Yes! It’s really possible to align baby’s night sleep with yours

Newborns don’t know their day from night and that’s completely normal – but it doesn’t make it any easier for mum and dad. 

In our latest TMB TV Facebook Live, we spoke to Jenna Gore, founder and director of Sleep Science Guru, a multi-award-winning sleep consulting practice. Jenna offers some advice for aligning your baby’s longest stretch of sleep with yours using a dream feed when your baby is about six to eight weeks old. 

“The way newborn sleep works is that they kind of get one long stretch within a 24 hour period and we want that one long stretch to be in line with your long stretch,” says Jenna.

Watch the full interview below:

How it works: the theory

If your baby is able to sleep for five hours without eating, and you’re putting them to bed at 7 pm, then they will wake around midnight – not long after you’ve hit the hay yourself. But if you pop baby to sleep at 7 pm and then offer a top-up dream feed at around 10 pm, theoretically, your newborn will (fingers crossed) sleep until 3 am, giving everyone more sleep. 

“The way the dream feed works is that you put them down for bed and then just before you’re going down yourself – about two to three hours later – you would pick bub up in their sleep and give them a little top up,” says Jenna. 

“So you would feed them, burp them and then put them back down and see how long they’re going to sleep for now.”

The good and the bad

The bad news is that the dream feed does come with a caveat: what works for some babies won’t work for others. 

“Every baby is so different and if you’re working harder to try and get that feed in, like if it’s a nightmare getting baby up or down to do the feed, then I would just not do it all,” warns Jenna. 

The good news, though, says Jenna, is that “for a lot of families, it can kind of align your circadian rhythm with your baby’s circadian rhythm and body clock.”

Not just about baby

It’s not just about baby either. If a late dream feed doesn’t work for parents, then skip it. 

“I’ve had some families where mum and dad are both personal trainers and are used to that earlier bedtime anyway,” says Jenna. “For them, it makes sense to get that long stretch from 6 or 7 pm at night. 

“So it’s whatever works for you, but it’s something definitely worth giving a go.”