Dream Feed - more like Nightmare Feed!

[FleeBee]

Hi wasn't sure if this should be in feeding or sleeping but hope someone could offer advice:

We have a 3 month DD and have been trying to introduce a "dream feed" as guided by Baby Whisperer book at 10-11pm. However DD is either too fast asleep to feed, or absolutley furious that she's been woken and screams, refuses to feed, arching her back and getting very upset. It then takes us ages to calm her down, and she then goes back to sleep without feeding, and sure enough she'll wake a few hours later starving and will take a feed then.

My older daughter would take a dream feed at 11pm whilst still sleeping without a murmur, so I know that it can work. I've stopped attempting to dream feed now as it's too much of a palava, but know how good it is when it works, baby feeds at a decent hour rather than midnight/1am. I can't force her to have this feed so shall I just give it up??

Should add DD is breastfed but dream feed is expressed milk in a bottle so DH can do it as he stays up later than me and I can get an earlier night. She takes expressed milk fine at other times, and in fact when she wakes in the night at 1am/4am/6am she'll have a bottle without fussing or screaming.

Is this a technique that I should admit a graceful defeat with, or can it work if I try something differently?

Help and advise appreciated x

[belgo]

forget the dreamfeed. It's obviously upsetting your baby. Your baby will develop her own sleeping patterns, awaking to feed when she need to. 3 months is still very young and night feeding is still very important to babies of this age.

[mumcah]

how long have you been trying to give he DF for?Maybe you could try it at a slightly earlier time?

we did this too,and my DD was always in a really deep sleep when I went in to give her the DF.I felt bad but wierdly it was the feed she drank the quickest!(I was BF but did a bottle of expressed or formula).She was almost in her sleep I think.

Sorry not much help,but maybe try it for a couple of more weeks to see if she gets used to it.And try to not wake her as such.

[mumcah]

sorry forgot to say as Belgo has said....it doesn't suit all babies.but as I said you could try it for two weeks to see if it gets better.

[greensnail]

My dd would never take a dreamfeed and didn't appreciate being woken at all. Soon discovered she slept longer if not disturbed than if she was woken for a feed. If we woke her for a feed, she'd usually be up another 2 times in the night. If we didn't wake her, she only woke once generally.

We ended up just leaving her to wake in her own time, and she's been sleeping through for 12 hours since just before 6 months

[1stMrsF]

I tried this twice with my twins (now 16 weeks) - once at about 6 weeks and then again at about 12 I think - didn't work either time, and at 12 weeks when they did at least feed, they only woke up 1 hour later than they would have done without it! Some things just don't work for some babies! Forget it and accept the sleeping patterns for now. DT2 dropped the 1am feed on her own very soon after. DT1 still waking at 12.30, but has slept until 3/4 on occasion so I'm assuming she will also drop the feed when she's ready.