Breast feeding and sleeping through

[Megansmum]

Ok ladies, seeing as you are the best to ask. Why is it that when I solely breast feed my 7 month old DD she sleeps through the night from say 8pm to 4am, then goes down from 4:30 to 7am, but when I give her solid food after say 5-6pm she will be awake every couple of hours at night? I have noticed this a couple of times.

DD loves her solid food. Will eat most things. Even uses cucumber for her teething. She regularly has 2-3 solid feeds a day. I should probably also say that she does not go to bed at night much before 8pm. Any earlier and she is awake at 4am until about 9am.

Any help thoughts and suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks Sarah-Jane ;)

[Funkychicken]

Hi Sarah-Jane
It may be something as simple as Megan's system becoming used to solid food still or maybe an intolerance (not allergy) to certain foods. This can be tricky because elimination of different foods for periods of time can be very confusing. Maybe you could look into the types of food she is eating and see if any of them are actually not reccomended for her age. There is a really great philosophy that teaches us to feed our babes/children according to the way it grows. For example; we begin feeding them with foods that are grown at the highest point (closest to heaven) such as fruits from high trees and vine style vegies and continue working downwards towards the ground, leaving root veges until they are at least toddlers. I know it sounds a bit odd especially as we are taught to introduce everything possible to vary their tastebuds but having spoken with parents who have followed this system, they seem to have very contented babes with few tummy issues.
I know if I have been on a detox program (eliminating wheat, sugar etc...) when I do eat it again, I have terrible cramps and many toilet visits-not pleasant. And this is usually just from bread after no bread for 3 weeks!
Best of luck
--------------------------
Sal-6 weeks to go!

[TLCC]

when she is up at night after solids, is she crying, does it look like she has a tummy ache?? We found after some foods that Tayla would be awake a couple of times a night just with a tummy ache. We found her dirty nappy's slowed up a lot as she got used to solid foods which I think also gave her a tummy ache some nights. It has definately improved as her system has developed.

Pear's seemed to do it when served on their own. Mixed with apple it was fine. I guess try eliminating foods and check out how long it takes foods to digest before bedtime to eliminate that possibility. Maybe also she is eating too much at night and is just over full?? not sure how you could tell but its worth looking into.

Tayla is a late sleeper too and doesn't go down till 8 or 8.30pm at night. She has dinner at 5.30 - 6ish and then BF at 6.30/7pm and hopefully to bed at 8pm then sleeps through till 7am (wakes a bit but resettles).

[Maghan]

She just might not be ready for solids yet. DD didn't have solids until nearly 10 months old. Lots of people were worried and in shock. The paedatrician was a little concerned. But I don't know what all the kerfuffle was for, she's nearly 3, never stops eating, is smart, happy and healthy!

Just give your little one a month and try again or just go for really bland foods?

I think JanetF would be good on this one, where are you JanetF? Come out, come out wherever you are?

[Megansmum]

So far all very valid points. Thanks for responding so quickly. She is not awake crying, she is more looking for another breast feed, when she is awake at night.

I unfortunately had to introduce some other form of food for her at 3 1/2 months as I wasn't producing enough milk due to other stresses, but that has all but disappeared. When she wouldn't take formula, I started giving her small amounts of solid food in the evening to sleep through the night and it worked like a charm until about a month ago when she started waking every couple of hours. I have always made her food fresh and hadn't introduced anything (I thought) new recently. So I went back to square one and cut out everything but her Vita brits (doesn't have additives like Weet-bix) of a morning and then the rest of the day she was Breast fed and she slept all the way through. After about a week I started reintroducing her other foods and the night waking started again.

I have tried just fruit through the day, other days just veges, other days a combo of meat and veges. All caused the night waking. As soon as I went back one solid feed and breat feed she started sleeping again.

I just thought that it was weird. She didn't seem to have an obvious stomach ache, not crying or anything, she is just awake.

Please keep the thoughts and suggestions coming. They all help.

Thanks Sarah-Jane :D

[Maghan]

Megansmum, that's what they do, they wake looking for a b/f. That's completely normal, especially if they are on a growth spurt. I always look for a drink of water in the middle of the night, so maybe my DS/DD were just thirsty some nights too

[Megansmum]

DD does drink anything up to 300ml of water a day, especially in this heat and I have always offered her water to drink every time she wakes up at night as well as breast feed. Some days through the hotest days she only wants water/juice to drink instead of breast fed. It is just too hot.

Thanks for the thought ;)