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Sleep

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Original poster

Does introducing solids ever really help sleep? Anyone seen any correlation?

22 replies

OovoofWelcome · 04/02/2012 13:42

Hello,

DS is 5 months and not a good sleeper. He is a reluctant napper who only ever naps for 30/40 mins a time and wakes a lot at night (we cosleep for half of each night now just to cope with it - and I may quite like snuggling up with him too.....).

So, in a month we will be starting him on solids and I am quietly hopeful that it may help his sleep, although I know a lot of people say it doesn't affect sleep really.

He is a big baby (91st percentile weight, 98th for height), energetic, absolutely gorgeous of course.....and he is easily distracted from feeding in the day although this is slowly getting better. So perhaps hunger is playing a part in all his wakings?

Does anyone have any experience of solids helping their LOs sleep?

TIA

OP posts:

BillyBollyBandy · 04/02/2012 13:46

No. I have an 8mo dd2 who is also 98th weight and height, I have been praying her sleeping would improve when weaned, when on proper food, when on lumps...

Not a scrap of bloody difference. She just seems to like taking her milk at night and having food in the day.

I am now hoping she will go off milk and so stop wanting it altogether and so at night. Oh and I have tried water, PUPD, CC for about 5 mins (wimp), but she feeds and goes back to sleep so it could be worse.

And she is very cuddly. Have to get it sorted before I go back to work in 3 months though.

BillyBollyBandy · 04/02/2012 13:47

Oh and dd1 slept 7 - 7 from 12 weeks so clearly not weaned, and food never made any difference to her sleeping pattern either.

Flisspaps · 04/02/2012 13:53

Not here. If it did work, babies would all sleep well from 6mo

DD didn't sleep well until we did CIO out of desperation at 14mo.

Original poster

OovoofWelcome · 04/02/2012 14:15

BillyBolly - my sympathies, it's hard isn't it. I'm worried about my return to work too for the same reason. And I can just feel in my waters that DS will be the same as your DD, gobble up his mashed carrots etc happily in the day but still want milk and snuggles all night.....

Flisspaps - I know, I know, you're right.....but a stubborn irrational bit of my mind is still going, "Oooh, solids, he'll sleep better then, surely, and, and I CAN SLEEP TOO!!"

Am sure I will be posting about CC in a few months time.......

But......no, really, anyone? Anyone had any success with feeding and sleep?

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Laambkins · 04/02/2012 19:39

My DD stopped sleeping so well at 6 months, she had a stomach bug so her sleep was disrupted for a few nights - didn't worry too much until she didn't sleep through again for a month and a half!! Think hers was just a phase (or maybe needed to be in her own room)
In answer to your question - didn't make a bit of difference!

RillaBlythe · 04/02/2012 19:41

My DD didn't sleep through (or totally night wean) till 20 months!

beela · 04/02/2012 19:56

No difference here, sorry - in fact his sleep got worse for a bit, he was so enthusiastic about real food that he ate too much (or perhaps I let him eat too much ) and he got constipated so woke in the night with tummy ache until we 'unweaned' him a bit and went a bit more gradually.

Crawling didn't wear him out either, but walking helped a lot.

That's probably not what you want to hear right now....

Original poster

OovoofWelcome · 04/02/2012 20:01

Noone? Anyone? Baby full of delicious food, and sleeeeeeeps?!?

Sigh. Am getting the message.

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Original poster

OovoofWelcome · 04/02/2012 20:04

Beela I think I need to hear these stories to tweak my expectations thoroughly!

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beela · 05/02/2012 08:14

They're all different, perhaps yours will be the one that it works for (but maybe don't hold your breath) :o

bigbadbarry · 05/02/2012 08:38

I'm sure I read somewhere - no idea where or how reliable it was - that the studies showed introducing solids to help babies sleep longer...by a whacking great 15 minutes!

theotherboleyngirl · 05/02/2012 08:39

actually I have a positive story for you - my twins slept through within a few weeks of solids - definitely made a difference to them. (DS didn't). But they were very poor milk drinkers and tiny. Once I started solids at 26 weeks they hoovered stuff down and then slept better

Emsmaman · 05/02/2012 09:08

My DD 10mo started to sleep slightly better once used to solids and taking a decent amount i.e. around 8 months. I did see a correlation between the amount she ate for dinner and how long the first stretch of sleep was, so I spent a lot of time experimenting with time of dinner in relation to afternoon milk feed etc to maximise what she would eat close enough to bed time but before she was too tired to eat. We got a few nights of her sleeping 5 hours before waking for milk feed. Then winter colds and top teeth coming through came along and she went off solids and only wanted milk, went to eating only one solids meal a day for a couple of weeks. We've never got properly back on track since I'm afraid to say.

Original poster

OovoofWelcome · 05/02/2012 12:23

Thanks theother and ems - some slightly more positive stories there

Bigbadbarry - 15 mins huh? Will take whatever I can get!

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LittleOne76 · 05/02/2012 19:47

OP, I could have written your post. Am in exactly the same situation with my same aged and same sized DS! Hhmmmm, not looking great is it...? We'll have to cross our fingers....

Original poster

OovoofWelcome · 05/02/2012 21:39

Heh, no LittleOne it isn't - it's all looking a bit 'DS slept through - on his 5th birthday!' at the moment.....but I'm probably panicking a bit

So you're co-sleeping too? We didn't plan on it, it's just the only way for us to get any sleep. It is lovely (those blinky "Oh it's YOU!" smiles up at you in the morning, awww ) but it doesn't feel like the way forward really.

We were doing Jo Tantum's spaced soothing method and it was really helping (just involves giving them a minute to unwind when they are put down to sleep, and repeatedly settling and comforting them, like PUPD but with more rapid coming and going) but then he got a bad cold and I stopped and never started it up again Might try though!

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PessimisticMissPiggy · 05/02/2012 21:51

Not a difference at all. 9mo, three meals a day and a snack! Bf morning and night with a bottle of ebm during the afternoon.

I'd love more than 3 hours unbroken sleep because I work full time.

mac12 · 07/02/2012 12:21

a positive story for you. DS2 started on solids just over a week ago at 20 wks after he just didn't seem satisfied and started waking every hour and a half and i felt completely depleted. This is earlier than my other two but i was exhausted and he was so unsettled. Long story short, he hoovers down his pureed mush and is now sleeping better at night - our best night was 8pm to midnight, bf, then midnight to 6.30 am, bf, and then another nap until 8am. It isn't every night - last night he wouldn't settle because he needed to poop - it's all the pureed pear! - but for the best part of a week now he's putting in five to six hour stretches of solid sleep and napping better during the day. I am starting to feel more like my old self now. I think every baby is different and this one definitely needed something to help fill out his tummy. You just have to go with what is right for your baby.

There is a downside - all the stewing veg, pureeing, expressing milk to make up baby rice etc is a real fag. My other two hardly had any mush as they quickly started on finger foods. But i can cope with anything when i've had some decent kip!

Original poster

OovoofWelcome · 07/02/2012 14:33

Thanks mac12! Great to read your account.....am really curious (and hopeful!) about whether food will have the same affect on my big beautiful hungry wakeful DS

I will definitely come back and update if it does!

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naturalbaby · 07/02/2012 14:42

sort of, but only around 7months when they were on 3 big meals a day. i even stuffed in a small bowl of porridge before bed.

hillyhilly · 07/02/2012 14:44

It did help my ds, almost immediately. However, he had been a really good sleeper until 20 weeks and it seemed to be genuine hunger driving night wakings, once he weaned he went back to sleeping through (sorry)

forcedinsomnia · 07/02/2012 14:58

No. Exactly the same situation as you just over a month ago....weaned ds who is just over 6 mo and now on 3 meals a day and 4 milk feeds and he still doesn't sleep any better. But he loves his food and it's nice trying him on different things and watching his face (first strawberry was hilarious). So, no it doesn't help with sleep in my experience but it's great fun!!! Good luck.

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