Solids causing sleep problems?

[Gippie]

My DD is 4 months old and is a great napper and sleeper.  She would take a DF and wake at 5:30 - life was good.  NOw some new things have been happening...

1.  She started waking at 2-3am, in addition to the DF and 5:30am feed.  I THINK it was us needing to move to a 4 hour EASY and we are in the process - it is going well. 
2.  We started solids - she is doing well with them.
3.  Solids said - she still naps well BUT when I put her down for bed, she is fussy.  I hold her upright, she hangs out and then is ready to go to bed - this is something new.  Could it be from the solids?

I guess NO, because her daytime sleep is lovely!!!  Thats my question.  I will update how the transition to a 4 hour EASY is going.  Today we had 2 great 2 hour naps and a catnap - I felt likt she had "read the book" - but tomorrow is another story. 

Thank you,

Stacey

[teezee]

i had started solids early with my lo as per dr advice due to reflux and wish i hadn't!  it may have solve some of the reflux issue but definately opened a whole new can of worms b/c lo's digestive systems are usually still immature at that point, which will lead to more (different) tummy problems b/c of the inability for them to digest it properly/quickly...gas, cramping, constipation, etc.  usually any kind of pain is felt more at night and the discomfort would be worse and she isn't moving as much to get any gas moving kwim? in the meantime you may want to try some gripe water but that isn't going to be a solution...it may just ease some of the tummy  ache short term. if i were you i would definately hold off on the cereal/solids until 6 months..even then some lo's have issues...i would keep moving to a 4 hr easy and hope that she goes back to that amazing night sleep she was getting before. the extra night waking was likely due to her needing to have feedings further apart and i think you were definately on the right track moving to 4 hr easy. good luck!

[housh-rayvals]

we started our 4 month old daughter on solids when she was about 4 months old and had noticed that night sleep was no longer as great as it once was. We took her off the solids and her sleep went back to only waking up once a night for a feed (this was before we started EASY). Our daughter is now almost six months old and we are trying her with solids again and she is doing wonderfully. There's no doubt in my mind that her sleep interuptions were due to the solids.

[Gippie]

Thanks for the replies!   I am weighing the waiting advice and thinking about the changes and WHEN they happened. 

Her 2am waking started well before the solids - about a week or more at this point - but her going to bed (slight) fussiness was timely with the solids. I will say, once she settles in for sleep - she is 100% comfortable.  Her "new" sleep deal only takes her 15 mins - seems like she wants extra cuddle time? 

Last night she woke at 2:45AM and EXACTLY 3 hours later at 5:45AM.   "Back in the day" she'd WAKE at 5:30 for a feed and go back to sleep till 7:30 (and I used to think that was early!!!).   I revisited the BW solves....book and I saw the "Wake to Sleep" and I am considering that tonight - any feedback on that? Does it work?   I am still stretching the feeds out and she DOES take a great feed - so I am encouraged! How long does a change in EASY take to reflect in daily activity/sleep?   

SO last question.   If I STOP solids - is there any harm done?   Can a baby go "without" after having them?   

Thanks for all the great advice here and across the boards!!!   I am so happy there is a place for all the BW's.  As a new mom - 100% invested in the BW - I find that almost all of my statements start like this "Tracey says....".   My immediate family no longer says "Tracey WHO?".  Thanks for keeping her wonderful work alive!!!

Stacey and Quinn

[teezee]

haven't tried wake to sleep myself...have heard positve and negative feedback about it though.

you said that dd strted waking well before the solids (2am) but could that have been from the growth spurt and then turned to habit??  just wondering your thoughts on that.  if you are considering stopping the solids no harm is done at this point and to restart them in a few months.  the night wakings could also be partly due to lo filling up on solids(even if not getting much - she still has a very small tummy and can't hold all that much yet) and not getting enough bm/formula during the day so waking at night for the extra calories?? just another thought.

[Gippie]

All good thoughts.  I agree abut the growth spurt and turned to habit.  I think when I was keeping her on a 3 hour EASY and she needed more she was waking and now it's "what we do".  I will try the WTS tonight and I am going to put off the solids for a while longer.   I was eager to start  - she is such a big kid and I feel like she was always hungry.

One important question about "habitual waking"...I looked in my notebook and for the pst three nights her wake times were 1:20, 3 and 2:45 am.  Are those close enough to be considered the "same time each night" or are they different enough to read them as TRUE hunger.   I will say I believe they are habit - she wakes again nearly 3 hours after the first. 

I am off to read some WTS posts and will report back tomorrow.

Thanks,
Stacey

[teezee]

when you put her back to sleep at any of her night wakings (whatever time it may be) how long before she wakes again. if it a half hr or an hour i would say that she is in fact hungry and feed her.  at her age it is normal to have feeding(s) in the night but if it is just out of habit then she will sleep well after shh/pat and not wake up soon after. to me it does sound like habit...try the wake to sleep and after a week or so evaluate if it has helped or not.  if it has made things worse discontinue, if it has helped a little maybe you want to keep trying and tweak the timing a bit. regardless if she does still wake try sh/pat and if she wakes soon after that than i would take it that she is hungry and feed. hang in there if that is the case, in the next couple months it will get better as you will be able to take a little more control of the situation. good luck!

[Gippie]

Her night wakings - the newer ones - were always a feeding and she'd fall asleep right after - or during, since we were lying down.   I DID WTS last night and voilla!  it WOrKED!!!  I woke up at 1:45 and stirred her, said a little prayer and went back to bed.  She woke at 4:30 (she used to wake at 5:30) and went BACK TO BED like she used to.  I will call that success for day 1.  I plan to do it a few more days.

Regarding the solids - I stopped the rice - she did not have a BM yesterday and thats not normal for her, she's BF.  I will watch the going to bed ritual to see if it smoothes out with the changes.

Thanks
Stacey

[teezee]

congrats!  keep up the great work...and if there is any regression which is totally normal don't be discouraged! keep me posted!!