With the dreamfeed you don't wake them! You just go in there, pick her up out of the crib and feed her in her sleep. It's a way to help them sleep longer though the night.
A question and answer section with Tracy Hogg (a blurb from one of the FAQ's boards)
Q: Is it important, if you want to try the dream feed, to keep it up if you don’t see results right away?
T: Yes, this is a good point to clarify, and it’s another one that needs consistency. Nothing here is a “quick fix,” if you try it one night and the baby still wakes to eat, keep doing it at the same time every night – after several days or a week, they may drop that middle of the night feed on their own. And again, if they don’t and they’ve taken a good feed at the dream feed, then you know it’s a habit and can start working to phase it out.
We have to teach them to sleep through, but we also have to make sure they’re getting the calories – because parents will ask me, “How do I know she isn’t hungry?” And if she’s taken 6 ounces, say, at the dream feed, or a regular number of minutes at the breast, then you know.
And remember, for an infant, “sleeping through” means one missed feed. So if you’re doing a dream feed at 11, then sleeping until 5am is sleeping through. And I’m being perfectly honest when I say that there hasn’t been one family that I’ve worked with, either here or in the U.K., where the baby wasn’t sleeping through like this by about 12 weeks or so. And if you’ve got a healthy baby, there’s no reason why you don’t start working toward that from day one. But to do that you’ve got to work on it during the day, making sure they’re taking good, regular feeds during the day, paying attention to the appetite spurt periods during the day.
And in that 3-6 month range, they should start to be physically asleep from 7 to 7, with a dream feed at around 10 or 11. And in the E.A.S.Y. routine, there’s no “A”, no activity after any evening feeds that come after bedtime – this is a good time to decide what you want your child’s bedtime to be, and then any feeds after that time are just eating and then straight back down.
*****I think while you are in the process of teaching sleep it is best to not use the swing as it will only confuse her and she won't know what she is suppose to do.
The only nap you should really use the swing, if at all, is the throw away cat nap at the end of the day!
Here's how to wean the swing...
Q: To jump to another subject….In your first book, you talk a lot about props, and the importance phasing them out. The question I think people have is, whether it’s a swing, or rocking, or it’s nursing…what are the techniques, how do I phase it out?
T: With the swing, it’s to time it, and slow it down.
Q: So with the swinging, you’d shorten the time and slow it down, and then you’d take them out and put them in the crib; and there’s going to be crying, so you’d do the pu/pd at that point, right?
T: Yes. And try to make the crib feel like the swing. You’ve got to elevate one end of the mattress, and roll up a towel and put it there under the bottom, and then a bigger one under the knees, so their bum’s cushioned, and the knees are elevated. Then over time you start decreasing the towels.
T: The thing is to make it an easy road to being a conscious thinker. “I don’t want this to be a habit; I’m not going to start it.”
Q: Any last thoughts on sleep?
T: Just to say and remind that, as parents, we’re shaping and teaching. We’re their consummate teacher. And, we know what’s good for them. We know what happens when a child is sleep-deprived. So many children are being given drugs like Ritalin now, and the studies now suggest that at least – and this is what’s so horrifying – at least 62% of all children on Ritalin aren’t getting enough sleep. They were never taught sleep patterns.
Q: Talk about looking for the “quick fix”!
T: Yes! And you know, being a parent is hard work. I cannot tell you how to savor these years – because the teenage years are coming, and that’s a whole other thing. Now, we’re teaching, and able to teach, and later it turns, and they have to experience to learn. All you can hope is that everything you’ve taught them stays within them. But for now, you do have some way of shaping their life to prepare them for the world. So enjoy it while you can!
I hope some of this helps!
Melissa
