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Original poster

Urgent advice messed tonight re dream feed

74 replies

Flopsie21 · 17/09/2021 20:27

Baby fell asleep at 8pm after bottle at 7.30. Baby wakes at 4.30am...when should I dream feed to extend sleep?

Baby isn't overtired, they've had 4 hrs 50min of maid today!(4.5mth old)

Is 3am too late, do you thinking they'll be awake for the day if they're woken up then?

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QforCucumber · 17/09/2021 20:29

At 4.5 months an 8-4:30 sleep is amazing isn't it? Mine were up hourly at that age 😭

Original poster
Flopsie21 · 17/09/2021 20:30

Messed = needed
Maid = naps
Hmm

OP posts:
idontknow54789 · 17/09/2021 20:35

I really wouldn't wake and do a dream feed and just enjoy the sleep - they sound amazing for that age! If you really want to I'd do it anytime before 3am so you don't risk waking for the day

PeonyTime · 17/09/2021 20:37

We went by never wake a sleeping baby, but then he rarely slept for more than 90 mins.

I thought the point of a dream feed was you feed them in your way to bed to max out your potential sleep chunk. I'm not sure of the benifit of setting an alarm for 3am over just waiting for baby to wake up.

Original poster
Flopsie21 · 17/09/2021 20:47

@PeonyTime my thoughts were that baby might then go back to sleep for a couple of hours rather than wake for the day at 4.30?

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Original poster
Flopsie21 · 17/09/2021 20:49

@QforCucumber thank you it really is, but I'd rather wake up every 4 hrs than get up at 4.30am as weird as that sounds. It's still dark and the rest of the world is asleep 😂

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Teakind · 17/09/2021 20:50

I wouldn’t wake them. They are giving you a lovely chunk of solid sleep which is great for their age.

RoseGoldGlasses · 17/09/2021 20:51

Do they not go back down after 4:30 feed?
I'd be over the moon with that chunk tbh and wouldn't want to disturb

Teakind · 17/09/2021 20:52

Not sure if it would work for your baby but with mine, if he wakes early then I just sort of pretend to still be asleep while giving him a cuddle and he sometimes goes back off.

Original poster
Flopsie21 · 17/09/2021 20:52

@Teakind but that's all she sleeps at night, just 8 hrs... Is that OK?

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Original poster
Flopsie21 · 17/09/2021 20:53

She doesn't go back down after 4.30

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wildthingsinthenight · 17/09/2021 20:53

We used to dream feed when we went to bed about 11 then we'd get a good 5 hours before the next feed

RoseGoldGlasses · 17/09/2021 20:53

@Teakind

Not sure if it would work for your baby but with mine, if he wakes early then I just sort of pretend to still be asleep while giving him a cuddle and he sometimes goes back off.
This made me laugh, I remember doing this and I swear it works!!
Teakind · 17/09/2021 20:53

If you look at total amount in 24 hours, does does it seem ok? My son is a similar age to your baby and he does about 10 but wakes up a lot during that!

wildthingsinthenight · 17/09/2021 20:54

8 hrs is not enough no

Original poster
Flopsie21 · 17/09/2021 20:55

Yeah in total Inc naps it's 14 hrs /24

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TopBitchoftheWitches · 17/09/2021 20:57

When mine were babies I did dream feeds around 11.00pm. This was years ago though

wildthingsinthenight · 17/09/2021 20:58

The naps add up to 6 hours?

Teakind · 17/09/2021 20:58

@Flopsie21 14 hours total seems ok I think but I totally understand why you don’t want to start the day at 4.30!

SmellyOldOwls · 17/09/2021 20:59

Dream feeding only really gets you 4 or 5 hours sleep when you've gone to bed which you're already getting, id look at the 4.30 wake up and how to get baby back to sleep after - are you feeding in the bedroom, in low light etc?

wildthingsinthenight · 17/09/2021 21:00

I think your df should be between 11 and 12. I wouldn't't disturb them after that

Barwell76 · 17/09/2021 21:00

I remember doing this too! I used to breathe deliberately loudly pretending to be sleep so ds would copy me. It sometimes worked

Original poster
Flopsie21 · 17/09/2021 21:00

@wildthingsinthenight actudintally no they don't. Naps are 4.5hrs so total sleep is 12.5hrs/24

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Original poster
Flopsie21 · 17/09/2021 21:02

are you feeding in the bedroom, in low light etc? yep it's never been an issue until now

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bookh · 17/09/2021 21:05

Either way you are doing amazing for a notorious sleep regression stage.

I'm a lifter, I did 10pm then 3 latest, as you say would rather short sleeps than a 430am start. It made me want to cry if that happened because when baby went back down at 7 others woke. I stopped it when in own room at 6 months ish.