Dream-Feed

[Mrs Xie]

Dear All

Do you still dream-feed your baby if he/she can sleep throughout the night?

My 7mths old dd sleep throughout 8hrs, her last feed would be around 8.00pm - 8.30pm and pat her to sleep. I still dream-feed her currently at about 1am. Is it necessary to continue with this action? Afraid she would get too hungry if I were to feed her only when she wake up in the morning as some friends still encourage to do so as to prevent babies from loss of weight and gastric problems when they gets older......

Kindly advise... Thks

[LoVeS]

wat is dream feed?

[lisa_ng]

saw this on a US website



When can my baby go through the night without a feeding?


"Ninety percent of babies who are born full-term and are healthy can go through the night without a feeding by 6 months," says Susan E.C. Sorensen, a pediatrician in Reno, Nevada. By the time they're this age, she explains, most babies can sleep comfortably for at least six hours without waking up to eat.

Even if you don't mind getting up at night to feed your baby, it's a good idea to wean him off nighttime feedings around the 6-month marker. In fact, says Sorensen, there's no harm in starting to work on letting your baby learn to put himself to sleep — by putting him down when he's sleepy, but awake — around age 2 months. At this age he'll still need to be fed during the night, though.
The goal is to separate eating from going to sleep, so that if your baby does wake up at night, he won't need your breast or a bottle to return to slumber. Signs that your child's ready to give up his midnight snacks include not nursing for as long, not finishing the bottle, and falling asleep during feedings. Be sure to discuss your baby's feeding schedule with his doctor before making changes, though, especially if your baby was premature or has other health considerations such as digestive problems or failure to gain weight.

At what age will my baby be ready for night weaning?
It varies considerably with the individual baby. But somewhere between the ages of 4 and 6 months, most babies are getting enough calories during the day to sustain them for five or six hours at night. Even so, it's not at all unusual for younger babies to sleep for much longer stretches without needing to eat — or for older ones to continue to wake up to eat.

How do I know if my baby's ready?
If your baby's at least 4 to 6 months old, you can probably begin taking steps to wean him from feeding during the night. Of course, even if your baby doesn't need to eat in the middle of the night, he may still wake up wanting to. Babies who are used to eating several times a night tend to wake up out of habit, and it can take time to change this routine.

It's important to maintain your health and well-being, and you won't be able to if you're chronically sleep deprived. So whether to put an end to your baby's night feeding depends in part on how it's affecting you.

If you enjoy nursing or giving a bottle to your baby at night, there's no reason to stop — he'll eventually quit on his own. On the other hand, if you find yourself feeling grumpy and exhausted — and your baby's physically ready for the change — maybe it's time.

If you're not sure whether your baby's ready, talk to your doctor

[lisa_ng]

for my baby i still feed her once during her sleep at night. she will still wake up crying for milk but instead of the usual 4hours interval she might drag up to 6hours. in this case she will sleep around 10hours. sometimes she will fall back asleep for an hour or so if we give her pacifier instead. if she don't wake up crying for milk one day we will not feed her during her sleep but most likely she will wake up earlier that morning for her first feed.

[Mrs Xie]

Originally Posted by LoVeS

wat is dream feed?

LoVes, dream feeding means by giving your baby a feed while he is still asleep in the mid of the night, closing eyes sleeping while drinking milk...

[Mrs Xie]

Originally Posted by lisa_ng

for my baby i still feed her once during her sleep at night. she will still wake up crying for milk but instead of the usual 4hours interval she might drag up to 6hours. in this case she will sleep around 10hours. sometimes she will fall back asleep for an hour or so if we give her pacifier instead. if she don't wake up crying for milk one day we will not feed her during her sleep but most likely she will wake up earlier that morning for her first feed.

Thk you so much for your helpful info Lisa! Would try out not to dream feed my dd for a week and see how thing goes, if she can comfortably accept it and wean off a feed in the mid of the night would be wonderful, if not, think I would back to my normal routine.

[LoVeS]

my ds dun like dream feed leh n dun take nite feed since 4mths old. only take abit of water at nite coz thirsty

[celine]

I dun dream-feed my dd... Coz I 1 her to get use to it..

[Celina]

Since my son's baby shower, or should i say b4 it he doesnt wake up much for milk. i hardly dream feed him, i wan him to get use to not waking up @ nite for milk. Prefer him to sleep thur out the night, its the best. Or else u urself gona get very wear out n baby wil get use to waking up @ nite..

[~mysterious-m~]

at first, I will dream feed my baby cos I'm scare she'll be hungry.
but my bestie told me that I don't need to. baby will cry when she's hungry.
& if I let her get used to it, she'll always wake up for milk.

so now, when she starts crying at night, I will first feed her water.
normally she'll go bk to slp.
she'll start crying & doesn't want water when she's hungry, & that's when I give her milk.

[xue]

urmm..my ds nw 3mths oni..n sometimes he sooo tired he can slp for 8hrs without drinkin leh..is it alright? the most is 5-6hrs...
but frm the above post it said 4-6mths den can go without a feed a nite..so does it mean i muz dreamfeed my ds

[~mysterious-m~]

It's ok..

for my son, I don't dreamfeed him aft he is 2 months old..
only when he started crying for milk, then I feed.

[xue]

Originally Posted by ~mysterious-m~

It's ok..

for my son, I don't dreamfeed him aft he is 2 months old..
only when he started crying for milk, then I feed.

ic..kk thx..

[choco-cupcake]

I read from Baby, Pregnancy, Toddler, Baby Names, and Parenting Community - BabyCenter that some babies acually don't cry for milk when they are asleep because they prefer to save their energy. Not because they are not hungry. But I think this is more for young babies.

By the way the term "sleep through the night" doesnt literally mean sleeping through the night. So don't expect a young child to sleep for 8 hours without feeding him, its not healthy.

On the other hand, if you are sure that physically your child can go through the night without feeding, then don't wake him up, otherwise it might become a habit for him.

[mrspuppy]

i dun dreamfeed my boy since he's 3mths old. he can usu sleep for 7 hrs at nite so if last feed is 10+pm, he'll make noise for milk at 5+am. sometimes can hear his tummy growling by then.

dunno if it's ok. will ask my PD abt it next month.