Dream feeding - does it work????

[*Ang*]

Well we are in a sleep deprived household atm and I am willing ti try anything just so we can sleep!!!!

DS Alex started sleeping thru at around 3 months but never consistently and lately it seems to be getting worse. We follow the same routine every night including the good old bath then bottle. He is not ill, there are no noticable teeth coming through and he doesnt "appear" to be having a growth spurt. But what he has been doing for the past 2-3 months issleeping through one night and then waking approx 2 times the next.

So we know that he CAN sleep through we just dont understand why he doesnt. Have tried resettling him when he wakes and sometimes this works. He wont take water in the middle of the night and we dont remove him from his room or put on bright lights. The thing that tends to get him back to sleep is a small bottle (around 120mls).

I have to admit that sometimes we are a bit hasty in giving him the bottle in the night but that is because his bedroom is right next to DD's and we dont want his screaming (and quite often it is screaming) to wake her up.

So my question is - to those of you who have tried givinga dream feed do you find it stops them waking during the night??? As we dont know what else to try.

To top it all off for the past 2 weeks DD has been coming into our bed during the night (last night it was 3 times!) si if its not one that is waking us it is the other!!!! Man I am so dead to the world today...

[DoulaRelle]

Gaby'smum, I have always started dreamfeeds/top up feeds from 3 months till about 6 months, for us it has worked and any other waking through the night has been solved by putting the dummy in.

We don't take them out of the room or put any lights on other than a very low night light, so they basically never really woke right up, just sat them up gently to burp and then back down again at about 10pm

Sounds like it could worth a try!

[Pandora]

I tried it with Milo when he was about 5months old, and TBH it made things worse.

But another girl from my mums' group found it worked for her.

[Visitor7]

I tried it with Nina and it too made it worse.
Nina used to be a great sleeper, sleeping 12 hours straight for the first 4 months, now she wakes 2-3 times a night, and will only settle with a feed.

If you give dreamfeeding a go, hopefully you'll have success with it.

[maggie]

nope, sadly not for me,, did not back one bit of difference....

[Ambah]

Dreamfeeding worked really well for us - definately helped him sleep through the whole night without waking for another feed. I think I started it at around 3 months - maybe a bit earlier?
However once he got to about 10 -12 months he was getting a bit too old to do it, as he was more alert and not just content to sleep and drink at the same time, and he didnt seem to need it to last through the night anymore.

[*Rae*]

My story is similar to what Fletch just described. We'd put Ella down around 6-7pm after bath and boob, then around 10pm i'd go into her room, carefully pick her up with no lights on, quiet music - strictly no talking...and feed her in the rocking chair. She was still asleep iykwim. Then she'd go straight back into bed. She'd sleep throught til around 6-7am. We continued it til about 8-9months too.

[Tobily]

All you can do is try it.
Some people swear by it. I tried it with my DS when he was 3 months old and he wasn't having it. He still woke up at all the usual times AND had the dreamfeed. I'm thinking of trying again soon.

[*mitch*]

I have just started trying this... Alexa is shocking at nights.... so last night was the first time I tried !!!... mind you i could only get her to sleep in her pram & then gave her a bottle in her pram about 1hour after she fell asleep then transfered her to her bed!!!!


Will let you know how we go...

[Lucy]

Looks like the jury is really out on this one. All babies seem to react differently to it.

I have tried it with all 3 of mine, and it never worked at all........I would give them the boob at about 10pm, but they would still wake anyway.......

Charlie, BTW, slept through from 7pm to 7am from about 4 months old, then at 8/9 months (when he started crawling) started to wake again at night.......so I knew he COULD sleep through, but when he goes through little developmental stages, goes through a period of wakefulness again..........tis frustrating, I know, but it is just part and parcel with babies & toddlers I reckon?

[*mitch*]

hmm Lucy.. Charlie sounds like Alexa in that regard.... Is he sleeping through again? is he still a booby baby?, Alexa is a FF baby!!!

[Lucy]

Mitch, he only goes through a wakeful stage of around a week, then goes back to his normal habit of sleeping like a log. Always at a developmental stage (ie crawling, walking, talking etc).

Sadly he is no longer a booby boy.......he "rejected" me when I got pg with Lexie and moved to stored EBM for a few months, then formula till he got to 12 months.......

Now if he wakes in the night now, I go in, give him a quick cuddle and a whispered rendition of "Twinkle Twinkle" and give him a bottle of water.......and he goes straight back off again.

So it only seems to happen for a few days, always at a "stage", then he goes back to sleeping through again (from around 7pm till 8am, so I can't complain!)

I did throw me a bit, cos Olivia never ever has woken in the night, even when she is sick, she sleeps brilliantly.

[*Ang*]

I think like Lucy what is throwing me is that I was so used to a good sleeper with Gabriella that this to me is my worst nightmare and I am really finding it hard to function.

Alex did only start crawling around 3 weeks ago and now that I think about it his sleeping has gotten worse since then, maybe I will just have to put it down to being "Developmental". I think I will try the dreamfeeding tonight tho, I have to try something!

[Mum2boy]

Cooper has been such a great sleeper from 8 weeks through to 4 months, and then he started to wake up, and sometimes I'll be getting up 4 times a night, either to put the dummy back in, or for a feed, or he might be just grizzly.

I do know that generally we don't have it too hard - but I am a single Mum and even though I am staying with my parents for a year or two, I am the only one getting up in the night to comfort him. They are helpful during the day, but I try to not put too much on them.

If I have had a hard night, the next morning after the first feed, when I put Cooper down for a sleep, I try to at least get maybe half our sleep just to catch up. If I don't, I feel like an absolute MONSTER! I have been snappy with Mum and Dad, and just can't focus. I feel like I am the only one who can gets this cranky! I know I am not that bad, but sometimes I feel like just crying cause I feel so foggy headed.

Most of the time I can catch up on the sleep, but I am wondering what everyone else out there does when they are sleep deprived? Does many Mums do what I do and try to catch up?

[christy]

For both my girls dream feeds haven't worked. Last night I tried again wtih Jovie & she was up for 2 hours afterwards... whereas usually she sleeps from 7pm - 3am and then feeds again around 5.30am but when I work her at 10 she fed & then woke at 2am and at 4am and stayed up for 2 hours from 4-6am I usually try something new for a week before rejecting it but I think I won't try the dream feed again

[Lucy]

but I am wondering what everyone else out there does when they are sleep deprived

I have 3 under 3, so I empathise.....

I currently have all 3 of mine sleeping really well at night, so I am "topped up" but that could change in an instant, unfortunately!

If I am short on sleep I'll admit to using caffeine as a prop if I have to..........(I then use EMB to feed Lexie).

I also take In-Liven, which I find peps me up.

I also TRY and get a nap at lunchtime IF I can get all 3 to sleep at lunchtime.

If not, I at least try to get a "rest" for at least 40 mins after lunch whilst they are all 3 in their beds (Olivia often will play quietly and happily for 40 mins in her room.)

Some days, when I am totally wrecked, I get them all down to bed by 7.30 pm and then go to bed myself........then I know I will get at least a chance of max sleep.......

[*Ang*]

We didnt end up trying the dreamfeeding last night as we decided to go out to dinner. Our routine was all over the place so I thought that it wasnt a good night to start. And wouldnt you believe it the cheeky boy slept through!! And DD didnt come into our bed till 5.30 by which time DH is up anyway so it doenst matter!

I think we will have to go out to dinner more often if this is going to be the result.

[Tobily]

For both my girls dream feeds haven't worked. Last night I tried again wtih Jovie & she was up for 2 hours afterwards... whereas usually she sleeps from 7pm - 3am and then feeds again around 5.30am but when I work her at 10 she fed & then woke at 2am and at 4am and stayed up for 2 hours from 4-6am I usually try something new for a week before rejecting it but I think I won't try the dream feed again

Aghh this is exactly what Toby does. He feeds and sleeps the same times as Jovie but both times I've tried a dreamfeed he's been up and down like a yoyo for the rest of the night... what is with that?! I think I'm better off letting sleeping babies lie LOL.