Tips for dropping the magical 11pm dreamfeed pls

[Pinkmarshmallow]

I've been waking DD for her 11pm feed every night for the last few months and this has really helped her sleep through til 7am or so. Now she is 6months old and I've started spoon-feeding her once in the day and she's taking well to this. I'm thinking of starting her on a second spoonfeed in the day around our tea time. Do you think this would be a good time also to drop the 11pm feed? I'm dreading the first night of doing this though because I fear she'll start waking at 3am or some unearthly hour. I really need my sleep or I get headaches and grumpy with everyone and everything (or so I'm told!). So any advice and tips on how to drop this feed and DD still sleep well? TIA.

[Seona1973]

why not try reducing it gradually instead and then your lo should easily make up the lost calories in the daytime.

[SummerLightning]

My DS is 8 months and he still wakes up if I don't give him the dream feed.
If you can't bear her to wake up I would try it gradually. I just try not doing it now and again and so far he has still woken up.
He's not a big eater of solids though.

[Pinkmarshmallow]

Thank you for your replies. Silly me.... why didn't I think of doing it gradually? Now when I think about it is the only obvious solution!

[ChocOrange05]

Is she still taking a full bottle in the morning after having a dreamfeed? DS was really cutting back on his morning BF so I started cutting down the dreamfeed from 6oz and when it got to 3oz (and he one night refused it) I didn't wake him the next night and he slept through ever since.

HTH

[MummyDragon]

I agree, don't drop the dreamfeed unless the first morning feed is affected. You could try bringing the dreamfeed back to 10.30, and then 10.00, so you can get to bed a bit earlier ... see how you get on with that to start with. And until DD is on 3 solid meals a day I wouldn't worry about dropping the dreamfeed at all, to be honest. Just do the dreamfeed slightly earlier = win-win!!

Frankly, I'd have been happy doing the dreamfeed for ever if it had meant that my DCs carried on sleeping through the night. Wracking my memory, I think DS was at least 8 months and DD possibly a bit older when we finally dropped it. With DS, we reduced it and reduced it until it was just 2oz. With DD, I went to bed early one night and forgot to do it ... she slept through until after 6am so I never bothered again. They were both on 3 solid meals a day at this point.

[MummyDragon]

That makes me sound very neglectful! I had flu, and forgot to set the alarm clock to wake me up at 10 p.m. That's all I meant!

[MiniMarmite]

I waited until 7 months to drop it so he was eating a bit more food and did it gradually too. DS was taking very little at the morning feed by then.

I ended up going to bed later rather than earlier after dropping it which wasn't the plan!

[fruitstick]

My DS was waking a couple of times a night at 5 months. One night I didn't wake him for his 11pm feed (too much wine tired) and he slept til 7:30!

Try it! If he wakes at 3am he won't explode, you can just reinstate it the next night!

[ChocOrange05]

Forgot to say, DS was 7mo and on 3 meals a day when we dropped it

[HeadFairy]

I only dropped our dreamfeed at a year because I was too scared

don't leave it that long!

Actually, I'm lying a bit, there was a bit more to it than that, ds used to sleep straight through it so I wasn't really waking him, plus it helped keep my milk supply up once I'd returned to work.