WHAT IS THE 'DREAM FEED' AND SHOULD I DO IT?

Many parents are very undecided as to the care and feeding of the newborn when they arrive home from the hospital. All they know is that when baby cries, if you put a bottle or nipple in the mouth that usually takes care of the problem. And to put it in a very simply....that is right. Before the baby becomes aware of him/herself, their basic needs such as hunger, warmth, security, and sleep are all they know. In the first couple of weeks the 'schedule' is usually non existent unless you have prior knowledge or have a Baby Nurse helping you. You soon learn that the 'schedule' is a godsend. You and your baby will know when you should feed and between those times, if the baby is fussy you will look for other issues before you give in to feed. This gives you much needed relief from the 24 hour feed which many mom's experience. So what is this 'Dream Feed' everyone is talking about? The 'Dream Feed' is more or less what it denotes. It is a feed that you are going to give your baby while the baby is busy dreaming or sleeping. This is the only time at night you should be waking your baby up. You will give this feed to the baby just before you go to bed. This will give you a good solid 3 or 4 hours of sleep before you have to get up and feed again. Here is the process: About 10 pm (if you go to bed at 10:30) you will go into the baby's room. You will not turn any lights on. You pick the baby up without waking him/her. Do not unswaddle the baby. Do not change the baby's diaper. Put the nipple in the baby's mouth and quietly feed the baby. They will eat in their sleep. Put the baby down and run to your bed and go to sleep. That is how you would doa Dream Feed. Here is what I would suggest to parents who are trying to get in a solid chunk of sleep each night. First, baby must be on a 3 hour schedule during the day. They should be awaken to eat every 3 hours. If you let them go longer than 3 hours you are being robbed of that long stretch at night. They generally do one long stretch per day and you want that to be in the night. So wake them every 3 hours and feed them during the day. Night time routine: One of the parents should go to bed around 9 pm if possible. The other parent say up and do the first night feed or Dream Feed around 11 pm. The first parent would then get up for the next feed which would be around 2 or 3 am. giving that parent a good 6 hour stretch. The parent who went to bed at 11 pm would sleep through the next feed and get up for the feed after 2 am which should be about 5 or 6 giving that parent a good 6 or 7 hour stretch of sleep. Meanwhile the first parent would have one more block from 2 am until 8 am to sleep. All this being said I am assuming you are swaddling tightly, teaching baby to self soothe during the day, following a schedule, and being good to yourself. If you need any help with any of this I am a Newborn Care Specialist and am an expert in the field. I would be happy to help you. You may email me at exclusivelynewborns@msn.com to set up a consultation by phone, email or in person. Life is good and babies can be fun. Nancy Hamm