Wishing for more hours of uninterrupted sleep at night?
Well, then you might want to try this very nifty trick – that basically works by "tricking" your baby into thinking he is so full he doesn't need to wake for a feed and therefore sleeps through the night.
Curious how?
Well, according to
Happiest Baby, the most efficient way of stopping your baby waking for unnecessary feedings during the night is to boost their evening calories by "dream feeding" them to sleep.
Yup – a lot of mums swear by the
dream-feed.
How does it work? Well, most young babies will end the day with a good feed (I usually breastfed mine until they were fast asleep, then carefully – oh, so carefully – lifted them into their cots). The problem? They often wake a few hours later, wanting more.
With a dream-feed, you are basically beating them at their own game. As in; instead of waiting for your baby to wake up hungry, you wake them between 10 p.m. and midnight to sneak in one last feeding. Result: Baby sleeps from then until morning.
And you wake up feeling like an actual human again.
Note: Many will tell you it can be tricky to wake the baby sufficiently for them to actually feed properly, and that they'll just end up falling asleep at your boobs (or bottle). But try things like tickling their toes or changing their nappy first, so that you are sure they are actually awake enough to drink a fair amount – ensuring they'll sleep soundly until morning.
However, the main goal of the dream feed is to boost daytime/waking hours eating and encourage sleep, so remember that less is more. Try not to give babies too much milk during those wee-hour feedings, if you know they are old enough and weigh enough to be able to sleep through the night.
