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Date: | Fri, 24 Apr 2009 20:48:06 -0700 |
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I always thought that dream feeds was a feeding that occurs while the
baby is sleeping. Some mothers I know do this in hopes that baby will
sleep longer at night. The baby is picked up and nursed before mom
goes to sleep or if the baby is waking at a set time in the wee hours
mom will feed baby a little earlier than the waking time in hopes that
baby will sleep through it . The idea is that the dream feed can be
shortened and shortened and then eventually eliminated and baby will
sleep through the night. Dream feeds can be by breast or bottle and
are promoted by some of "those sleep books."
I have tried a dream feed before I go to bed but it has never helped
my baby sleep longer. She never does a great feed when I do this but
it is a really nice snuggly thing to do, to nurse baby in her sleep
and never have her wake up. I never felt that purposely waking up to
feed my child before she wakes up would be beneficial.
Of course prolactin levels are higher at night and not nursing at
night when your baby wants to nurse will affect milk supply. Sorry,
no references for you. In the later BFing relationship, isn't supply
driven by breast emptying, rather than prolactin? Either way, if the
breast isn't emptied, supply will decrease.
Cordelia Merritt RN BSN IBCLC
On Apr 24, 2009, at 4:51 PM, LACTNET automatic digest system wrote:
>
> Date: Sat, 25 Apr 2009 11:51:29 +1200
> From: Karen and Lee Palmer <[log in to unmask]>
> Subject: "dream feed" and prolactin levels
>
> I often hear mothers talk about doing a "dream feed" and wondered
> what =
> the heck they were talking about. I discovered it is very popular
> down =
> under in New Zealand, but I don't know whether it is in other parts
> of =
> the world. It seems to be another populist theory amongst parenting =
> websites and magazines, to get babies to sleep through the night. =
> Apparently, a mother feeds her baby last thing at night, then not
> again =
> until morning, using settling techniques until morning. Sounds =
> exhausting to me not to mention horrible for the baby.
>
> Now, we all know this is counterproductive to breastfeeding but I
> would =
> like to form a logical scientific answer to explain why this theory =
> should not be promoted by health professionals. Local well child
> nurses =
> have asked me for some evidence they can use to counteract this =
> practise. Can anyone lead me to some concise information around =
> prolactin levels during the 24 hour period and how night feeds =
> (expecially from 2 - 5 am) are important for continual milk
> production? =
> I know the Hartmann Institute have done some work on this but I was =
> wondering if anyone out there has already looked at this issue and
> can =
> lead me in the right direction.=20
>
> Sometimes I feel I am continually battling "populist" theories,
> where =
> somebody is making a lot of money promoting that theory.
>
> Karen Palmer
> IBCLC
> New Zealand
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