Too scared to start dream feed - help!

[mcajules]

Hi

Can anyone help.  We want to start a dream feed with our 7 week old daughter, but have so far not done so for fear of how to do it properly and fear of waking her up in a rare sleepy moment, when we're both so exhausted ourselves.  She is bottle fed - does anyone have any tips??

Thanks!

[Intransit]

I too was scared to start it....I didnt want him to get in the habit of waking every 3 hours. But..I finally did try it..and it worked amazingly! I just made sure that when I did it, I didnt say anything except shhh if he began to fuss etc...and kept little or no light on at all. He eventually slept through the night. It will top her up for the remainder of the night. Oh, and usually, he would just fall right back to sleep after eating--as though he was never disturbed at all.
Hope this helps..

[Mariek]

Hi

The main thing to remember is to keep everything really low key for the dreamfeed. Low lights, low noise and take everything really slowly. The idea behind it is that the sucking action in babies is a reflex so they will do this even in their sleep if stimulated to suck. Make sure you have everything ready and at hand near your chair before you start (we did DFs in a chair in the bedroom to avoid to much distruption). When you lift her out of her cot/crib support her neck and then lift her up slowly into your arms in the feeding postion without waking her (as much as possible). When you're ready to start the feed stroke the cheek nearest to you - that should stimulate the rooting reflex and make her open her mouth. Pop the bottle in and she should start sucking. If she stops then there are a few things you can try to get her to strike up again - either stroke the palm of her hand, twist the bottle around, or gently shift her position a bit. She shouldn't need winding unless she's a particularly windy baby (they tend to take in much less air because they're so relaxed). If you do think you need to wind her do it in the on the shoulder position and rub rather than pat. Then when you're done lay her down as gently as you can. If she does stir then try shhhhing to ease her off to sleep again.

HTH. Let us know how you get on. Bear in mind that it can take a few goes for you both to get the hang of it so don't worry if it doesn't go totally smoothly the first night.

Good luck!

love

[mcajules]

Thanks so much for the tips - I'll let you know how we get on tonight.

[Taylor5]

Hi as the others said it can be a scary moment when starting a df but just take it easy and dont panic... I think Merick has said everything you need to know but my ds wouldnt open his mouth when I rubbed his cheek I had to put my finger on his chin for a few seconds until he opened his mouth then pop the bottle in. Give it a go as it worked wonders for my ds and he was sleeping all night at 3 weeks I only dropped his df a few weeks ago.
Take care and good luck
Taylor