how to do a dream feed???

[CJF]

HI
I think this is a pretty strange question but...... how do you do dreamfeed?    I know it is a feeding before your own bedtime or at least around 10:00-ish, but I tried it last night and my ds wouldn't take the breast, he just kept sleeping.  I didn't want to disturb him too much because I didn't want to wake him.  Sometimes I feel like I don't have the heart to wake him up. 
The last couple of days his last feed has been around 7:30-ish and he will sleep until 12:30-ish so that is a good stretch, but if he eats at 10:00-ish then he may sleep until 3:00-ish which will get us closer to sleeping through the night (right?).  After his 12:30-ish feed he will wake to eat again around 3:30/4:30-ish (aside from his grunting and groaning around 5:30-ish because of gas and what I think is reflux) and then again around 7:00-ish..... and then eats about  every 3 hours during the day with an occasional 4 hour stretch in there.
So my question is how do you handle a dream feed?  Is is really necessary?
 thank you!!!

[RachelC]

Hi Carolyn,
Not a strange question at all.  I understand completely.  Have you tried expressing and offering the dreamfeed in a bottle?  Some babies just don't wake enough to take from the breast (my dd2 finally got a hang of it 4 months, but until then we offered EBM in a bottle... less work, for her at least  )

eats about  every 3 hours during the day with an occasional 4 hour stretch in there.

I would make sure that during the day you don't let him go past the 3 hour mark between feeds.  And no, the dreamfeed is not necessary and it doesn't work for everyone.  You *could* try actually waking him (breaks your heart, huh?) by changing the diaper and then hoping he takes enough to last longer.  I would try expressing first.

Wow, that was probably more long winded than it needed to be    HTH