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Sleep

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Original poster

Two unrelated sleep questions - solids, and dummies!

19 replies

Flingmoo · 26/10/2014 22:23

Firstly, solids. I am desperate for DS to sleep longer... Please somebody tell me that all this killjoy stuff on baby info sites is untrue - I've read this is a 'myth' but all the anecdotal evidence seems to say that babies do tend to sleep longer after starting solids.

I'll find out soon enough anyway - but I really, really hope it works! Did your baby sleep longer once on solids?

Secondly, dummies. The dummy works a treat at naptime for our 5mo DS, he falls asleep with it very quickly at naptimes. At bedtime, most nights he breastfeeds to sleep, and goes to bed without it. If he wakes up in the night, we give him the dummy and he soon falls back to sleep. Trouble is, he's still waking up two or three times a night and I know it's not hunger. It shouldn't be overtiredness either as he has three good naps a day.

Do we somehow wean him off the dummy - is this causing him to wake up due to some kind of sucking-to-sleep association? I feel like we'd be losing a really powerful sleep aid if we take it away. But maybe it's doing more harm than good? Aaargh. Please chip in with your experiences?!

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hollie84 · 26/10/2014 22:27

Mine slept better around 8-9 months - first weaning can make sleep worse as it displaces milk or upsets their stomach.

Waking a couple of times in the night sounds alright for a 5 month old though?

With DS1 I got rid of the dummy at about a year - he still woke in the night but wasn't so quick to settle

cogitosum · 26/10/2014 22:29

Solids made my ds sleep worse sorry

We use a dummy. I think the important thing is getting to the stage that they can put it in without you. We got a sleepy tot bunny that helped.

Original poster

Flingmoo · 26/10/2014 22:30

Thanks! Yes, our general attitude toward the dummy is "it's brilliant!" because it has some sort of magical calming effect on him. So I'm reluctant to ditch it at this stage. I just hope it's not the cause of the night wakings as well as the solution...

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PenguinsIsSleepDeprived · 26/10/2014 22:32

Twice a night is good at five months.

Weaning didn't help either Dd. Sorry.

Original poster

Flingmoo · 26/10/2014 22:33

Oh yes cogito... I think he's just getting to the stage of being able to put the dummy in himself.

I went up to re-settle him for a nap today when he was crying and was confronted by a hilarious image. He was flailing around, eyes closed, crying, with a dummy in each hand trying desperately to shove them both into his mouth at once! Silly baby :)

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Madallie · 26/10/2014 22:40

Sorry to gate crash but Hollie, just wondered why you got rid i dummy if baby still woke but was harder to settle? Just cos I feel like maybe I should be thinking about weaning 8 month old dd off it cos she sometimes wakes for it but don't want it to stop her settling iyswim?

Flissity83 · 26/10/2014 22:44

Weaning helped us with sleeping but not straight away. They get gassy at first so you should expect unhappiness. Once we had 3 meals established he dropped his night feeds. This was around 7/8 months old. The dummy went then too but now he just sucks his comforter so probably should have just kept it.

hollie84 · 26/10/2014 22:48

We thought the dummy was what was waking DS1 up and without it he would sleep through... he didn't sleep through til 2.5 though Once we'd ditched it (it was hard work getting him to settle without it) it seemed like a backward step to give it back.

DS2 will be keeping his dummy as long as he wants!

Madallie · 26/10/2014 23:23

Thanks Hollie, that explains it. Think I'll just leave dd with it. She wakes for it only once at v most twice a night and sometimes not at all so maybe it's best just to leave it. I'm assuming she'll be able to find it herself soon and re plug! Hope so anyway.

Original poster

Flingmoo · 26/10/2014 23:25

Madallie That's exactly what I was wondering - you don't want to lose the magic settling power of the dummy but you don't want it to be encouraging night wakings either!

hmm, hollie I think you've just convinced me not to confiscate the dummy!

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Madallie · 26/10/2014 23:33

I think I'd rather get up once or twice and she settles straight away rather than rusk her being up for ages.

Littlef00t · 27/10/2014 10:30

My dd started sleeping through at 7 months and I'm sure it was purely developmental as nothing had changed really. She had been on 2 meals a day for a while still taking 1 feed at night, and needing settling without milk 1-3 times on top.

Then she got a cold and didn't ask for her night feed, then just improved night after night. Started about half the time sleeping through withough needing settling but didn't need any milk from that night forwards. A couple of weeks later and nearly every night sleeping through.

GotToBeInItToWinIt · 27/10/2014 10:38

Twice a night is very good for 5 months old!
Introducing solids didn't make any difference at all to DD's sleep, sorry. She's just starting to sleep better at 11.5 months.

LizzieMint · 27/10/2014 11:10

Solids don't really make much difference to sleeping, sorry. You are taking an easily digested, calorie-dense food (milk) and replacing it with tiny quantities of eg carrot. It doesn't fill them up and doesn't make them less hungry until you are really well into weaning.
At 4/5 months babies usually have a mammoth growth spurt and even ones who've previously slept through start waking up again (which it think leads people to think they should wean them when really they just need more milk).
Agree with everyone else that 2 wakings a night is pretty normal for 5 months. It will get better, just give it time.

coniferssilhouette · 27/10/2014 22:19

My DS stopped sleeping through after introducing solids (3 months ago), we don't use a dummy so I'm useless to you there!

justabigdisco · 27/10/2014 22:21

Are you feeding him at night? How do you know he's not hungry?

Original poster

Flingmoo · 27/10/2014 22:36

justabigdisco I give him a 'dream feed' (BF) at 10.30ish which is a fairly good feed but not normally huge. Then when he wakes in the night he settles almost instantly with the dummy - if he was hungry in my experience he wouldn't simply go back to sleep for 2 or 3 more hours. In the morning he takes a very good feed but doesn't seem overly ravenous.

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justabigdisco · 27/10/2014 22:38

Fair enough. I have to agree with PPs though - waking twice in the night and settling back down with a dummy is pretty good at 5 months. Have you tried feeding him at the first wake up? He might go right through then.

Original poster

Flingmoo · 27/10/2014 22:46

Yeah I can't complain too much. Now he takes the dummy rather than a feed, it means DH can finally do his share of the night work. He often wakes more than twice but the fact he usually settles so quickly is great.

I could try feeding him at the first waking I guess. If it's too close to the 10.30 feed I do anyway, he might not take very much though. Once he's 6 months and taking 2-3 solid meals a day, I'll think about dropping the dream feed - it'll be interesting to see when he would naturally wake up then.

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