Babies sleeping longer once on solids?

[MommyMika]

Hello

My son (who is a fabulous sleeper normally) has taken to waking every 2ish hours a night. He just eats, and goes back to sleep.

I have heard of babies waking and not being able to fall back asleep unless they are breastfed (because they need the boob to fall asleep) but I know this isn't the case with him, as he

eats long enough each time
I never feed him to sleep in the day - he naps on his own in his crib, no props.
I can put him down awake after

He seems like he is actually waking as he needs the food...

During the day he eats every 3 hours or so.

My husband and I are thinking it's because he's going to need solids very soon (he'll be 6 months on Oct 6th)

Any experiences with babies sleeping longer once on solids?

 

[xnmd1]

I wish my baby slept longer when he went on solids, but no such luck Hes now 9 months old, eats like a horse, and STILL wakes up for night feeds. *sigh*

 

[HellBunny]

Mine never did lol, he eats loads throughout the day and still wakes up lots. IT does work for some babies though!

 

[summer rain]

It didn't work for us, in fact solids being harder to digest seemed to make him wake more at night for a few weeks between about 7 months and about a week ago! xx

 

[patch2006uk]

No such luck here either. I think it's pretty well documented that solids have absolutely no effect on how most babies sleep. As summer rain said, for some babies it even makes things worse!

 

[membas#1]

haven't started solids yet either but my 5 1/2 month old is waking every 2 hours to eat as well right now. figure it's my back to work status and the fact that she falls asleep during the night feeds before she fills up. gotta keep her more awake!

 

[2016]

Nope. Solids didn't (and still doesn't) help him sleep longer. He is now 100% on formula and that doesn't help either. I think some babies just sleep better than others.

 

[Mizze]

Nope - being on solids made her wake up more frequently as she was struggling to digest and that was at 6 months. At 8 months Ive just had another really bad night because her tummy was really windy - that never happened when she was on just milk

YAWN
Mizze xx

 

[Angela49uk]

Solids hasnt made my LO sleep any better xx

 

[Rockell8788]

Not worked for us infact since we started solids he's started waking in the night when he previously didn't

 

[littlestar85]

It's a myth that solids make them sleep longer. Before LO started eating solids he'd sleep for up to 9 hours straight... Since introducing solids the longest he'll go for is 6 hrs then wake for milk.

Like Summer Rain said, it can actually make them wake more when digesting food. If my LO has pasta he wakes 2-3 times a night instead of the usual once a night.

The more breastmilk he has in a day the more he sleeps, that's the only sure way I've found to guarantee a good night's sleep!

 

[Natsku]

Not really, she's only just started to drop feeds in the night now and thats only because I realised some of them were just habit and not hunger. She actually slept better as a newborn

 

[Lara310809]

We weaned our daughter at 5 months because she was refusing her milk and essentially going hungry. We didn't notice any difference in her sleep; she was still waking through the night.

In my experience it's not worth weaning just to help their night time sleep, because it doesn't always work. A friend of mine was told to give her little boy baby rice before bed to help him through the night, and it also did nothing to change his sleep.

 

[Natsku]

The nurse told me to wean Maria at 4 months to make her sleep longer - I almost laughed in her face!

 

[yumyum1979]

well it worked for my first , reading this i cant believe how many babies it made worse ? that makes no sense to me , but just shows how different they all are and i supose every parent is different x

 

[GeorgeyGal]

I was wondering the same also, my LO slept 11hrs solid from 3 months up until a few weeks ago when we started weaning him on baby rice (advised by paed as he suffers from reflux), he now wakes up to 3 times a night and every now and again needs a middle of the night feed whereas he didnt before... seems to have made him v windy at night and he strains alot so switched him to sweet potato to see if that will make a difference.

 

[stardust599]

It worked for us.

My LO was always a poor milk feeder in the day due to reflux and we weaned at 3 months under a consultant paediatrician and paediatrician dietitian.

She only ever woke from genuine hunger, every 3hours roughly. Once she started on protein foods at 20weeks (meat etc.) and a good filling dinner she started to sleep much longer. With a few weeks she went from 7pm, 10pm, 1am, 4am, 7am to just 1 night feed.

xx

 

[AP]

No for us!

 

[Amyface]

Please don't put your child on solids unless you really think they're ready. It's a myth that babies suddeny waking up more in the night are doing so because they want solids. A baby is ready for solids when it's ready for solids, not because it starts waking up more. By all means, give more milk if you think they need it, but weaning earlier than you would want to isn't the answer. We're currently going through this with Myles - he's waking every few hours now when he used to sleep through the night from 9 weeks, but it's just a growth spurt. Around this age, babies are getting READY for weaning, and it contributes to them waking up more. Just put up with it for a few more weeks and wean when you think they're ready. If solids then help them sleep through the night then that's all well and good, but don't try and rush something you don't think they're ready for. There is no direct link between solid food and sleeping through the night.

 

[Vixen_17]

We must be a general exception to the rule then as Evie slept much better when she started solids. She finally started sleeping through the night... just up until I went back to work and now she's back to being a little monkey again!