Parenting advice please.

[biddeford]

My son has slept straight through the night since he was 11 weeks old. He goes to bed for 7pm every night and is awake for around 8am. He’s 6 months old now and for the last 2 weeks he’s been waking anywhere between 4am-6am for a bottle. I’ve tried the shushing back to sleep but he is hungry and gets more and more frustrated as I try and re-settle him. He’s always been a straight through the night sleeper, and now he’s waking again. Anyone have any experience? Is this just a faze?

Have you started him on solid food yet?

@LovingLola Yes I have, he has porridge for breakfast, and then I offer him a selection of finger foods throughout the day, like broccoli and carrot etc. Should I be feeding him a certain amount? He's still taking all of his bottles. He drinks 5-6oz every 3 hours or so. Won't take anymore.

In my experience they go through phases and you just have to roll with it. It won't last forever. I had/have a bad sleeper and he's now 2.5! You could offer more calorific food, ie avocado but he will likely drop his milk intake if he starts taking in more through solids.

Mine went through a phase of waking up at 4.00 it was horrible as then were awake for a couple of hours. Good news. This too shall pass.

When you give him a bottle at 4-6 am does he go straight back to sleep again?

A little porridge before bed to see if it helps fill him?

My daughter was the same and we experimented with different combinations/timings of food and milk till we found the right balance (or she just got back into sleeping through and it was nothing to do with us! ) would be take a bit more milk right before bed if the previous one had been a bit less? Might just see him through till morning! Is he getting much protein in his food? That will help keep him full for longer.

Maybe he’s just not getting enough in the day to fill him up now he’s getting bigger (and possibly starting to move around?). I think maybe work towards getting him onto 3 meals a day, then offer 2 courses at each meal if you can. Keep offering bottles too for now. Then over the next few months you can start offering snacks in between meals too. We got to that point by 9 months but DD wasn’t really interested in solids initially so you might build up to that quicker.

As others have said, I don’t think it’s unusual to have phases where sleep regresses, even in previously good sleepers. Try to just go with it and go to bed earlier yourself to catch up on sleep if you need to.

I'd probably get him on 3 solid meals a day, with minimum 20oz milk per day, and extra milk if he's hungry in between meals.

@EllaAlright Yes, he goes straight back down until 8am.

He’s probably not getting enough from finger foods if he’s waking hungry (which seems he is). How much of it does he eat and how much falls on the floor? Maybe try some more porridge for supper

@Skigal86 He's still not interested by food. He loves his porridge, but otherwise at lunch and dinner he seems disinterested, but I continue to offer things. When he does eat, like yesterday I gave him blended up vegetables etc, and he only around half of what I served. Didn't want any pudding/anything else.

@Darbs76 I did that last night around 5.30pm, had his bath and then had 10oz at 6.30pm but he still woke at 4am ravenous.

He could be growing. Sleep regressions happen.

@StealthMama That's what I'm trying to do, but he is still very disinterested in food. Will either have a few tastes, or if I offer blended food will have a few spoonfuls. I'm at a loss what to do to encourage him to enjoy his meals. Any advice?

@StealthMama That's what I'm trying to do, but he's still very disinterested in food. He'll either taste, or if I offer blended food he'll have a few spoonfuls. I'm at a loss on how to encourage him to enjoy food. Any advice?

Go with sweeter foods first in purée form - carrot and apple (steam first to soften then blend), sweet potato, butternut squash, and add formula as milk to smooth out. And same for fruit - apple and banana, anything really. Once he starts enjoying the flavours you can make it more filling, add meats/lentils . Have you tried those things?

If he enjoys porridge he might have a tendancy for milky foods, try rice pudding, and other cereals mixed with formula.

I found with my dd when I try something new she prefers me to dab it on her lips first so she can taste it then let's me know it's ok and passed the taste test! 👍

On the not interested in food - could he be full on milk so not interested in food?

Don’t overthink it OP, sounds like you are doing the right things. So long as he’s gaining weight okay then I wouldn’t worry. It took my DD a little while to get properly interested in food too but she loves it now. Just keep offering lots of different types of food.

@StealthMama Thank you for the suggestions, I'll definitely give them ago. He does really like rice pudding so maybe he does like creamier tastes. I have steamed and blended some carrots ready to try tomorrow. I've also done broccoli blended too. I hope he turns a corner soon and becomes more interested in food.

@StealthMama I wanted to do exclusively BLW, but it basically all goes on the floor, so it seems kind of pointless and he gags on it. He's more tolerant with the purée, would I just blend meat/lentils in with say carrots or other foods?

@Waveysnail I'm not sure. He has around five 6oz bottles a day. He doesn't drink 6oz every time, more often than not he'll have 4oz's. Sometimes for bed he'll have 7oz. I'm not sure if he's too full up on milk?

He's only 6 months old so I wouldn't go cutting milk. Could be a growth spurt. Tbh you've been spoiled with 13 hours of sleep per night.

He's 6 months old, more than likely a growth spurt. Whatever you do, don't cut don't his milk - food is just for fun before a year, milk is what they need.

I was thinking possibly growth spurt . Not getting enough.

BLW is simply one way of feeding a baby if it doesn’t work don’t sweat it. Food us food. Orange vegetables are often the sweeter ones they enjoy , mix with fruit , formula but it is early days with weaning.