Weaning and disturbed sleep - is it just me?

[Pipsicle]

Hi

I purely breastfed my LO for the first 6 months and she is going to be 7 months on 13 Jan. During the first 6 months she would sleep 6.30ish to 10pm ish when we would wake her for a feed and then she would sleep from 10.30pm until 7/7.30pm.

The very day I started introducing solids she has been incredibly wakeful particularly from 10.30pm sometimes waking every hour but generally every hour and half. She is NOT hungry and just wants a cuddle to get back to sleep. The HV has put us on a fruit only diet, 1 meal/day of 1 tablespoon as she thinks my LO's digestive system is struggling to cope with the veggies I started her with. Its such a shame as she loves her solids but we just cant progress as they dont love her!

My hubbie has started sleeping with her in bed to settle her quickly and allow us to get as much sleep as possible as we are shattered.

Is this happening to anyone else? Also does anyone have any possible pointers to ease her discomfort - Infacol drops perhaps? Can anyone tell me how long this could last?

I am starting to worry that she may have something wrong with her.

Yours hopingly

Pip

Are you still waking her for a feed at 10.30pm?

Yes. We did stop but were then advised to start it again as there was too much disruption to her routine with starting solids and also with her not eating much solids at this point.

Same thing happened with my dd. Once she was on solids I was still lifting her for her 10pm feed. She was not that hungry and would not take much...however she was a nightmare to get back down and would be really unsettled. I just stopped the 10pm feed and that seemed to help. She would occasionally wake during the night for a feed as she was getting used to going all through the night. She did this for a few weeks and then settled into a 7-7 routine. If she did wake in the night then it was a case of going in, feeding her and back out. She settled no problem.

She is not generally difficult to get back down after this feed and is often asleep, she just seems to wake every hour and half afterwards as if she is disturbed by something (assuming digestion)and cant put herself back to sleep like she used to.

We've just started weaning DD and I've been trying porridge before bedtime bath in the hope it calms her evening cluster feeds. However, having previously slept from 7 semi-waking for feeds then straight back to sleep, the porridge seems to give her a burst of energy and the last three nights it's been 10 or 11 before she's finally off to sleep . She loves the porridge, doesn't seem uncomfortable. But today I'm just going to give a bit of fruit and see if that makes any difference. I imagine it's all quite an adjustment for them and nothing to worry about - or that's what I'm guessing... different if LO seems really uncomfortable - maybe chat to doc?

DS also went from sleeping through 7-7 with a dreamfeed to waking every few hours when we started him on solids. I can happily report that at 8 months, on three huge meals per day, he is back to sleeping through (or waking once at about 5am). I think at 6-7 months there's a lot going on - solids, sitting and moving about, growth spurts- it throws then a bit. Don't worry it is a stage and it shall pass!

Pip
I have had a similar reaction for DS after giving him aptamil - was about to create a post about it. he has had aptamil bottle about 4 or 5 occasions in the 6 months and other than that has been exclusively BF. And each time this has happened. Exactly as you describe. Waking, unsettled... with him pulling his legs up and generally acting very windy like. Initally, I thought I was imagining it, but after the 3rd time I took more notice. I think he is struggling with digesting it.

He is at it again tonight cos I used formula in his baby rice tonight with his food as I couldn't express quickly enough.

I was wondering about dairy intolerance, but maybe I just need to change brands. Sorry can't be of any help, but just thought I would let you know that my DS had the same symtoms!

Zebedee and Tiddler

I have been giving one Aptamil feed a day but have to say that the night waking did start before that.

Last night she was awake ever hour from 7 until 5.30am! Is this as bad as for you?

We are going to make a docs app too.

Pip
x

Meant to add that I am also going to stop solids for a couple of days to see what effect that has and give her little system a rest but going to keep going with Aptamil feed.

Do you think that's a good idea?

Different situation but just to say we held off the bedtime porridge last night and DD's sleep was back to normal. not really sure how to proceed but glad to know that was the culprit.

Pip - every hour, poor you! DS was waking every 2-3 hours from what I recall. Is your DD showing signs of teething - drooling, biting etc as that can unsettle them? Also is she feeding more and a bit niggly - might be a growth spurt? Doesn't sound like it's the milk if she'd been sleeping OK on Aptimil before?
My DS just settled of his own accord after about a month, there was nothing we did differently that helped him. Whilst he was waking so often, I often took him into bed with me as he seemed to sleep better there and we all got more sleep.

Have just realised recently that the blander DS's dinners are and the earlier I give him dinner, the better he seems to sleep - so dinner at 5pm for a 7pm bedtime with no meat at dinner, he seems to struggle with digesting it.

Hi Zebedee

No major teething signs, she loves chomping on everything but always has. Not feeding more, no!

I introduced one Aptamil feed after the sleepless had started so hard to tell if it is/isn't part of the issue.

LO has been put on a fruit only diet by HV for 2 weeks with just lunch at 12.30pm and a tablespoon but there has been no change and I feel so far behind in terms of our weaning stage compared to others but trying not to worry about that.

Hubbie and I are worried that we will upset her ability to settle herself and sleep through in her own cot if we have her in with us and cuddle her etc.

Soooo many things to suddenly worry about! It was all so easy before!

Hi Pipsicle,

I was just about to post about the same problem. My db is 6.5 months and is waking every hour throughout the night and seems quite miserable. He has been particularly bad for the last 10 days.

Unfortunately he started teething at around the same time as we started weaning him, so it's hard to tell which the problem is.

We are doing baby led weaning (i.e. only finger foods that he can pick up himself) and his nappy has huge chunks of food ( !!)and I'm wondering if his could be uncomfortable for him to pass. Be interested to know if any other blw mums are experiencing similar problems.

Hi there

Not doing BLW so no help there sorry. The one good thing is that our LO is still happy.

I spoke to a friend of mine today and her LO started teething at the same time as weaning and they had waking every hour. We have no teething so I am guessing its just the food.

Have to admit I have given her milk only all day today just to see what happens.

I'm really sorry that I've only just seen this thread, you sound on the verge of pnd - but clearly you're not there yet because you can see the need to ask for support. This is positive.

I wanted to post because it sounds a little like the problem I had with my daughter. She would eat, pull off and fall asleep and 10 mins later she would eat again. I couldn't do anything and was just a feeding machine. I hated it.

Don't beat yourself up about giving a bottle. I got through without giving a bottle and am quite militant about breast feeding but getting beyond that line and falling into depression would do more harm to DC than the odd formula feed.

Before you do the bottle thing though you might want to try this - it's what worked for me. When DC is feeding keep a close eye and as they look tired pull their ear gently to wake them up (or any other way you can keep them with you). Or if not falling asleep then after they've pulled off, take their head firmly and put it back. This is harder because it feels like you're being cruel - you're not. They're tired but they need to eat so that they can sleep better. Obviously you need to use sensitivity and care, I'm not suggesting hurting the child - before the mumsnet police arrive.

The point is to get DC to take more and better quality milk so that it stays in the tummy longer and then they can sleep. (It doesn't sound like cluster feeding to me but snacking which means they take the watery thirst quenching bit and not the more nutritious stuff).

You may find that there is the difficulty of not producing enough though because that's the pattern your breasts have got in. So you might find it worth trying a bottle in the day to build up the supply for the next feed and then trying what I suggest. Hopefully that will lead to a bigger feed and a longer gap - meaning a bigger feed next time. The gap should get steadily bigger and the vicious circle will reverse into a positive one.

Oh and if you do the mixed feeding, don't forget you could start expressing in the day and then use that as some of the bottle feed.

What ever you did or try good luck! Both mine were/are counter-intuitive as babies - pulling away as a sign of hunger being just one example!

Sorry! Managed to put above on wrong thread!

Hi Pip. Same here. Ouch. Just came on to post a question about infacol and solids and say your post.

I'm actually growing more and more convinced that DS has trapped wind. He's been unsettled since we started solids but it's really escalated this last week. I'm gonna have to trawl through my notebook (thankfully I write things down) to try to find the culprit. But who knows if there is one?

It's really hard to figure out isn't it?

MY Ds did this too I gace him less fruit and veg at dinner and only a little porridge after his milk and it stopped...

for 5 weeks then it started again for 3 nghts because he got 2 teeth!