A dream feed involves feeding your baby when they're still sleeping. Typically, dream feeds are done around 10 or 11 p.m., before you've gone to bed for the night. The idea is that a baby will sleep longer through the night and, ideally, until morning on a full stomach.
Benefits of dream feeding
Unlike sleep training methods that encourage babies to sleep longer stretches without eating, dream feeding doesn't interfere with a baby's normal need to be fed at night. It just tweaks your baby's schedule a bit so that babies and parents are on a more similar sleep schedule.
Dream feeding is when you rouse your baby—without fully waking them up—to feed them one more time before you turn in for the night. Babies who go to sleep between 6pm and 8pm often wake out of hunger in the middle of the night.
The dreamfeed is done in the deep part of a baby's sleep cycle, which is why they tend not to wake up during the feed. Feed your baby, aiming to give them a full bottle OR both sides.
Dream feeding works best for babies between 0-6 months old and can be introduced at any time during that age bracket. We recommend dropping the dream feed around 6 months because at that age, it can start to negatively affect your baby's nighttime waking and in some cases, can become a habit wake.
A diaper change might wake them up, so avoid it if possible. However, if your baby wakes up a hour or two later because of a wet diaper, it might be necessary to do a quick change after the dream feed before putting them back down.
While providing a dream feed to your newborn who needs to eat frequently might be an effective short-term strategy, dream feeds can backfire as your little one approaches 4 months. Between 3 and 4 months, a baby's biological sleep rhythm is maturing. During this time they start to cycle between light and deep sleep.
“To help prevent that habit from forming, I generally recommend dropping the dream feed by six months old.” In some cases though, it may be beneficial to continue dream feeding past six months of age. “Ideally a child should be capable of sleeping through the night by that time.
Yes, you should burp your baby even after a dream feed, which is a late-night feeding you wake your little one up for before you head to bed. The reason? Any feeding, including a dream feed, can create gas and/or cause your baby to spit up. So do your best to alleviate that pressure.
Bottle-fed babies
Newborn: every 2 to 3 hours. At 2 months: every 3 to 4 hours. At 4 to 6 months: every 4 to 5 hours. At 6+ months: every 4 to 5 hours.
A dream feed can be especially helpful for babies who sleep through the night on their own early on or for moms who have returned to work. In both cases, mom's milk supply may take a hit, but by removing milk through a dream feed you can maintain or even increase supply without having to add in another pumping session.
How much do you feed during a dream feeding? There is no right or wrong answer to this one; you can do a small “snack” feeding of 2-3oz, you could do their normal 4-6oz, you could feed on one side if breastfeeding, or feed on both sides! Some babies will only drink a tiny amount, some will take in the full feeding.
If your baby doesn't wake up at all, you can try unswaddling them or a gentle massage. If your baby still doesn't wake up enough after a few nights of trying, then the dream feed may not be the best option for your little one. Once baby is alert enough, put your breast or the bottle to their mouth.
A dream feed will do nothing to fix a persistent sleep association. If your baby consistently wakes shortly after the dream feed, it's likely you have a sleep problem on your hands that involves more than simple hunger.
The dream feed is the last feed that you drop. You usually drop the dream feed when baby sleeps from bedtime until their morning wake time with only the dream feed. This should be dropped by 6 months.
If you want to give your baby a dream feed, put them down for bed at the time you normally would. Then, around 10 or 11 p.m., gently get your baby out of their crib and put them at your breast or give them a bottle, all without waking them up.
Dropping the dreamfeed really depends on the individual baby and as a rule of thumb, once your baby is on three solid meals (whether than is at 4 months or 6 months), they are able to drop the dreamfeed and this can be done by gradually moving the time earlier by 15 minutes until you are at 9pm and then dropping the ...
Most babies will outgrow the need to be burped by 4-6 months of age. You can often tell that a baby needs to be burped if he or she is squirmy or pulling away while being fed. This being said, the American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that parents try to burp their baby: When a nursing mother switches breasts or.
Basically, a dream feeding is the last feeding of the day. It typically happens 2-3 hours after the bedtime feeding and right about the same time that you are going to sleep.
Dream feeding generally takes place in the first hours of a baby's sleep, which is when they sleep most soundly, so there's a risk of interrupting a deep sleep. That might be fine if your baby can fall right back asleep. But if a dream feed disrupts your baby's sleep for the rest of the night, it may not be worth it.
Newborns should not go more than about 4–5 hours without feeding. Signs that babies are hungry include: moving their heads from side to side.
How often does my newborn need a bath? There's no need to give your newborn baby a bath every day. Three times a week might be enough until your baby becomes more mobile. Bathing your baby too much can dry out your baby's skin.
By four months, most babies begin to show some preferences for longer sleep at night. By six months, many babies can go for five to six hours or more without the need to feed and will begin to "sleep through the night."
Most babies are able to sleep through the night – or sleep for at least six hours without waking up to eat – sometime between 3 to 6 months of age. Healthy babies who are born full-term are generally able to sleep through the night without a feeding starting at 3 months of age or when they weigh 12 to 13 pounds.