Sx month old stopped sleeping through the night

[dalstonmummy]

Has anyone else had this problem? My six month old daughter has stopped sleeping through the night ever since we introduced solid foods about two weeks ago. She was a terrible sleeper for the first 3 months, then a brilliant sleeper, and now she wakes around twice a night making her hungry noises so I've been feeding her. My hunch is that she's just hit a developmental stage when she needs a lot more food (I'm trying to make sure she eats a lot during the day - she's already having 3 solid meals plus breast milk), but I don't want her ending up with a habit of waking for food in the night if/when she doesn't need it. I'm not looking for sympathy (!) but I'd be interested to know if anyone else has had to deal with this & if so, what they did and what happened?

Have not had this experience as ds has never slept through the night but I did have a thought:

Breast milk actually has more calories, ounce for ounce, than most solid foods. Is it possible that your dd is upping her solids intake and dropping her milk intake down?

If so might be an idea to increase her milk, and always make sure you bf her before giving her solids so she fills up on the high calorie stuff. Is she also distractable when breastfeeding during the day? Again, she could be dropping her milk intake during the day and making up for it at night; can you "tip the scales back towards day" by adding one or two extra bf's, maybe lying down in a darkened room so she isn't so distracted?

Just a few thoughts...

That's really helpful, MerryXMoss - I hadn't thought of any of that. Yes, she has been dropping her milk intake (at least, I've been feeling more like Jordan/Pamela Anderson, which I assume means there's milk around that's not being drunk), and yes, she does get very distracted during daytime feeds. I'll try what you suggest & see what happens. Thank you!

I am a fool - I seem to have started two identical threads by mistake. Sorry about that everybody....

Well I hope it helps for you!

My 6 mo DS has been unsettled since introducing solid foods a couple of weeks ago too.

I put it down to:

1. 6 month growth spurt
2. Tummy troubles as it is processing new foods, and bowel movements have become harder work.

We have also upped his solid intake to 3 meals a day, usually about an hour or so after his milk feeds. We still do a dreamfeed around 11pm, and make sure he takes on plenty of milk at each feed, by keeping distractions down. Yesterday I even gave him an extra feed after his solids at breakfast and lunch to make sure he was full. He slept much better last night (til 7.40am!) so could have been that or could have been the end of his growth spurt (I too am feeling like Pammy). He seems much happier now. He was constantly grisling last week. So you never know, she may get through this stage soon.

Thanks, pulapula - it's reassuring to know that this is pretty normal! I think you're right about a growth spurt - her appetite has increased massively since starting solids. Anyway, the sleeping has been miles better since I started giving her a dreamfeed (I never had to do this before) just before I go to bed - for the last few nights she has slept through until a civilised hour. Thank God!