Posted by
Pisces74
18 yrs ago
Hey Mums,
Are "dream feeds" necessary ? Anyone out there let your babies sleep for 12 hours (eg. Approx. 7pm to 7am) without any dream feed in between ?
I did that for about 2 months, my gal (she is 6 months) doesn't wake up in between but recently she has been getting up earlier, Even if she sleeps at about 8pm, she will wake up at 6am.
I started to feed her just before I sleep, say about 12am. She wakes up maybe half an hour later in the morning but the problem is she refuses to sleep after her dream feed! It takes her almost one hour before she falls asleep again. It defeats my purpose of having the dream feed, now she sleeps even lesser at night in total.
Thought it is 'dream feed', she is supposed to drink with her eyes closed but she doesn't, after the feed, she is active, moving her arms and legs. I think she wants to play.
Any suggestions ? Btw, I feed her with the lights off and I picked her up gently from her cot.
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Gosh Pisces, sounds like you're doing everything right with the dream feed. Maybe your LO is just capable of going 7 to 7 without a feed? If she is and is putting on sufficient weight I'd leave her and get your sleep - you're a very lucky Mum!
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crj
18 yrs ago
I second spicegal.
If weight is not an issue, and she is gaining fine, then try not waking her up. See what happens.
Try this a few nights, and if she cries, wait 5 minutes before going in to see if she just settles herself.
If you do decide to keep the feed, you cold try doing it in bed laying down - that way she might stay more sleepy.
Also, earlier to bed means later to rise... so try putting her to bed at 7, and maybe she will wake up at 6.30. It is counterintuitive, but seems to work for a lot of babies.
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oooh just another thing which suddenly crossed my mind... I've just checked and the Baby Whisper does warn against doing a dream feed too late as it can apparently lead to earlier waking in the morning - she recommends between 10 and 11 and definitely not after 12 so you could try bringing the dream feed forward a little if you do want to keep doing it..
HTH's
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:-))
18 yrs ago
It does sound like your baby doesn't need one if weight is not an issue - 8pm to 6am is a very long stretch by most people's standards.
If weight is an issue (or you are working during the daytime and want to keep your milk supply up), and you want to slip that extra feed in without disturbing her, I would suggest paying attention to the sounds your baby is making over the monitor before you do the dream feed. Over a period of several nights you might be able to figure out how long after the gurgling sounds of light sleep you have to leave it to catch your baby in a deeper phase of sleep. If you do the dreamfeed at the same time every night, you might be catching her in the same phase of light sleep every night.
Last night for her dreamfeed my baby was in such a deep sleep that I had trouble getting her to feed, which is so different to normal that I thought I must have caught her in a different phase of sleep to normal.
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if you feel your little one is drinking enough in the day, maybe you can try dropping the dream feed. and agree with others, don't do the dream feed too late.
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