BF,BLW and awful sleep..do I give up?

[downpipe]

DS2 is nearly 7 months, EBF, no bottles, and we have been doing BLW for nearly 4 weeks with not much progress, a bit of sucking on toast and broccoli but that's about it.For the past month his sleep has got worse, has gone from waking 2x night to 3/4/5/6!It is tiring.Any advice? I'm assuming I shouldn't do CC as he must be hungry?Do I introduce purée as well, or formula?I weaned DS1 traditionally on purees and stopped BF at 6 months but he is a fussy eater now so I thought I'd try something different this time around.I got him to sleep through by 8 months though so I'm thinking maybe it wasn't so bad!Any suggestions welcome.Has anyone else given up on BLW because of this?Has anyone done it only to end up with a fussy eater too?I'm open minded re. BF, formula and food in general,I just want something that works and some more sleep.

Downpipe am in the same situation as you. Ds3 has been ebf and am doing blw as he is a purée and spoon refuser. He is 6 1/2 months and am back to work in November so just getting him on to a cup as he refuses bottles. He eats quite a bit - toast, sandwich, fruit, sausage, omelette, potatoes etc but have no real idea exactly how much he is eating. Sleep also rubbish. He sleeps 5 hrs at first the wakes every 2 hours and the last few mornings been up since 4.30. He still hasn't done a proper poo so assume he is just uncomfortable!

All I can say is hang in there! You are not alone!!

There's nothing to stop you using mashed spoon foods and finger food too. Try not to get too hung up on BLW and being religious about it all. Sometimes DS was tired so I spoonfed - you can read baby's cues, stop feeding when they turn away, let them hold/play with the spoon etc.

6-7 months is a bad time for sleep anyway - naps change, teething, growth spurt and developmental leap all to contend with! Put baby to bed early, go to bed early yourself. It will get better.

There is no evidence that formula or puree help with sleep. If they did, then all 6 month olds who were FF or weaned on puree would sleep through

It may be a developmental stage - hang on in there and in a week or two it will probably pass (until the next one!)

Downpipe, how about introducing purees for a meal a day and see if it makes a difference? Depends on what you eat, breakfast seems easiest for me, with fruit puree yoghurts and weetabix/ready brek being the obvious choices. It might not make any difference, but maybe it'll make you feel better?

My DD is my only so I wouldn't have a clue if the purees will make her a fussy eater. But she's sleeping through from 10pm to just before 6am when EBF just before 6mo. The solids haven't made her sleep till the magical 7am.

Thanks for the replies, another possibly stupid question (blame sleep deprivation!) but if I do add in a bit of mashed food/puree, I don't need to start on individual veg/fruit do I or can I go straight in with something like mashed pasta & sauce which is what DS2 is having for tea? DS2 has so far only had plain veg sticks/toast without much combination.Would it be too hard on his digestion to suddenly give carbs & veg as he will probably eat more than if he was offered it as BLW type food.

Sorry, that should say, pasta & sauce is what 2 year old Ds1 is having for tea

We did BLW and EBF with DD who is now nearly two. She didn't really start to eat properly until she was about 10 months and I used to spoon feed things like yoghurt/porridge etc anyway as was just sooo messy otherwise! she would pick and try lots of things but don't think a huge amount went down! meant she had a lot more milk than i think FF babies do at that stage but she seemed fine with that balance
tbh we didn't wait to offer anything she had a mix of carbs/protein/fruits/veg (including all the things I later discovered might be allergens..kiwis at 6months oops!!) from the get go but it may be different rules when offering in puree form..
DD only started sleeping through at about 18 months...for us food seemed to bear little relation she was just a lousy sleeper...not much help that sorry!

Downpipe since your DD is already 7mo you don't have to do the single veg again. Just whizz up whatever you are eating, as long as the food is suitable from 6mo.

I men DS!

My DS is 5 months and my plan of action is for a combination of BLW and mash, rather than purees. I dont want him to be put off by lumps so i figure im not going to puree anything. I just make sure all his first foods are soft enough to avoid choking. I've read a lot about weaning, enough to make my brain hurt, and i dont feel entirely happy with strict BLW. Think a combination seems more natural.

If your DS has been trying foods for 4 weeks now, i would get stuck in with combining foods. Obviously not a steak!! But a healthy mix of proteins carbs and veg/fruit.

Are you going to change to FF DS2 like you did with DS1. If you are, why dont you start with a formula feed at his last feed of the day and see if it makes a difference over a few nights? As formula does take longer to digest than breast milk. You could use the follow-on milk as it contains more vit A and D which your DS might not be getting if he's not eating much.

Hope you get more sleep!

As others have said, it doesn't have to be either purees or religiously not interfering as they play with broccoli - I would definitely get more involved in getting more food into your DS and see if that makes a difference (though of course it may not at all and it may just be a stage!)

DD was 'BLW' I suppose, but from the start we helped her a lot. I always had it uppermost in my mind that I didn't want her to be put off by not having the skills to do it herself and get frustrated or upset by being left hungry IYSWIM. So - playing with finger foods but also spoons offered of roughly mashed stuff - she'd mumble over broccoli and carrots and we'd make sure a couple of spoons of mash potato and crushed veg got in there too. She always had porridge for breakfast which I spooned, she had her own spoon too and she very soon spooned herself, with toast to hold and suck etc. So a mix of everything, no purees as such, all just mucked in. She is a good eater now (20 months) though getting fussier!

I always imagined it to be a bit like learning to eat with chopsticks - good fun, but not when you're starving. I think it's natural to help them, it must be what we've always done as a species. So I would go for it with helping him out with his eating, and go mad with introducing stuff as long as it's ok from 6 months. Mashed pasta and sauce sounds fab. Like I said, porridge has always been our standby - I think it's Organix 4 grain is good, Ella's kitchen do a quinoa one - that's really bulky and always lumpy (when I make it) - a real boots-filler and v tasty.

Good luck!

My dd eats more when she has stuff that breaks down easily in the mouth - she loves pear, boiled parsnip and mango in particular and a decent amount does disappear. I try to give a mix of 'easy' foods and ones that are a bit harder work to gum at, at each meal - is your ds getting enough stuff that he can manage to break down in his mouth and swallow? We give dd sloppy stuff like yogurt on a spoon as well, just hold it up and dd grabs it and puts it in her mouth. Saying all that, despite eating reasonably and still having loads of milk feeds (bf too), dd's sleep is also completely pants at the moment (she's 6 and a bit months), so has others have said it may not be food/hunger-related.

Agree with the others, there is no evidence that solids or formula will help him sleep, there is some info on it here.

Its fine to introduce purees as well. We did BLW with DD but she also had purees sometimes. She also used to like Ready Brek for breakfast with raisins or banana or fruit puree mixed in and she loved those organix mango and rice little pots.

As for offering single veg or fruit don't think you have to bother with that if he's already had lots. The first foods we taste when weaning are the ones we usually get a taste for so just make sure he does get plenty of fruit and veg and he should be fine, he can have what you have as long as it's within his salt limits.

Stay with it. His waking could be teething or just some developmental stage and could soon pass. In the meantime make sure you bf lots in the day and keep offering the food.

Thought you might like to read this too downpipe .

Thanks, that is all very helpful.Have been trying mashed food for a couple of days, baby seems to like it and has had no problems eating anything, does not want to be spoon fed but happily taking a loaded spoon and putting in mouth.Has had porridge, pasta, apple crumble, white fish, figs & cottage pie.Sleep still rubbish but also has a cold so maybe not a food thing.Remember sleep was bad at 7 months with DS1.Will persevere with a mixture of finger foods & loaded spoons..

If he's eaten all that then I think you can be safe to assume its not hunger. If he's got a cold you could try Calpol and bfing often.

Saw this website posted on another thread today and thought you might find it interesting.

Hope his sleep improves soon

DS did the same - and is still waking up now at 11 and a bit months. I was told that they get more thirsty once they start trying solids so that could be partly why your baby is waking, also lots going on developmentally- their little minds are developing at huge rates, teeth start coming through and they start to pick up more bugs.

I was also told that for the first year food is more a trying out of tastes and textures and that milk is the primary form of nutrition so not to worry about how much they are having. It's also the activity of sitting up to eat, socialising etc that is just as important
I reckon you're doing alright - just keep offering him different things to try and having an older one will probably help too as the younger one will enjoy seeing his sibling eat. good luck

I'm in the exact same situation, we've both read the gill rapley book and my dh keeps quoting how we have to jave faith in the system! I think he's right, loaded spoons are all fine anyway though, if I try to feed my ds it gets knocked out of my hand with a scowl, he knows exactly what he's doing!