Has Anyone Tried "Dreamfeeding" for Longer Sleep Periods for Infant???

I co-sleep & nurse on demand with my 5 month old daughter, so I'm not a lot of help although I sympathize with the "not being remotely ready for sleeping through the night" gig. :) I would say give it a try, and if it doesn't work then you could always try something else.

I know with my daughter she will. not. eat. if she's not hungry, but if your little guy will eat when he's put to the breast then I'd say go for it!

Good luck!

Have you considered putting him to bed later, so that he wakes up later? If he can sleep for 7 hours, why not put him to bed around 10 p.m., and then then he'd wake at 5:00 a.m.? When my son was younger, he was on that sort of schedule.

To answer your question, no, I never tried "dreamfeeding", because there was no way in hell I was going to wake my sleeping son, for fear he'd be up for hours. ;-) You could certainly try it though, you never know, it might work for you.

I agree with the person who mentioned the "Baby Whisperer." I thought the book was excellent and now have the "Toddler Whisperer" as well. After I read the first book I decided to try the dream feeding technique...especially since I'd also been told that if a baby is over 11 lbs they should be able to sleep through the night and my son was at that stage. We fed our son and put him to bed around 8:00. He would fall asleep and at 10:00 I would go in his room and leave the light off (use a nightlight or light from the hallway if you need to). I just picked him up and fed him. Then it was back to bed. He really didn't wake up during the whole time. It worked pretty well for us but took a few days of adjustment so don't give up right away if it doesn't work for the first night or two. I also agree with the person who said babies will only eat if they are hungry...some nights my son would only drink an ounce or two and other nights he drank the whole bottle. Either way, it seemed to be enough to get him closer to 5:00 or 6:00 in the morning. Best of luck.

We used to give our daughter a feeding around 6pm then we'd put her down to sleep at 7pm. We always "woke" her and fed her a bottle (6oz) between 10-11pm. It was my husband's job, and it worked great for us. She would barely wake up for a feeding, burp and go right back to sleep. He kept the lights off and fed her in her room. We did this for several months then started giving her the last feeding at 7p and putting her down at 8pm when she was about 6mos or so. She has always slept all night doing this. Good luck.

i tried this a few times, and it never worked for me - my daughter was always very angry that i woke her up! but a friend of mine did it and her baby slept every night (after the "dreamfeeding") until 6am!

i'd say give it a try.

I did this and it worked great for me. I'd feed my son around 7 and then put him to bed and feed him again around 10 right before I went to bed. My son was sleeping through the night by 3 months old. I will say that it seemed to be easier for me to feed him without waking him up when using a bottle instead of nursing. So if you're not against using a bottle and the nursing doesn't seem to work very well you might want to give that a try, or I think a lot of women have their husband do the dreamfeed. Mine was always worried he'd wake the baby though. :)

Good luck!

G.,
This is exactly what I did with all my kids, I never realized it had a name...
With my oldest (almost 4 y/o) I would do cluster feeding and co-sleeping, I would feel guilty and not sleep well at all. I think because he was the first born. Then my daughter came along (now almost 3 y/o) and I was doing the same thing and we thought for a while she'd never leave our bed... We'd always transition to their cribs/basinettes whenever we could, for at least a little while at a time. Then number three (now 1 y/o) came along and I would take any sleep I could, I trusted my instincts and nursing was smooth and easy, any time of day or night. I would get her out of her basinette, where she started the night, and just bring her to bed with us, she would nurse happily, barely awake, and fall sound asleep (usually after 10pm), then I would be able to put her in her basinette again, if I wanted to:)
Each child was nursed a little longer than the one before, my son (firstborn) for only 4 months, then #2 for 6+ months, then #3 for 9+ months! Each time had challenges and I guess what I'm trying to say is, trust your instincts! Do what feels right for you and your little guy, he will take cues from you! Good luck! J.

I've never heard of dream feeding, but I cluster feed. My son will eat around 8:30pm and fall asleep and then I wake him up at 10pm to eat again. Usually he eats every three hours, but I've done this with all my kids and it seems to tide them over longer. Good luck.

G.,

I used this technique with my kids. I didn't really read the other responses, so I appologize if this is repeated information. The key to dream feeding is NOT to wake your child. You feed them while they are sleeping. I did bottles (I was unable to nurse), but nursing should be the same. Basically, pick up your sleeping child and rub the nipple against their mouth, they will take it, then just proceed to feed from there.

Just remember don't wake him, let him feed while he's sleeping. I know, sounds wierd, but it works.

Hello,
Dreamfeed means to feed them when they are sleeping. I would just pick my son up from his crib and he would still be asleep and he would latch on and eat. Switching breast could sometimes be tricky but usually feeding from one breast was enough. I think it did help him sleep a little longer. I also did cluster feeding at night. If you son usually eats every 3 hours,in the evening I would feed every 2 hours. That helped to stock him up for the night. A good book about this schedule is the "Baby whisper".
Hope this helps,
M.

heres the thing; kids will eat when they are hungry. and thats all. this is a GOOD thing - it means they are able to listen to their body's cues about hunger and fullness, and it prevents an unhealthy attitude about food in general.
what you could try to do is start giving a little bit of baby snacks - puffs or something and even start with a sippy. and then nurse. im in no way saying solids will help him sleep, im just trying to delay the big breastfeeding meal until later.
make sure that hes more awake when you wake him up, or he coule go right back to sleep while nursing. however, you do want him to go back to sleep... so dont be too rambunctious. maybe change diaper, remove clothing, turn on lights, etc. leave the sleeping environment. talk to him and stuff - keep eye contact. this should keep him kinda more awake to finish a full feeding.

however, things like teething, and growth spurts will interrupt this 'schedule' - and the sleep schedule in general. dont get attached to a schedule too hard - be willing to be flexible and adjust as he grows and has different needs. babies only have small tummies, so they need to eat as often as they feel. just do your best to respond to his needs, giving him the feeling of security and respect and love. :D the best way to teach independence and love and security is to show it especially during the first few years.

anyway, theres nothing wrong with cosleeping, or feeding at night, or any of that. i see its just not working for you anymore, and its great that you realize your limits.
if your husband can move baby after you nurse at night that would be great. my husband was always complaining that he was getting kicked and stuff, and i told him then move baby back to the crib. (our sons crib was, and is still, in our room) nursing at night is a good thing for you and baby - but it does cause relaxation deep enough to fall easily back to sleep. it isnt your fault, or anything like that, but it isnt easy to stay awake to put baby back in the crib. :D
anyway. www.askdrsears.com

My newest son is 4 1/2 months and has been sleeping through the night since about 3 months. We started feeding him at about 10-11 at night and he would go to about 5 am and then it just got longer and longer in between. If we didn't feed him that late, he'd wake at 2 am or so. Now he eats at about 9 pm and sleeps all night and eats at about 8 am. Our doctor also recommended not to feed him more than 4 ounces at night because if you do, they will start depending on that feeding as a meal, and it'll be harder to break them of the night feeding. I know its hard to judge how much when you are breastfeeding. As hard as it is, try putting him back in his crib after the feeding. Good luck and hope you get some sleep too!

I occationally wake my son up (almost 6 months) adn feed him before I go to bed so he sleeps longer and normally it works well. Occationally when I wake him up to feed him I have trouble getting him back to sleep, so I only do it when I have class really early and don't want to have to feed him two hours before I have to wake up anyway.

We tried it with my son, but not for very long ( I don't remember exactly why). It did stretch things out a bit. Ultimately, he still woke up out of habit (and still does 5 months later) at about the same time many nights though he didn't really need to eat. I read the baby whisperer book and know she talks about breaking that habitual wake up, but we've never really followed through. When dreamfeeding, you don't really wake them, just rouse them enough to start eating. It didn't turn into a new crutch (maybe because we didn't do it very long) but since you aren't really waking them up and they feed on instinct, I don't think you have to worry about him starting to wake every 2-3 hours. Keep in mind that he also may not take a full feeding. If he doesn't you may want to try adding a little more time or ounces to his feedings throughout the day. Good luck!

When I have done dreamfeeding, I don't really wake my daughter up. I just pick her up, which kind of rouses her, enough to latch on, and then she'll eat while asleep. And when she's done, I lay her back down. She hardly wakes up at all, so it doesn't really disturb her sleep much, but she gets to fill her tummy some more. I'm not sure that this has helped with her sleeping for a longer time though. I do it when I go to bed so that she won't wake me up an hour after I've fallen asleep. She would just sleep another 3-4 hours. While it probably didn't improve the situation much, by actively doing something, I felt like I was working towards a solution instead of just being a victim. Changing your mindset also helps. I know that sleep deprivation is tough... (I've gone about 6 months without sleeping for more than 5 hours at a stretch) but know that you're doing the best for your baby as you can and that this too shall pass.