solids at 11pm!!!

[Leecie]

Hi,
     for the past month and a half my little one (7months) suddenly started waking several times in the night. I tried water first but she would wake half an hour later, crying... So i bf her and she would sleep for another 3/4 hours and again wake..   i know, feed her more solids.!!!

Easier said than done.. she has a fair bit and then sprays it everwhere. She used to eat more when she was much younger (weaned at 4 months). I started giving her pudding, but i'm afraid she will start to refusing dinner completely.

desperate for some sleep..... really desperate.... she is waking more than she did when she was a newborn....

last night she went down at 7.15pm and at 11pm she woke... hungry looking for milk. i knew if i bf her she would wake four hours later, like clockwork. someone had suggested I give her supper in the evening, but she is too full from having her dinner and I still want room left for bedtime bf. ....so i give her some mashed banana, which she ate, to my surprise! I then gave her one side bf and she settled back to sleep

it was 7.25am when she started to sir this morning. I couldn't believe it.

I know feeding her this late can't be good, but when your desperate you will do anything for some decent shut eye.. does anyone have any similar experiences or any advice... thanks, Lisa

[sa]

i think teaching baby to eat at night may not be a good idea. but i understand how desperate you feel.

how much does your lo eat during the day? and what does she eat?
do you give starchy food like potato/or rice?

[sandraorion]

Well, the goods news is that you proved that's what she needs. Now you know what to do, it's just a matter of finding how.

When is her last meal before going to bed? Maybe you can offer her solids right before going to bed. That's what we are trying with Adrian since we eat dinner between 4pm and 5pm and he started waking up early.

The other approach is to increase her food slightly throughout the day, a bit here and there. What does she eat now? Maybe she is ready for heavier food, meet and cheese? Maybe her dinners should be made of more filling foods, sweet potatoes and bananas instead of green beans and apples. Just some ideas.

Adrian ate freakishly a lot at that period/

[Leecie]

Thankyou fo replying, my hubby is driving me mad saying this is normal........he won't be saying that when he goes back to school  :?
 
I have been giving her tea at 5pm and as I said, she is always to full to eat anything else. i might try and give her tea at 4pm tomorrow and then supper.  But then it is so close to sfternoon milk..help!!!! There really isn't enough hours ion the day, I feel like i am constantly feeding her.

She has a varied diet including, meat, cheese, milky puddings etc.  typical day
7am: wake
7-7.30am breakfast: weetabix and fruit
9-9.30: milk
9.45-10 sleep (45mins)
12 noon: lunch: vegetarian lunch e.g, leek and pot soup & rice cakes
2.45-3pm: milk
3.30-4pm: sleep
5pm: tea, chicken salad puree & desert ( ate hardly any of that today!)
6pm bath
6.30: milk
7pm: bed       
night wakings: 1am, 5am ish around those times.

tried going back to feeding her at 10pm but just seemed to make her wake more.!!!

[sa]

i think your routine looks good. tea at 5pm should be ok.

try include some food that is "slow-energy-release" in each meal.
e.g. rice, lentils, potatoes, pasta, porridge, yoghurt.

this is what i give my 7 month old DS: (plus 4 bottle of milk a day)

breakfast: fruit + porridge.

lunch/tea: rice + vegetables + chicken (puree of course) / or sweet potatoes + vegetables.  yoghurt for dessert.

hth

[Leecie]

ok I'm going to keep a food diary and make sure i give her slow releasing food.

I've also decided to cut back on the puddings for now, just her normal fruit,yoghury,rice...

Thanks for replying, much appreciated    Lisa

[Deb_in_oz]

at that age i often fed alex her cerel at dinner time. they do not know what is "breakast" food vs. dinner etc and the cereal is slow digesting, won't cause a late poop and fills the tummy nicely.

[sandraorion]

I agree with Deb. At that period Adrian's routine was something like this:

7 am - wake and bottle
7:30 am - breakfast - oatmeal made with formula
10 am - nap (45 minutes)
11 am - bottle
12 pm - lunch - meat, vegetable, and fruit - one jar of each
2 pm - nap (45 minutes)
3:30 pm - bottle
5:30 or 6 pm - dinner - meat, vegetable, and fruit - one jar of each plus oatmeal made with formula
7pm - bed time routine with a bottle

No dreamfeeds, no feeding at night, no wakings. Once in a while he'd start waking up hungry, which was a sign to add more solids during the day.