CIO, dream feeds, and teething

Our b/g twins are just over 7 months (6 months adjusted). They were sleeping great-straight 10 hours. Now, they are both going about 9-10 hours but have a feeding during that time. We put them down at 8 pm and DS usually wakes about 2 am and DD wakes about 3:30 am. They both suck down a 6-7 oz bottle and usually go back to sleep. Today they woke up again at 6 am and another full bottle.

A couple of questions:
I know they are teething (DS has two already) but should we do CIO in the middle of the night anyway?

Should we do a dream feed around 10 pm? How exactly does a dream feed work?

It seems like most people do CIO with both babies in the same room at the same time. Did this work? Sometimes when they wake up in the middle of the night, they just want to play-they're not crying.

My DH and I are getting tired of no sleep. We thought by now they would be sleeping a straight 10 hours! They get between 23-30 oz during he day with solids.

Thanks!!

 

We dream fed our kids until they turned 10 months. Then we stopped. I would say dream feed them if you can so everyone can get some sleep.

We did CIO with both of them at the same time in the same room when they were 6.5 months. It will like hell at first, but it will get way better later. If they wake up in the middle of the night and dont cry, let them play by themselves. They will go back to sleep enventually. Dont come in. Yes you can do CIO in the middle of the night too. When they cry, give them 5-10 mins to setle down. If they wont stop, come in but dont pick them up, pat their butts, talk to calm them down,. OR you can just let them cry it out. However, if you decide to do CIO, make sure teething is under control and they feel well.

They might go through a growth spurt now, so they wake up for bottles at 6. I also think you should add 1/2-1 oz in each of their daytime bottles. If they dont get enough in the day, they will wake up and get it at night. In this case, it seems like it IMO. My pedi said 'just do it cold turkey. offer water only when they wake up. Eventually they will have to intake more in the day and stop waking up at night.' I couldnt never do that to my kids. I just increased their daytime bottles slowly and offered dream feed at midnight though. Good luck! and hang in there. it will get better and fun soon.

http://www.ehow.com/how_5466468_dream-feed-baby.html

 

Hmmm...

1.)They could be going through a growth spurt. And, if you know they are teething, I would have a hard time doing CIO. If they've been fed, changed, and motrin/tylenol, and still crying, I may be more inclined to let them cry a bit then nothing, kwim? We were lucky though. Teething never interfered with sleeping through the night.

2.) You can do a dream feed if you want to. At that age when my boys were waking at say 2/3 am, they were mostly playing and drinking no more than 2-3 oz, instead of the usual 6-8 oz. So to me, they didn't need it at that hour. Your twins are waking and finishing a full bottle, so they may still require that feed. Annabella did until almost 12 months old. With a dream feed, you essentially feed them without really ever waking them up. Someone who has done it can hopefully give more info. I never understood it myself! LOL!

3.) We did CIO with both boys in the room. It worked wonders. Now at over 3 years old, they still sleep through the others cries. Nicholas woke last night screaming because he lost his tissue(don't ask :laughing: ). Anthony never moved a muscle, until of course I went to go and cover him up.

When the twins wake at night-what do you and dh do? Do you both attend to them? Or just one of you? DH and I took turns. We were always switching it up to see what worked for us. But one night I woke with the boys. The next night, he did. Or, I was in charge of say Nicholas whenever he woke. And dh was in charge of Anthony. So at least one of you is getting some rest and you are not getting up 3059 times to take care of both kids. It's at least worth a shot!

And you will get your sleep eventually! It's no fun when they start sttn and then stop suddenly. :hug:

 

We have both been getting up -one earlier and one later. But last night, I was the only one that got up. Maybe DH and I will start switching off nights.

I don't think they are gettig enough during the day but when I try and increase it, they don't take it. I'll just keep trying though!

I may try the dreamfeed and see. We're also going to try CIO in the middle of the nigt and see if they can skip that feeding. Our DS used to just giggle and play and over the last week, he's started this screech that wakes his sister up (and scares her) and makes us jump! He's not crying but just insanely loud!

Thank you!!

 

What is it schedule like? Do u have flex/ strict schedule? We used to have very flex schedule and cluster feed them alot. But they never drank more than 4 oz/feeding. Our Pedi advised us that'go with strict schedule no more cluster feeding, no food available 24/7. We never did that early. But my husband convinced me. And it has been going so well. Now we offer solid in 30 mins then 9oz bottles in the next 30 mins/ feeding. We they don't eat/drink, fine hey just have to wait until next feeding. We only offer water in between. Guess what they tAke like 7-9 oz/bottle. They are happier. And we can go everywhere now. As soon as they realize that food isn't available 24/7 and they have to eat when it's offered, our life is so much easier.

 

We did a 10pm dream feed until our boys were 8.5 months or so. We would get them up at 10pm, but keep everything dark and quiet as possible. No stimulation, just wake them up and feed them, and put them right back down. They stopped eating in the middle of the night around 3 months on their own, and I think the dream feed was one major reason for that. That and we cluster fed during the day. We kept a very strict schedule, too. They always got their morning bottle at around 6:30, and each feeding was around the same time, too. I think that also helped us.

You mentioned that you haven't had luck with cluster feeding, but you also mentioned solids. Maybe if you tell us your approximate schedule, we could give you some more ideas? Or maybe it's time to increase the solids?

We did CIO with both of them in the same room, but I would not do it now if you are sure they are teething. We waited until we had a break from teething. If they are just playing, I absolutely would not get up!

 

Have you tried an earlier bedtime? When do you typically give the last bottle of the day?

 

Thanks for the replies! We are not in a very strict schedule but have gotten to more of one by the babies dictating.

6-7 am: wake and 6-7 oz bottle
8:30 am: solids
9:00-10:30 am: nap
10:30 am: bottle (6 oz)
nap whenever: usually around 12:30 pm
2:30: bottle
3:30 pm: solids
nap: sometimes for a bit around 4:30 pm
7:00 pm: bottle (8 oz for bed)

however, this changes daily. My goal is to get 4 bottles in them before they go to bed with 6-7 in each. Solids at least twice a day and usually two good naps and a little one. They've been going to bed anywhere from 7-8 pm.

They go down to bed just fine and like I said, used to sleep right on through. But, now?! Up every night for a feeding. Ugh.

 

Will they take more in their bottle? My boys are almost 7 months and typically take 8 oz. in their bottle. One of my sons doesn't always finish his midday bottle, but we still offer 8 oz. and they finish them most of the time.

Or maybe you could try an earlier feeding in the late afternoon, early evening, like a full bottle at 5:30ish, but then offer them another little one right at bedtime.

 

I would say go with strict schedule. Itd make your life much more easier. At least you know what to expect....

if they dont finish their bottles, do you offer them to them later on in 1 hour range? We give our kids 30-45 mins to finish their bottles. If they dont finish, then times up. We dump out the leftover. Do they eat alot of solid?

I would say go ahead try to dream feed them at 10-1030. work on strict schedule. add 1 oz in each daytime bottle. Give it a week or 2 see what happens..

 

I, too, would try to go with a more strict schedule and try to add more in each bottle. I would also suggest making your last round of solids later, like maybe 5pm, because that will fill them up more. At that age, we were doing approximately this:

6:30am - bottle
8am - breakfast
10:30am - bottle
12:30pm - solids
2:30pm - bottle
5pm - solids
7pm - bottle
10pm - dream feed bottle (which we dropped around 8.5 months)

Maybe you also need to add a third meal of solids?? At that age, our boys were getting three meals a day of solids, each meal around 3-4 oz. But, they were big eaters - Michael was eating 35 oz. of formula in addition to that!!

Anyway, I'm just throwing out every idea I can think of....honestly, before adding a dream feed, I would try adding another meal of solids around lunchtime, and make your last meal of solids later. It is a pain to wake them up and feed them when they are sleepy and maybe not very hungry, so I'd try everything else first.

 

Thanks for all of the replies! We cluster fed a bit last night and did a dream feed but they each only took about 4 oz. But, DD slept 10 hours (8-6:30 with a dream feed at 10:30) and DS slept 12 hours with the same dream feed. Back to how we were! DS did wake up at 3 am ready to go but I coaxed him off and on for an hour and never fed him.

We tried a more regimented schedule today and the new problem is that they don't want their bottles. They LOVE solids but are really fussy with their bottles. This is new so could be a phase or teething. Who knows?!

 

It could definitely be due to teething. Maybe you could try sippy cups? Or maybe motrin/tylenol before feeding?

 

Babies can need to eat In the night until 9 months or later. So I would not do CIO in the middle of the night if they are drinking a whole bottle. I never got the dream feed. Waking up a baby to force it to eat seemed counterproductive to me. But it works for a lot of people.

Yes, you can do CIO with them in the same room an it works fine. In fact, it's good because they need to be used to disruptions from each other if they share a room.