When do parents usually stop the dream feed?

[Lauren8642]

What age do you stop dream feeding?
My daughter will be 6 months old in 2 weeks she has 5 bottles morning is 5/6oz then 3 6oz through the day and a 5oz dream feed at around 11pm.
How long do I do this for? There’s been a few times when I’ve been really tired and fell asleep before the dream feed and she’s gone 7:30-7ish but don’t know if that’s too long.

I never dream fed... If shes hungry she'll wake up. Enjoy your sleep!

If she'll sleep from 7.30-7 without feeding then you don't need to dream feed! The dream feed is just to stop them waking surely?

If she sleeps without it then time to stop. It’s only to stop them waking in the night

Mine refused his dream feed when he was 10 weeks ago. He was 5kg and apparently that’s the minimum weight before a baby can “sleep through the night” (in his case, from 8:00pm - 6:00am). Don’t worry. If she needs a dream feed, she’ll tell you — very loudly and persistently. Enjoy your (and her) unbroken sleep.

I’m just worried about if I don’t dream feed her she’ll be loosing out on 150-180ml of milk every day. She lost quite a bit of weight at birth dropped from the 75th centile and she’s now in between 9th-12th I worry about her not gaining enough

If she's over birth weight then that's generally considered okay and she doesn't need woken for food.

If you're worried could you dream feed her earlier, just before you'd ordinarily go to sleep?

You'll be on solids soon (you can stay now if you and the baby are ready), you can add avocado, olive oil, butter or cream to vegetable purees to increase calories that way.

If she's dropped a lot of centiles I'd do whatever the HV/GP says. Her weight gain is more important than whether you get a disrupted night.

The only thing I'd say is that seems quite few bottles in the day. Does she ever ask for more between the scheduled feeds? I'm a big believer in feeding on demand rather than by schedule, especially if weight gain is a concern

She’s 6 months old so I’d hope she’s above birth weight!

OP is she steadily on the 12th centile (apart from the drop after birth), or is she still dropping centiles? Is the GP concerned about her weight?

So she’s fed roughly every 4hrs

7am wake feed
11am
3pm
7pm bed

then another 11pm if awake

weight depending it does seem 6oz is a small feed daytime so 180

most 4- 6mth I’ve looked after (I’m a maternity practitioner) would be having 210 or even 240 so 7 or 8 oz at each feed at that Age

equally if she sleeps 7/7 and doesn’t wake she isn’t hungry so don’t worry

those parents who do a df i suggest bringing forward to 1030 then 10 and stop and see if wake

for a babies better natural sleep rhythm its better to let baby wake naturally so from 6/8w I stop df and baby wake naturally so say 12 then 1 2 etc till they are sleeping through

obv now 6mth you should be weaning so that will be extra calories

are you on size 3 teat or the largest for bottle make as it came be hard work /tiring for baby to suck hard and get little milk is still on size 1 or 2

Obviously, I was meaning generally, ie if a baby is over birth weight its considered okay to not wake them to feed overnight.

Be prepared for weaning as you might find that when they start eating solids, weight goes down a little then too while they adjust.

I'd give milk if/when they wake rather than on a prescribed schedule of dream feeds. I'm team 'feed on demand'.

But it sounds like you're not quite comfortable with dropping the dream feeds yet, so don't. Keep going until you are confident baby doesn't need them.

What does your HV suggest?