Dream Feeding

[MommytoJack]

What is dreamfeeding?

[Rose.]

It's when you sneak into the baby's room between 10pm-11pm,  pick him up and feed him in his sleep without waking him, on your way to bed. It wards off one unnecessary wake up of the baby at night. Some babies can do this, others wake up crying. If your baby can do this (my first couldn't, my second could and it's great!), you try to wean him off the dreamfeed around 7 months when solids are firmly entrenched. HTH

[MommytoJack]

my husband is getting me the book but its not in stock at our local chapters...so during the wait I am trying to get started on some routine and this helps..thanks!

[Texomamama]

Rose paints a very accurate description.  The key in the dreamfeed is to try and keep them from waking up.  So, keep things quiet and dark.  Don't burp your LO, change diapers (unless they are dirty or soaked through).  You will quickly know if your LO is able to do a DF or not.  If they always wake up, take too long to settle to sleep again etc, then the DF is not worth it.

[MommytoJack]

Do you try to feed a full feeding?
Sometimes he will have a late feed (6oz) at 8pm before bed, would you try to give him a full 6oz?

[Lolly]

We always offered a normal sized feed at the DF. Some babies take it really well and will take a full feed, others take less. Once you get it established if you there is a typical amount he takes you can adjust the bottle size accordingly.

HTH!

Laura

[MommytoJack]

well I tried it for the first time last night and he drank 6oz.  He woke after I put him back in the crib and I had to shh/pat a few times.

Wonder if this doesn't cause gas?   He is normally gassy and wont burp once asleep.  Is there anything you recommend to avoid gas?  I read holding upright for 10mins after feeding/sleep this will help with Gas/Reflux.

[Texomamama]

My DD2 is 3 mo, and at this point, I offer a full feed (which for her is still 4 oz).  Until recently, I only made a 3 oz bottle, because often, she would be so deeply asleep, she wouldn't take it.  As far as the gas question goes, for me, I would rather chance gas and spit up from not burping, than have her wake up.  Usually, they are so relaxed and quiet for the DF, that they don't take in the same amount of air during the feed as usual.  To avoid gas problems, I usually add a few drops of mylecon to all her bottles though (Probably makes no difference).

[MommytoJack]

Last night was the first DF & he drank 6oz.   He went to bed at 7, I gave it to him at 10 and he didn't wake for a feed until 3am, which is good.  He wakes every hour thou & self soothes execpt at the 3am feed.  Wonder why he wakes?

[Rose.]

Hi,

How old is your baby? If less than 3-4 months he could be waking out of hunger. My son needed a second bottle until about 5.5 months at which point we weaned down that 3-5 am bottle. My son often wakes up during the dream feed but rarely cries and when I put him in the crib he almost always has been able to put himself to sleep. We have been lucky with our night sleep for both our babies; both easily put themselves to sleep at night almost from birth. Daytime sleep was/is another story!

My son has reflux and was/is very gassy. We use the Dr. Brown bottles to help gas (I cannot tell if they have made a difference since we started with them) as well as simethicone (Ovol) drops. I am currently weaning him off the dream feed, slowly but steadily. I never tried to burp him during a dream feed unless he was wide awake at the end and I thought he swallowed a lot of air.

[MommytoJack]

He is 4mths old today.  He just started cereal and eats about 1tsp at supper time.  What time do you do the DF & additional feeding? I did the DF at 10:30, bed at 7 but usually he goes around 7:30.  Then the additional feed he had at 3am..

[Lolly]

Have you been advised to start weaning early? If you are giving rice cereal then the advice is usually to give it in the morning because
 it can cause digestive issues which can work themselves out during the day rather than through the night. Rice can be very constipating and the advice now is to wait until as close to 6 months to start weaning because their digestive systems are better able to cope with it.

I usually tried the DF between 10 and 10.30 and found my two would wake again around 2.30ish for another feed. My two were not good at the dreamfeed so we stopped giving it pretty early and just waited for them to wake which they would do probably around 1 - 2 am.

Laura

[Rose.]

Our son was just like yours at his age (although we didn't start solids until 5.5 months).

We df between 10pm and 11 pm. At 5.5 months I got so fed up with the 3-5 am wake up to feed (even after slowly weaning it down to 1/2 oz!) that my husband and I scoured the internet for a solution. He finally found one; what we did is when our son woke at 4 am, we shh/patted him back to sleep, however long it took. Even if only 15 min later he woke, we would feed him. The internet tip said that over time, as long as you are consistent in NOT feeding him first, the time that you end up feeding him will drift forwards, closer and closer to morning. And it did! So by 6 months he was sleeping through the night and feeding between 6am-7am.

[MommytoJack]

I was told (by the many "I know it all mommies") that he needed cereal to sleep  I did not find that the case, I started 2 wks ago and just a drop at a time until it increased nightly to 1tsp.  Well he did not improve but I found he was enjoying the cereal & eating it quite well.  So thought it was 4-6mths to start rice cereal?? and figured it wouldn't hurt to start a week or so early..but I did find he is eating more regular, larger amts and less often.  Sometimes he would eat an oz next time 6oz's..sometimes every hour sometimes go several??  This seemed to get him more regular and didn't seem to bother him the small amt I was giving.

I def think that I will give it to him in the morning like you suggest and only after he has a good bottle.  It wasn't until I tried 2 feedings that he started drinking less but it soooo makes sense that the milk should be first as you say it is the primary food source.

So hard, everyone has their "I'm an expert" opinions...I mention in another thread that my family & in-laws are both against this routine...but I need some sort of structure, the poor boy is way OT

I am just trying to do what will work for my Jack and make him happy <3 which seems tough at times lol!

I think the DF is good & don't mind the extra one at 3 if he sleeps until 6 or 7...

[Lolly]

It is hard but ignore people who are questioning you - you are his mummy and you know what's best for him! Doing this was the best thing we did as parents - when I see how my children are compared to some I am so proud of them! Children and babies thrive on predictable routines, you are doing a good thing for him!

The advice on weaning does vary a bit from country to country but the World Health Organisation's advice (based on a lot of medical research) is an exclusive milk diet (breast feeding for preference) until 6 months. We weaned my DD on medical advice at 17 weeks because of reflux but that is the earliest that is recommended. Milk is all he needs at the moment so you don't have to carry on with solids at all, you can wait a few more weeks without any issues. For the first year they get all their nutrition from milk and solids are for tastes and textures and practice so you have plenty of time for him! As you found out, cereal really doesn't help them sleep! In fact if they fill up on cereal (not that your LO is) it really replaces good milk calories with empty calories which won't help STTN!

Laura