Weaning and sleep (also posted in sleep)

[cogitosum]

Ds is just shy of 6 months. He was sleeping well until about 4 months (7 hours then every 1-2 hours) then hit the 4 month regression and for 4 weeks did about 3-4 hours and then woke every hour. Since just before Christmas he's been back to 7-8 hour blocks (although after the long sleep he wakes every hour).

However we started weaning about a week ago when he took some broccoli from my plate and ate it! I've been offering finger foods a few times a day ( mostly veg and potato although gave weetabix with expressed milk for last 2 days which he pretty much ate all of).

Since then he's been even more constipated than normal (he's ebf but on gaviscon which makes his poos very hard) and his sleep has gone out of the window. Friday and Saturday nights he was up pretty much every hour. It's improved since then but he's waking a lot and is very windy!

Is this likely to get better as he gets used to digesting food? I've been advised to stop giving him solids in the evening. Is that a good idea or will he wake up hungry for them?

He's not dropped any feeds yet but he's never a really enthusiastic feeder during the day (I have to feed him in the dark as he gets too distracted if I'm out).

To summarize (and bump) ds sleep has been adversely affected since introduction on solids. Should I stop giving solids in the evening to give digestion time before bed or will he be hungry ( so should I give weetabix in the evening?)

We have just started weaning and its definitely having an effect on DD's digestion - more constipated with certain foods we've given and accompanied by wind that makes her uncomfortable.
Are now making sure that if its a food that might be known for constipation e.g. banana that she also gets a few spoonfuls of what we have called the 'poo puree' - blitzed some soft prunes and apricots with prune juice.
We tend not to give her food late at night based on knowing myself what its like to try to sleep on a full stomach - so if her naps mean she's awake at 5 then we might try her with food but if she wakes up later at say 6 then she'll just have a milk feed before bed.

Thanks. What time does she go to bed? Do you find that's working with her sleep?

I bought some prune juice but left it at my dsis. Will try your blend. Am not doing purees but that sounds worth it to (ahem) soften things!

We don't have a set time but say she's awake and has some food at 5.30, she often starts looking tired in her seat so we'll take her upstairs at 5.45/6ish. Change into pj's and storytime or quiet chatting for say another 20 mins (we don't bath her at night - whole different story!) and then she's laid down. Depending on when she last had milk she might also be fed. She's not a great one for going to sleep, so I will stop interacting with her (my mumsnet time), maybe just the odd pat and shush till she's fully asleep. That can take either 10 mins or 2hr 10 mins!
I don't tend to stress anymore about evenings - she will rarely stay asleep and might need a shush/pat/put the dummy back in several times until we go to bed at midnight. We are lucky that once we are with her in the bedroom she will stay asleep till morning.
I don't think her poor evening sleep is related to food, rather that she's not yet learnt to self settle herself very well as she moves in and out of the sleep cycle. We are trying to help her learn to do that by reducing our interactions when we respond to her cries or sniffles but not too sure if its working or not - its still a work in progress ;-)

It's a good idea for first foods to be given earlier in the day so it gives them a chance to digest them and get rid of any wind before they go to bed!
Things like pear and apple are good for constipation because of the pectin in them. Also, you can make a 'spread' out of dried apricots and they are very good for constipation:
put some dried apricots in a pan with water to cover them and heat gently for 15 mins or so until really soft. Blend to a puree. This can be frozen and you only need a tiny bit to spread on something otherwise it can actually have a laxative effect!

We've been told to avoid apples and pears because of the acid content as it could make reflux worse! Have been giving mango and melon.

Thanks for the apricot tip. Will try that

Our DTs were constipated quite a lot when they first started solids but started to improve after a couple of weeks and are absolutely fine about 6 weeks later. Possibly drinking more water had the most impact.

I think cereals for dinner is a good idea as unlikely to cause discomfort. But I avoided baby rice due to constipation.

Oops didn't realise that about the apple and pear. You could also try a bit of papaya as it has good levels of fibre in it so would help.

Soft berries like raspberries are good especially if you're not doing purees. Like high voltage my dd got really constipated when we first started solids but settled down after a few weeks. Prunes mixed in with wheetabix also works well.