Timing solids and BF > 4 - 5am NF making it difficult

[KimMackay]

Hoping I can word this right without sounding confusing.

My LO is 6 months old and we just started solids about 1 1/2 weeks ago.  I've read and been told, not to offer solids until 1 hour after BF.  The problem I'm having is timing.  Currently my LO is waking once through the night...and really it would be considered a morning feed.  He wakes around 4:30-5am and then usually goes back down....but then he's up at say 6:30am. Now if I were to wait 4 hours to BF again, it would fall right at the beginning of his nap.....and you're supposed to give the boob before solids, so I don't want to offer him solids first when we get up.  If I offer boob again at 3 hours...then there isn't enough time to offer solids before his nap (making sure I give enough time to digest a little).  I haven't been able to offer solids during the morning now and I'm BF closer together just so I can fit it in during our second A time (short napper here). Not really sure how to handle this.

Should we be cutting out that 4 - 5am feed?  Today he didn't wake until 5:40am....this was too early to start the day, but really messed things up for the day.  I feel like if he could just wait another 30 - 45 min, then we could just get up for the day.

Will he eventually start to push that feed out so that he's just waking up when it's time to start the day?  I don't really feel like I couldn't feed him when he wakes between 4 - 5:30am.  He would never go back to sleep without it at that WU.

Does this make any sense?

[Erin M]

Makes total sense.  It does sound like he's pushing it out himself if he made it until 5:40 today.  Can you try to limit the feed - like if he feeds both sides, to only feed one side and then resettle?  That was how I managed to get rid of that feed with my dd1.  

And he's so little right now, you really only need to do solids once a day to introduce a new food for him to try.  You could just do solids at lunch time for now (to get it in the earlier part of the day in case of a reaction) and not worry about trying to fit it all in the morning right now.

[LouiseV]

Definitely agree with not worrying too much about the solids - they are more just a play thing at this age, and only give a very small amount nutritionally (if you are still breastfeeding then its more just play and learning  - they still get all they need from you) and its better to make it a positive experience than to worry too much about filling them up or the timings etc

You could always have a look at baby led weaning if you're interested - we switched to this approach at about the same age as your LO and suddenly feeding became fun and I adored our "mealtimes" - although very little was actually consumed for a few weeks!! Bu what I did find was that by 8-9 months my baby was really good at regulating how much milk / solids they needed and I wasn't needing to be hung up on when / how to offer BFs - if that makes sense? He also ate pretty much anything I handed him (after awhile) and learned to handle gagging/choking etc pretty quickly...

Anyway, was just a thought - I was just like you, its soo confusing!! And then I was getting anxious about what to feed, when to get texture in, what textures, what is ok/not ok - its like a whole new world!!!!!

[KimMackay]

He only feeds on one side...so it's hard to limit the feed.  If I were to pull him off early, he would just get super ticked and that would wake him up even more.  

He's become constipated...so solids are on hold for a few days  Poor little guy.  He was loving his cereal and sweet potatoes so far....now he just has an upset tummy.

With the baby led weaning....what did you do at first?  I would be so worried about him choking.

[Erin M]

I'd check this out for more info on BLW
http://babywhispererforums.com/index.php?topic=224254.0

Hmmm...no go on the short feeds then.  Honestly I'd just keep at what the ladies on the sleep boards are telling you to do and it will even out. 

[Fiver]

There's also a great description of what it is and how to do it (basics) on a BLW FB group (http://www.facebook.com/BabyLedWeaningLetYourBabiesFeedThemselves?sk=info)

We do BLW with DD and it's great.  She can then regulate how much food she has in comparison to milk.  As solid food is mainly for fun before 1y it's not a big deal if not a lot goes in to start with and it also means you don't have to make separate things for LO than for the rest of the family (just modifying with less salt/sugar etc)