WHAT IS DREAM FEEDING?

Dream feeding is when you feed your baby while they’re still asleep, around 10-11pm, just before you go to bed yourself. You gently wake your baby to feed or nurse them in an effort to reduce waking up and feeding in the middle of the night.

Parents who dream feed their baby say it helps to stretch their babies’ sleep for longer periods through the night. Others feel it doesn’t make a difference to their baby’s sleep at all.  There are babies who latch on and suck really well when they’re sleepy, others don’t.

Some baby sleep experts believe that dream feeding babies can interrupt their natural sleep cycles and disrupt the cycles for the rest of the night. It may also create a habit you need to break or wean off when your baby is older.

Whether you choose to dream feed your baby or not is completely up to you. You always need to do what works for you and your baby. If you don’t dream feed your baby, don’t worry, they can still learn to enjoy longer stretches of sleep at night. You just need to lay the foundations for healthy sleep and help them learn to self-soothe.