Author Topic: Did starting solids affect sleep?  (Read 8907 times)

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Offline oneplusone

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Did starting solids affect sleep?
« on: January 04, 2012, 01:31:46 am »
We just started this week and his sleep has been awful. I know that some people swear by starting solids early you are filling up the baby and they sleep longer at night. Others insist this is a myth. So much conflicting info. Anyways, we waited until 6 months and bit (until we were back from Xmas vacation). Now we are on day three of pears and he's waking up every 2-3 hours at night. Just wants his soother back in and he'll go back to sleep. He seems much fussier too. Not more gassy, just fussier. 

So... did starting solids affect your LO's sleep? Positively or negatively? Or is this just a coincidence with all his 6 month stuff that's going on?
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Offline Buntybear

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Re: Did starting solids affect sleep?
« Reply #1 on: January 04, 2012, 07:04:18 am »
Solids can affect sleep as their digestive systems get used to digesting new substances. You wind like you are taking things slowly anyway so personally I would just for things to settle before adding things like meat which are even harder to digest.

Offline oneplusone

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Re: Did starting solids affect sleep?
« Reply #2 on: January 04, 2012, 13:14:39 pm »
Thanks for replying. Just wondering what others had experienced. He had a better night last night so maybe it's just a coincidence. He doesn't seem grassier and he's such a gassy baby. Maybe it's just all the other things, like rolling, sitting, etc... That are stressing him out. If it was the solids at least that's something I could control.
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Offline Buntybear

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Re: Did starting solids affect sleep?
« Reply #3 on: January 04, 2012, 17:22:49 pm »
Glad he had a better night. Something just to ride out and see maybe?!

Offline Lemonthyme

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Re: Did starting solids affect sleep?
« Reply #4 on: January 04, 2012, 19:15:59 pm »
So many things can affect sleep, it might be related, it might not.  The first year is basically one growth spurt on and off!  Then there are the developmental leaps, teething...  The list goes on.

As you're past 6 months, most people don't bother doing 1 food for a few days.  If I only ate pears for 3 days and milk, I might feel a bit odd.  Why not try a bit of variety? 
Here's my blog which is focussed on simple food for babies, toddlers and families http://mamacook.blogspot.com/

Offline creations

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Re: Did starting solids affect sleep?
« Reply #5 on: January 05, 2012, 08:40:43 am »
My has always been a great night sleeper (apart from obvious illnesses) and we also got lots of sleep disruption when we introduced solids (5.5 months).  I've also read lots and lots of other mummies find the same.
I believe a really good milk feed before bed is far more important than the amount of solids a LO has, it's the milk that will see them through the night, not the solids.

Agree with Lemonthyme too that you could be more adventurous now LO is 6 months.  Going slow on purées I think is more to do with when LO is much much younger (they used to start as young as 6 weeks so of course there was a need to go very slowly)


Offline oneplusone

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Re: Did starting solids affect sleep?
« Reply #6 on: January 05, 2012, 12:37:46 pm »
Hmmm. Yes he's got lots of stuff going on developmentally. The guidelines here (Canada) are to still wait 3 ish days to watch for reactions. Since I have a lot of food allergies I'm more comfortable with this. I'm still BF 5 times a day, before bed & dream feeding.
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Offline creations

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Re: Did starting solids affect sleep?
« Reply #7 on: January 05, 2012, 17:38:17 pm »
Since I have a lot of food allergies
Very wise to go slow in that case.
You could try some finger foods to give LO a variety of texture, so if for example you've tried out pear and it's been ok, you could then try pear wedges as a finger food whilst introducing the next food.


Offline oneplusone

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Re: Did starting solids affect sleep?
« Reply #8 on: January 05, 2012, 20:56:33 pm »
Thanks Creations. I may try that. We've done sweet potatoes now too and he seems good with those. Next up... maybe squash? Going slow seems to be working for him. It's not like he's eating that much anyways and still getting the majority of his nutrition from BM. Of course I'm introducing the least allergenic foods first. I'll wait a while for the grains and definitely until a year for non human milk.
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Offline creations

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Re: Did starting solids affect sleep?
« Reply #9 on: January 05, 2012, 22:33:23 pm »
People introduce different things at different time, all down to what suits you and your LO really.
My LO loved sweet potatoes but it firmed up his poop so I balance it out with a prune if needed.  The sticky on laxative foods is a very useful read, it's handy to know what other people have experienced and to work out what firms or loosens your own LO so you can naturally control the poop with foods.
I think cooking the same foods in various ways and offering as finger foods will keep your LO interested.  Sweet potato is lovely steamed, mashed and roasted so if Lo is ok with it then you have the option of variation in the diet without ploughing ahead too quickly on different foods.
My DS wouldn't eat the same thing two days in a row so I am quite the one for looking for variation.


Offline oneplusone

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Re: Did starting solids affect sleep?
« Reply #10 on: January 06, 2012, 02:01:45 am »
He seams pretty pleased with just getting to sit at the table and eat like us, so he's not so bothered about eating the same thing a few days in a row. Maybe once he gets a bit older he'll be a bit more particular. I'll definitely give finger foods a try soon since he started grabbing the spoon and figuring it out a bit more.
DS grumpy since 2011
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