How to do a "dreamfeed"

[~Lori~]

I have tried to feed my 7 week old DD a dreamfeed, but so far it hasn't been successful...do I put my nipple in her mouth and just wait for her to hopefully suck?  Once I woke her up and she was a "dream" to get back to sleep at that time (yah right).  I'd like to be able to do the dreamfeeds but not sure how...any advice would be great?

Lori

[RachelC]

Hi Lori

You can try 20 min earlier/later to hopefully catch dd in a different part of her sleep cycle.

If you are having no success, perhaps you can try expressing and offering in a bottle.  This is how we did the dreamfeed with both my girls, who would not wake enough to suck from me.  I would pump while dh did the dreamfeed.  I would suggest starting with 4 oz and gage what you will need from there.

HTH

[Helena]

Hi,

I tried dream feeding at thee months, and it was not a problem, my baby just started sucking and never really woke up.  The timing was around when we went to bed (the whole family shared a room and katie would go to bed around 7pm while we would get to sleep around 10-11).  However the dream feed just seemed to kick her metabolism imto action and she would wake an hour or so later for a whole feed.   This went on for a few nights, so we decided to drop the dream feed and just let her get on with it.  She has always been demand fed and this has meant that some nights we got a whole night's sleep and other nights we were up t or three times.

Regards
helena

[Brynsmom]

I also have a question about dreamfeeding...When do you stop doing this? I began giving my DD a dreamfeed at 7 weeks and she is now 17 weeks. At what point can you expect that they can go about 10 hours without needing to be fed?

[sephie]

I am exclusively breast feeding other than the dreamfeed for which I give a bottle of formula. It seems a lot easier to do it with the bottle. If you don't want to give formula you could give expressed milk in a bottle (this is assuming your dd takes a bottle).

[RachelC]

Brynsmom - How many feeds does your dd take in 24 hours?  She may still need the feed, but you may start to notice her taking less at the dreamfeed, which would be an indication to begin dropping it. My dd was 6/7 months when we dropped it.

[Aggs]

Just wanted to say that I think that using a bottle is the easiest way to get a dreamfeed in.  Because the teat is harder than a nipple, it is easier to tease into your baby's mouth, and after that the sucking reflex takes over.  It is up to you whether you use formula or EBM.

I was nervous about getting DD to take her first bottle in a dreamfeed, but it was really easy and I am delighted.  It means that I can empty my breasts expressing last thing at night and that anybody will be able to give DD her feed now.

As for when to stop dreamfeeding, I guess it must depend on your baby.  I remember asking the same question in a poll once and most people seemed to stop by 6 months or so.  I was still at it at 9 months!  This was partly because our son had allergies and was not getting any other milk in his food, but he was still taking a good feed and was sleeping through the night, so I saw no reason to mess with a good system!