So, what's the truth about BLW, BF and SLEEP?!

[CallaCate]

My DD is nearly 6 months, exclusively BF, been playing with food (BLW, I call it "playing" because she hardly eats any as yet) since she was about five months. (We started then in the hope she might actually be eating something by around six months, and she sort of is, but very little.)

She has been in her own room since about 4.5 months, and was sleeping through from her dream feed at about 9:30pm to about 4:30am, then back to sleep till about 7:30am. A couple of times she even missed the 4:30am feed. Woohoo, STTN! (Those were the days.)

Lately (the last two weeks? Three weeks? I am too tired to remember) she has totally regressed, back to at least two feeds a night (in addition to the dream feed). They are getting earlier, too, and the last couple of nights she was like a newborn wanting feeding every two hours. Last night at 1:30am (after a full feed at 11:30pm) I tried CC (which we have done with success when taking her dummy away at 4 months, and stopping her falling asleep at the breast at about 5 months) but eventually I gave in (ugh) and sure enough she was actually hungry.

So, I fed her, she went back to sleep, I didn't, mind racing, looking for solutions. I'm sure in our parents' day they would have said she needs solids, she's hungry at night because she's not eating enough. (I try to BF her as much as possible in the daytime, difficult without becoming a hermit who lives in a dark, quiet room, but I try.) So this morning I made her some cauliflower and pear purée (strange combo, what can I say, I was unprepared!) and she wolfed it down! Hmm.

See, I love the idea of BLW and continuing to exclusively BF in theory, but if she genuinely is too hungry to get a proper night's sleep (or for us to!) I'm not sure it's worth it. I'm thinking about continuing BLW-style feeding (giving her what we eat, lots of finger foods, no "here comes the train" feeding tricks) but giving purées too. I'm also considering replacing the dream feed with a bottle of formula, maybe even that Good Night milk. BUT maybe this is just a growth spurt and I'll regret it...?

So, what do you think, ladies? Is a commitment to BLW and BF a commitment to sleepless nights? Will spoon-feeding and/or a nightly bottle of formula make her sleep better? Help!

I'd say that there is no perfect combination. Every time you think you've got it sussed, something happens and the pattern breaks and you just have to use trial and error to establish a new one. Sorry if that's not very helpful but it's realistic! If puree feeding and a bit of formula work for you, excellent! Don't beat yourself up about falling below some mythical high standard, because when you've worked this glitch out, another one will come along in a few weeks...

i don't know!?

DD is 20 weeks - she is EBF and wakes at 11 pm, 2 pm and 5 pm for feeds

if your DD is setttling after a feed, then she is hungry.

i am trying to trust my DD, that she knows she is hungry and she needs those feeds - and she will drop them when she is ready. I am frigging knackered! DD hasn't slept through since XMas.

Last night though instead of a 2 sided feed at each night wake up, she only had one, so maybe she is getting ready to drop her feeds?

I am planning on BLW at 6 months and maybe some purees

cauliflower and pear is not filling in the way protein and carbs are - like chicken and potatoes

i don't think formula makes a difference ... i don't know what good night milk is? sounds like it may be thicker??

I would try spoon feeding-alongside-blw, which is what I do. MY DC4 is 7 months, he plays with some soft vegetables while I spoon yoghurt into his mouth. Now that he is having both lunch and dinner, he's sleeping through for the first time since birth!

fluffyanimal - So true, every time I think that I've learnt that lesson (to just ride it out, each glitch passes and along comes the next challenge...) but I never do!

rubyslippers - That makes me feel better to think "if she's settling after a feed, she's hungry." Last thing I want is to leave her crying hungry... what I want is for her to not BE hungry!

Good tip, will try to get some protein in her. Good Night milk is a follow-on milk with cereals (rice and buckwheat) so it's supposed to be more filling.

BTW, if you do purees you can still BLW by letting the baby hold the spoon and put it in her mouth. I believe it is the self feeding rather than the type of food that qualifies as BLW. That's what I do with ds, I just have to wrestle the spoon away from him every so often to put more puree on it. It is very messy though!

callacate - that milk sounds like an ideal recipe for belly ache IMO. Trying to digest all that whilst sleeping sounds like it will result in a sore tummy

all i can say is, i feel your pain! DD is my second so it can't have been all bad

DD's sleep got worse after she started BLW at 6 months. By 10 months it she was frequently waking every 2 hours from 10pm (she went to bed at 7pm).

For her, I realised that she was not waking because of hunger (they are all different) and propbably waking because of the new experiences & awareness, and she was finding it hard to purge.
Also, she stopped eating food for 1.5 weeks when her first teeth came through and slept through a few times in that period!

Not everyone likes it, but we started partially co-sleeping at around 10 months having never had her in our bed and inher own froom from 2 weeks!

I don't think the goodnight milks are a good idea TBH - they are "milks with cereals added" - yet advice is not to add cereal to a baby's bottle.

rubyslippers, BertieBotts - You're right, I know. My initial reaction when I saw the ad for Good Night milk was "eww, that can't be right" but you know how it is when you get desperate for sleep! I think I'll try a few days of spoon-feeding, then maybe consider the formula dream feed, but leave the milks with cereals alone.

Hello
My DS is 7 months. Until 6.5 months I was feeding him once in the night (ff) and he would take 7 oz so I reasoned he must be hungry. Ever since I got him onto 3 meals a day (mainly purees) he does not need the night feed anymore. I had started BLW but found it very time consuming and he started to get frustrated in his high chair. In addition he still has 4 x 7oz feeds per day, and eats a large amount of food, so your DD may be like this too. You'll figure it out, trust your instincts and do what you think is best!

The six month growth spurt is HUGE and lasts about a month.

Thanks, everyone. Yesterday I gave her some lentils and yoghurt for lunch (with green beans and polenta in sticks) then some baby rice for dinner (with mango in sticks - the amount she ate made me realise she's actually got pretty good at the BLW-style eating already).

Anyway, after 3 meals of combined spoon-feeding and BLW she slept through to 4:20am this morning, just like she did before this started. Could be a one-off but seems to confirm she can't meet her own hunger needs with the BLW yet. Will keep it up for a few days and see how we get on.

i had hoped weaning would help DD sleep better. it hasnt. she is 8m, eats quite well, only 4 BF in day then feeds 1-2hourly overnight. some are good feeds some are comfort to help her go to sleep. it is all a blur overnight since i started the lying down feed. anyway i have kind of given up on hoping it'll improve and have moved into some sort of acceptance phase , i suppose i must be getting more sleep to do that, but i went through the , if only i can get more food into the baby........
but then CallaCate ur baby was sleeping well before so hopefully there is more hope for you than me...............

We're doing purees alongside finger foods as the purees are definitely helping DD (6 months) sleep a bit better.

She is really wolfing them down and doing really well with bits of toast and banana etc as well.

As far as I'm concerned the main principles of BLW are that the baby learns to feed themselves and to regulate their own food intake, so as long as you are not forcing the food down their neck when they clearly don't want it and allowing them to help out with the spoon and to feed themselves finger foods then I would be satisfied with that.

After all the baby is supposed to just eat what you're having and if that's soup, sandwiches and yoghurt then you're going to have to use a spoon at some point!!!!!

BLW sounds like a load of bollocks to me and a recipe for having a hungry child.

I would carry on with the purees and finger foods thing if that's what works for you.

I think the key to BLW is also that the baby should learn to chew first and swallow later. With puree they learn this the wrong way round.
But I find that it's a bit hit and miss with just finger foods. It all seems to end up on the floor. So my solution is to let baby hold a rice cake, while I spoon in occasional porridge. She gets to stuff something chewy in her mouth and swallows the runny stuff at the same time.
I am praying it will help with her sleep which seems to worsen daily. I blame co sleeping but I love it too much to stop !