to introduce dream feed or not? | ExpatWoman.com
 

to introduce dream feed or not?

488
Posts
EW EXPLORER
Latest post on 18 June 2011 - 16:44

hi ladies,
My almost 6 week old boy has been a wonderful night sleeper since we brought him home from the hospital...he started with a 4 hour stretch/feed and nappy change/2-3 hour stretch and now that first 4 hour stretch has become a minimum of 6 hours and sometimes even 7-8 hours :) he's also a big boy - 4 kilos when born and now close to 5.
I've started reading the Baby Whisperer and for the past 2 days have got him now going down for good 1-1.5 hour naps during the day as well as part of the E.A.S.Y routine (he tended to stay more awake during day before) but not sure about the whole dream feed business. He is exclusively breastfed although takes a bottle fine (had to give him a few times with expressed milk while having sore nips). I tried to do it last night and he was down and out and nothing would get him to open his mouth! His last feed normally is around 8.30-9pmish before his long stretch of sleep, however last night I fed him at around 6.30/7pm hoping to get the dreamfeed in which didn't work...he then woke for the first time at 11pm, then 4pm then about 7am. Do you think I should keep trying to dreamfeed around 10/11 or just stick with what I've been doing (last feed around 8.30/9) since this already works...or am I setting myself up for something later on by doing this? Hope this makes sense and look forward to some feedback! thanks! x

488
Posts
EW EXPLORER
Latest post on 20 June 2011 - 07:46
hey DC, thanks for your feedback. Well at the moment I think we're going through the dreaded 6 week growth spurt...last night was up numerous times (he previously had been doing a 6-8 hour stretch, going back to sleep super easy) and at one point it took me 2 hours to get him back to sleep and I had to resort to the dummy. :( Hoping this will pass in a few days and then we'll see how we go and maybe I can try the dreamfeed again but with an expressed bottle....will see how we go! Right, off for a kip while he's down, it may not last long! x
2937
Posts
EW EXPERT
Latest post on 19 June 2011 - 17:30
We tried a dreamfeed at around 8 weeks but he wasn't having any of it. To be fair, we didn't try that hard and I was trying to BF him rather than give him a bottle, so we may have been onto a loser from the start but it just didn't take off for him. Then at 7 months when we were having a nightmare getting him to sleep, we tried again on Cecile's advice and he scoffed a full 210ml bottle without opening his eyes. That was it, he took it every night until he was 10 months when he dropped it himself. Perhaps if we'd been more persistent to start with, he might have taken to it and we could have been on a better sleep routine earlier? I guess we'll never know. I do plan to try dreamfeeding with #2, though.
488
Posts
EW EXPLORER
Latest post on 19 June 2011 - 12:47
thanks ladies. Will just see how we go, I was just worried that going to bed around 9 was too late, but if it suits him? Maybe I'll try one night seeing if he'll go down around 7 (he tends to be wide awake then) and see what happens...
1861
Posts
EW EXPERT
Latest post on 19 June 2011 - 12:01
I'm one of the ones who doesn't set great store by dreamfeeding. Both my two would have a natural feed at around 23h and then went on to drop it, so had I been dreamfeeding, I would have been giving myself extra work! If you're happy with the current routine, then stick to it. If bubs isn't responding to the dreamfeed cues, then don't push it. At the end of the day, if bubs is really hungry at night, s/he will wake up regardless. If the dreamfeed happens to be at a hungry point anyway, then you're only saving yourself the few minutes before bubs wakes naturally to tell you and, more importantly imo, it won't stop bubs waking for a feed further on in the night (so if bubs is on 4-hourly, then feed at 19h, feed at 23h (dreamfeed or not) and then feed at approx 3h (urgh), then wake at 7h.)
2782
Posts
EW EXPERT
Latest post on 19 June 2011 - 10:13
its a hard read, esp when sleep deprived. great info by a pediatrician who has spent his career studying sleep and more science based than any other I've read but not written in a very easy style, makes good sense though and is more about figuring out your baby and statistical developmental likelihoods, than one size fits all. I do think dreamfeeding is easier with a bottle, but I tried with EBM and still didn't work.
488
Posts
EW EXPLORER
Latest post on 19 June 2011 - 09:57
thanks for the feedback ladies I appreciate it! Shell, to answer your q's first, yes he does go to bed after that last feed and he also naps through the day although in the evening is more interested in drinking loads (tanking up!) than sleeping, but then he goes right to bed after the last feed and sleeps at least 6 hours, if not more. So I suspect maybe i don't need to do it, especially as he's so big and developing so fast? I also think dreamfeeding with a bottle must be easier than with a b00b as you can shove it in easier, I tried and tried but his lips remained firmly closed! Can chat more when we meet, definitely interested in your routine set up. kiwis - that sounds like an interesting read, I'll look out for it. I do try and go to bed as soon as he does so I get a good rest as well, maybe that's the key! Will keep experimenting...and look forward to hearing other experiences too re: dreamfeeding.
2782
Posts
EW EXPERT
Latest post on 18 June 2011 - 19:22
I tried for weeks with the dream feed and finally realised that my baby had a naturally sleepy period between 8 and 2 am and no amount of dream feeding would change that. I eventually stopped wasting my nights trying to feed an unrousable baby and instead enjoyed the fact that I could guarantee he would not wake until at least 2 am (and by 12 weeks he slept 7pm-4am) and instead I went to bed earlier myself and had a solid 8 hour sleep. I think it is hard to fight your baby's natural sleep rhythms and if you read Healthy Sleep Habits Happy Child it says that length of sleep is developmental not food related but dream feeding does seem to work for some.
1403
Posts
EW OLDHAND
Latest post on 18 June 2011 - 17:48
Its hard to say, babe. You gotta find and do what works for you and him. When he has his usual feed at 8:30/9pm is that what time he goes to bed? Or has he already been asleep and then waking for this particular feed? You'll get mixed advice re dreamfeed from the mums here, some don't believe in it, yet others do. Personally, I dream fed DD from the day we got home from hospital. She'd be in be in bed by 7pm after finishing her bottle, then dreamfeed at 11pm. In her first few weeks she would then have a feed at around 3am but as the weeks progressed that 3am feed got later and later, eventually it was at around 5am. When she was 9 weeks she naturally did not wake for this 5am feed anymore as she obviously didn't need it. So she was going from 11pm till 7am solid sleep. I was very happy with this and didn't plan to 'wean' her off the dreamfeed till she started solids, but at 19 weeks she naturally did not wake for that 11pm feed and from that night onwards slept a solid 12 hrs. Never looked back!!! (Until the last few weeks when we've been dealing with jetlag, sickness and bl00dy teething). For me, and more importantly her, the dreamfeed worked wonders. I never pushed her to go long periods without feeding, but like your little one she was a big baby so I guess it was easy for her to go longer without. In my opinion I believe she was as good as she was because I had her in a routine from day 1 plus I am under no illusions that we got lucky with an 'easy' baby. We are paying for it now with Miss Muffet now developing her own unique, cheeky (but sweet) personality where she is not as 'easy' as before. But thats all part of her growing up. :D Anyway, thats what worked for us. I think its all trial and error to see what works and what doesn't. See you in a few days xx
 
 

ON EXPATWOMAN TODAY