To dream feed or not?

[glasgowgal6]

My DS is 11 weeks old. At the moment he has a feed at around 6ish, then sleeps in the sling with DH until around 10, when he and I go to bed. By this point he’s usually in a really deep sleep and I’m always unsure whether to wake him for a dream feed (which means he will often then sleep through until 5/6am) or leave him to sleep and let him wake up naturally at around 1/2am. Are there any advantages or disadvantages to either approach? I’m normally loathe to wake a sleeping baby, but am not sure what’s best to do in this instance.

Go with whatever makes your life easier. Babies change every few weeks anyway - so do whatever it takes now to get more sleep.

If the dream feed gets him to sleep through then I would. I tried doing a dream feed when DS was small and it made no difference at all, he still woke in the night.

And I wouldn’t feel bad waking him because he’s probably only half awake during the feed and will sleep all night after that.

We always did a dream feed with both of ours, the trick is to rouse them just enough so that they are not wide awake. We'd speedily change their nappy (this woke them up enough) then feed them and they'd fall asleep while being fed, gentle wind then into the moses basket. They both slept until about 5/6am after a dream feed by the age of 12 weeks.

And the advantage is a (almost) full night's sleep. Which, when you have a small baby, can save your sanity

The dream feed was always a nightmare with my first, tried all variations and she still refused to "sleep through" for 3 long years, my second had her last bottle at 7pm and slept through / no waking at all until 6/7am from 9 weeks.

Try it, all babies differ so much

The dream feed was always a nightmare with my first, tried all variations and she still refused to "sleep through" for 3 long years, my second had her last bottle at 7pm and slept through / no waking at all until 6/7am from 9 weeks.

Try it, all babies differ so much

Never dreamfed, hated the thought of waking them - from 8 weeks mine would have last feed at 7ish then wake at some point when they got hungry in the night, then go through until morning.

I dream fed dd until around 6 weeks ago when i went to bed, usually about 1130. Shed stay sound asleep. 2-6 months old was hell on earth trying to feed her and shed never drink enough so used it to bridge the gap. She went through a 7m sleep regression and kept waking up at 3am so tried dream feeding her again when i went to bed and it woke her up where we'd not done it for so long so scrapped it again. Worked for us and i slept better knowing she had a full belly

Im not sure I like the concept of dream feeding unless your baby needs to be woke to be fed because they're underweight. They wake when they want food.

Never dream fed either of my two. I was happy with how well they were sleeping from an early age and just left them to get on with it. I subscribed to the never wake a sleeping baby at night school of thought. One wake up in the night at 11 weeks is pretty good going. You may well find he changes soon anyway and drops that feed of his own accord. It was around this age both of mine started going through the night.

Dream feeding would not have worked for us (reflux baby had to be held on shoulder for 30 mins after feed) and at that age I didn't mind getting up once in the night.

I think i would prefer a night feed and slightly later get up. My baby would have been up for the day if she fed at 5/6am but would sleep to nearer 7am if she woke in the early hours for a feed.

It's entirely up to you and what works for your baby.

I can't remember when we started but a dream feed worked really well for my DS. Within a week he had got the hang of it, would wake just enough to feed and fell back to sleep immediately after. He slept 7-7 consistently from 4 months with just the dream feed during the night.

My DD on the other hand is 5 months and it just doesn't work for her. She either won't rouse enough to feed, or wakes too much and is hard to settle after. I have given up, but then she's woken at 9.30 and 11 the last two nights wanting feeding!

I'd probably just try it and see what happens. If it's a disaster it's just one night and you don't have to do it again.

I'd rather dream feed at 10/11 then wake up at 1or 2? Instead of a big bottle though at that time you could just give a teeny top up, so they dont get used to having 'a feed' at that time?

We tried dream feeding for 1 week and it was the worst thing we did.

However, firstly every baby is different, and secondly, I can almost guarantee that whatever's habits/routine your baby has now will change in 2 weeks so what works now might not work in 2 weeks vice versus

I didn't dream feed but that's because I preferred a 3am wake up and a 7-8am morning start rather than no wake up and a 5am start.

@peachgreen

Exactly my thinking!