dream feeds

Team_Blue_aka_doublebubble · May 28, 2007 10:48AM

Hi i've just read on the sleeping through thread about dream feeds but just wondered how it works. how do you get your lo to feed without waking and can it be done if babe is breast fed? thanks for any replies xx

hayley_l · May 26, 2007 6:05AM

Hi i havent got a clue how you would feed your lo without waking them but i suppose if they are reliably sleeping past the time you give them the feed (10 10.30) you could do it. It does work if they are breast fed you would just feed them for less time. I did read an article on it when i had my last but she was sleeping through by the time i read it. Like i said i havent tried it with isaac coz he doesnt sleep any way!! Hopefully he will start sleeping longer soon and i can give it a bash. My sister did it and said it was great.

wenders · May 26, 2007 8:05AM

hiya.. I did dream feeds with daniel and it worked a treat to get him to sleep through! It really does work. You do need a baby who has an ok routine for feeding though but it can work for bottle & breastfed babies. Daniel used to go to bed in his cot at 7pm after a bottle, then wake up at 11pm ish for a feed and again at 4amish, then again at 8am. We started on the 11pm feed and just did one at a time.

We'd make his bottle up and give it too him about 10.30pm. I'd go into his room with just the light from the landing, lift him out as carefully as I could to keep him asleep. Then just put a drop of milk on his lips then usually he'd taste it then open his mouth so i'd quickly put the bottle in.. $:\$ )

I'd lift him up to my chest and rock him gently and he'd usually do a burp then I'd put him straight back down to his cot. He'd usually go straight back off sometimes I'd have to keep going back in to resettle him but I'd wouldn't pick him back up just put my hand on his chest and shhhhhhh him til he settled then left.

We did this for a week or so then one time I went to bed very early about 8pm and left dh up to do the dream feed... well he started watching tv and FORGOT!!!! :roll: He only realised at about 12.30am when he came to bed, but the best things was daniel never woke up! So we left him and he stayed asleep and woke at 4amish for his next feed. so the night after we missed the feed again and he slept through. $:\$ ) so it was pure accident for us to I'd say just go for it, you just might be lucky. xxxxxxx

joannemarie · May 26, 2007 12:41PM

Dream feeding didnt work for my baby. I picked him up and just brushed my nipple against his mouth and he started sucking and went back down fine but then he still woke at the same time as normal thinking he was hungry. After his feed he was then really sick, which he never normally is at night, so then it was full outfit changed and wide awake baby. Took about 2 hours to get him back to sleep so I've never bothered trying again. The theory of it sounds great thou, and you may as well give it a go - its might work, anything is worth a try! good luck Jo x

MelBee · May 26, 2007 2:46PM

Dream feeds work for us. We've been in a routine for about a week now and its definitely saving me getting up twice during the night. Our lo is 7 weeks and is fed every 3 hours during the day (stocking up for the night-time), she has a bottle at 6pm then we bath her about 7.30pm then feed her at 8pm (this is called a tank feed as its earlier than usual), then we put her in her moses basket upstairs awake and she settles herself, then at 11pm my oh just gently picks her out of her basket and wiggles the teat of the bottle into her mouth and she takes the full bottle and never opens her eyes once, has a gentle winding and is put straight back down to sleep. We don't change her nappy unless its dirty. Then she wakes once between 3-4am for a feed then sleeps through until 7am. Prior to this routine she would wake at least twice, ie 1am and 5am, which was completely wearing me out. I normally go to bed earlier than my oh so that i can get a good few hours sleep before she wakes during the night. The trick of the dream feed is to give it them before they wake up.

Good luck
Mel xx

MisoSoup36989 · May 26, 2007 4:03PM

dream feed didnt work for me, when i woke lo up she was so full of wind i spend the rest of the night up with her cos she was in so much pain. she slept the whole night through without 1,

Team_Blue_aka_doublebubble · May 28, 2007 8:16AM

Hi again thanks for all your replies. apologies for being thick but just wanted to check when i should dream feed. my lo's go to sleep at 8 and then wake at 3.30 and then again at 7am. I gave them a dream feed at 10.30 which they gobbled down with out waking and went straight back down but still woke at 3.30. do i keep feeding them at 10.30 or should i dream feed them at 2am before they wake? thanks for your help xx

wenders · May 28, 2007 10:48AM

hiya... I'd try the dream feed about 2.30/3am not at 10.30pm... do they have a feed at 8pm before bedtime? maybe try a bottle after teatime then again at bedtime before 8pm. maybe that could work?

there's no correct time to dream feed them but if doing it at 10.30pm isn't working then I'd stop it and try a different time.

don't forget to set you're alarm clock and good luck!! $:\$ ) xxxxx

dream feeds

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