Blw - do they get enough to help with the sleep?

[dycey]

Dd is large - 8 kilos and now 23 weeks, sitting up, picking things up and putting them in her mouth - also b feeding 2 hourly round the clock ( after always going 3 hours and a nice long stint at night. I am on my knees with exhaustion as I also have a 3 year old who doesn't nap.)

So she's ready for solids isn't she?

But if I try and spoon feed her carrot or baby rice or pear puree she umms and ahhs, spits it out. And if I persist she cries. If she is hungry she wants the breast and if she isn't hungry then she doesn't want puree.

She has picked up and sucked banana, baked potato skin, mashed potato and a pear and maybe swallowed a little so obviously would suit blw......

Question is, by doing blw am I committing myself to 24 hour breastfeeds for the foreseeable future?

With my son I gave him purees early (wrong I am sure now but he was absolutely massive and feeding non stop from the beginning). In his case the solids did spread the night feeds out.

I want her to enjoy food and blw sounds much more healthy and fun BUT I am also so tired that I am getting depressed and considering sleep training etc. If she took a bottle I'd be pouring formula down her neck! I need solids to help her out a little with the constant hunger.

Can blw fill them up enough?

TIA

That's true but the carbs and protein at 7 months do help a little I think. And I know shoving spoonfuls down them means you can be a little more confident that they are getting enough.

To be honest even if it werent for my3 year old i can't really sleep in the day anyway as the baby catnaps (her naps haven't lengthened yet).... I know this is a tiring stage but my sons sleep only improved with a little bit of gentle sleep training at 7 and then 12 months (hardly training really) but I could only do that confident that he was eating.......

I suppose I am really asking if babies do eat enough when doing blw. ( coming from a puree history )

If you want to make sure they eat a certain amount then spoon feeding (and possibly force feeding) is the only way. If you do BLW or only put in the food on the spoon if they lean forwards and open their mouths, you would have to accept they might eat very little somedays. Part of BLW is that the baby leads. They can also therefore refuse to eat much at all.

Also with BLW you give carbs and meat at 6mo. The idea is to share the family meal. Not simply giving finger foods you especially made for the baby. This also means there will be days you are offering foods way out of their comfort zones. But it's ok because current research thinks you need to introduce a taste 10-15 times before babies get used to it.

Food is nothing to do with sleep- sorry. And the best way to get more calories in at this age is more milk. Could you try feeding her more during the day?

Thanks all - sure you are all right and I should not look to food as a solution for sleep. But when your baby starts wanting to feed all the time and people say it's a growth spurt so feed more it feels like a food question. It's probably not. And I do need to introduce solids in 3 weeks (plus she was late). But I think you are all right that food won't solve her 2 hourly wakes. I either need to go with it or sort the sleep out directly. Another thread and place for that then!

Thank you all....

dycey there is nothing wrong with spoon feeding. Most babies are weaned this way. With mums pulling faces, singing and distracting with toys to sneak a spoon in. It is just not what BLW is about. If you let your LO leads and he decides to just throw the toast soldiers about, it's just going to lead to frustration.

It is a ffod question- don't forget that milk is a food!

I feel your pain. My DD slept thru from 8 -16 weeks then abruptly stopped. She was still feeding every couple of hours and loads at night.

I've found The No Cry Sleep solution helpful to find things to change to enhance her sleep. Shes now only waking twice in 10 hours at night which is So much better.

Thank you! I used that eventually with my first baby and I have not taken action yet with this one.... Can I asked what actions worked for you??? It's the feeding to sleep thing for me I think.