Tanking Up - A trick to help your child sleep longer at night

What is tanking up?
Tanking up consists of the dream feed and cluster feeding. I go over dreamfeeds here. I go over cluster feeds here. Pretty much, tanking up is getting more food into baby's tummy during the day**, and specifically right before bed, so she she'll sleep longer stretches at night.

Why should I tank up?
So you and baby get longer stretches of sleep at night! And so you can start feeling less like a zombie and more like a person! Tanking up is also helpful with growth spurts which are plentiful in newborns.

When do I start tanking up?
Start it as soon as baby comes home from the hospital. If baby is under 8 weeks of age and you aren't cluster feeding, then you can give it a try. If baby is under 7/8 months (sometimes later) of age and you aren't doing a dream feed, then go ahead and give it a try.

When do I stop tanking up?
You can stop tanking up with the cluster feed around 8 weeks of age. Some babies need to stop sooner (my big boys both did) and some need to do it a little longer.

You can stop tanking up with the dream feed around 7 to 8 months of age. Some kids can drop it sooner, and some need it a bit longer.

Does tanking up work for all babies?
Like most things, tanking up doesn't work for all babies. It does seem to work for most, so it is worth giving it a try. If your baby is struggling with cluster feeding and the dream feeds then I suggest you drop the cluster feeds and just work on the dream feed. Many babies will not do both, and the dream feed is the more important of the two.

Remember to give it at least a few days to work before deciding that it doesn't work. And keep in mind that there are a lot of factors that determine when a child will sleep through the night. So tanking up can help, but it can only help so much.


**By day at this age I mean between morning wake time (likely around 7 am) to dream feed time (likely around 10-11).