dream feed? how to

[aodhan-n-ciara]

Hi all, I need all you experienced mums to explain to me how to do a dream feed. Do I just leave DD lying in her cot and feed her, or get her up?

never had to do this with DS

[Mischief]

I did it last night. Was easy! Really! LOL

-Get baby up very gently so you dont wake her....
-get yourself and her comfortable in your normal feeding position..
-pop the bottle or nipple (i used a bottle) against her lower lip and just tease it a little...she'll suck it in and away you go!
-When she's finished sit her upright for a few minutes so that the air bubbles come up...I gently patted Ollies bottom and rubbed his back to help too.

It was quite amazing really!

[Funkychicken]

I think it varies a bit between people. We put our bub to bed in our bed and then when I go to bed I lay down beside him and feed him, then quietly put him in his cot. When he wakes throughout the night (usually twice) I pop him into bed with us, feed him and doze myself. I usually stir enough to put him back in his cot a bit later. I do have to burp him after a feed though so I guess he stirs enough to burp but doesn't fully wake. When he was little, he pretty much slept all night with us so he would dreamfeed throughout the night.:)

[aodhan-n-ciara]

Thanks girls, I am going to give it a go tonight. Hopefully it extends her sleep time, because we are developing a new problem in that when she wakes for a feed at 3 or 4 am after being asleep for 8 or so hours, she thinks its PLAYTIME!!!!! Mummy doesnt think so though, and it is soooooo hard to be tough at that time of the night. Bet she doesnt do it tonight though, Daddy does the night feeds on the weekend, and she is always a little princess for Daddy.

Going to give everything a go though, no harm in trying. :D

[Mischief]

Hey, when you do the night feeds do you turn on the lights or do you have it nice and dim.

All the advice I have read is to keep the lights as dim as possible. I use the hall light and have got a lamp set up in the kitchen for changing him.

I also dont talk to him....if I need to sooth him...shhhuuussshhhh shuussshhh...and sway with him. I dont do the day time.."its okay, mummys here" with the back rubbing.

Too...they say not to make eye contact, babies brains rev up when you make eye contact with them, and it will wake them up fully and they will want to interact. During the day I make up for the lack of interaction during the night.

Goodluck!! Steven gave Ollie his dream feed last night and he slept from 7pm-220am again. :-) I might move his dream feed to 1030 instead of 10 though....he usually sleeps by himself until about 1230am when he goes down at 7pm. If we make the dream feed half an hour later hopefully he will get through till 3am without waking. :fingerscrossed:

[aodhan-n-ciara]

Hi Kitkat
I do make sure that it is practically dark when I feed her at night. DH puts the telly on and she goes right back to sleep for him. Frustrating:banghead:

When I brought up the subject of the dream feed last night withDH he wasnt very receptive, so I am going to do it myself tonight, at least that way if I am up from 3 or 4 again, I can have a sleep during the day cos DH will be home. I am in bed at 7:30pm at the mo, just finding it really hard to be super mum with DS during the day with hardly any sleep. Will let you know how it goes though.:D

[Mischief]

Did you try the dreamfeed last night? How did you go? :D

[cinguyen76]

Hey All,

Thanks so much for all the advice. My daughter is ten weeks old and she has been feeding fine up until two weeks ago when she started to "get lazy" and does not drink as much as she should so I have been doing everything to get her to drink more.

I have heard about dream feedings but never really knew what it was. After reading your suggestions on this thread I tried giving my baby her first dream feed...and it worked like a charm!!!!

My incentive to dream feed might be slightly different than most - I wanted to get another feeding in (get her to feed more in a 24-hour period). The issue is not so much to have her sleep thru the night because she is already doing that. She usually has her last feeding at 10pm and sleeps until 5-6am. HOwever, the last feeding (10pm) sometimes takes up to one hour for her to finish a four oz bottle (if that...) She is a small baby, only 9lbs now at 10 weeks. With the dream feed - she took down 4oz in about ten minutes!!!!!!

Anyway - thanks so much. If there is anything I can answer to help other moms, please ask.

[Lozzalecca]

I have tried to dreamfeed twice now with my breast. My baby wont start sucking any advice?

[jag5000]

I have tried to dreamfeed twice now with my breast. My baby wont start sucking any advice?

just bumping the thread 'cos I'd love advice on this too :)

[QTB]

maybe your trying to dreamfeed too early? like bub isnt hungry enough at that time too rouse enough to start sucking?

maybe try 15mins before bub is due to wake for a feed. this is what i do and just rub my nipple across his cheek/lips for a minute or so and he just latches on and away he goes :)

[Lozzalecca]

Well I tried again last night with a bottle and it worked well. Put him to bed at 7pm gave him a dreamfeed at 10pm and he slept through til 3am. So I was happy with that finally a few hours of sleep for me.

[StellasMummy]

just found this thread.
sounds great.i'll definatly give it a go tonight.though i was very lucky last night.bubs slept from 8:30-9pm to 7:30am!!!!! maybe it was only cos she was in bed wit mum n dad! cheeky bugga:laughing:

[Mookie11]

I'm the father trying to help the tired mom out with night feeds and tried a dream feed last night. Do I have to get baby out of the cot? I just left hin in the cot and got him to suck away at the bottle until he was done. The only time I got him up was to burp him quickly then straight back down. Correct method or should I get him up to awaken him a little before he sucks away (it took a while to get him in the mood).

[Mummy2R&K]

I didn't get DS out to feed him, i just shoved it in his gob while he was still in his cot, but I didn't start until he was 5months old.

Maybe under 3 months I would sit them up right to get some wind out.

[mytwoangelsC&A]

We do this pretty much every night with DS as i am not tempted to wait and see if he wakes up! From 8 weeks old he has slep 12 to 13 hrs at night which i am definatly not complaining! He normally goes down about ^;30 7pm after having a feed at 8am 12noon and 4pm then he doesn't wake. I put him down at say 6:30 then i prepare his bottle put it on the couch turn the lighs of in the lounge and have tv on get him up pop bottle in his mouth and he drinks normally a full 250mls for that feed during the day he is lucky to take 150mls for the other 3 feeds. I find this works great for us and if he wakes through the night its just for us to put his dummy back in he normally gets up about 7:30 8 am.

[mum2bubba]

I have started dream feeding Nathan. I put him to bed around 7:30-8pm and then give him his dream feed around 10:30-11pm and he sleeps til about 3-4am (though last night he actually woke at 10pm for a feed anyway) and then again at 4:30am. I don't expect him to sleep right through at this age but 5 hours of unbroken sleep is bliss these days.

I dream fed the girls too but they were a bit older. Hayley actually slept 8 hours the first nights I took her home (from 9pm to 5am) I was lucky with her.

[FrankieGirl]

The dream feed totally changed our lives!

I usually put bubs to bed at 7pm and then at 10.30pm gently take her out of bed and feed her while she is asleep. Sometimes it takes a couple of tries before she takes the bottle but she eventually does.

When i first started the dream feed she would still wake up at 3-4am for a feed but after a couple of weeks she now sleeps through until 7am after the dream feed.

Keep persistent with it and you will be sleeping all night soon enough!

[KeithCheggers]

Am giving it a go this weekend

[jaffacakes]

do you guys change nappies after the dreamfeed? I tried it for the first time the other night and DS woke at 3am with wet nappy and leakage everywhere. So I dont think he can get by from 6.30pm to 5 with the one nappy.

[Cheerio]

jaffacakes I don't change my bub after a dreamfeed and he is super soaker. What has worked for me is putting him into a nappy two sizes bigger for nightime and he has been dry every morning since.

[KeithCheggers]

Might try that as well Cheerio. We have had some night time nappy "issues" requiring attention.

Our dream feeds have been interesting. We are only giving him 100ml plus offering boobs as well until we know how he goes with the formula. He's been pretty windy for a few days and we're not sure if it's due to the introduction of formula or some pretty tasty (probably too much garlic) sausages I was eating for a few days! He's fallen asleep both times but has been up earlier with wind, last night he was up 4.20 - 6am. He then woke at 8.30 and has just fallen asleep knackered at 12 - very kranky. We are going to keep it up for a week or two at least to see if there is a difference though.

The aim with our dream feed was to get him more settled between bed and his night feed (in a dreamworld he'd cut this out - I am dreaming on that one I think though!) and to get dad feeding him more. He's also needing to chunk up a bit so hopefully the additional feed will help - he never used to have the dreamfeed but would wake for his dummy almost every hour until his night feed making my night pretty wakeful with him.