Dreamfeeding can be done in a variety of ways. Below is a basic dream feed how-to, but you can adjust it according to your own needs and lifestyle.
Signs that dreamfeeding might be something to try with your baby:
- Your baby goes to bed earlier than you. When babies first settle into a regular bedtime, it’s often 10-11pm. Then they shift earlier, consolidating their last nap into nighttime sleep. Once your baby is going to bed around 7 or 8pm, you can have a little time to yourself and then do a dreamfeed before you go to bed. I’d expect this to happen somewhere around 2-3 months but it can vary.
- Your baby doesn’t typically poop overnight. Usually if a baby’s diaper has to be changed, they are going to wake up and then you are no longer doing a dreamfeed. In this case I would recommend just letting your baby sleep and feed when they wake up naturally. Typically around 5-6 weeks the pooping slows down from several times a day to 1-3 times a day and they also don’t poop at night.
Here’s how to dreamfeed:
- Put your baby to sleep at their bedtime as usual likely somewhere around 8pm. Most parents will feed their baby at this time.
- A few hours later, likely around 10-11pm right before you go to bed yourself, try to find when your baby has entered a semi-awake, dreamlike state. Here’s how to notice if it’s a good time for your baby’s dream feed:
- you notice your baby stirring slightly but not fully waking
- you see your baby’s eyes moving around under their lids, indicating REM dreaming
Note: Many babies will happily dream feed even if they’re not in this half-awake state, so don’t worry if your baby seems to be out cold when you go to feed them. You can still attempt to dreamfeed, and you will learn as you go.
- Pick up your baby. You want the baby to be able to have some movement especially in the upper body so depending on the swaddle situation you might partially unzip or undo the swaddle. You want it to be easy to redo it after feeding though, so keep that in mind.
- Place the breast near baby’s lips — don’t force them to feed, but wait for them to root, open their mouth and latch on. Breastfeed your baby to your baby’s satisfaction.
- Do not feel like you must burp your baby—if they are showing signs of gas go ahead but if they fall asleep at the breast then skip it.
- After your baby is content and hopefully back to sleep or never fully woken up, redo the swaddle and gently transition them right back to their sleep space. Then go to sleep yourself, and hopefully you won’t hear from your baby for at least another 3 to 4 hours!
