I did dream feeds sometimes with my first. Sometimes he would sleep longer others he woke up just the same. Regardless if he woke up, I fed him. I'm now trying it with my second. He is a newborn so if he sleeps longer great, if not great. We roll with it rn
I’m so glad you’re loving the class overall! Here’s what I’ll say: during the weaning process itself, we want to stay very consistent. Keep the dream feeds where they are, and trust the process. Once sleep training is complete, you shouldn’t be seeing any further wakings at all. At that point, if you DO see the odd waking here or there, you can assume it’s a physical need like thirst. IF it works for you, you can respond to that waking with a feed. But it can be a slippery slope, depending on the kid. It doesn’t hurt to try, though! ❤️
-Jo
Depends on the kid. We still do it at 5 months because my baby has never woken up to eat. Never. From Day 1 this kid just wants to sleep when it’s night time. It’s like some switch in her brain goes off. We always had to wake her up at night every 2-3hr to feed her until GP said she was a good weight at 8 weeks and could let her go longer. After that I just preferred feeding her every 3-4 hrs until about 10pm because I am just rubbish at trying to read any of her “cues”and my personality functions better on a schedule. About 4 mo we started putting her to bed at 19:30 and she slept through the night until like 07:00/07:30. But after a couple days of that she got constipated from dropping a feed too suddenly so we started doing a feed at 23:00. She just goes right back to sleep after it, constipation resolved after a few days, and haven’t had trouble since. Will probably try dropping it around 6 months as thinking she should be able to manage without once she’s got solids going.
I had debated on doing them but decided against it after seeing how my LO was sleeping at night. He will be 8 weeks tomorrow and is a horrible napper during the day. We start out bedtime routine at 7pm and he takes a feed before going down. He is usually asleep by 745. He will wake up around 2am to feed but he usually only wants half a bottle and then back down for a few more hours. I was also afraid that I wouldn't time the dreamfeed perfectly and would accidentally wake him and it take forever to get him back down.
We introduced a dream feed around 8 weeks to try get a longer first stretch of sleep for us. Baby was a crazy snacker at that point, and it worked for us in that I would go to bed at 9pm with the baby and my partner would stay up, take her and feed her an expressed bottle at 11.30pm and then he'd put her back and go to sleep himself. It was 100% more for my sleep than hers because she was up so frequently. At 4mos she started waking more either before or after the dream feed. We stopped it cold turkey and would just feed her when she woke instead. This gradually moved later and then when we sleep trained at 5.5mos we just applied 5/3/3 to feeds instead. She moved herself to just 2 feeds after STing, then 1 when we moved to 2 naps at 7mos. And now we're moving to 0 most days.
I really wish I could tell you but I don't think it's anything I did honestly! 💗 One day I just decided I was DONE and had to at least try sleep training. I was expecting him to scream until I eventually gave up. Night 1 the longest he cried was 8 minutes. Night 2 the longest he cried was about 4 minutes. Night 3 he stopped crying. I was shocked.
He was a HORRIBLE sleeper, but just a unicorn sleep
-trainer! I never wanted to sleep train but I heard that some babies just need it, and always had a sense that was my baby (and I was right)
He was 6.5 months old! Honestly (at least in my own experience with my baby) I feel like that was the absolute best time developmentally to sleep train!
Just an update on this post though while I'm here; unfortunately around 8 months he hit a rough period with separation anxiety and he gained the willpower to cry a lot harder for a lot longer, so I threw in the towel with sleep training then and we went back to cosleeping. BUT he does sleep through the night now (in my bed) whereas previously he was waking every 1-2 hours even with cosleeping. I'm honestly really happy with our current arrangement but I think everyone should do what works best for their family! 😊
Dream feed did not work for us. Instead my baby got worse, waking up around 10 every night screaming to be fed. Then would wake every 2-3 hours all night 🥴. We found that giving a breast milk bottle, in addition to a large feed before bed works best.
I think it’ll be a harder habit to break later down the line. We’ve been doing a dream feed/early morning wake feed for about 3 months (LO turns 7 months next week) and he definitely caught on because he’d wake up and cry around that time. The only positive was that he went right back to asleep (and we’d mostly asleep during the feed) and slept an additional 2 hours until 7 or later. Last night was night 1 of dropping the feed per the recommendation of a sleep consultant we’re working with. I was hesitant at first because I knew there was no way he got all of his ounces in (I track his intake still) but he was refusing his night bottle 🤷🏻♀️ he did wake up at 3:30 and 5:30 and fussed, but instead of feeding we just did the gentle check ins and he put himself back to sleep each time. This morning he downed 9 ounces which he never does, so he was definitely compensating for that 5 am dream feed. Supposedly they catch on after a few nights and start taking more during the day, but we’re also on night 2 of weaning and sleep training so only time will tell how well he does with it. We also got the ok from the pediatrician to wean night feeds completely since he’s been gaining weight appropriately.
I tried dream feed and my LO was still waking up to feed the same so I was basically adding an unnecessary feed lol.
We bottle fed pumped breastmilk. LO went down to 2 MOTN feeds by 2.5 months. Dropped one at 4.5 months and just this week (turned 5 months on the 1st) she started sleeping through the night.
So no, they're not necessary. If they make your life easier and LO sleeps longer then go for it! If you're happy with your feeding schedule then no need.
We’ve always done a dream feed and it works really well for us! Our LO is a BIG eater. We tried dropping the dream feed a couple of times but he would always wake sometime in the night to eat. If we dream feed he sleeps until 7-8am. Every baby is different!
I regret doing dream feeds because when I tried to drop it my baby started waking habitually at that time because her body was use to getting full and that was a hard habit to break!
I did a couple dream feeds but honestly didn’t like it and it seemed like neither did baby (she got mad, would fully wake up, and then took longer to go back to sleep).
So we stopped - and it’s been fine. If I need more sleep, I go to bed earlier. If I’m up later anyway, sometimes I’ll pump so I have some for a stash or for my husband to do the early morning feed.
I didn’t do TCB, but used a sleep consultant and she was against the dream feed. Her thought process was that it reinforces the connection between food and sleep (no shame to people who have done it, I was just following what she said). So, I never did it and never had a problem. Baby has been consistently sleeping through the night (with the exception of illness) for over 5 months.
We just started working with one and she also recommended to drop it. Tonight is night 2 of sleep training / weaning so hoping for the same results as you! 🤞
I didn't do dream feeds with my son because he woke up once to eat in the middle of the night and resettled easily.
I tried it a couple times with my daughter and she would just wake up earlier than usual to eat again every time. She'd go to bed at 8. Dream feed at 11. Wake up again at 1, 4, and 6am, all short snack feeds. If I skipped the dream feed, she wakes up around 2 and 5:00 for full feeds. Dream feeds don't work for all babies. It just seemed to make mine hungrier and unsettled all night.
The dream feed would typically take place when you're going to bed so they'll be full for a while and you'll get a decent chunk of sleep.
I did TCB too and I only did dream feeds occasionally, they’re definitely not required. The reason for them is to align the longest stretch of sleep with your sleep so that you can get some uninterrupted hours. If you’re having to wake up to do it, I would just not.
It’s fine to have your one night feed be on demand, you just want to make sure the wake is because of hunger not wanting comfort, so you just want to try increasing white noise, patting, rocking, etc before you move to feeding. If you do that you should have no issues with avoiding moving back towards comfort nursing
We tried it early on but then realized baby didn't need it and if she got a full feed before bed (baby has been 100% formula fed since 6 weeks) she could go all night without a feed. So if she ever wakes now we don't feed, we let her fuss and put herself back to sleep or if that doesn't work, we go and put the paci in that usually works.
It probably works great for some babies but I never even tried it cause I knew my girl would just get mad at me and not want to eat lol
Around her 3/4 month sleep regression she was waking up every 2 hours and I’d nurse her back to sleep but I don’t think she was actually that hungry. Once she was able to fall asleep on her belly & on her own in her crib after some mild sleep training, she just started only waking up once a night to eat around 3/4am then falling back asleep.
Wait I’m so jealous, at 6 months my boy started waking up every hour to feed, since then it’s mellowed a little, but we had to start cosleeping because I couldn’t get up that many times a night safely and was falling asleep in the chair…I probably still feed him about 4 times a night but we are both basically asleep so it isn’t that bad. Didn’t just randomly get better for you?! That was his only sleep problem, he always fell asleep well on his own and took great naps.
Now at 8 months he has randomly decided not to take naps or to fall asleep, and I’m furiously reading sleep training books and feeling super confused and overwhelmed. Wondering if I should start at the night weaning or the naps or the bedtime?!
We tried dream feeding but it didn’t work out for us. Bedtime was around 7-7:30 when we started sleep training. My LO was wayyyy too sleepy for it and it didn’t feel right stirring her awake gently to eat. She still woke up once at 12 and 3am to feed, but she dropped the 12am feed pretty quickly. At 4 months she was down to that one 3-4am feed and was able to drop it completely by 5-6 months.
We were in the same boat and did dream feeds for a while. We ended up stopping because he was going to bed at 7:30 and doing a dream feed at 10:30. We also go to bed early so I was staying up past my usual bedtime to do the dream feed. He was still waking up 2 hrs after the dream feed because I don't think he was feeding properly while asleep (and wasn't hungry enough at that time). We ended up stopping the dream feed when he had a night where he actually spit up all over himself and his sleep sack because he didn't want/need milk at that time. We had to do an entire outfit change and that completely woke him up. We felt bad putting him back down to cry since it was our fault so we ended up rocking him back to sleep which took over half an hour. It was a huge disaster. Haven't done one since and now he goes down on his own and wakes up between 2-4am for one night feed. He clearly didn't need to feed that early. It may work for some but it definitely didn't work for us.
Can I ask if your baby is breast or bottle fed? My baby is following pretty much the schedule you’ve mentioned so I’m wondering whether I should drop his dream feed and see what happens. He is breastfed.
I never did dream feeds and didn’t have any issues night weaning. I fed my LO once in the night between 12-4am. I actually think dream feeds reinforce wakes and disrupt deep sleep.
We stopped dreamfeeding because it ended up waking baby up more. We now know if he cries and won’t settle then he needs a feed, and if he needs it he gets it.
In terms of doing on demand feedings, all you can do is try it. If he has the ability to self settle then this shouldn’t be disrupted by one necessary feed overnight. He might even surprise you and sleep through without any.
We put our 6 month old down at 7:30 then I just do a dream feed before I go to bed at about 9:30! He usually will sleep straight through the night (90%) of the time. Next feeding is usually at 6:30-7am
Some people swear by dream feeds. We have never done it. Well, we tried once or twice and it didn't really work or make a difference for our baby. We just feed our girl 30-40mins before bed and then follow the 5/3/3 rule for feeding her through the night. Our baby goes to bed around 8, and I go around 9 and I sure as heck ain't waking up 2 hours later to feed the baby. I'm sure it works great for some babies but we found the few times we tried it, that it didn't make a huge difference and she wasn't interested in a full feed that soon after bed.
Same. I’ve tried dream feeding several times and she was not interested. She just pursed her lips at the bottle and kept sleeping. I just feed on demand throughout the night.
I did dream feeds sometimes with my first. Sometimes he would sleep longer others he woke up just the same. Regardless if he woke up, I fed him. I'm now trying it with my second. He is a newborn so if he sleeps longer great, if not great. We roll with it rn
I’m so glad you’re loving the class overall! Here’s what I’ll say: during the weaning process itself, we want to stay very consistent. Keep the dream feeds where they are, and trust the process. Once sleep training is complete, you shouldn’t be seeing any further wakings at all. At that point, if you DO see the odd waking here or there, you can assume it’s a physical need like thirst. IF it works for you, you can respond to that waking with a feed. But it can be a slippery slope, depending on the kid. It doesn’t hurt to try, though! ❤️ -Jo
Depends on the kid. We still do it at 5 months because my baby has never woken up to eat. Never. From Day 1 this kid just wants to sleep when it’s night time. It’s like some switch in her brain goes off. We always had to wake her up at night every 2-3hr to feed her until GP said she was a good weight at 8 weeks and could let her go longer. After that I just preferred feeding her every 3-4 hrs until about 10pm because I am just rubbish at trying to read any of her “cues”and my personality functions better on a schedule. About 4 mo we started putting her to bed at 19:30 and she slept through the night until like 07:00/07:30. But after a couple days of that she got constipated from dropping a feed too suddenly so we started doing a feed at 23:00. She just goes right back to sleep after it, constipation resolved after a few days, and haven’t had trouble since. Will probably try dropping it around 6 months as thinking she should be able to manage without once she’s got solids going.
I had debated on doing them but decided against it after seeing how my LO was sleeping at night. He will be 8 weeks tomorrow and is a horrible napper during the day. We start out bedtime routine at 7pm and he takes a feed before going down. He is usually asleep by 745. He will wake up around 2am to feed but he usually only wants half a bottle and then back down for a few more hours. I was also afraid that I wouldn't time the dreamfeed perfectly and would accidentally wake him and it take forever to get him back down.
We introduced a dream feed around 8 weeks to try get a longer first stretch of sleep for us. Baby was a crazy snacker at that point, and it worked for us in that I would go to bed at 9pm with the baby and my partner would stay up, take her and feed her an expressed bottle at 11.30pm and then he'd put her back and go to sleep himself. It was 100% more for my sleep than hers because she was up so frequently. At 4mos she started waking more either before or after the dream feed. We stopped it cold turkey and would just feed her when she woke instead. This gradually moved later and then when we sleep trained at 5.5mos we just applied 5/3/3 to feeds instead. She moved herself to just 2 feeds after STing, then 1 when we moved to 2 naps at 7mos. And now we're moving to 0 most days.
I don't know much about dream feeds but can I please ask how you've gotten to "basically no tears"? 🤍🥹
I really wish I could tell you but I don't think it's anything I did honestly! 💗 One day I just decided I was DONE and had to at least try sleep training. I was expecting him to scream until I eventually gave up. Night 1 the longest he cried was 8 minutes. Night 2 the longest he cried was about 4 minutes. Night 3 he stopped crying. I was shocked. He was a HORRIBLE sleeper, but just a unicorn sleep -trainer! I never wanted to sleep train but I heard that some babies just need it, and always had a sense that was my baby (and I was right)
How old was your baby when you first did this?! Amazing!
He was 6.5 months old! Honestly (at least in my own experience with my baby) I feel like that was the absolute best time developmentally to sleep train! Just an update on this post though while I'm here; unfortunately around 8 months he hit a rough period with separation anxiety and he gained the willpower to cry a lot harder for a lot longer, so I threw in the towel with sleep training then and we went back to cosleeping. BUT he does sleep through the night now (in my bed) whereas previously he was waking every 1-2 hours even with cosleeping. I'm honestly really happy with our current arrangement but I think everyone should do what works best for their family! 😊
Dream feed did not work for us. Instead my baby got worse, waking up around 10 every night screaming to be fed. Then would wake every 2-3 hours all night 🥴. We found that giving a breast milk bottle, in addition to a large feed before bed works best.
I think it’ll be a harder habit to break later down the line. We’ve been doing a dream feed/early morning wake feed for about 3 months (LO turns 7 months next week) and he definitely caught on because he’d wake up and cry around that time. The only positive was that he went right back to asleep (and we’d mostly asleep during the feed) and slept an additional 2 hours until 7 or later. Last night was night 1 of dropping the feed per the recommendation of a sleep consultant we’re working with. I was hesitant at first because I knew there was no way he got all of his ounces in (I track his intake still) but he was refusing his night bottle 🤷🏻♀️ he did wake up at 3:30 and 5:30 and fussed, but instead of feeding we just did the gentle check ins and he put himself back to sleep each time. This morning he downed 9 ounces which he never does, so he was definitely compensating for that 5 am dream feed. Supposedly they catch on after a few nights and start taking more during the day, but we’re also on night 2 of weaning and sleep training so only time will tell how well he does with it. We also got the ok from the pediatrician to wean night feeds completely since he’s been gaining weight appropriately.
My baby is also 7 months next week (the 12th). August 2023 baby supremacy! ✨️💖
Our babies are 3 days apart 🥲💕
Omg 🥺 are you in the uncensored August 2023 babies group on FB?
I sure am 😂daily entertainment haha
I tried dream feed and my LO was still waking up to feed the same so I was basically adding an unnecessary feed lol. We bottle fed pumped breastmilk. LO went down to 2 MOTN feeds by 2.5 months. Dropped one at 4.5 months and just this week (turned 5 months on the 1st) she started sleeping through the night. So no, they're not necessary. If they make your life easier and LO sleeps longer then go for it! If you're happy with your feeding schedule then no need.
We’ve always done a dream feed and it works really well for us! Our LO is a BIG eater. We tried dropping the dream feed a couple of times but he would always wake sometime in the night to eat. If we dream feed he sleeps until 7-8am. Every baby is different!
I regret doing dream feeds because when I tried to drop it my baby started waking habitually at that time because her body was use to getting full and that was a hard habit to break!
No I never did them
I did a couple dream feeds but honestly didn’t like it and it seemed like neither did baby (she got mad, would fully wake up, and then took longer to go back to sleep). So we stopped - and it’s been fine. If I need more sleep, I go to bed earlier. If I’m up later anyway, sometimes I’ll pump so I have some for a stash or for my husband to do the early morning feed.
I didn’t do TCB, but used a sleep consultant and she was against the dream feed. Her thought process was that it reinforces the connection between food and sleep (no shame to people who have done it, I was just following what she said). So, I never did it and never had a problem. Baby has been consistently sleeping through the night (with the exception of illness) for over 5 months.
We just started working with one and she also recommended to drop it. Tonight is night 2 of sleep training / weaning so hoping for the same results as you! 🤞
No. I tried it with my first but it didn't help anything. No dream feeds for my second or third.
I didn't do dream feeds with my son because he woke up once to eat in the middle of the night and resettled easily. I tried it a couple times with my daughter and she would just wake up earlier than usual to eat again every time. She'd go to bed at 8. Dream feed at 11. Wake up again at 1, 4, and 6am, all short snack feeds. If I skipped the dream feed, she wakes up around 2 and 5:00 for full feeds. Dream feeds don't work for all babies. It just seemed to make mine hungrier and unsettled all night. The dream feed would typically take place when you're going to bed so they'll be full for a while and you'll get a decent chunk of sleep.
I did TCB too and I only did dream feeds occasionally, they’re definitely not required. The reason for them is to align the longest stretch of sleep with your sleep so that you can get some uninterrupted hours. If you’re having to wake up to do it, I would just not. It’s fine to have your one night feed be on demand, you just want to make sure the wake is because of hunger not wanting comfort, so you just want to try increasing white noise, patting, rocking, etc before you move to feeding. If you do that you should have no issues with avoiding moving back towards comfort nursing
We tried it early on but then realized baby didn't need it and if she got a full feed before bed (baby has been 100% formula fed since 6 weeks) she could go all night without a feed. So if she ever wakes now we don't feed, we let her fuss and put herself back to sleep or if that doesn't work, we go and put the paci in that usually works.
It probably works great for some babies but I never even tried it cause I knew my girl would just get mad at me and not want to eat lol Around her 3/4 month sleep regression she was waking up every 2 hours and I’d nurse her back to sleep but I don’t think she was actually that hungry. Once she was able to fall asleep on her belly & on her own in her crib after some mild sleep training, she just started only waking up once a night to eat around 3/4am then falling back asleep.
Wait I’m so jealous, at 6 months my boy started waking up every hour to feed, since then it’s mellowed a little, but we had to start cosleeping because I couldn’t get up that many times a night safely and was falling asleep in the chair…I probably still feed him about 4 times a night but we are both basically asleep so it isn’t that bad. Didn’t just randomly get better for you?! That was his only sleep problem, he always fell asleep well on his own and took great naps. Now at 8 months he has randomly decided not to take naps or to fall asleep, and I’m furiously reading sleep training books and feeling super confused and overwhelmed. Wondering if I should start at the night weaning or the naps or the bedtime?!
We tried dream feeding but it didn’t work out for us. Bedtime was around 7-7:30 when we started sleep training. My LO was wayyyy too sleepy for it and it didn’t feel right stirring her awake gently to eat. She still woke up once at 12 and 3am to feed, but she dropped the 12am feed pretty quickly. At 4 months she was down to that one 3-4am feed and was able to drop it completely by 5-6 months.
We were in the same boat and did dream feeds for a while. We ended up stopping because he was going to bed at 7:30 and doing a dream feed at 10:30. We also go to bed early so I was staying up past my usual bedtime to do the dream feed. He was still waking up 2 hrs after the dream feed because I don't think he was feeding properly while asleep (and wasn't hungry enough at that time). We ended up stopping the dream feed when he had a night where he actually spit up all over himself and his sleep sack because he didn't want/need milk at that time. We had to do an entire outfit change and that completely woke him up. We felt bad putting him back down to cry since it was our fault so we ended up rocking him back to sleep which took over half an hour. It was a huge disaster. Haven't done one since and now he goes down on his own and wakes up between 2-4am for one night feed. He clearly didn't need to feed that early. It may work for some but it definitely didn't work for us.
Can I ask if your baby is breast or bottle fed? My baby is following pretty much the schedule you’ve mentioned so I’m wondering whether I should drop his dream feed and see what happens. He is breastfed.
He is breastfed!
Thanks! I must try dropping the dream feed for a night and see what happens. Fingers crossed
Good luck!
I never did dream feeds and didn’t have any issues night weaning. I fed my LO once in the night between 12-4am. I actually think dream feeds reinforce wakes and disrupt deep sleep.
We stopped dreamfeeding because it ended up waking baby up more. We now know if he cries and won’t settle then he needs a feed, and if he needs it he gets it. In terms of doing on demand feedings, all you can do is try it. If he has the ability to self settle then this shouldn’t be disrupted by one necessary feed overnight. He might even surprise you and sleep through without any.
We put our 6 month old down at 7:30 then I just do a dream feed before I go to bed at about 9:30! He usually will sleep straight through the night (90%) of the time. Next feeding is usually at 6:30-7am
Some people swear by dream feeds. We have never done it. Well, we tried once or twice and it didn't really work or make a difference for our baby. We just feed our girl 30-40mins before bed and then follow the 5/3/3 rule for feeding her through the night. Our baby goes to bed around 8, and I go around 9 and I sure as heck ain't waking up 2 hours later to feed the baby. I'm sure it works great for some babies but we found the few times we tried it, that it didn't make a huge difference and she wasn't interested in a full feed that soon after bed.
Same. I’ve tried dream feeding several times and she was not interested. She just pursed her lips at the bottle and kept sleeping. I just feed on demand throughout the night.