed?

[mmmmchocolate]

My ds has always fallen asleep around 7ish and slept downstairs with us and then i would take him to bed when we go and give hima feed (i am breast feeding) before putting him down this is normally around 11.30. he then wakes at 3for another feed and at 5.30 for a cuddle. He is now in his own room and i have got him up the last few nights before i went to bed. would apreciate some advice on if i should carry on this or just leave him to wake for a feed on his own? and not think about losing sleep!!!!

[mum18772]

What age is your son? I found that by 7 weeks my son was starting to sleep longer and missing out on a feed around the same time as you describe arounf midnight - I then expected him to waken about 3am for a feed which he did and he seemed none the worse for it - that for me was the beginning of the first noticeable change in his daily feeding pattern and it meant just one feed during the night instead of two and then I could get up at 6am and feel I had had a less interupted night's sleep and began to feel better for it. At first I was worried that he would be starving , having to go so long without a feed but since the rest of the day continued in a 3 hourly feeding pattern he didn't seem to be any hungrier for it.

[mum18772]

Sorry, missed the title of this thread! 15 weeks is a good age and he would be fine to forego a feed if he sleeps on - of course, he will ultimately decide but it is worth trying to let him sleep and see how long he lasts until he wants his next feed.

[tigertiger]

i still give my ds (12wks) a feed at 11.30 or so, but he then sleeps til 7/7.30am (most of the time) my theory is that if he is hungry, he will wake, if not, enjoy the sleep

[clairemow]

depends what you want! We always woke both of ours for a dream feed. DS1 dropped it himself by refusing it at 13 weeks and sleeping through anyway. DS2 still had it up to 22 odd weeks and we weaned him off it. But both had expressed bottles, so we could tell how much they were taking, and once DS2 was only taking a couple of ounces regularly we stopped giving it and he slept through. IME, if you don't give a dream feed you're more likely to get night wakings for longer - e.g. sleep at 7 until 3 am without a dream feed, feed at 3, sleep til 7 - as opposed to go to sleep at 7, dream feed at 11 sleep through til 7 (in an ideal world!!).

There isn't a right answer, just experiment and see what happens.

[mmmmchocolate]

well he woke at 10pm which he never does must of heard me talking about missing this feed!!! little monkey.