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Infant feeding

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

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Original poster

Should I drop the dream feed

14 replies

LexB · 18/04/2007 22:25

My dd is 23 weeks and exclusively bf. I'm wondering whether to carry on with the dream feed or not. She still wakes at around 2am/3am for a feed even after a dream feed around 10.45pm so if it's not helping her sleep through and she's not waking for it should I just drop the feed and see what happens? Maybe it will help her feed more during the day? Sometimes she's been doing quite short feeds in the day, around 5mins and then arches her back and won't latch for more so am also unsure whether she feeds too much at night??? Am holding on for another couple of weeks before solids...

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ChocolateTeapot · 18/04/2007 22:46

We tried a dream feed a couple of times when DS was little and it made absolutely no difference whatsoever.

He was fed formula though after a few days though so different situation. But I understood that as they get older they do get more efficient at breastfeeding and that it is normal for the feeds to get shorter. I personally would drop it and see what happens. Hopefully someone who managed to bf longer than me will be along.

deaconblue · 19/04/2007 09:55

I really think dream feeds are a bad idea. It seems to me that feeding a baby who doesn't even feel hungry (otherwise it would wake up anyway) in order to try to get it to sleep longer is a bad idea. We tried it 3 times when ds was about your dd's age and he woke up an hour later with raging tummy ache, poor boy. But as you do it, I would suggest moving it by thirty minutes a day (earlier) until it can be dropped. Bet you'll see no difference with her waking times. Plus you can have an early night if you want.

MrsFish · 19/04/2007 09:59

I stopped bf my ds during the night at 3 months, gave him a formula feed before bed and he slept through till his morning feed at about 6am

AnnabelCaramel · 19/04/2007 09:59

Totally agree with Shoppingbags. But I would be radical and just drop it totally, not move it. Yet your lo get their own routine sussed, it might happen more quickly than you suspect.

IcingOnTheCake · 19/04/2007 10:01

I would aim to feed before she goes down and try and scrap the 2/3am feed.

JoyS · 19/04/2007 11:02

I've tried the dream feed--DD is one of those babies that can always have a little nip, so she takes it happily and then wakes up later anyway. I would just drop it. If your DD is hungry, she'll wake up!

deaconblue · 19/04/2007 11:05

We got rid of the 2/3am feed by making him wait fifteen minutes for it on the first night, twenty the second etc etc and his body clock seemed to adjust to the slightly later feed each day. Mind you, 5am was morning for ds for a very long time.

Original poster

LexB · 19/04/2007 21:29

Thanks everyone for your suggestions. I will see what happens if I drop it. Never know, might get a full night's sleep one of these months! At the moment it seems like a distant dream. All a bit of a shock after my ds, who slept through from 3 months (ff but I'm not suggesting that that was the reason why he slept). Have taken to lying down for feeds in the night. Good in that I can have a rest but suppose not so good in that I often drift off and am hazy in the morning as to what time she woke and how long she fed for. She's been waking at 2/3am and then getting up by 6.15am. Exhausting! I lie in bed in the morning trying to entertain her with my eyes still shut! It's def gotten worse in the last month, she used to sleep from 11pm until around 5am, feed and then be up after 7am - maybe it's a growth spurt or starting to need solids in addition to milk.

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Kelly1978 · 19/04/2007 21:31

good luck with dropping it.
I did it for my dts, and it did work really well, insteadc of waking up at midnight, they slept until 2-3 so I only got up once at night. But it was a bugger to drop. They were still having it until jsut over a year I think.

Kelly1978 · 19/04/2007 21:32

what I meant to say was, so I think dropping it now would be a good idea, not that I think you will have a hard time!

SydneyB · 19/04/2007 21:35

I dropped DD's dreamfeed by accident at my brother's wedding as just couldn't be bothered to wake her and it made NO difference to her sleep at all. She woke at exactly the same time and if anything I think she was much more refreshed for not being disturbed. She was about 15 weeks when we did this.

jamiesamfreddie · 19/04/2007 21:37

LexB - this sounds spookily familiar. Ds3 is just over 6 months, been on solids (well, mushed fruit!) for 5 days now. He's always woken for his own 'dream feed'... and then again every 2 or 3 hours. He might have slept for 6 hours a couple of times around 4 1/2 months, but that's just a distant memory now.

Also recently, he's started waking up around 5.30 and wanting to stay awake - so I do that 'entertain a baby with your eyes closed thing'.

I'm hoping that weaning will help grow his tummy so he can fit more in during the day, and then not need milk at night - I can dream!

Original poster

LexB · 19/04/2007 21:39

Thanks Kelly, guess it's not too much or a worry - if it doesn't work out suppose can always add it back in as she feeds asleep anyway so it seems under my control, rather than her demand just now! I guess demand-feed advocates wouldn't advise a dream feed anyway would they? I demand feed the rest of the time, apart from her 7pm bed-time feed.

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Original poster

LexB · 19/04/2007 21:41

I'm with you there Jamiesamfreddie!

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