Advice needed please!

[mhorne]

Bit of a long one coming! Have a 21wk DS, who is around 19pds. He has had reflux since 6wks and so can only stomach 6oz bottles, and has been having 5 a day, which is fine. In the last week he has been really restless at night, I haven't succumbed to feeding him (he hasn't had a nighttime bottle for weeks now) and he generally settles easily, even if he does wake about 10 times a night. I have dreamfed him from the start but as an experiment last night I left him alone and waited to see when he woke..... he didn't, apart from a couple of dummy losing moments. So, here's the problem. If he doesn't have the dreamfeed he will only be having 24 oz a day, which doesn't seem very much, but if the dream feed has been upsetting him at night, shouldn't I continue to leave it out! Any comments or advice? All gratefully received.

I'm not sure - my DS is my first and I'm breastfeeding. But 24oz doesn't seem much for a formula fed baby? Can you perhaps add a couple of 3oz feeds or one 6oz in during the day? Having said that, if he was hungry he would surely wake or be unsettled during the day... hmmm... hope someone can help you a bit more than I can!

Thanks for your reply, I was starting to wonder if I hadn't made my title interesting enough! I agree I don't think it's enough for him but he is a big lad so if that is all he wants for a few days, maybe I should just go with the flow. I am interested to hear others opinions. By the way congrats on b/feeding, I wish I had been more successful.

im pretty sure that if hes hungry he would wake up, in any case by cutting out the night feed you may start to find hes more hungry during the day. sounds like hes big enough, dd didnt weigh that much till she was about ten months! mind you, all i did was worry that she was getting enough, youre not the first and im sure not the last either!! if still worried see your hv.

my ds is only 11 wks and my first child but I'm sure if your baby is hungry he'll wake you. I have always bf on demand, he's actually settled really well- feeds regularly during the day then sleeps between 6 and 8 hrs a night, (he got himself into this routine) and the night of his first injections he slept 11 hours- and the next two nights. Then he reverted back to the previous routine. If the dreamfeed is causing more hassle than it's worth I wouldn't bother, but he may revert back too, then you might want to start it up again. His growth rate may have halted a little so maybe wasn't needing the dreamfeed, I really wouldn't get stressed out about quantities, no two days are the same so he won't always want exactly the same amount. I haven't bothered with a dreamfeed as I'm not planning going back to work and don't feel the need, I've just let him find his own and it's working fine so far. Hope this helps settle your mind? Good luck.