To dream feed, or not to dream feed?
That is the question!
My answer?
Yes and/or No.
Let me explain.
Yes to a dream feed if:
Your baby is a newborn (under 3-months), and it's extending their night sleep
If your baby is underweight and it's recommended that you still do night feeds
If you're having milk supply issues and your baby is under 6-months
A dream feed, if you're not sure what I'm talking about, is when you'd wake your baby up before you go to bed, offer and feed and put them back to bed.
Hopefully, you don't completely wake them up, hence the term 'dream feed'.
Ideally, a dream feed would fill up your baby so that they would sleep longer.
When I recommend stopping doing 'dream feeds':
If your baby continues to wake up every 2-3 hours despite the dream feed and they are older than 3-4 months
If they are older than 5-months
If there's no reason to do so because your milk supply is fine
If they aren't giving you long stretches of night sleep
Why?
Because the dream feed isn't working!
What your baby most likely needs is to figure out how to sleep well!
When trying to figure out when to feed your baby, you can use this guideline that I teach my clients:
(This is for babies older than 4-months)
Night 1-3: 2-night feeds (when baby wakes up vs. waking them) between 10 pm and 5 am, at least 3 hours apart
Night 4-6: Two night feeds between 12-5 am, at least 3 hours apart
Night 7+: One night feed between 12-5 am
For 4-5-month-old babies, I usually keep one night feed between 12- 5 am.
I usually suggest to parents to consider dropping night feeds between 6-8 months.
Have more questions about night feeds? Hit reply to this email, and I'll get back to you!
Here for you,
Melody Patton
P.S. Is your baby not sleeping well despite dream feeds?
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