5 months old - people keep telling me she's reading to eat

[Cattia]

My DD has always been a great sleeper. She has slept through from 7.30-6.30 from 7 weeks old, with the occasional night waking, but these have always been one off. For the past week or so, she has been waking up every night for a feed. She has a decent feed, taking about twenty minutes, then goes back down. It sometimes takes me a while to get back to sleep (she is always asleep before I am) but it really doesn't bother me that much, especially as I'm still on maternity leave until November so I don't have to be up quite as early.
The thing is people keep telling me it's a sign she's ready for food. I never had this with my older two as they were still waking several times a night at this age, but being such a great sleeper, something has definitely changed. I'm inclined to think this is just a development thing and hold off the food until she is 6 months. She is exclusively breastfed. What do you think?

 

[_Meep_]

Babies often have a bit of a sleep regression, typically at around 4 months, though it can happen later than this.

Being hungrier than usual can be one of many signs of readiness for solids, though it can mean other things too - it could be a growth spurt, for example.

There are plenty of other signs to look for when assessing a baby's readiness to accept solid foods. They need to have good, strong neck control, for example, and be able to sit up straight and unassisted in a high chair. They will have lost the tongue thrust reflex - the reflex that causes them to push objects placed in their mouth out with their tongue. They may show a great deal of interest in food that you or others around them are eating - staring, grabbing, opening their mouth, making noises to get your attention, etc. They may also copy your movements and make chewing motions with their own jaw - that was the biggest sign for us that our LO was ready at 5.5 months, and she took to it straight away.

You, and only you, will know and decide when your baby is ready. Other people don't know her like you do.

 

[Cattia]

Well she doesn't sit independently although she can sit up in a chair. She is desperate to get hold of my food and started doing the chewing thing a couple of weeks back. I'm not sure about the tongue reflex thing, I will check that tomorrow. I'm not in any great rush, but on the other hand if she's ready I'm happy to go with it. I'll be doing a mixture of purees and finger food so maybe I will try putting a little piece of banana or something in front of her and see what happens. The main thing that puts me off weaning is it's the end of those sweet smelling breastmilk nappies and the start of real poo... But I can't keep her EBF forever!

 

[Button#]

I would stay stick with breastmilk as if it is a growth spurt that will have more calories in it. If she's not sitting independently I would stick to purees for a bit if you do decide to wean.

 

[george83]

My lo is also 5 months old and for the past week has been waking up at 4am ish and taking a whole bottle before settling back down to sleep. Other than that it doesn't seem anywhere near ready for food so I would say it's just a phase but as pp said you know your baby best

 

[Cattia]

Maybe I will hold off another couple of weeks and see how she's doing. She seems to be trying hard to crawl but not really near to sitting independently. Maybe because I don't sit her up much, I just put her on a mat on the floor and she rolls onto her tummy and tries to get onto all fours!

 

[_Meep_]

This is actually totally normal - parents tend to 'teach' their babies to sit by propping them up, but the natural progression for a baby IS to roll over, push up, and eventually push themselves back into a sitting position.

If she can sit up in a chair, though, without slumping over forwards or sideways, that's what you're looking for.

I don't think there is any harm in trying her with a taste of something if you want to. If she isn't ready, I'm sure she will make that apparent.

Yes, the solids poop is gross and stinks, lol. Mine only used to go every five days though when she was ebf, so hers always stank of rotten eggs anyway!

 

[kellyc1987]

I've started my 5 month old on baby rice, he started waking at 5.30am, would make you really uncomfortable when eating by staring at you constantly and trying to grab your food, he did the chewing thing too and can sit himself up (started by going on all fours like your little one).

I think he was definitely ready to eat but people were telling me from when he was 3 months to start him on solids because "it never did them any harm" but I didn't feel he was ready then.

 

[_Meep_]

3 months is far too early!

 

[Bevziibubble]

Sounds like a sleep regression that a lot of babies have at four months old.
Everyone kept telling me to give my LO solids before she was ready. It turned out she wasn't ready until about 9 months.
She eats lots now but still doesn't sleep well at three years old. Solids don't necessarily guarantee sleep.

 

[minties]

There is quite a big change to sleep patterns when babies are about 5 months old. Rather than drift in and out of a lighter sleep, they tend to have sleep cycles more like adults. This means they wake fully after each cycle. As adults, we tend to perhaps shift position and fall back asleep immediately. We don't even remember waking up. But for a baby it can be unsettling and sometimes they realise they are awake and make a fuss or realise they are hungry. A 5 month old baby wakes fully about 5 times per night, so if your baby is only fussing one of those times that is pretty amazing!

It was very normal for my kids and I just nursed them as needed