Dreamfeed?

[blushingmare]

I'm just starting to get 10 week old dd into a bedtime routine and, following a long drawn out putting to bed routine, she is now asleep in her basket by 8pm! I've then been doing a "dreamfeed" - ie, feeding but trying not to wake her up, when I go to bed, which varies between 10-11pm. She then consistently wakes at 2am and around 5am, regardless of when dreamfeed was done.

But I have lots of questions about this dreamfeed idea!

For starters - is it a good idea to do? I often feel I'm denying myself an early bedtime by having to wait up to do the dreamfeed. Tonight for example, I'd really like to go to bed now (9pm), but don't feel it's worth doing a dreamfeed now so am making myself wait up til at least 10 :-( But then I kind of think ping to bed early and then getting woken up an hour or so later and having to properly settle her back down after because she's woken up fully (she takes a looonnng) time to settle!) might be worse than waiting up.

She doesn't seem to take very much during the dreamfeed. She does short feeds anyway - normally last 10-20 mins, but dreamfeed is often only 5 mins. Would she be getting enough in this for it to be worthwhile?

If you dreamfeed do you do both sides? I've found she falls asleep and stops sucking after 5 mins and then doesn't latch on the other side if offered.

Do you burp after a dreamfeed? I haven't been because I thought the idea was you didn't, but a few evenings she's woken up once back in her basket and I wondered if it was wind.

So many questions - would be grateful if anyone has any answers! Thanks.

I found that my DD (now 20 weeks) still wakes at 3am and 6am whether I do a dream feed when I go to bed or not, I tried it out to see if she would sleep through to 6am but it didn't seem to make a difference. She sometimes wakes when I come to bed and wants a very short suckle but not a full feed. Perhaps try not doing it for a night, but be prepared for being woken up if she is now used to it.

I only ever feed from one side at night unless DD is still hungry after emptying that one, this is very rare.

I never burp after night feeds but do feed lying down (we co-sleep) and I think this makes a difference wrt how much air they take in.

All this is set to change for me due to switching to bottle but I do think that if at 10wks your DD is in bed by 8pm and waking just twice you are on a good routine. Mine is similar and it does make life easier

Lots of questions, I'll answer what I can.
Definitely burp after the dreamfeed - you may even find she feeds a bit more after a burp.
I found dreamfeeding with a bottle easier - I woke DS less and he drank enough. He probably had to think about the feed a bit more as all his other feeds were breast ones. You can also see how much has been drunk. I think I burped him after every oz and usually got 4-5 down him.
As your baby gets older and sleeps longer through the night, you can bring the dream feed forward eg 9.45 for 4 nights, then 9.30 for 4 nights, until you drop it all together. You keep it at the same time for a few nights so they have time to get used to it and you can take it back later again if they suddenly start waking early for a feed.
Hopefully, she'll start to wake later for what's now her 2am feed. But you may have to ride out the 3 month growth spurt first - when DS had his, I did full on sleep training using Tizzie Hall Save Our Sleep - it was a recommendation from a friend and a godsend!

I never did a dreamfeed blush. I think the idea came from Tracey Hogg in the Baby Whisperer Book. My DSIL gave it to me to read when I was PG with DC2 and I nearly laughed my head off at the at bfing advice. Think the book might also be on the Kellymom list of books to avoid.

If you are tired, please go to bed. She may wake, she may not but there is only one way to find out .