Moms On Call and The Dreamfeed: What You Need to Know
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If you’ve used a dreamfeed for your babies in the past then you may be wondering if there’s such a thing as a Moms On Call dreamfeed or if they don’t recommend it.
Well, I’m going to talk about all of that as well as what I did with my babies.
I think it’s so important to remember that these sleep training methods are meant to work for you and your family.
There will always be an amount of sacrifice required, but the schedule shouldn’t make you miserable.
If that is the case, change it!
I am a HUGE advocate for the Moms On Call method because I know that it works!
Therefore, I want to help you figure how to make it work best for your family as well.
Moms On Call Dreamfeed: Can You Make it Work?
I think that before I go on to talk about all of this that you realize that I’ll be speaking from my experience only.
This is anecdotal but that doesn’t make it useless.
My babies were all born under 7lbs and therefore took a while to reach the weight milestones like the ones that are talked about in the Moms On Call book.
For that reason, I used a dreamfeed for all three of my babies.
Does Moms on Call Recommend a Dreamfeed?
Strictly speaking…no.
Moms On Call doesn’t ever give a schedule that talks about having a dreamfeed.
Everything after Moms On Call’s suggested bedtime is considered a night time feed and you leave baby to wake you up for it.
What Is a Dreamfeed?
You can read a much more in depth post about dreamfeeds here in this post.
As a quick overview, a dreamfeed is set for a certain time (usually between 10-11pm). You wake your baby just enough that they’ll start to drink and feed them before putting them back down to sleep.
The whole point of a dream feed is that they’ll then take their longest stretch of sleep at the same time that you’re sleeping.
How to Tweak the Schedule to Make the Dreamfeed Work
As I said, I used a dream feed with all three of my babies and I really loved knowing that they had full tummies.
You can see all of the schedules that I used with my youngest daughter here in this post.
The simplest way to add in a dreamfeed is to skip the late evening nap and instead do bedtime around 7pm.
Then, somewhere between 10-11 pm you can wake baby enough to give them a dreamfeed and then put them back to bed.
After that time, you follow all of the typical Moms On Call advice for night time feedings.
Benefits of Adding a Dreamfeed
You may be wondering if Moms On Call is supposed to work so well, why would you even consider adding in a dreamfeed?
Well, here are some benefits that came from doing so for us.
#1 It is Great for Little Babies
All of my babies have been healthy, but tiny. It’s just the way that they’re born.
They put on weight quickly, but even so, they’re little and I wouldn’t feel comfortable pushing them to go long stretches overnight unless they were doing it all on their own.
Having that dreamfeed meant I knew they had full tummies and weren’t missing out on any of the nutrients that they needed.
#2 Baby Sleeps When Mom Sleeps
It is super typical for babies to take their longest stretch of sleep in the early part of the night.
So, if you put baby to bed at 7 pm they might sleep until 11 pm but then wake every 2 hours the rest of the night.
If you’re only going to bed around 9-10 pm, that makes for a lot of broken sleep.
Adding in a dream feed means that it is more likely that both mom and baby will then sleep from 11-3 am and limit night time feedings to just one.
Another great idea, and one that we implemented in our home, is having your husband feed baby for the dreamfeed either with pumped breastmilk or a bottle of formula.
We did that so then I could go to bed early and get a good stretch of sleep in.
This was especially helpful in the early weeks when I was still recovering from birth.
#3 Soothing Rounds Are Easier to Implement
I love Moms On Call soothing rounds for sleep training because they are generally more gentle in approach, but more than that is that they actually work.
However, hearing your baby fuss or cry is absolutely awful no matter how many kids you’ve had. It is just hard.
Adding in a dreamfeed really helped me to be confident in the process because I knew for a fact that my babies weren’t hungry.
It took a lot of the guesswork out of it all.
Related: What You Need to Know About Moms On Call Soothing Rounds
How to Wean the Dreamfeed
The dreamfeed is a wonderful tool to have in your parenting toolbox but there will come a time when it is no longer necessary and you’ll need to wean your baby from it.
There are a few ways in which you can do this.
You could try dropping it cold turkey and seeing if your baby sleeps through.
If that’s not for you then another method is to reduce the amount of milk in the bottle or the length of time that you breastfeed.
Do that slowly over the course of a couple of weeks and that is a nice gentle way of getting rid of the dreamfeed.
Finally, another option is to bring the dreamfeed time forward slowly over time until it is too close to bedtime to be necessary.
All these tips and so much more you’ll find over at my friend Val’s blog.
What If The Dreamfeed Doesn’t Work?
Here’s the thing, the dreamfeed doesn’t work for every baby. It just doesn’t.
For some babies, it can cause a lot more disruption to the night.
Try it for 3-5 nights and if it is just a disaster then there’s no shame in admitting defeat.
However, you’ll likely be wondering what on earth to do.
Fear not, the schedules from Moms On Call are proven. They work and they work well.
I suggest following them to the letter as much as you can.
If you’re struggling with exhaustion, see if your husband can do one feed overnight. Asking for help is what you should do.
