Should I introduce a dream feed, or would it be mad to meddle?

[Sanguine]

Hello,
I have a gorgeous little lad who has been valiantly sleeping through since 6 weeks old. he's 14 weeks now and he can go 9pm-5:45am. DH is now keen for us to reclaim some evening time. We'd ideally like to establish a bedtime routine where he goes down at 7:30 or 8pm, but the thought of 4am waking doesn't fill me with glee. Should I try it and stick in a dream feed at 11pm? or should I just be grateful we've got ourselves a lovely little sleeper and leave bed time where it is for now?

No, no don't do it!! Dream feeds are a waste of time if you ask me... we did dream feed for months with dd2 and I just think we were disturbing her. Soon as we dropped it, she started sleeping for longer and within a few weeks all the way through. Your lo is oviously good at doing a long stretch of sleep and he'll continue to learn to do that as long as you don't interfere!!

I would leave well alone if I were you, he's doing brilliantly for 14 weeks. And 9pm isn't that late - tell your dh how much worse things could be!!

no, no no, i agree with puppymonkey, don't do it!!! DS has been a dreadful sleeper since around 4mo (now just turned one!) and we definitely put it down to the dam dream feed and won't be doing it next time. IMHO stick with what you're doing, but maybe try and bring bedtime forward by say 10-15 min every few nights, keeping an eye on the 5.45am waking, - as long as that isn't affected, until you eventually get the bedtime you want. (you may need to keep an eye on the last day time nap to make sure it's not too close to bedtime).

i found that with my own children and those that i have worked with - the dream feed helps babies sleep longer.

If you try it, keep the room dark, don't change the nappy unless essential and try to feed him with as little "fuss" as possible.

His bedtime will need to be at about 7pm though if he is to drink enough milk at the dreamfeed