Is dream feeding bad for baby?
I don’t know about you, but this mama LOVES her sleep. I’m talking top three things I love about life. Yep, sleep makes the list.
I didn’t used to be that way. It changed when I had children. There’s just something about experiencing true sleep deprivation that makes you treasure the ability to sleep more than 4 hours at a time.
I remember waking up and realizing my baby slept 6 hours straight. I felt MAGIC. Nope, no coffee IV for me today!
Which brings me to dream feeding.
If you are a parent who is dream feeding or is thinking about dream feeding: I get you. Most parents who dream feed do it in hopes that they will achieve longer stretches of sleep. And honestly, when you’re a parent of a newborn, yes - anything to get more sleep.
There are 4 scenarios where dream feeding will help your baby stay healthy:
👉 Sickness
If your little one is battling a cold or another illness, extra fluids can be really helpful. Feel free to squeeze in a dream feed. If baby is sick for a number of days, simply make sure to change the time of the dream feed each night so that baby doesn’t get into the habit of expecting to be fed at that night, creating an unnecessary night waking.
👉 Weight gain
Some babies really struggle to gain weight. If your little one is having trouble in this area, a dream feed is a terrific way to add calories to their diet. Again, make sure to vary the time that you give the dream feed.
👉 There are two other scenarios, which you can find on our YouTube channel,
but strangely enough, achieving longer stretches of sleep is not one of them. In fact, it actually becomes a problem as baby ages.
Allow me to explain.
The first stage of sleep is drowsiness. Taking a baby who is asleep and feeding them while they’re drowsy creates an expectation that feeding is the way to continue their journey to sleep. Then, whenever baby wakes at night, they will expect you to feed them rather instantly, and become quite fussy if you do not do that.
That’s why, with the exception of using dream feeding as a strategy in the four scenarios mentioned above, we recommend night feeding instead. (Night feeding is when baby wakes first and calls us, and we feed them).
So do we recommend against dream feeding? No. We recommend against using it as a strategy for sleep all of the time. Use it strategically to help your little one if they need to gain weight or if they need more fluids to make it through an illness.
Do you want to learn more about breast/bottle feeding and sleep?
You can check out one of our informative posts here, or look into our Sleep Sleep Baby course that covers everything from giving effective night feeds to lengthening naps, from teaching baby to sleep through the night to eliminating early mornings and so much more.
Sleep sweetly,
Anna