tell me about dreamfeeding....

[virgo1979]

have heard about it on here.... why, how old, benefits,????

I did it with both my DDs and it was brilliant for us (although I do know others for whom it didn't work). Can't quite remember from what age, but until about 9 or 10 months as far as I can remember (they rejected it by that point and slept through on their own).

As to why: to fill their tums with milk to help them sleep longer (and me, in turn!). Dream feed was easier with a bottle than the boob as the teat went in easily. Stopped them waking up too as they kind of half-wake but not enough that it disturbs their sleep.

I feed my DS2 at 10.30pm. I pick him up in his gro-bag and he feeds from both sides. He sometimes wakes up but if he does it is not a problem as he goes back to sleep easily in his cot. Have been doing since day 1. He is now 13 weeks and has slept from late feed until the morning since 8 weeks.

I dropped it with both DD and DS1 at 6-7 months once they were eating three solid meals including protein.

I tried to do a dream feed with my dd who is now 15weeks old. We tried it at 10.30pm. I expressed so that my dh could do this feed to let me get to bed. However my dd was so sleepy and never took more than half an oz so we decided to cut it out. Didn't work for us but it does for others.

I tried it once DS growled at me and pushed me away.

I took the hint.

I have done with all my three DC from day 1. I can see might be hard to introduce later. DS2 generally now wakes up properly though.

ooohhh...excited at thought of more night sleep for me..... what time is your feed befpre 10.30 though? snd i guess you dont wake them but leave them sleeping? and do you feed til they stop themselves or set time. my ds is nearly 6 weeks, can i start straight away?

I've done it with the breast. You have to sort of focus to make letdown happen, but once that happens, then DS2 would feed beautifully.

It's worth a try for sure. Everything's worth a try

It didn't work for us though unfortunately, DD fed and didn't wake (we did it about 10.30) but it made no difference to her subsequent wakings. She was a very "clockwork" baby though and worked to her own timetable, I know it has worked well for other people.

good luck

I tried it too, but I found it made no difference to when they would next wake, so I stopped bothering.

Easily with a FF baby, as they get the milk out easily. DS was/is breastfed and would either be too sleepy to feed, or wake on his own and cry for it.

I breastfed and did it - as I say, it was easier when I'd expressed and we could feed with a bottle, but it did work with bf too.

You also never know what changes in sleep patterns your DCs would go through without things like dummies/dream feeding/different bedtime routines/bathtime changes etc, as they may be coincidental, but for us the dream feed seemed to work wonders.

I would say though that it would take around 2 weeks to see if it makes a difference to subsequent wakings.

DS2 takes a smallish feed at 6pm as he is tired, I am sorting out older DC and because he generally feeds mid afternoon, therefore he is very hungry at 10pm.

mumnwlondon can i ask do you give your baby a smallish feed at 6pm and then he sleeps until 10.30? I'm trying to find some sort of routine for dc3 (3w) and dc1 and 2 need so much attention at 6pm that I've been waiting til 7pm to give baby a good feed. Maybe I'll try the dream feed.

I tend to dreamfeed LO when I go to bed, so it varies. Without it, she has a habit of waking 30 mins after I get to sleep. Though started off feeding her at 8 and 10pm. Would try not doing it every now and then to see what happens. To start with she'd wake up not soon after and not go as long until the next feed, but then the 8 didn't make any difference, so I dropped it.

Sometimes, if she's in a really deep part of the sleep cycle, I almost have to wake her to get her to feed, but I'm finding with time that she almost wakes when I pick her up (now 21 weeks).

Its good, because in the early weeks I could sometimes catch her when she was stirring, and feed them before she woke up.

I dream fed DS from about 8 weeks at about 11pm - so then he (and we) slept through until morning. So baby, me and husband all had plenty of sleep and baby had a full tummy til morning. It worked brilliantly for us - we stopped once he was fully weaned. Good luck - and I'd give it a go straight away.

my ds isnt actually settling down til about 11pm these last few days, i give a bath about 8ish then feed etc, is this too late, from reading the above should i be trying to settle him about 7pm to give a dream feed at 10.30ish?

This is an eye opener - I've always done a 'dreamfeed' but it never occurred to me that others didn't do it!

TBH ours isn't a very dreamy feed as both my DD's have needed to be stirred from sleep to feed but they usually drop back to sleep on the breast once they've had their fill.

Virgo - My DD is 5 weeks and our routine is feed at 7pm, down to sleep at 8ish, then dreamfeed at 10.30ish. That keeps her going through until 3 or 4am when I feed again and then she tends to go through to 6.30 or 7.30 in the morning.

I tried a dream feed with DS1 age 4-5 weeks and found it made no difference. At 9 weeks old he slept through all night(exclusively breastfed). Never tried it with the other 3. I wonder if dreamfeeds can actually be unecessary feeds and a bit of hassle? When do you know when they would have slept anyway?

I'm going to be a bit dumb and ask what a dreamfeed is?

Dreamfeed is where you put the baby down to sleep at whatever time, then later on you try to feed them without waking them up, in order to fill their tummies and get them to sleep through longer during the night.

So eg if your baby goes down at 7 and is waking for a feed at 2, you try and feed them without waking them at 10.30 in the hope that they then go til the morning.

Or if they are waking more, say 12 and 4, you hope that they will drop one of those.

Does that make sense?

It works for some people.

Oh right, that makes sense.

Thanks, .