Just started weaning DS 23 wks - good foods for evening to prolong sleep?

[sh77]

Hi

I have just started weaning DS. I give him pureed fruit in the morning with water but he is quite constipated. I haven't given him anything but breast milk in the evenings. Howver, he woke up last night every 2 hours for a feed. Please could someone suggest good foods for the evening? Or should I just continue with fruit?

I heard from a HV that sleep won't improve until they are on protein.

Breastmilk

Solids did not help my DS at night, its a myth. Also night wakings do not necessarily mean they need more solids. Just time and growing up seemed to help him. We started solids at 21 weeks and gave DS one portion of baby rice or pureed veg in the afternoon. You could try giving your one try at lunchtime. Also you could try sweet potato, carrots, parsnips - naturally sweet veg to make it more savoury. I think fruit digests a lot quicker than veg so veg is more likely to sustain your DS (although no sustenance is required as its just an introduction really). Could there be another reason why he is waking up? Is he teething? He could be having a growth spurt?

many thanks milkyjo for the advice. I will try a portion of veg later in the afternoon. As he will be 6 months this week, growth spurt possible.

Actually solids helped both my DSs sleep well. Your ds may be waking for other reasons - eg constipation or wind caused by new diet, or he may love solids so much he's waking up thinking about this new excitement (seriously! )

Try offering water if he's waking more - he'll soon realise night waking isn't appealing after all.

As for foods - give him a little Ready Brek before bed - that fills babies for ages and takes ages to digest. If he wakes again soon after, it's def not hunger.

Does he not settle back to sleep if you leave him? I.e. why do you think it's hunger?

thanks vm for your advice. He hasn't been settling if I leave him. I think over the past couple of days, constipation has been to blame. Thankfully, prunes sorted that this morning. I have tried leaving him for a couple of minutes but he always starts to cry after waking in the night. Only feeding seems to settle him.

Introducing solids (at 6 months) coincided with sleep regression in both my children. Don't know if the food caused it or it was just coincidence but it definately didn't improve things.

Fruit & vegetables are less calorie dense than milk so IMO if they are eating large quantities of these it means they have less space for the calorie rich milk.

I see, I'd def try giving him water when he wakes, as he might be thirsty now that he's having less milk. And as I mentioned, night feedings can become a habit rather than something that is actually needed.
Try a helping of porridge/ready brek before bed, with a drink of either formula/bmilk or water. So your ds isn't thirsty or hungry. Then see if he settles any better or for longer x

solids helped my older kids around 7months when i was stuffing them full of potato/rice/pasta for dinner but they still woke up out of habit. my 6month old has been sleeping through for a while now and is mainly on fruit and veg, but is having a lot of big breastfeeds during the day.

dh is convinced goodnight milk helped my older 2, i'm not! (as the bfeeding mummy who woke up every time they snuffled)