Introducing a dream feed

[pablopatito]

For the last couple of weeks, our bottle-fed 2 month old has been feeding at around 7pm and then going to bed. He sleeps till around 3-4am and wakes for a feed, and then again at 5-6am. We've no complaints but last night introduced a dream feed at 10.30pm - the look of shock when I woke him up! - and he had about half-a-feed, this kept him going till 5am - bliss! So is a dream-feed a good idea - I felt horrible waking him up and he was so sleepy when I fed him?

try not waking him.. lift him up really gently and let him settle in your arms and then feed him. he should drink in his sleep

Dp has fed ds while he was laying in his cot. You don't actually have to pick them up. They are less likely to need winding as they are drinking more slowly.

I remember dream feeds worked a treat for me.And somehow amazingly ds never woke up just sucked away til he had enough. Don't turn lights on and if you do pick him up, do it v gently so he might not properly wake (not wanting to point out obvious of course ). As beansprout said they don't really need winding with this one, ds just used to carry on sleeping when he'd finished.

Well, following your advice to not wake him up, last night I crept into his nursery on tiptoes, turned the dimmer switch to its lowest setting, carefully and slowly unzipped his sleeping bag and BANG - Eyes wide open! Doh! He did however go back to sleep and had a full bottle without really waking up and he went back down his cot without a stir. Joy!

But then at 3am he woke up as usual, started crying. So I tried to feed him but he didn't haven't much, he cried, he fussed, he screamed, he moaned and its 9am now and he's had about 1 hours sleep in total since then and spent most of the past 6 hours crying. What's happened!? He's never had a problem once during the night since he was born (apart from the night of his injections). Have we ruined it by introducing a 10.30pm feed? Should we try again tonight or go back to the way it was. There's no point in feeding him at 10.30pm if he's going to wake up at 3am anyway. Is he just confused and does he just need to get used to having a 10.30pm feed?

I'm feeling very tired and confused this morning

PP

Is your ds in a gro-bag? Do you need to undo it? I always fed my daughter in her gro-bag and she usually stayed more or less asleep.

Yes ds is in a gro-bag and no I don't need to undo it, its just that last night he wasn't in it properly from when I put him down at 7pm so I just want to re-organise it.

Dd took a while to get used to the dream feed and at first would wake through the night as usual then after a week or two just started going throught the night !! She used to wake up when I started it but now barely stirs. Grobags rock.

So do you think his fussing at 3am was because he wasn't used to feeding at 10.30pm?

Do you think we should just persevere until he gets used to it?

Now I come to think of it, it took a couple of weeks for DD to get used to the dreamfeed too. See how you get on after a week and see if it's settled down for you.

I also seem to remember ds took a while to get used to dreamfeed so try for a bit longer. It's hard to know after one night what upset him. Someone once told me it takes 3 days to make a habit and 3 days to break one!
Also did you wind him? I used to with ds, though often you don't need to but a wee pat on the back seemed to help. And how much milk are you giving? Maybe try a bit less so as not to over load system? It's all a bit hit and miss at that age but if if it works, dream feeding can work really well. As a single mum I can honestly say it really saved my life! Having a few more hours uninterrupted sleep, sheer bliss
Good luck this evening!

Well, after such a miserable day yesterday we decided to ditch the dreamfeed till next week as we're going away this weekend and didn't want to spoil our hols. But of course, we're not in charge, and at 10pm DS woke up and demanded his dreamfeed (he's never woken at 10 before!). Fed him and he went straight back down and didn't wake till 5am (bliss). Fed him again and he went back down till 7am (joy). Then he was happy to play on his gym for an hour while we had breakfast and read and the paper before feeding again at 8am. Do you ever get those days where you think 'hang on, this is going FAR too well - what's wrong!'?

Thanks for all the advice.

agree with others - we used to just leave ds as he was and let the tip of the bottle touch his lips - and he'd suck away quite the thing. Didn't wake up at all. Carried on with the dream feed till about 10 or 11 mo.

Hoooooooray for Pablopatito's ds!!! Well done that boy!!!

I used to do this with my babies... (now aged 7 and 8) I didn't know it was called a dream feed though!...
I used to wake mine up at 10pm and give them a bath and a massage then a bottle... (it didn't matter if they weren't due a bottle) they wouldn't be due again till 4 hours later, 3am ish then again at about 7 am ish.. after a while the 3 am feed got later and later till in the end they weren't waking up till the morning at about 7am... this happened with both of mine at about 7 weeks.. I then moved the bedtime forward half and hour each week till at about 12 weeks they were both sleeping for 12 hours a night....

I was the last of all my friends to have a baby and I got some good advice from them

Glad it worked for you too

I'm glad it's worked well with all of you - as I'm still BFing and ds at this point refuses a bottle will not respond at all to my efforts of dreamfeeding - bottle or BF. He's just turned 7 months old and is still not sleeping consistently through the night - sigh. I really wish it had worked with him. I'm glad to hear that there are people getting sleep at night with their infants!!

Thanks for all the advice. I think we've cracked it. I was late for work this morning because I woke up at 7.45 and DS and DW were both fast asleep! I thought my watch must be fast! I'm gonna have to start setting the alarm for the first time since he was born.

do you need to wind after a dream feed?

used to dreamfeed dd and it worked quite, only she used to start to wake up as she got older and she was the one who decided when it stopped altogether (she would get whingy refuse the bottle and turn over back to sleep)

Was told by our paediatrician that if you give a dreamfeed while they are lying down, if you can just raise them slightly with a small pillow, just to make them slightly highter than horizontal. This has 2 benefits - little babies are prone to ear infections because the tubes between ears nose and throat are proportionally larger and mucous, general saliva and in this case milk, can pool in the throat and bits can go up the nose/block the ears and cause an infection. It's apparently how getting a cold can cause an ear infection which is why raising them slightly when they're sleeping with a blocked nose not only helps breathing but stops the gunk from getting into the sensitive ear tubes.

Also, it makes it easier for wind bubbles to come up if they're not lying flat.

ds used to have his dreamfeed then roll over onto his side a let out a huge buuuurp afterwards...really surprised he didn't wake himself up!!