How to do a dream feed

Most parents will start using a dream feed any time between 6-8 weeks old and 4 months old, once your baby no longer needs to eat every 3 hours at night. However, it’s not too late to try a dream feed even at 6 months old since many babies will increase their caloric needs around this time.

In my experience, a dream feed rarely works and if it does, the “dream” doesn’t last for long. Sure, occasionally some parents will say that an 11:00 p.m. dream feed resulted in their baby sleeping through until 6:00 or 7:00 a.m., but more often than not, a dream feed is not as magical as it sounds.

It is not usually necessary to wind your baby after a dream feed. Wee Bee Dreaming explain that this is because your baby is so relaxed during this feed that they are less likely to gulp or take in extra air.

Around 3 months old, I still unswaddled her, but it wasn’t to wake her up. It was because I started the night with her in a lighter swaddle blanket and moved to a warmer one after the dreamfeed. You can definitely leave your baby swaddled if she will still eat well while swaddled.

Do you burp a baby after a dream feed? Yes. You always want to burp a baby after a dream feed—or any feed—before putting her back down on the back.

A dream feed involves feeding your baby when they’re still sleeping. Typically, dream feeds are done around 10 or 11 p.m., before you’ve gone to bed for the night. The idea is that a baby will sleep longer through the night and, ideally, until morning on a full stomach.

Sleeping Independently Through the Night – 4 Steps

give consistent daytime feeding. 4 larger feeding sessions during the day of 6-7 oz per feed, plus a dreamfeed of 2-3 oz = 28oz. This is usually enough to fill baby’s belly to sleep through the night but again that is up to parents and pediatrician.

What to do if your baby doesn’t burp. If your baby is asleep, try burping them for a minute before you lay them back down. Sometimes babies don’t need to burp as much at nighttime because they eat slower and don’t get as much air while feeding.

The Best Age to Stop the Dreamfeed

The range is 3-7 months old. Most babies are probably more 4-5 months old when they are ready to drop the dreamfeed.

When to sleep train

If you want to sleep train but still need to feed, or if you‘re feeling nervous about your baby being hungry, then I would suggest adding a ‘dream feed. ‘ That’s when you feed your baby in the middle of the night before he has a chance to fully wake up.

What do I do at night if my baby wakes up before the dreamfeed? If your baby wakes within half an hour of the dreamfeed you should feed him. If there is over half an hour to the dreamfeed when your baby wakes you should resettle your baby.

Dream feeding generally takes place in the first hours of a baby’s sleep, which is when they sleep most soundly, so there’s a risk of interrupting a deep sleep. That might be fine if your baby can fall right back asleep. But if a dream feed disrupts your baby’s sleep for the rest of the night, it may not be worth it.

A dream feed requires a delicate balance between rousing your baby from their cot or crib enough that they can drink safely and not fully waking them up. It’s dangerous to feed a baby while they’re lying down or deeply asleep as they could choke.

He may be too sleepy (see above) or he may not be hungry. If he isn’t hungry, he may be getting too much food right before bed. You can try dropping the cluster feeding if you are doing it, moving bedtime a bit earlier (while keeping the df time the same) or decreasing how much you feed baby right before bed.

The idea of a dreamfeed is that it is given at around 10-11pm, ideally just before you as parents go to bed. However, if you are usually in bed by 9pm and cannot face the idea of setting an alarm, then a dreamfeed is not for you. So you may be getting a larger chunk of sleep even after having gone to bed later.

The idea is that you introduce the Dream Feed once your baby no longer needs to be feeding every 3 hours overnight. This happens around 3 months. HOW LONG DOES IT TAKE TO WORK? It can take a couple of weeks to master.

Depending on how long you usually nurse, you can reduce between 30 seconds and two minutes each night until you’re down to three or four minutes of nursing for that feed.

Changing your baby’s diaper at bedtime will give you both the best chance at a full night’s sleep, so consider making that a part of the nightly routine. If your baby has sensitive skin and you’re worried they might develop diaper rash from a wet diaper, you can try applying diaper cream before bed.

You Don’t Need Wipes For Pee Diapers

You don’t have to worry about wiping baby down after a pee, Jana says, because urine rarely irritates the skin, and because today’s diapers are so absorbent, the skin hardly comes into contact with urine anyway.

It’s completely normal for babies to go through phases of hating diaper changes, and there could be some reasons why they get so distraught during them. Your baby could be cold, hungry, or even just upset they can’t explore and practice their newfound skills of sitting up or crawling.

The frequency of application is a personal preference for both you and baby. There’s nothing wrong with using diaper cream every time you change your baby’s diaper, particularly if they are prone to rashes or have extra sensitive skin. It’s also possible to use it as needed.

Not every diaper change may require a wipe. If your baby has only urinated, then you can probably skip wiping to avoid unnecessary irritation. However, always wipe after every poopy diaper, and always wipe front to back to help prevent the spread of bacteria.