Tell me about dreamfeeding please?

[snowboarder]

Obviously I get the concept, but never bothered with first baby as he woke up all on his own so no opportunity to try it!! Second baby is 14w and seems to be a better sleeper (for now! We are waiting for the 4m sleep regression!) and in an attempt to extend his sleep period the last 2 evenings I've fed him just before going to bed. But it feels wrong somehow hoisting him up, force feeding him, then putting him back - like I'm disturbing his natural sleep pattern. Also I'm worried he'll start waking for the feed and get dependent on it. AND it's really the last thing I feel like doing - I don't get him settled until about 8 really..so the evenings are short and I'm tired. And what if you go out/drink etc?!?

So..how did you do it, how long did you do it for, and do you think it was successful? To add - I'm bf him and we've not even tried expressing/bottle (even more hassle!) so I don't think that is an option.

[Fuschia]

I cosleep so they always stir when they go to bed abs I feed them, no nappy change, where they lie

They never wake up fully as they are in the longest deepest part of their sleep anyway, the first bit

I think they do get dependent because if I go to bed late, new baby wakes lightly at 10

But I don't go out (saddo) so it doesn't matter really

[Fuschia]

And hi sb!

Are you up? We're just hSbing our Dawn feed in bed

No sound from the twins yet

Hope I can get another hour - loud party last night kept me awake till 12

[snowboarder]

I don't go out either really but would like to think I might occasionally in the future!! I do have a couple of (medicinal and essential) glasses of wine sometimes too...

[snowboarder]

Up. Baby awake but am looking the other way. Toddler banging the side of his cot but I'm pretending he's not....

[Fuschia]

Oh dear

I got another nice hour

[Pickle]

I dreamfed my son (not daughter, her sleep pattern was very different right from the start). It didn't stop me having a glass of wine in the evening, it's perfectly safe to have a drink and still breastfeed. To be honest I didn't really go out that much in the early months - but after a few weeks of dreamfeeding I started to get confident that he wouldn't wake between bedtime and that feed so we were able to go out for dinner a few times etc.

I enjoyed it, he never really woke up, I found it nice and relaxing sitting in the rocking chair in his room in the dark, a nice way to wind down before bed.

P x

[Vickster]

We tried it for a short period with new baby (now 4 months) but it didn't seem to make any difference, she woke up at the same times as she had done before we started the dream feed. I have heard though that it is not effective until after around 4 months when their feeding and sleep patterns have settled down, so might give it another try.

I found bf dreamfeeding slow and frustrating, so expressed and used a bottle but expressing is obv a pain.

[Fuschia]

If you want to try ebm by bottle I would have s bath about 930 abs express at 10 while watching tv

Double pump hands free bra

Then get mr sb to do the dteamfeed

Not easy to express about 7 am which is optimum time!

[mrs f]

We dreamfeed baby f... I express in the morning then mr f gives him a bottle at 10:30ish, I'm usually tucked up in bed getting a head start as I'm the one up in the night, we tank baby f up, to be honest we have to wake him fully to get him to eat. But then he goes (usually) until about 4/5 before he wakes & has been known to sleep through till 6... If we don't dreamfeed him he wakes at around 1 (or probably earlier now he is in more of a routine) and then again during the night so the dreamfeed ensures he only wakes once and actually he can quite often ho without any food until 7, I've only fed him about 4 times during the past 3 weeks...

Expressing takes me 10 mins & I do it whilst I'm doing the 7am feed when boobs are full to bursting so it's a nice releif!

[mima08]

HIya - we've been doing the DF since LO was 2months (albeit bottle, a bit easier) and it has been a godsend. Took a few days to get the hang of, but like others say, we are now feeling confident that he won't wake up middle of the evening. DF + tanking up has really worked (fingers crossed I don't regret writing this) and he now sleeps till 6 most days. We don't wake him, just gentle lifting out of bed, no nappy change & not even burping is necessary. My DH was super sceptical but now is a DF convert (hand has to do them, as I also get a headstart on sleep ;-)

[BellendenBear]

I am a big fan of the dream feed. With first daughter we did it from very early on as she quickly fell into an evening routine so I knew she would be ready to feed again at 10-11pm. Baby 2 has been much more difficult to settle in the early evenings, colic I think, but that seems to be improving. We introduced the DF with her a couple of weeks ago. I wake her fully and BF. It only takes 30-40 mins from waking to her being back in bed asleep. At first it didn't make much difference to when she woke for the next feed - maybe an hour later than if I had left her. But after a few days she seemed to adjust so that the post-DF became her longest stretch of sleep. She has been waking progressively later for the last few days and this morning only woke for a quick feed at 5am. Hopefully I can gradually bring the DF to nearer 10pm so I can go to bed earlier.

As Pickle says, after a while you can be confident that they won't wake before the DF so can easily go out for dinner. After a while I think it gets easier to do without waking them even if BFing.

With 1st daughter we continued the DF until she was established on solids - maybe 7-8 months? Gradually reduced it although probably could have stopped earlier and quicker but was too scared to rock the boat. We never had problem of her continuing to wake expecting a feed at that time.

[Belle]

i think in 8 months of doing it, my son only woke once before we'd got upstairs to do it (but we did wake him for the feed as he was v refluxy so didn't like idea of doing it without winding etc). Sometimes e.g. if on holiday, we'd do it basically at a time to suit us - so sometimes as late as midnight - and he never woke beforehand wanting it.

[Indiana]

Am too a big fan of the DF. We introduced it at about 3 months when I was still breastfeeding. I'd go in at 10.30pm and pick her up and she would latch on in her sleep and have a good feed quite quickly. She would rarely wake during the feed and as another poster said it was quite relaxing. She then slept through til 5.30/6.30am initially and a few weeks later through til 7/8am.

I moved from breastfeeding to bottle at 4 months due to some medication I had to take, which although was upsetting at the time, it meant that my husband could do the DF too which he really enjoyed.

We also did it at a time to suit us (i.e if we had been out we would do it later (anytime between 11- 1am) and it caused no problems. My mum also did it a number of times when babysitting. I also enjoyed the odd glass of wine during that time!

I think we continued until she was about 9/10 months (again, we could have dropped it earlier but were worried about it affecting our easy routine!)

It worked for us, might not work for you. Our daughter has always been a 'good sleeper' though..

[snowboarder]

Thanks everyone - Well we're on night 3 tonight so I'll give it 5 nights and assess!! Just thinking now though am tired and would be lovely to go to bed...but baby has only been asleep an hour and a half...

[Pickle]

When I felt like that I used to go to bed and get Mr Pickle to bring the baby to me in bed... you end up both dreamfeeding that way (if you've mastered feeding lying down?). There were some nights where I didn't remember feeding him!

[alieh]

Ah this sounds so good on paper I think I need to try again. Has not been a success to date. He always either wakes up and seems angry about being woken or just chews on the bottle and takes less than an ounce. I haven't tried it BFing directly so maybe I'll try that next.

[nylonmeals]

I guess each baby is different. I felt dreadful about waking up our baby for a DF (I think Gina or one of the "experts" say that they have to be awake properly) What worked for us was getting him out of his cot and BFing while he was still half asleep. Very cosy and snuggly and he still seemed to do a proper feed. I just didn't have the heart to wake him up.

[snowboarder]

So after night 4 we're back to 5am wake and feed and not settling this morning. Hmm. Thing is I know sleep changes around now anyway...

I'm not enjoying it at all....

[toast]

We were lucky both my boys dream fed while still asleep. Fond memories.

Ps they would often wake at a regular time in the night and I found that if I dream fed a bit before that time they would break that habit. My body clock got set to their wake ups so would often wide awake at 3 am waiting to hear a cry.

[jennyh]

We dreamfeed at 11ish and I actually introduced a dreamfeed at 3am as well as my baby was in a 4 hourly feeding pattern so I always set my alarm and pre-empted het hunger. This way I did it on my terms, I knew it wouldn't take too long and it involved no waking or tears. However recently she started refusing milk in the morning on account of being full so I stopped the 3am dreamfeed and instead waited for her to wake. There followed a few tricky nights of 4am ish wakings with tears whilst I fumbled to get the bottle ready, then she still refused milk in the morning. I then offered her boiled water in the night instead of milk (she feeds over the guideline amounts during the day and has doubled her birthweight) and she wasn't fussed about taking it and would rather just go back to sleep. After that she hasn't woken for a feed since...fingers crossed!!!

I'd say the 3am dreamfeed worked well for us as it enabled me to control how much she had and make sure she was well fed to keep her asleep till the morning. I think it also helped as she hadn't really developed the habit of waking in the night which I understand babies can do which is mistaken for hunger, there begins a vicious circle!

That said we are in the midst if a growth spurt so back to demand feeds, routine on hold!