Anybody have luck with "the dream feed"?

JSS1002

I just nursed James and put him down -- he is out like a light!  I keep hearing about this "dream feed" concept -- that i can sort of feed him while he's still asleep around 11 PM before I go to bed, and perhaps keep him from waking once??

Anybody have any luck with this?  tips? Advice?  am I understanding it correctly?

doremi29

I did with DS.  I would feed him around 10/11pm and he'd stay asleep the entire time.  So far I haven't had any luck with DD- when she's out, she's OUT! lol  I don't remember how I got him to do it (or if he just naturally did it).

JSS1002

doremi29:

I did with DS.  I would feed him around 10/11pm and he'd stay asleep the entire time.  So far I haven't had any luck with DD- when she's out, she's OUT! lol  I don't remember how I got him to do it (or if he just naturally did it).

Did you feed him with bottle or breast?  I am thinking it would be easier to do it with a bottle of expressed milk (which I have in the fridge), because then I wouldn't have to lift him -- he sleeps in a basinette that is slightly elevated, so he wouldn't be flat on his back.

OhSewCrafty

When we cosleep in the mornings after DH gets up for work, she'll dream feed. 

doremi29

JSS1002:

doremi29:

I did with DS.  I would feed him around 10/11pm and he'd stay asleep the entire time.  So far I haven't had any luck with DD- when she's out, she's OUT! lol  I don't remember how I got him to do it (or if he just naturally did it).

Did you feed him with bottle or breast?  I am thinking it would be easier to do it with a bottle of expressed milk (which I have in the fridge), because then I wouldn't have to lift him -- he sleeps in a basinette that is slightly elevated, so he wouldn't be flat on his back.

Breast.  And now that I think of it, he was in his crib so he was atleast 5 weeks old (because that's when we moved him to his own room in his crib).  I'd take him right out, nurse him and then lay him back down and he wouldn't wake up.

JSS1002

doremi29:

JSS1002:

doremi29:

I did with DS.  I would feed him around 10/11pm and he'd stay asleep the entire time.  So far I haven't had any luck with DD- when she's out, she's OUT! lol  I don't remember how I got him to do it (or if he just naturally did it).

Did you feed him with bottle or breast?  I am thinking it would be easier to do it with a bottle of expressed milk (which I have in the fridge), because then I wouldn't have to lift him -- he sleeps in a basinette that is slightly elevated, so he wouldn't be flat on his back.

Breast.  And now that I think of it, he was in his crib so he was atleast 5 weeks old (because that's when we moved him to his own room in his crib).  I'd take him right out, nurse him and then lay him back down and he wouldn't wake up.

Ok cool.  DS is 5+ weeks; I'm thinking of trying this tonight but with a bottle... he sleeps at a slight incline in his basinette.  I just really need to get some sleep :-(

=Lee=B

I do this with my 8 week old.

Before I go to bed I take her from her crib, change her diaper and feed her (on the breast) burp and put back in crib.

Occasionally sometimes she wakes but doesn't really get up...other times she stays passed out through it all.

I keep the room dark (use nightlight) and quiet.

JSS1002

As a follow up, I tried this last night and it worked like a charm. James is 5.5 weeks old. I nursed him and put him to bed around 9 PM, then did my thing until about 10 -- pumped... around 10:30 I crept into our bedroom (he sleeps in a PnP basinette in our room) and while he was still in the basinette, I nudged his lip a few times with the bottle. He opened and accepted, guzzled down about 2 oz, and never even opened his eyes.

I went to bed and he didn't wake up until 1:30 AM -- so it was only 30 minutes longer than usual for ME, but if I can go to bed with him at 9 and get DH to do the dream feed, then I can sleep from 9 to 1:30 maybe and THAT would be awesome.

=Lee=B

JSS1002:

As a follow up, I tried this last night and it worked like a charm. James is 5.5 weeks old. I nursed him and put him to bed around 9 PM, then did my thing until about 10 -- pumped... around 10:30 I crept into our bedroom (he sleeps in a PnP basinette in our room) and while he was still in the basinette, I nudged his lip a few times with the bottle. He opened and accepted, guzzled down about 2 oz, and never even opened his eyes.

I went to bed and he didn't wake up until 1:30 AM -- so it was only 30 minutes longer than usual for ME, but if I can go to bed with him at 9 and get DH to do the dream feed, then I can sleep from 9 to 1:30 maybe and THAT would be awesome.

Perhaps after a few nights of this he will sleep longer...he might just be in a routine of waking around 1 and in a couple days his body will adjust to the added feed and he'll stretch it out!  But in the meantime sleeping 9-1:30 and having husband do the dream feed would be a good way to get a longer stretch.  Assuming your husband can pull it off...mine gets so excited around the baby he'd end up waking her.  If she flicks her eyes open he leaps with excitement that baby is up, claims it's play time and starts dancing and singing with her.  Inside I curse him...but he really doesn't spend much time with her since he works so I just grin and bear it then work to settle her once she is done with him lol.

flapurls

Oh wow, I didn't know that there was a name for this! DD was dead asleep last night and had not fed for a while so I picked her up and got ready to nurse, sure enough she just latched on without even opening her eyes. I'll definitely be trying this again!

JSS1002

=Lee=B:

JSS1002:

As a follow up, I tried this last night and it worked like a charm. James is 5.5 weeks old. I nursed him and put him to bed around 9 PM, then did my thing until about 10 -- pumped... around 10:30 I crept into our bedroom (he sleeps in a PnP basinette in our room) and while he was still in the basinette, I nudged his lip a few times with the bottle. He opened and accepted, guzzled down about 2 oz, and never even opened his eyes.

I went to bed and he didn't wake up until 1:30 AM -- so it was only 30 minutes longer than usual for ME, but if I can go to bed with him at 9 and get DH to do the dream feed, then I can sleep from 9 to 1:30 maybe and THAT would be awesome.

Perhaps after a few nights of this he will sleep longer...he might just be in a routine of waking around 1 and in a couple days his body will adjust to the added feed and he'll stretch it out!  But in the meantime sleeping 9-1:30 and having husband do the dream feed would be a good way to get a longer stretch.  Assuming your husband can pull it off...mine gets so excited around the baby he'd end up waking her.  If she flicks her eyes open he leaps with excitement that baby is up, claims it's play time and starts dancing and singing with her.  Inside I curse him...but he really doesn't spend much time with her since he works so I just grin and bear it then work to settle her once she is done with him lol.

Haha, yeah, at first he would want to wake LO up as soon as he got home from work because he missed him so much... but not these days -- we are both more like "OMG, sleep, because that means you aren't crying!".

The other night, when he came into the room to say goodnight (I was already in bed), I said "if you wake him up, so help me God, I'm checking into a hotel."

Hahha. That seemed to keep him in line. ;-)