talk to me about dream feeds

[pugz]

I read about them but I think I just don't really get it. So you unswaddle baby, don't change diaper, feed via boob or bottle, don't burp, then re-swaddle and sneak them back into bed? Then they magically sleep thru the night?

^o) ^o) ^o)

talk me through this MMM

[Deleted]

How many times is she waking up at night?

I've never heard of all of those rules.

If she is waking a lot, then I would probably skip the diaper change (unless she is soaked) and keep her swaddled.

[pugz]

so she usually goes to sleep for a "nap" after she eats around 5ish. Sometimes she wakes on her own 3 hours later, but tonight she was still fast asleep at 9. We unswaddled her and she woke up, we bathed her, and just fed her. Now we'll put her down "for the night" in the RnP in the bedroom (she naps in the bouncer in the living room). She will probably wake up between 1-2 to eat again, then back down and wake again between 5-6:30.

I know that's not bad really, just wondering if we could do something to bridge these sleeps together.

my biggest concern is the burping thing. If she doesn't burp at the end she will spit up a TON. But getting her to burp is an ordeal. Dh has been working on getting that "last burp" for about 10 minutes now.

[Deleted]

Wwwwoooowwwww....I am just thrilled for you that she basically just wakes up once at night. My Kevin was probably up four or five times at your daughter's age. I personally wouldn't stress about trying to bridge the sleeps together. You know her best - if she is going to spit up a ton, then I'd burp her even if it takes a while. Sounds like you are doing a fabulous job and so is your babe!

[fortmyersbride]

I have no advice, just wanted to say that I wish my almost 1 yr old slept that well

At that age I wouldn't have unswaddled unless my life depended on it, but I have crappy sleepers.

[sewpinkgal]

There were people at my nursing group that tried to do this, but we never did as I never wanted to pick him up to feed him as I was scared he wouldn't go back down easily. J was still up 3-5x/night at that age so I would have killed for your daughter's schedule. LOL

[pugz]

she is primarily formula fed at this point, although I do nurse her first. We still struggle with keeping her awake long enough to take the whole bottle (she can only do 3 oz at this point and many times won't eat more than 2.5). Her 2 month appt is Monday and I'll see what the doctor thinks about her feeding habits. For her weight she should be eating about 25oz a day, but just getting to 20 is a stretch. But I figure she will tell us if she's hungry and demand more if she needs it, right?

[jena]

It think dream feeds work better when they are having growth spurts and just want to eat all.the.time. So you sneak in a feed before you go to bed so you get a longer stretch of sleep.

This would never have worked with my DD at 2mo. Mostly because she shit every time she ate. Always. And she was strongly against poopy diapers so this pissed her off. DS didn't have this little automatic movement quirk, so skipping diaper changes was easy with him. DD did outgrow this and would nurse when I got into bed without really waking and then sleep for slightly longer stretches which was nice.

[sewpinkgal]

It was a loooong time before J took over 3oz at a time. Like 5 or 6 months old? I felt like all the other babies were taking huge bottles when mom was away and he would struggle to take 3oz. He never fell off his curve, but he is tiny. If she seems happy and you're regularly offering her food, then I think you're good (but obviously check with your pedi).

[pugz]

Ok good to know. I know her tummy is still small. My friend is nannying 3 mo old twins and one is already 16lbs and taking 9oz bottles!!

[sewpinkgal]

See, at 3m J was barely 10lbs and was still eating just a couple oz at a time when we'd offer a bottle. I chalked this up to being a mostly BF'd baby, but a girl on my BMB had a fully formula fed baby and their stats and how much they ate were almost identical. I think some babies just don't want to eat as much. Even at 11m, he still eats much less than most of his peers when I compare with friends online or at our parent group.

[Here]

I heard of it, but never understood it.

I stopped changing the diaper at night unless it was poopy or really heavy early on.

[bunch]

I tried it a few times and it never worked. Similar to g, h was going down around 9, waking at 2 and then again at 5. I thought sneaking in an 11 feed would push those out, but it never did. She'd still pop up at 2.

[Deleted]

We used to do that with the boys; it worked really well. Dream feeding was what got both of them to STTN consistently. They were big eaters though.

DH was the one who did it but I'm pretty sure he didn't unswaddle them. Just lifted them out, gave them a few ounces, tried to gently burp them, and then put them back in. He would feed them right before he went to bed for the night so probably around 10:30-11.

Good luck, I hope this works for you!

[brit1017]

I don't think that we unswaddled them, and we definitely didn't change the diaper. The key to dreamfeeding is to do it before they would usually wake up hungry on their own, so that they aren't really awake for the feeding. Because they are still mostly asleep, they aren't sucking as hard and are less likely to take in a lot of air. DS was what is known as a "happy spitter", which really meant projectile vomiting after almost every feeding, but even he was fine after dreamfeeds with no burping.

[karinothing]

Sept 13, 2012 21:43:24 GMT -5 fortmyersbride said:

I have no advice, just wanted to say that I wish my almost 1 yr old slept that well

At that age I wouldn't have unswaddled unless my life depended on it, but I have crappy sleepers.

Yeah....DH is almost 11 months and woke up 4 times last night! No sympathy ;D

I wouldn't unswaddle though. If she is not pooping at night, I would keep her swaddled and not change her and jsut feed her adn put her back down.

[pugz]

didn't mean to bragplaint!

you guys confirmed what my gut was telling me, that just following her cues is totally the way to go at this point. I am not big on sleep training and definitely not at such an early age. Reading the Happiest Baby book though he made it sound like you could magically prolong that first stretch of sleep with a dream feed. Logistically I don't think it's the kind of thing that would work for G since she still has to be stripped down to her diaper at most every feeding in order to keep her awake enough to eat.

I don't mind getting up with her at 2 and 6 like I did last night. I'm more frustrated with the evenings and trying to fit in a bath, feeding, and storytime. Dh keeps wanting to go to bed earlier and earlier so I end up doing that all myself and then not getting into bed until 11. Evening routine/bedtime was supposed to be his thing since I'm with her all day and taking the 6am feeding since it's so close to his wake up time. I'm craving a routine yet also wanting to let her eat and sleep as she pleases and I know the two don't really go together

At almost 10 weeks the longest she's every been awake is 2-2.5 hrs. It takes approx an hour to feed her (bf and bottle, then burp attempts) then she's awake for about an hour after we're done. While she's more awake than she was the first month (when she was essentially never awake/alert) she's still a sleepy baby and I'm still looking forward to her waking up more and being more interactive. Plus I'm worrying about the whole flat head thing.

I swore I wouldn't be a worrier! Need to get back into chill mom mode

[badtzmaru22]

I kind of do a dreamfeed in the mornings. DH goes in later than I do, and DD usually wakes up to eat around 5:30. I feed her and she goes back down while I get ready. Then I go get her and feed her the other side and lay her back down. She is sleeping the whole time. This way, DH can sleep in a bit in the mornings before he has to go to work.

[froggy76]

I never figured out dream feeds, either. DD also needed to be burped (for a LONG time) after eating and she also liked to shit in the middle of the night. So, I never understood how moms claimed they could just bed share and roll over to feed the baby in the middle of the night while barely waking up at all. For us, night feeds were always a big production- new diaper, nurse both sides for an eternity, lots of burping, etc. But if I tried to skip anything, I could never get her back to sleep!

[Deleted]

Your lo is on a similar schedule to what my ds was at 6 weeks. DH did a dream feed overnight around 11pm. That would get us sleep until 4:00 am. DS sttn at 7 weeks but we did the dream feed until 16 - 20 weeks depending on his total ounces.

[Deleted]

Sept 14, 2012 7:48:00 GMT -5 pugz said:

At almost 10 weeks the longest she's every been awake is 2-2.5 hrs. It takes approx an hour to feed her (bf and bottle, then burp attempts) then she's awake for about an hour after we're done. While she's more awake than she was the first month (when she was essentially never awake/alert) she's still a sleepy baby and I'm still looking forward to her waking up more and being more interactive. Plus I'm worrying about the whole flat head thing.

This sounds perfectly normal to me. DS was awake for about the same amount of time at that age. At almost 7 months, he still takes 4 naps a day about 45 mins each. I just follow his cues, and he's the happiest, easiest baby. I think 9p-1a is a GREAT stretch of sleep for a 2 month old. To be honest, I think you should go to bed earlier. If you went to bed at 10 after her last feed, you'd get 3-4 hours of sleep instead of 1-2 like you are now, then another 3-4 hour stretch after that middle of the night feed. Try moving storytime and bathtime earlier, they don't have to be right before bed. She also doesn't need to be bathed every day.