Did Dream Feeding Work for you?

[ck1]

DS is 4 months old and currently sleeps 5 hours, wakes to nurse, then does another 5 hours, but sometimes wakes earlier, after only 3 hours, and sleeps another 2-3. I think how my son is sleeping now is "acceptable" but would like it to be better, so I thought a dream feed might help with that since I tend to go to bed at 10'ish, and could nurse him before I go to bed.

So my question is, has anyone had good or bad results with this technique? Just curious if you wanted to share your experience. Thought I would give it a try tomorrow night. Thanks!

[Bokonon]

At 4 months, I would have given anything to have my babies sleep 5-hour stretches!  At that age, both of mine were nursing every 1.5 to 2 hours, with the sporadic 3 or 4 hour stretch.  I would sometimes get a longer stretch out of them but then they would be up frequently for the rest of the night.

I can't say if dream feeding helped us or not.  My babies were frequent nursers for most of their infancies, with occasional longer stretches.

[greenmulberry]

What is dream feeding?

[Mosaic]

Dream feeding is when you try to feed your baby without waking them up, or at least without waking them up all the way. You offer to feed before your LO wakes up hungry; and if he goes for it, his tummy stays full and he could just keep on sleeping for longer!

With my first DD, dream feeding worked, well, like a dream!! I'd get her at about 10:30 or so and tank her up, and we both slept great. So I voted "yes"!

That said, DD2 has feeding issues, so we were are up all the time and never get enough sleep to even attempt a dream feed.

[Comtessa]

I've tried to nurse DS before I go to bed to keep him sleeping longer, and he just won't wake up to nurse at all if he's sleeping.  DD was the same way as an infant.  Fortunately, though, DS is really good at nursing side-lying, and will nurse happily then fall asleep again, so I barely have to wake up at all to nurse him at night.  I didn't know babies could be so easy at night; DD never was! 

[~Adorkable~]

hahah didn't realize there was a name for it, but yeah i have done that and it worked great, my twins used to go to bed in their swings or lately in the center of our bed now that i only nurse, so at some point when we go to bed i need to move them to our arms reach cosleeper. my boy usually would start fussing but not ever really open his eyes, if i fed him (a expressed bottle at first he would stay asleep, but eat a ton!) now i often bring him to the breast as i'm moving them and he eats like a champ in his sleep, they both do at times. 
 

i usually do it only if when i first put them down they were too tired to eat a full meal and fell asleep fast. I have been testing if it changes their wake cycle later in the early morning, not sure yet.

[greenmulberry]

Oh I cannot get my baby to latch on if she isn't semi awake. I cannot even force a pacifier into her mouth if she is asleep.

[anjsmama]

I have been dream feeding DD since she was just over 2 months. At first, that helped her stretch her sleep from 8 pm - 1 am instead of 8 pm - 11 pm... I'd dreamfeed her at 10 when we went to bed and it kept her asleep for a few more hours - so we only had one true night waking (though she got up at 5 am) at that age. AWESOME! Shortly after 4 months, she stopped waking at all. Now  (6 mo) we only do the dreamfeed if she happens to fall asleep early (like 7 or 8), but typically she just nurses to sleep at 830 or 9 and sleeps til 6 am. I've always had more success dreamfeeding a sort-of hungry, sort-of sleeping baby than trying to wind down an awake, hungry baby again in the middle of the night!

[Parker'smommy]

Nope...never worked for me. My baby wasn't waking because she was super hungry. She was waking because she wanted to nurse ;)   

[Emelee]

It worked when she was newborn up until she was about 5 months. Now she just wakes too frequently before I go to bed and after we're already sleeping next to each other for me to try it. It worked great at first though!

[holothuroidea]

My first would just get really mad at me for even trying. I don't blame her, though. I'd hate it if someone bothered me while I was sleeping saying "Here, eat this!"

With my second we co-sleep and I don't wake up to feed her so it's never been an issue.

[erigeron]

Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't... so I suppose that means it does work, as the times when it doesn't are probably times when she's not actually hungry.

She goes to bed before us, so I've started offering her the breast when we go to bed, when she's still asleep. Most times she will either take it or decide she wants it 10 minutes later. I think it does help her sleep a little longer without getting hungry.