Should a baby be woken up to be dream fed in order to get him to sleep through the night?

Chantal - posted on 01/11/2012

Hi Roxie, a question for you... I am going to try to decrease his milk during the midnight feed as he is now waking up between 4-5am (6am the other night) for his usual 2-3am bottle and this is having an effect on his 7am bottle and breakfast. I will have to feed him at 3am, either this or try to give a dream feed at 11pm. Did your little one wake up for his feed (the one you decreased) or did you dream feed?

Heather - posted on 01/10/2012

What is the required amount of milk to be had in a day for an 18month old?? and also, my son wakes up at least 3 times a night, and never ever sleeps through.

Dianne - posted on 01/10/2012

big hint with the dream feed is to not wake the baby up, i did this with my son and i did help him sleep through the early am hrs, i was happier giving him a feed when i went to bed around 10 than waking up at 2/3 am
i was just careful and gentle when i picked him up and put him in feeding position and he latched on no problem without waking up, even when i tilted him upright to burp as long as i didnt thump his back he was fine, i found just a gentle rub worked at that time and put him back to bed and got to sleep until a better hour in the morning :)

Stephanie - posted on 01/06/2012

I was doing a dream feeding with my daughter when she was about 2 & 3 months but I found that she was not sleeping any longer and I was just upsetting her natural sleeping rhythm so I stopped. Until she hit a growth spurt when she was 4 months, she was sleeping somewhere between 12 - 14 hours with her time between feedings being about the same. She did great. Now since the growth spurt she is waking up to talk to herself during the night but she does not get food. recommendations from my doctor at her 4 month appt said to try to wean her off overnight feedings because she should be big enough to handle the long period without food. hope this helps

Christine - posted on 01/05/2012

I did a dream feed till my 2nd son was about 5 months then started to wean him off.. Since I go to bed late I would rather do a dream feed around 11ish and have him sleep till 7/8 am.. at about 6 months I just started giving him less and less and then he would sleep 12 hrs..

Jodi - posted on 12/30/2011

It depends on the child. My son was a great sleeper and eventually slept 12 hours straight as a toddler. Heck, he still can as a teenager, LOL. But he wouldn't sleep 12 hours as a baby, so I used to feed him before I went to bed and that would see him through to as late as 7am! He was a hungry kid (and still is).



But my daughter has NEVER slept 12 hours straight in her life (she is nearly 7). So I just adjusted what time she went to bed in the evening. I never woke her for a feed, because she went to bed later and I fed her before bed. If she'd woken for a 3 or 4am feed (which occasionally she still did, even WITH a late feed), she'd be wanting to stay up because she'd had enough sleep thank you very much :\



Anyway, I was just trying to say that solids isn't going to change his sleep patterns. His stomach is a certain size. He will still get hungry at the same time. So yes, you can see if a late feed will help him through until a more reasonable time in the morning. For some babies it works, for some it doesn't.

Chantal - posted on 12/30/2011

Jodi thank you for your reply - my son sleeps from 7/6:30 pm to 3/4am - to me this is sleeping through the night... I DON'T mind getting up to feed him!



My question was to find out what moms think of the dream feed, if I dream feed him later at about 10/11pm he may sleep through till around 7am as he is already sleeping 8/9 hours either way. However I am not to sure about the dream feed cause he may at some stage just start sleeping till 6/7am and that is why I asked the question.



I don't find it tough at all getting up for my boy at night, if he wakes up at 4am for his bottle he doesn't seem that hungry for his 7am bottle and this changes our schedule for the day.



I came to this forum for support, it seems like there is a bit of a trend going on here... maybe this is not the place for me.

Jodi - posted on 12/30/2011

Your child is five months old. I think your expectations are WAY too high. The average 5 month old is NOT going to sleep without waking for a feed for 12 straight hours. Sorry, but waking at 3-4am for a feed would be totally normal. So you either put up with him waking at that time for a feed, or wake him before you go to bed and feed him. But even putting him on solids isn't going to avoid the fact that 12 hours straight is unlikely to happen. So if you are finding the 3-4am tough, you might want to consider a feed before you go to bed.

Roxie - posted on 12/30/2011

I can only tell from our own experience, but I started to decrease the amount of milk in the night feeding and adding it to a feeding during the day every few days. As long as he is getting his required amount of milk, by the time you have decreased the amount to zero he wil start waking out of habit. Depending on how you feel, i wouldn't rush to him right away when he woke in the middle of the night, give him 5 mins, then i would come soothe him by rubbing his forehead lightly top to bottom, not taking him out of the bed. then just go in 5 minute intervals. We started at 6 months and he sleeps thru the night completely. 8-7:30. I found that he was only waking up at that time to hang out and spend time especially when i was breastfeeding in the first 8 months. That system worked well for us, and wasn't to much crying involved. I hope i helped a little :0)