DREAM FEEDING

Are you curious about what the “Dream Feed” is and if you should be giving your baby one? Dream Feeds are great from 0-4 months and work very well for some babies, but not for all and there does come a time where the dream feed can become disruptive to a baby’s sleep.

Let’s start off with what the Dream Feed is: It is the last feeding of the day, typically before parents go to sleep, somewhere between 9pm & 11pm. It is given to fill the baby up in an effort to get him to sleep longer… giving parents a decent stretch of sleep as well!

HOW DOES IT WORK?

Place baby down for his normal bedtime and before you go to sleep gently take baby out of their crib and give him a feed. Babies have a natural instinct to suck if they are at a nipple and often times will not wake and you can gently place
your baby back down without disturbing his sleep. When doing the dream feed, use as little light as possible!

WHEN TO DROP THE DREAM FEED:

Your baby starts sleeping through the night from the dream feed until at least 6:30am
For some babies, this feed isn’t an actual dream and it does disturb their sleep and can potentially make it difficult for the baby to fall back asleep. If this happens with your baby for up to a week, it is best to drop the dream feed and wait for your baby to wake on his own to feed him.
Around 16 weeks from the estimated due date when your baby has hit the 4 month sleep regression and his sleep cycles have matured, it is a good idea to start thinking about removing the Dream Feed for 2 reasons:
- Because your baby is no longer in a deep sleep all the time and is now fluctuating between different stages of sleep, taking your baby out of the crib and feeding can make it more difficult to place your baby back down without fully waking him up, causing a disruption in his sleep
- Dream Feeds after 4 months old can cause your baby to start waking out of habit at that hour because he knows he will be fed