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Get advice and support with infant feeding from other users here.

Infant feeding

Calling all DREAM FEEDERS!!

15 replies

LittlePushka · 26/08/2008 23:23

I am curious to know what you are all doing with the dream feed..

what time are you feeding?
how much at what age?
when are you stopping?

Does you LO know when its time, like mine (he must have a watch secretd about his nappy)?

Does your LO sometimes wake up after it and just laugh??!

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elmoandella · 26/08/2008 23:30

dd is 13 months. i still give her at 10pm. she always has a wee winge if i'm late. but she just goes back to sleep if i dont appear with milk. but if i dont give her it she gets up at 7am. if i do give her it she gets up at 9am.

so we're doing it for the lie in.

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LittlePushka · 26/08/2008 23:33

How refreshingly honest elmoandella! That is a real good sleeper you have there. How many ounces does she get (if formula feeding)?

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elmoandella · 26/08/2008 23:37

she gets 7 oz cows full fat milk. at 1 yo we stopped formula after we finished last tin of it. coz she eats absolutely loads and loads. so no need to worry about vitamins and calcium like we did with ds.

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babyOcho · 27/08/2008 03:07

We used to wake DD for the dreamfeed but she started to get annoyed with her. Now I go in there and put her on the breast. About 10mins from each side.

No idea when to stop it as I find it quite addictive

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jojoisamum · 27/08/2008 09:15

ds is only 8 weeks and we have tried this a couple of times so far.

First attempt he wouldn't eat and this is generally how we found it for the other times we did try except a couple of nights ago when he woke and smiled and gurgled and generally thought it was fun time!

Needless to say we've left it!

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HolidaysQueen · 27/08/2008 09:38

We started this fairly early on (maybe 6 weeks). Always a bottle (EBM at start, now formula as can never get enough EBM) so DH could give it and I could sleep, although believe you can do a bf as a dream feed as well.

Amount depended on his age, but it has always seemed to be a big feed - started with 4oz when he was little but he has had about 7-8oz since about 3 months old. He's now almost 5 months. It's very unusual for him to not finish the bottle.

We usually just scoop him up at around 11pm and put the bottle in his mouth and he would stay asleep while he fed, but now he wakes about 50% of the time before we get to him so it's just a normal awake feed (he is 21 weeks so starting to need feeds more often and soon to be weaned I think)

He's not yet sleeping through - did for a few weeks but now in the unsettled 4-5 month stage... So our plan is to try to get him to sleep through from 11-7ish fairly reliably for a few months before we even entertain the idea of dropping the night feed. ATM I can see us doing it until close to a year, although it depends on how solids go.

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HolidaysQueen · 27/08/2008 09:42

jojo - it was a bit hit and miss with us. there would be a period of a week or so a few times where he wouldn't dreamfeed and needed to be awake to do it, but at other times it has worked a treat. may be worth trying again in a few weeks if you find things aren't working well without a feed at that time.

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violeta · 27/08/2008 10:56

I do it around 11ish when I go to bed (bf). Dd is now 6m, and I think I'll just carry on doing it as it's so easy and quick. I love how she seems to know what's going on despite being half asleep and opens her mouth obligingly!
No idea how much she takes, obviously, but she usually goes through till 3/4am ish at the moment (was 5 but have gone backwards . She has never slept through... But I am waiting patiently...

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monthlymayhem · 27/08/2008 13:07

I did dreamfeed (bf) LO from about 2months at approx 11pm and he used to just latch on in his sleep, not need burped and then go straight back down to sleep. However he now usually wakes up for a feed before I get to him, and I'm not sure whether dreamfeeding him actually got him into the habit of waking at that time for a feed. In any case, after a feed somewhere between 10-11pm he still usually feeds around 2.30am and 5am so it certainly wasn't the magic sleeping through cure for us - sorry!

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monthlymayhem · 27/08/2008 13:08

Oh, and he's 5mths now - hoping solids will be the magic cure

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MuffinMclay · 27/08/2008 13:14

I've just stopped dream feeding ds2 at 6.5 months. He's on 3 meals a day and was starting to not want his breakfast milk (ff).

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LittlePushka · 27/08/2008 13:47

Thank you ladies, very helpful. I do a classic 11pm dream feed. Five months old nd three meals a day (just a jar at each). Goes whimpers a little at 10.55am to remind me to put bottle on, scoffs the whole 7 oz usually and barely opens a lid and sleeps til 6am. Which is great.

Reason I ask is becasue DS 2 is much different to D1 (plus I cannot remember, despite in only being 18moths since I was last doing this). Not really certain whn it should stop,...perhaps I should look out for the breakfast refusal like Muffin Mclay.

Agree that it is a rather lovely feed to do!

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MuffinMclay · 27/08/2008 16:35

Was thinking about this a bit more this afternoon. I should have added that I didn't just stop suddenly with ds2, I phased it out. He had been on 240ml/8oz and I reduced this by 30ml every 2 or 3 days. He was only having 90ml when I stopped (at the weekend).

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pamelat · 27/08/2008 16:43

We tried the dream feed at about 2 months old and it went horribly wrong. At 4 months we reinstated it (she is 7 months now)

Worryingly she drinks all 7oz in about 10 minutes!

I dare not stop this feed as she has slept through for almost 2 months now.