dreamfeeding .,......... wot does this mean ?

[honey08]

and whys it done etc ?

xx

 

[Mum2b_Claire]

Hi. This is how it works for us:
Between 10pm and 11pm (depending on when we go to bed) one of us picks up Ruby without waking her up, holds a bottle to her lips, and she just intinctively starts sucking so has a feed while asleep. She'll take however much she needs. We always warm this bottle slightly.
We don't burp her afterwards as she is so relaxed she doesn't gulp in any air when feeding.
We just put her straight back to bed afterwards.
It's done so your baby will stay asleep longer because it will be longer until they wake for a feed.
We've either dreamfed or woken Ruby up for a feed when we go to bed ourselves, since birth and she slept 10pm-5.30pm from 4 weeks, 10pm-8am from 6 weeks and these days 7pm-7am.
btw some people on here have said their babies refuse the dreamfeed though Ruby used to, so we just woke her up. Eventually she dreamfed.

 

[honey08]

omg as soon as i pick morgan up hes awake and also in the nnight when ive thought he was awake but was just making noises in his sleep ive tried putting his dummy bk in and he wont take that in his sleep

 

[whitelilly]

Hi. This is how it works for us:
Between 10pm and 11pm (depending on when we go to bed) one of us picks up Ruby without waking her up, holds a bottle to her lips, and she just intinctively starts sucking so has a feed while asleep. She'll take however much she needs. We always warm this bottle slightly.
We don't burp her afterwards as she is so relaxed she doesn't gulp in any air when feeding.
We just put her straight back to bed afterwards.
It's done so your baby will stay asleep longer because it will be longer until they wake for a feed.
We've either dreamfed or woken Ruby up for a feed when we go to bed ourselves, since birth and she slept 10pm-5.30pm from 4 weeks, 10pm-8am from 6 weeks and these days 7pm-7am.
btw some people on here have said their babies refuse the dreamfeed though Ruby used to, so we just woke her up. Eventually she dreamfed.

Thanks, I wondered too about this.

So you preempt the feed then? That makes sense as when he wakes up he has to wait for the bottle and cries...!

What about nappy changes during the night?

 

[honey08]

yeh true wot bout nappies, this is a prob to cos morgans been weeing lots latley

 

[Mum2b_Claire]

We don't change her. Just buy a pack of extra absorbent nappies like Pampers BabyDry and only use them at night. Obv change LO if you can tell the nappy is dirty tho!

 

[Mum2b_Claire]

And yes, it's to pre empt a feed, that's a good way of putting it!

 

[FierceAngel]

we do this with luisa she was sleeping 7-7 but started waking at 5am so introduced the dreamfeed

i give her 5ozs just before i go to bed.. but i dont pick her up i feed her in her cot,,, we use dr brown bottles so wind is little and wen she is asleep she doesnt gulp...

as for nappies i only change her in the night if she is dirty (very rare) or very unsettled..

 

[kirsten1985]

We used to do this with Freya, however she woke at the same time anyway, so we stopped!

Her sleep cycles have always been exactly 40mins so we would be able to tell/work out if she was in a deep sleep. We could feed her, burp her and change her nappy (all very gently) without waking her.

I always found it really lovely and peaceful feeding her whilst she slept

 

[bjl1981]

Might have a try at this...

 

[mommyaug09]

LOL I thought this was mom being so knackered she was still asleep and dreaming whilst feeding baby. hahaha

 

[purple_socks]

i've been doing this...Kian will sleep thro anything so its never been a prob. I'll change his nappy if he's poed but i try to avoid it if its just wee coz the cold baby wipes seem to wake him up. If hes got nappy rash or if its really full of wee (sometimes the amount he wees is rather shocking) i'll change it without using a wipe on him...just wip it off and swap it 4 a dry nappy. I 2 use pampers nappies at night so he stays dryer.

 

[adzuki]

dream feeding saved my tushy last night I tried it out with Maia and for the first time, she slept 4 hours in a row - which means I did too She did wake up a bit when I fed her, but the pre-emptive feed meant that I got longer sleep and she fell asleep again while I was giving her the bottle - yippee!


A

 

[NoSpringChick]

I tried this today, she was asleep in her little chair and I gave her 2oz - an hour later another 2oz - then 3oz later on. All seemed fine till I changed her nappy and her tummy was totally bloated so I wont be dreamfeeding her again - I think 2oz would have been fine but 7oz without sufficiant burping was just no good for her and I have to wake her to give her a good winding.
Put her to bed without her feed there as she is pumping like mad and I dont want to add to the problem - I think it's something that would work for some babies and not others.

 

[Mum2b_Claire]

I tried this today, she was asleep in her little chair and I gave her 2oz - an hour later another 2oz - then 3oz later on. All seemed fine till I changed her nappy and her tummy was totally bloated so I wont be dreamfeeding her again - I think 2oz would have been fine but 7oz without sufficiant burping was just no good for her and I have to wake her to give her a good winding.
Put her to bed without her feed there as she is pumping like mad and I dont want to add to the problem - I think it's something that would work for some babies and not others.

The idea is that you just give one dreamfeed. Otherwise you're reinforcing the idea of regular night feeds and not encouraging them to sleep for long stretches, which is the idea behind dreamfeeding. If she only takes 2oz one day that's fine, she might take more the next night. Ruby's tummy always looks bloated after a feed. They don't need burping after a dreamfeed because they are so relaxed while feeding, they won't gulp in any air...

 

[NoSpringChick]

Problem with mine is 2oz isn't enough and will be wanting more in an hour - so would be better off giving her her 7oz in a one'er awake... but you know she slept for 9 hours last night so something good came out of it

 

[elly75]

I want to give this a go tonight but not too sure as to how much I should be giving him. Any suggestions?

Looking forward to a possible nice sleep tonight...

Edit: We gave it a go and managed to get the bottle into his mouth. However, he wasn't swallowing....any tips?

 

[Mum2b_Claire]

I want to give this a go tonight but not too sure as to how much I should be giving him. Any suggestions?

Looking forward to a possible nice sleep tonight...

Edit: We gave it a go and managed to get the bottle into his mouth. However, he wasn't swallowing....any tips?

Try moving the teat around in his mouth...

 

[elly75]

Tried that but no dice.

Someone mentioned on another site about stroking his foot (odd, I know) as that might get him to do something.

Well, we'll give it another shot tonight and post the results.

Wish us luck!