Dreamfeed
Printed From: OHbaby!
Category: Have A Baby?
Forum Name: First baby? Second or more?
Forum Description: Want help? Need support? Want tips? Men and women share advice and tips in this supportive community
URL: https://www.ohbaby.co.nz/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=36387
Printed Date: 26 August 2025 at 5:16am
Software Version: Web Wiz Forums 11.10 - http://www.webwizforums.com
Topic: Dreamfeed
Posted By: SophiasMummy
Subject: Dreamfeed
Date Posted: 24 October 2010 at 8:48pm
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My wee boy is 3 months old this week, he goes to bed after a bottle of about 150-200ml of formula (is bf for 5 other feeds of the day) at about 7.30, I get up once during the night about 2-3pm and then he sleeps till 6 or 7. So all good really. He is generally having quite a big feed in the night so obviously he needs it. I was thinking of starting a dreamfeed to see if I could get rid of the middle of the night feed. I never did this with my daughter as she was reflux so just would not have worked! I have a couple of questions.
How many nights before I may see it working? He is still swaddled so do I leave him swaddled? Do I wind him, (he brings up wind really easily)? Does the time have to be the same every night? So if I went out would I have to be home by say 10 if I usually feed him at 10? Or would it not matter for the odd night. Thanks in advance, just keen to work out if this is something I should try! ------------- http://lilypie.com"> 
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Replies:
Posted By: Rainbow
Date Posted: 24 October 2010 at 10:31pm
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I wish I had written what I did down cos now that no.2 is coming I am scared I won't know what to do!! But anyway...
I would leave him swaddled if that usually helps him sleep. I weaned my DS off the swaddled towards 4-5 months but was doing dreamfeed from around 10 weeks. Keep him swaddled as you do the feed too unless you need to undo it for BF positioning. No need to wind apparently as they don't gulp as much air when they are sleepy but I think I may have held DS upright for a short time afterwards as he easily brought up wind usually. I usually did the feed between 10 and 10.30pm. I think some of the so called baby gurus recommend not later than 11 and not earlier than 10 but not sure of their reasoning as I only ever borrowed books from library... I dropped the dreamfeed by around 5-6 months (and he had started some early solids) - just went cold turkey one night after talking about dropping it for ages. One night I was just so tired and I couldn't muster up the energy!! He didn't miss it which was great! There are 2 schools of thought on the dreamfeed - some say to keep the baby fast asleep and others say to rouse them so that they are in fact awake (but is that really a dream feed then??? not sure). I did a bit of both as sometimes he woke anyway before I went in or as I was doing it. To be honest, I don't think it really made a massive difference if he woke or not - though I had to switch to a bottle and I know that if he was fully awake then he took less milk which may have led to another waking later on but if he was sound asleep then he just kept drinking and drinking! I would give it a week before deciding if it is doing what you are aiming for - some babies are actually more unsettled by doing it as you interrupt their natural sleep pattern and I have read that doing it for too long can also have that affect (by too long I mean beyond a certain age....but don't ask me what that is!! - like I said, I wish I had made more notes on all this first time around!!) Hope that helps. I will look forward to hearing what others have to say and then I will save the answers for my no.2!  ------------- http://lilypie.com"> 
http://lilypie.com"> 
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Posted By: SophiasMummy
Date Posted: 26 October 2010 at 12:50pm
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*bump*
Anymore advice on dreamfeeds please???? ------------- http://lilypie.com">
http://lilypie.com">
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