Solids and Sleeping--Do babies sleep better when they start on solids?

I've read and heard that once solids are introduced (rice cereal/oatmeal/barley) that babies will likely sleep better through the night...is this really true?

 

Hi! We started cereal at 4 months 3 weeks and it did not help my boys sleep through the night. At 5 1/2 months they were introduced to even more then just cereal and were eating plenty during the day. They still did not STTN so that is when we had them cio since they were eating out of habit at night.

eta-I actually just found this in my notes from that time...
We started rice cereal in the mornings by spoon. Nicholas loves it and Seamus hates it. He cries when it goes in his mouth. We noticed it made them gassy so we switched to Oatmeal. We are desperate to have them sleep longer at night so we were giving it to them with their last bottle (by spoon). Again, we think it bothers their stomach so we are going to get used to them waking up to eat at night and stop the cereal for now. We will try in a couple of weeks again.


At 5 months 1 week they ate 1-2 tablespoons of oatmeal cereal after their morning bottle.

5 months 2 weeks we added sweet potatoes in the morning.

And then at 5 months 3 weeks -we are doing squash and cereal in the morning and sweet potatoes and cereal around 5:00 before their last bottle

Just thought I would share that since I had my notes out!

 

We started veggies at just before 6months and it didn't have any impact on their sleep, they still woke up at night to eat 1-2 times.

 

Nope

 

We started with breakfast, because I wanted to make sure they had no reactions to new foods and doing it at night seemed a little dangerous to me. Solids impacted their formula intake though, and they stopped drinking as well and actually started waking up more at night again. At 7 months we started dinner (after their last bottle... or they wouldn't drink and wake up at night again), and they started STTN after a week. But they still STTN when we skip dinner, so I honestly don't think it had much to do with it.

 

Solids did not help my girls to sleep longer - in fact it upset Amelia's tummy so she actually slept worse at first.

 

If you think about it, solids like rice cereal have less fat and protein than breast milk or formula, so there's no logical reason for them to help babies sleep longer. It's probably an old wives' tale that simply arose because babies are getting older at the same time they're getting introduced to solids, so they might naturally start sleeping better at around the same time just from age.

 

QUOTE
If you think about it, solids like rice cereal have less fat and protein than breast milk or formula, so there's no logical reason for them to help babies sleep longer. It's probably an old wives' tale that simply arose because babies are getting older at the same time they're getting introduced to solids, so they might naturally start sleeping better at around the same time just from age.


Bingo! Solids do not help babies sleep better. My DD actually STOPPED STTN when we started solids.

 

For me you will get a resounding NO! Mine were on 2tsps of rice cereal per ounce of formula-a total milkshake for reflux and they were on solids during the day and did not STTN until they were 9 months. They just had to mature into STTN.

 

answer No.

I read the book "healthy sleep habits happy child" -- highly recommended on here and that is how my two are on a great schedule and sleep habits. I've never followed any book to the letter but they help.

other ideas are music, lavender oil (or vicks for babies which is just oils), sleeping bags, etc.

find the time to read a good sleep book you will LOVE it.

heather

 

QUOTE(fuchsiagroan @ Oct 24 2008, 07:45 AM) [snapback]1039975[/snapback]
Bingo! Solids do not help babies sleep better. My DD actually STOPPED STTN when we started solids.

Oh don't tell me that Holly! I"m loving his sleeping habits but today is the day that we will be starting rice cereal.. which reminds me, I gotta replace the batteries in my flash & charge up my camera battery!

 

No, its a myth. Babies generally (I use that term loosely) start sleeping longer at about 4 months anyway, and as that is also the age that a lot of ppl start solids, the assumption was that they were related.
Mine have been sleeping fairly well since they were about 3 1/2 - 4 months. DD sleeps through, and DS can sleep through, although he often wakes up at 2 or 3 in the morning, and we only started solids this week when they hit 5 months.