Cluster & Dream Feeding Support/Chat

[* Paula *]

ARH, you are correct.  The DF is best done between 10 and 11pm.  As it can interfer with a lo's night time sleep.

[*Sparkle*]

Hi,
I have been trying hard to dream feed my 9 week old son for some time now but he only takes about 2 oz, last night only 1 oz!  He then wakes every 3 hours so I usually feed him at 2am and 5am.  Last night he woke at 1.00am, 1.45 am and 4.45.  The two 1am feeds he only took 1.5 oz each time. 

Shall I leave him a bit longer before picking him up to feed him incase he's not hungry?  I did try doing that the other night and I was then up for 2 hours instead of a quick 30 mins like usual.  I'm a bit confused.  I do give him a 7 or 8 oz feed in the evening - this is split either side of his bath time.

Also, will he naturally start to take less during the night? 

[* Paula *]

The DF does not always work for every lo, and can sometimes cause more wake ups than normal.  If you find that this is the case with your lo, I would perhaps stick with cluster feeding your lo and see how your lo does on the evenings without the DF, he may surprise you.

Good luck, keep us posted on how you get on.

[*Sparkle*]

Thanks Paula, I'll try it.  xx

[helenmonaghan]

Hello,

I hope you don't mind me adding a question to your thread. I'm Helen & am 35 weeks pregnant with my first. I was watching Baby Whisperer on discovery home & health last week & saw the dream feed that I'd read about in the books being put into practice. I am amazed that this is possible, it seems such a beautiful & natural thing to see the baby do.

Do you need to use the habermann bottle to do this feed if breastfeeding at other times or will a normal bottle such as the tommee tippee closer to nature one work too? I was wondering if the normal type of bottle might cause the baby to choke during the dream feed?

Many thanks & again sorry to hijack your thread.

Helen xx

[* Paula *]

Hi Helen, Welcome to the BW website  you will find a lot of fantastic advice and information on here.

With regards to the DF, a normal bottle can be used, but just make sure it is is a slow flow that you start out with so that the milk does not come out too quickly.

Good luck with the birth of your baby, and hope to see you round the boards.

Paula x

[clairej]

Hiya

I'm jumping if that's ok. I'm new to the site. William is 10 wks old and is on a 4 hour feeding routine, although it's far from EASY as he doesn't sleep well in the day. William has a cluster feed between 7-8pm and then is waking for a dream feed between 11.00-11.30pm but only takes a few ounces as he's still asleep. I think that's what he should be doing but he then wakes at 3am for another 3 ounces. He's only 10 weeks old so I'd be quite happy with that. The problem is that he is then awake from 4.30am and stays awake with wind. I can't win if he feeds in the night he can't get rid of his wind but I can't get any more food into him during the day.

Someone suggested giving the DF earlier around 10pm. How does this help ? And does this mean I wake him to give it to him ?

Claire.

[* Paula *]

HI Claire,

The DF tends to work better around 10pm as it does not interferr with their sleep pattern, and most of the time are not in a deeper sleep.

With regards to wind, have you tried wind drops like infacol or something like that.

[clairej]

Thanks Paula

I'm going to try waking him at 10ish for the DF tonight. I'm not sure if he'll feed as he only finished his cluster feed at 8pm but we'll see.

We've tried Infacol, Gripe Water and Colief but nothing seems to work for his wind. Now he's on this Lactose Free milk I'm not sure what else we can do. I might try and elevate his moses basket see if that makes any difference.

cheers
Claire

[LinziB]

Sorry I'm also jumping in ... I am new to BW and started introducing the DF when I started EASY about 3 weeks ago. 

My LO was having her last feed at bedtime and then would wake for BF around 3/4ish before I did some accidental parenting at 4.5m and she started waking ever 1-2hrs which is why I started EASY 3 weeks ago and it has been going great so far but she now has her last feed at bedtime and then DF at 10:00 but still wakes for feed now at 2am - she then drinks very little to nothing on morning waking and at 11am feed.  Could this be caused by the DF?  Should I rather drop the DF?

[* Paula *]

Claire, it is not recommended that you wake your lo for the DF, rather just lift your lo out of the moses basket and offer the feed whilst lo is still asleep.

LinziB, if your lo is not taking much in the morning feeds, I would definitely consider trying to wean the DF.  Try and do it slowly so that it does not affect your lo too drastically.

[ZoeA]

Hi - sorry to jump in but hope you can help!

I have a 7 week old DS on a 3 hour daytime EASY and we are trying to suss out a bedtime routine that works for him.  To this end, we would like to try the cluster feed but are unsure how to go about this.  At the moment he feeds at 7am / 10am / 1pm / 4pm / 7pm. After each feed, up to and including 4pm, he stays awake for an hour or so and then naps for between 45-90 mins.  If I do the cluster feed at 6pm and 8pm, then should I wake him up if he is still napping after his 4pm feed?  We wanted to try it this evening so today, I waited until he naturally woke at 6:20pm, fed him some formula early instead of 7pm, and then gave him a bath and a massage before 10 mins of quiet play.  My DH took him to the nursery to give him some more formula in the quiet at around 7:40pm and he spent 25 mins screaming the house down as I think he is became too overtired, and he wasn't interested in any additional formula.  We will do the DF tonight at 10pm instead of 11pm as I have seen some other posts about that, but any advice you can give on how to fit in the cluster feeds when on a 3hour EASY would be very much appreciated! 

At the moment he only feeds once in the night at around 3am.  He also gets fussy about 2am but and 5am but shush or shush + dummy seems to do the trick most of the time.

Thanks very much in advance

Zoe

[* Paula *]

If the cluster feeds is not working at those times you could try doing them at say 3:30 / 5:30 and then again at 7 before bed.

Definitely give the 10:00pm DF a try and see how you get on.

[ZoeA]

Super - thanks very much will let you know how we get on!

Zoe x

[HLS]

Hi, i don't want to cluster feed as such right now as things are going well but i would like to dream feed.  My routine is: 6, 9, 12, 3, 6, 9, 12. My baby is 5 weeks old, almost 11lb and is bottle feeding 4-5oz (we are upping her feed today for the first time).

I would like to go to bed earlier than 12.30am so would like to feed her at 6pm, then 7pm bath and put her to bed at 7.30pm.  Obviously i need to feed her at 9pm and instead of 12.30am i would like to do it at 11pm.  Is it ok to dream feed her twice at 9pm and 11pm?  She goes through from 12.30am after her feed until 5-6am usually which i am really happy with, i don't want to jeopardise that, do you think i will?