Dream feed - how?!

[crumbs12]

This may be a silly question but how do you do a dream feed? I've tried picking my baby up at 11pm just before bed to top him up but he stays asleep when I put him to the boob / attempt to put my nipple in his mouth!! Do I need to wake him up? Surely that defeats the whole idea of a dream feed...

[FifiFerusha]

I bf but the dreamfeed tends to work better if it is a bottle( expressed) if your LO will take it. The ideal DF is if your baby doesn't wake up. You give them the bottle, they will take it asleep, hold them upright on your shoulder for about three or four mins after and gently pat in case wind and put them straight back down asleep. I never risked waking. However now my DS wakes for his DF so this can be a downside. In fact I can hear him on the monitor doing that right now. Better rush

[TheWeeBabySeamus1]

I ff my DS and in my desperate battle for sleep tried DF him at 11 in the hope that he would then sleep for a couple of hours and cut the night wakings from 3 to 2... worst idea ever! He woke up and was furious , wouldn't drink his bottle then spent the next 2 hours screaming. Drank his bottle at 1... and then carried on screaming until the morning. Never did it again.

I think some babies can drink without waking up and so DF works for them, but if they need waking to feed then I don't know how you would do it without upsetting them.

[Unhappyexpat]

Do you lie on your side to feed? Lie down with the baby and gently tickle their cheek or stroke them until they're half awake. Bung nipple in mouth, gently poke baby if he falls asleep until he's fed.

Mine won't do it in his sleep but he will in a state of being half awake.

[crumbs12]

I haven't managed to master the lying down feed yet - we tend to feed with me sitting up. I'll try to gently rouse him before attempting the dream feed and see how we get on. Have a feeling it might just make him angry (as per poster above) but will give it a go! Thanks

[FATEdestiny]

I never mastered the breastfeeding dreamfeed, with any of my four children. I found I was having to work so hard to keep the BF baby awake that it became a pointless task. It works with a bottle though - either formula or expressed.