To drop the ‘dream feed?’

[Lalalul]

i implemented a ‘wide awake dream feed’ at 10pm as per blissful baby expert sleep coach recommendation, 2 weeks ago, with my 6.5 month old. I have also been doing some gentle sleep training. My baby has been an inconsistent poor sleeper for months now, with 2-8 wake ups per night.

Since we implemented this wide awake dream feed 2 weeks ago the longest stretch of sleep we’ve had is 5 hours twice, shortest is 1 hour once, but on average it’s given us a 3.5 hour stretch of sleep. I don’t really like waking him for it but trying to stick with one method and ‘trust the process’. To carry on or not bother with it? 2-3 wake ups consistently is a big improvement. the wake up improvements could be linked to the other bits of sleep training we’ve done.

thank you

Bump

Wide awake dream feed sounds like an oxymoron. What is that??

@Usernamewassavedsuccessfully i agree, I’m just rolling with what the sleep coach I enlisted help from called it. I believe the most known sleep coach to use a ‘wide awake dream feed’ is Lisa clegg/the blissful baby expert. You fully wake the baby to ensure they take a full feed .. a quote from her:

‘By ensuring they are wide awake and alert, you are breaking that association that feeds happen in dark rooms and are needed to help them get to sleep.’

im writing this now after my baby woke 2 hours after the ‘dreamfeed’ .. we’ve been doing it 2 weeks now. I have stuck with it so long because I paid for help as my baby was waking hourly. Things have improved but I really don’t know if the dreamfeed element is helping - it certainly is not giving us our longest stretch of sleep.

I’m very much a believer of never waking a sleeping baby personally!
Surely this will be teaching the baby that they’re meant to be awake and alert at 10pm.. which is presumably not the long term goal…

The dream feed was intended to be just that - a top up feed for a sleeping baby. I cannot see that waking a baby to feed them will be helpful for the vast majority of babies. I don't think you should get trapped with this one, if it was going to work, it would have done so sooner, so I'd suggest going to an actual dream feed or trying something else. Is DC getting enough during the day? Weaning wont be giving enough food yet and he/she may need more milk before bed to ensure they are sufficiently full.

@DuploTrain definitely not the long term goal. But if he were to wake for a feed I would rather it then than at 4am! My friend used the same coach and her baby went from frequent wakings to sleeping through (apart from the dream feed) in a matter of days! Things have improved significantly for us, my baby has gone from 7 wake ups sometimes for an hour at a time and co-sleeping to 2/3 wake ups lasting 15 mins and staying in his cot all night. I am not sure if this is due to the dream feed, or because we now settle him in his cot.

@Usernamewassavedsuccessfully baby is breastfed so hard to know how much he is getting, but I believe he is getting enough. When he wakes it’s rarely for hunger as he almost instantly falls asleep if I pick him up. He is taking a good feed during the current dreamfeed.. I think I might try the standard drowsy/sleepy one for a few days and stop doing this awake one now. I don’t like it and it doesn’t give us our longest stretch of sleep.

thanks both for your help

We used to do a dream feed at 10pm but they were always half asleep. I don't think you should drop this feed if you have gone from several wake ups a night to only a couple. We probably stopped dream feed around 5 months but had been doing since a few weeks old.

If you're paying for sleep coach then I would do what they suggest as presumably it works.

@converseandjeans thanks for sharing! we had the sleep coach for a week and have stuck to her plan for 2 weeks now. My understanding was the dream feed should deliver the long next stretch of sleep, however for my little one it’s very hit and miss and we’ve had a few 2 hour stretches off the back. I’m wondering if the improvement in wakings is down to us no longer picking him up, and he’s self settling for bed most nights now whereas he wasn’t before. I guess I just need to try remove it and see what happens! Can always go back

@Lalalul

Personally I think you should keep the dream feed but do it in the dark. At least you are in control of that feed & can go to bed knowing you will get some sleep. If you stop the dream feed they might wake you up just after you've gone to sleep.

@converseandjeans ..thank you, I think I will give the drowsy lights off dream feed a go tonight!

Changed to a drowsy dream feed. We got a 3.5 hour stretch and now I’m an hour into a resettle. Caved and feeding him because I don’t know if he’s hungry or not. With the wide awake dream feed I guess I was confident that he had taken a full feed so wasn’t hungry :( this is hard. Guess I should just come to terms with the fact my baby just doesn’t sleep well