Has anyone dream fed their baby....

[Sai]

..and now can't get the baby out of the habit??!
What can I do? DS at 6mnths now wakes up at the time I used to dream feed.
He goes down at 8. I just put him in his crib and he falls asleep by himself fine. He's then awake by 11, sometimes 10.30 and then wakes about 3 more times at night and he's not that hungry as he feeds only a small amount.
Any advice appreciated.

Hi Sai

I dreamfed my ds (now 15 months) and he still ocasionally wakes up - BUT always before 11 and only when teething or ill which is better than through the night). Have you started weaning? If so, try bit more solid food at about 5.30, if formula feeding try hungry food, if not weaning try that! Amazing the difference a bit of solids makes! If not hungry, you could try a dummy/comforter/special teddy, or just ignoring and seeing if he settles. Depends on the cry - there are some you can ignore and some you just can't (although ear plugs help bad bad mummy!!!!

He may be getting too much sleep during the day - maybe try limiting his naps, or he may be overtired and needs to go down a bit earlier (my ds goes to bed at 7 because I've had enough by then !!)

Is there anything else going on at home at the mo - he may just be feeling a bit insecure? Or not doing enough physical stuff during the day - the research shoes that if they get some fresh air in the afternoon they tend to sleep better - bit hard with the weather like it was today.
Or, you could just resort to the BAD MUMMY route and drug him with medised for a few nights to get him used to going through again

try offering water instead of milk.He'll probably decide its not worth bothering!!

Thanks for your advice.
I can't give ds water as he is ebf and am trying to get him to drink water but he hates it.
I started weaning about 4 weeks ago.
I'll try feeding him more milk and food during the day.
I think I'm also going to try limiting his naps as there is nothing else going at home and I take him out every day and we do a lot of playing on the floor etc.
Drugging sounds very appealing. Its really bad because I can be quite unforgiving at night and get really angry and fed up. I feel so bad in the mornings....

Sai

I didn't stop the dream feed (11 pm) until 9 months (he was just hungry, plain and simple)

I then started to water down the bottle (I was expressing by that stage so my husband could do the feed also) so that by the end he was getting 1 oz breast milk and 6 oz water. Eventually he decided it was not worth waking up for.

My girlfriend did similar thing with her son, although he wouldn't take the bottle, so what she did was time the feed, so if the feed took 20 minutes, each night she would reduce it by 1 minute. Got to the stage where her son didn't bother waking up for it.

Hope this helps

ps presume your joking about the drugs

Of course! sorry I forget its hard to read someones tone of voice! Should use those emoticons more (practice!)
I love my boy more than I could ever say but the consistent sleepless nights really wear me down but generally he's a happy baby and I'm a happy mummy!
Thanks for the advice and its comforting to hear that you didn't stop til 9 months. I'll try all these things.

yes, the sleepless nights can really wear on you after a while

just remember, he will eventually sleep through (who hear of a 15 yr old waking up his mother for a glass of milk

although, they might wake you up by slamming the door coming home at 3 am ..... but that's a while away yet