Hi,

I am fully breast feeding my DD who is now just over four months. She has been sleeping about 10-12 hours overnight for a while now with a dreamfeed at about 10pm.

I am wondering when others dropped the dream feed and whether this would cause any problems with milk supply if she didnt feed for 12 hours?

Thanks for any advice / experiences.

Shelagh

Hi

I only just dropped the dream feed a week ago! Reasons I waited until this time included that my son was only having a total of 5 feeds a day, so dropping one seemed like it would mean a big drop in his total intake. ALso, he was slow to take to solids (which I started at 6 months) so I waited until he was eating enough solids to replace the feed. I tried dropping it about 6 weeks ago, but neither he nor I slept well when I did, so I restarted it after a few days.

Why do you want to drop the feed?

I would be quite cautious about dropping it if I were you. Your bub will be used to that feed being part of her overall daily intake and if you drop it she may try to make it up at 3am! By all means try it if you want, but be prepared to restart it.

As for your supply, it should be just fine. When you first drop the feed though you will probably have a few nights where your breasts get engorged by morning time - it usually takes a week for this to settle down for me.

Since I dropped the dream feed, instead of waking at 7:15 to 7:30, my son now wakes at 6:30. Though it doesn't sound like much difference, it is enormous and I wish i was still getting that extra bit of sleep! Good luck with it.

My baby is a week off 10 months and still has a dreamfeed. I actually only managed to wean him off his 2am feed about six weeks ago. From memory, I think at 12 weeks he was having the dreamfeed plus two other overnight feeds as well!

DS used to wake up for his dreamfeed and at
about 8.5 months he stopped - I continued until 9
months, when I finally got the courage not to wake
him up for it and he slept through 7pm - 7am.

DD, at 10 months, is still having one overnight feed
at about 2am - she wakes up for it - I've been
meaning to try the dreamfeed approach at a more
ameniable time but haven't quite worked myself up
for it. The fact that she is only having the one feed
overnight now makes me think 'if it ain't broke, don't
fix it'.

A friend of mine was giving 4 feeds during the day
and none at night to her 5 month old but was
encouraged by the MCHN to take up a dreamfeed
as he wasn't putting on enough weight.

Pre-introducing solids, IMHO I think it's probably
best to hang on in there with that extra feed
overnight more for her nutrional intake rather than
your supply (not sure how much that would be
affected).

Good luck!

Neemster



[color=Purple]
o----o----o----o----o----o
DS - Hal Oakley (25/8/02)
DD - Nina Merike (12/10/04)
o----o----o----o----o----o

...

ds has a dreamfeed anywhere between 10-11pm....sometimes he wakes for it and other times i get him up for it.
he is breastfed, although has a bottle of heinz for the dreamfeed. my problem is he wakes up still at 3am....i have tried to resettle...sometimes it works till about 4-5am...but i always end up breastfeeding him....and he settles down after the feed.
when will he drop this 3am waking>>>>?????
i thought the dreamfeed would help this.....but if i dont dreamfeed him...he would wake twice.
any ideas?>
mel

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Hey Missa

I think you're guy's still too little to drop the 3am feed. Mine kept his 2am until he was eight months. Sorry, probably not what you wanted to hear!!

yes nic....i thought he may be still too little....eps the fact that when i do feed him he isnt just feeding for comfort or dummy sucks...he full on feeds and sucks like he does any other feed...in fact sometimes he takes longer....ahhhh ill just keep feeding him as long as he needs to be fed....
mel

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Can I ask you all a question - do you actually wake your babies up for this feed or do you pick them up while they sleep and get them to latch on?

Charron

Isn't it true that when you drop a feed, your baby will increase her intake of the other feeds? I heard that somewhere. Can anyone confirm or deny this?

hmm what is a dreamfeed?

Thanks for the responses. It was as I thought but as I am going back to work in about 6 weeks I thought I woould ask the question. Back to plan A and will just move it back a half hour and see what happens.

A dream feed is where you feed bubs whilst they are either half asleep or (as in my case) more awake. Lots of mums wake up bubs for this to try and get a bit more sleep as it is thought that bubs will hopefully have his / her long sleep after this. Doesnt always work though so you can only try!

Charron, I wake up my DD for her dream feed by changing her nappy at this time. I did try not waking her but she would not feed and it was a waste of time.
I have heard some mums being able to BF at this time wihtout fully waking or others give a bottle dream feed. Try either to find out whatever is best for you.

Good luck.

Shelagh

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This message was edited by Shelagh on Wednesday, 17 August 2005 @ 5:56 PM

My DS is bottle fed, but I just pick him up at about 10.30 and put the bottle in his mouth and he polishes off 200ml without even opening his eyes. We keep the lights low, don't talk to him, and only change him if it's absolutely necessary. I was told to wait until he was well onto solids before dropping it.