Creeping into a sleeping baby’s room at eleven at night, gently lifting them from their crib, and feeding them a bottle introduces the dream feed. Many recommend the trick to fill their tummy and buy a long, uninterrupted stretch of sleep.
The dream feed remains highly recommended across the internet. It sounds perfect. Feed the baby prior to your own bedtime, aligning your sleep cycles, and getting a solid six-hour stretch.
For a vast majority of parents, the reality is disappointing. They perform the dream feed, go to sleep, and their baby still wakes up crying at two and four in the morning.
For many babies, the dream feed increases night wakings or causes digestive issues like gas and reflux due to feeding in a semi-conscious, slumped state.
Why the Dream Feed Fails
The dream feed fails frequently due to addressing the wrong issue.
The dream feed assumes babies wake up in the night solely due to physical hunger. True for newborns, night wakings for a five-month-old are rarely driven by physical hunger alone.
They are driven by sleep associations.
Being fed, rocked, or cuddled to sleep at their initial bedtime teaches a baby a specific sensory experience linked to falling asleep. Naturally stirring between sleep cycles in the night, they check their surroundings. Missing the feeding or rocking creates a sense of alarm. They cry out, demanding the recreation of their specific sleep association.
Performing a dream feed at eleven at night does nothing to break the association. It simply feeds them, yet stirring at two in the morning, they still do not know how to fall back asleep on their own.
What to Do Instead
Instead of feeding your baby through the night, focus on how they fall asleep at the very beginning of the night, during their initial bedtime.
Ensuring your baby is awake upon entering their crib teaches them to fall asleep independently at seven in the evening. They naturally apply the same skill waking up at two in the morning. The night waking disappears entirely.
Stop the dream feed if it fails to work. Give your baby a full feeding thirty minutes prior to bedtime, put them down awake, and let them learn to drift off independently. Fixing their initial sleep association does far more for your sleep than a late-night feeding ever achieves.