beanie baby: Can i ask what dream feed is?
Shae is a little angel. He can be a nightmare to settle sometimes of a night time but he is getting better. He wont go to bed any earlier than 9pm, but he has his bottle and sleeps right through until 7am, then once he has had his morning bottle he will sleep again until 9am ish. It works perfect for me. I know he doesnt settle until late but it works for us.
I know MommyKC answered this question earlier but couldn't resist saying how amazing your little Shae is doing and if I was you i wouldn't bother introducing a dream feed as from what you're saying he's already sleeping 10 hrs straight! Didn't even think that was possible at that age but we've had a few reports in here so well done you (and Shae of course!).
I never did the dream feed on my first as she had reflux and colic and until 4 mths she was so unsettled in the eve she never settled to sleep until after midnight, so she was never asleep at 10/11pm to administer a 'dream' feed!
This time around we thought we'd try and introduce it since Sophia has been going down between 8-9pm but as she always has such a full wee nappy we feel guilty so find it easier to just change her and then we feed her drowsy but awake and she goes back down really easily, sometimes easier than if we wait for her to wake out of hunger.
How long do your babies stay awake when they wake up? Rose has been staying wide awake for 4-5 (sometimes longer...) stretches of time. She'll sleep 4 hours, wake for 5 then back to sleep. It can be exhausting, cause it's usually at 1am that she wakes!
That does sound like a long time for her to be awake for during the night, it sounds like she has her night and day mixed up. Sophia was always awake, feeding and not settling back down between 2-6am in the first 3-4 wks but she's stopped that now. My first was awake during a lot of the day and night but that was due to her being v. unsettled and uncomfortable from her reflux and colic and resulted in lots of screaming etc. Is Rose unsettled or happy awake in her awake periods? Do you let her sleep for 4 hrs continuously in the day? If so maybe try waking her after 2 hrs? How many hrs is she sleeping in total and how are they spread over the 24hrs? Our routine has got better since a friend tipped me off that we should be trying to keep Sophia awake from 5pm to get her to sleep at a good time. If she does fall asleep I just change her position or take her dummy out/change her nappy so that she is drowsy but awake and that seems to be good enough. Before we introduced this into the routine she was sleeping loads between 4-7pm and rarely going off before 9.30/10pm.
Our routine at the moment is:-
7.30 awake
7.30-8am I get showered and get Bella up and ready whilst Sophia sits in bouncy chair in bathroom (with dummy firmly in place!
)
8am bottle of EBM whilst Bella is eating breakfast
9.30-11am approx. asleep
11am 5oz formula
12pm-3pm she sleeps quite a lot during this time, at least 2 hrs, sometimes more if we're out and about as the car and pram send her off
3pm 5oz formula
4pm-5pm approx. asleep
6pm 2oz EBM top up whilst Bella's eating tea
6.30pm bath with Bella every other night, if not she just sits in her bouncy chair in bathroom whilst I get Bella ready
7pm 5oz formula whilst i'm reading a story to Bella in Bella's room
7.30pm winding and cuddles in her room with lights dimmed
8pm asleep (this has been the last two nights in a row!
)
11.30pm she either wakes naturally for a feed which my OH does or if he wants to head off to bed he changes her nappy and then gives her the bottle drowsy but awake - 5oz formula again
12-4/4.30am asleep
4/4.30am 5oz formula
4.45/5.15am asleep
6.30am-7.30am still asleep but stirring a lot/waking on occasion so I just put the dummy in and she goes back off
I would say on average she sleeps about 5 hrs during the day
and about 9-10hrs at night (broken). I am so lucky as Bella probs slept about 30mins-1hr max during the day for the first 4 months (that was broken and in v. short cat naps, woken by her feeling uncomfortable we think from the acid from her reflux), was then overtired so didn't settle until 12-1am (lots of screeming all eve!), but would then do a 5 hr chunk of sleep but then take a good 1.5-2 hrs to feed and settle so wouldn't settle til around 7am (which would be hell with a toddler if it was this time around so i'm counting my lucky stairs I can tell you!).
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We really couldn't afford it but he must have understood how badly I need one. It was so sweet of him. 
I just know for me, it sure did! With my first daughter, by 4 months she knew full well that her crib was for sleeping and I would literally swaddle her, give her a soother and put her in the crib and she'd go to sleep. I wouldn't have to rock her, or do anything. It was heaven. 
My toddler sleeps 11-12 hours now, SOLID... doesn't wake up at ALL!
Clearly she doesn't NEED the food... but she's still waking. Hopefully she either drinks more when she wakes up or cuts that feed out! One can hope eh? 
But usually she's only awake 1.5-2 hours before she gets cranky and needs a nap. All babies are different though!
