late evening feed- dream feed or on demand

[SpoonfulOfJam]

8 week breastfed baby. Bath at 6, fed, winded and fast asleep by 7 (hurrah!). He wakes between 10 and 11.30 for a feed- this was closer to 10 but has been getting later. Then another feed between 2 and 3, and sometimes one more at 5 or 6 before he wakes up properly for the day. Anyway, I am wandering if that late evening should be a dream feed. My husband has recently started doing this feed (I express before I go to bed). At the moment, he waits till he hears baby stirring then warms the bottle. Should we be feeding the baby when he wakes for it, or pre empt his hunger and work to make the evenings run more smoothly for us ( and hopefully get him to sleep through)

[SpoonfulOfJam]

Nearly, glad you managed one feed. Night 3 almost identical to previous night. He drank so much at 1 though, so I am reluctant to try to settle him with a dummy tonight for that wake up.

I swear I can see and feel my LO getting bigger by the day. He's 8 weeks and 2 days, he might be going through as growth spurt. My instinct is telling me not to hold back on milk at the moment. But this could change any time now. So I'll keep going and hope that soon I am ready to try what you did Nearly.

[Runandbecome]

Not so great at our end.

Christmas Eve night, he woke up and BF at 11 then at 3. Took til 4 to settle him and then woke about every 90 mins til 7.15

Christmas Day night, he woke up and BF at 10 (though had gone to bed 45 mins earlier) then woke at 12.30 and then had to change a dirty nappy and he wailed until 2am. Slept til 4 then wailed again. Then slept til about 6.45

So not great and I was really feeling frustrated last night.

Our biggest issue is he can't self settle so has to be cuddled to sleep and then gets into a tizzy if he can't drop off properly. I know I need to change this but not sure how.

Interesting that the dummy worked for you in the night - I'm going to try one tonight as I end up having to feed him to sleep and then he pukes it up as he's full.

[Nearlythere123]

Makes sense Spoonful, I totally agree - plus just trust your instincts. I'm comfortable with it because for my LO that dream feed is a new feed he wasn't taking before and I know how much he's taking. Plus the first night when he woke he wasn't actually hungry so I'm ok with it.

[SpoonfulOfJam]

I think I'm throwing in the towel

Yesterday, had a big nap in the afternoon so went to sleep about an hour later than usual. Isaid I would do the late evening feed, but as our times were off and it would be a breast feed, I would wait for the baby to wake up.
He woke at 2 and then at 6. So I don't think he needs the dreamfeed at the moment. I'm just not sure. I think I want to go back to on demand, and see if his natural pattern is changing. He is 9 weeks now. Still quite little, would like to see what changes on its own in the next couple of weeks.

[SpoonfulOfJam]

It's always something I could try again in a few weeks

Do keep me updated though Nearly and Run.

[Nearlythere123]

Funnily enough I was just thinking about giving I had LO wake at 2 then 6 last night. I prefer the on demand approach in principle definitely. There doesn't seem to be much pattern either and in some ways I feel like in interfering with what would happen naturally and am going to end up making him dependent on the dream feed. Plus I'm actually getting less sleep. I'll have a little think about it and maybe see how I get on without the dream feed for a few nights now he's showing that he can sleep for longer periods. Good luck everyone!