Author Topic: Is a Dreamfeed necessary?  (Read 1218 times)

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Offline aj's mom

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Is a Dreamfeed necessary?
« on: March 23, 2006, 05:40:15 am »
Hi, I have always dreamfed my DD, now 5 months old... we are on the 4 hr easy (with very very short daytime naps - see post in 'naps') around 10:30 or 11. 

I have heard that I shouldn't be waking her to dreamfeed because it disrupts her natural sleep cycle, and that it won't help with nighttime wakings, but then again it makes sense to me that if I feed her while I am still up at night, that is one less time she will wake me in the middle of the night.

What exactly is the reasoning behing a dreamfeed, and what about giving it up?  Just a thought. 

Offline shelliz

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Re: Is a Dreamfeed necessary?
« Reply #1 on: March 24, 2006, 02:40:42 am »
I am going to second you on that question. I have tried it a couple of times and I actually noticed that the second and third nights, my dd woke up a few minutes earlier than I went in the night before. She would never wake that early.  The other few times I tried it....she woke up when I set her back in the crib (she is breastfed).  I have not noticed that the DF helps w/ night wakings...but I don't know if I have done them long enough. I am curious to see what response you get. I haven't found that they work for me yet. How long have you been doing them?

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Offline MatthewsMommy

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Re: Is a Dreamfeed necessary?
« Reply #2 on: March 24, 2006, 04:30:20 am »
hey guys,
I am interested in answers on this too. I also tried the DF a few weeks ago about 4x and then my DS woke a few min before it was time like yours - I felt it was disrupting his sleep and he didn't sleep much longer than his usual night time wakings so I stopped. I was going to try it again - started last night - for a week and see but am nervous it will disrupt his sleep again and also last night it didn't do any good. My pedi says to NEVER wake a sleeping baby, esp. at night but I know the BW book says differently.

Curious on thoughts on this.
Lauren

Offline teezee

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Re: Is a Dreamfeed necessary?
« Reply #3 on: March 24, 2006, 04:43:09 am »
the dreamfeed is just that - a feed while lo is still sleeping.  if your lo has woken while/as feeding then it may form a habit i assume...some lo's it works for some it doesn't - all depends on your lo.  i would cut out the df if lo is waking at that time and work on breaking that habit - and if lo is still waking a lot during then night maybe try it again after the waking habit at df time is broken...it can be hard but lo has to stay asleep for it to work.
Tawnya
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Offline BabyBsMommy

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Re: Is a Dreamfeed necessary?
« Reply #4 on: March 25, 2006, 02:22:04 am »
I agree.  I have posted elsewhere my frustration at trying the df when my lo was 9 weeks old for 2 weeks - he would never take it but also started waking earlier.  I stopped trying and his schedule slowly worked it's way back.  I'm not going to try it again until he is a little older, i've read in a lot of postings that sometimes babies that haven't taken to it suddenly do when solids are introduced....
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Offline teezee

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Re: Is a Dreamfeed necessary?
« Reply #5 on: March 25, 2006, 02:35:50 am »
with that in mind - just another thought - if you do wait as long as 6 months to start the df (when solids are usually introduced...) tracy says the approx age to stop a df is about 7 months - some sooner some later as all lo's are different...just some food for thought.
Tawnya
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June 11, 2005