Are you wondering if a dream feed might help your baby sleep through the night?
The dream feed can be appealing to many parents hoping for some extra sleep overnight. This routine addition can work well for some families, especially if their baby sleeps from the dream feed all the way through to 6–8 in the morning. This is the dream feed at its most successful, but it doesn’t always work out this way, particularly in the newborn stage.
A dream feed involves waking a baby before they would naturally wake up due to hunger, which could unnecessarily increase a baby’s milk intake overnight and reduce their appetite during daytime feeds. This approach can result in a catch-22, creating a cycle of calorie deficit during the day and reinforcing the need to feed overnight, rather than phasing out night feeds. Heavier feeds overnight may actually encourage long-term night waking. The key to encouraging longer stretches of sleep overnight is to increase milk intake during a 12-hour day and reduce feeds and milk intake overnight.
There’s also the matter of staying up and delaying your own bedtime to do the feed, which can leave parents sleep-deprived, especially if the baby still wakes for a second night feed. Unfortunately, this lack of sleep can also impact milk supply for breastfeeding mothers.
Waking a baby for a dream feed at the same time each night can also lead to habit waking, false starts, and disrupt wake windows simply by interrupting sleep.
I also find that for many newborns the dream feed doesn't work, they may not be ready or hungry enough, leading to an unsuccessful feed and then naturally waking a few hours later – hungry!
Split Feed Bedtime Routine
The split feed, as part of the 7pm to 7am Sleeping Baby Routine, gives your baby a chance for a fuller feed before bed. As part of a feeding routine, this gradually increases a baby’s first stretch of sleep overnight. A newborn can jump to one night feed in a matter of weeks from birth, then naturally sleep through as the routine develops and milk intake increases over structured feeds. This can be a much quicker path to a full night’s sleep.
The split feed aims to provide the bulk of the milk feed after the bath, just before bed, with a mini feed before the bath to keep a baby content during bath time and their fourth wake window. Whether breastfeeding or bottle-feeding, I recommend the bedtime feed as a bottle to supplement the naturally lower milk supply at this time.
For more information grab a copy of the 7pm to 7am Sleeping Baby Routine or book in for a chat or support package if you need assistance with sleep
