Thought weaning was supposed to help babies sleep through?

[Al&Em]

Am I being really naiive (?) but I thought that weaning was supposed to help babies sleep through the night by filling up their tummies so they don't get so hungry at night? The total opposite seems to have happened with us - until we started weaning my nearly-7-month-old 3 weeks ago he used to sleep through the night from 7pm - 7am, settling himself back to sleep if he did wake in the night. Since we started weaning he's been waking up at least once or twice a night, including really early between 9 and 10pm sometimes, and seems to really struggle to settle himself back down to sleep. I thought at first that he was really hungry so started feeding him more solids (3 meals) in the day but have since scaled down to 2 meals as he didn't seem to be able to keep his milk down, so I thought he was making up for his lack of milk at night.

He's an absolute angel baby during the day - very good at napping and always happy and playful. He never seems to suffer from wind or a sore tummy during the day. So, is this normal and just him getting used to digesting solids? Sleep regression or a developmental phase that I just have to endure? Appreciate it could also be teething (still no actual sign of teeth though) which was what I first thought it was 3 weeks ago but it's been going on for ages now and I want my sleep and evenings back!

[Pickle]

It can happen - from memory (and it's been a while since mine were little babies) there's a risk of them cutting down on their milk, and at that age that's where they get the bulk of their nutrition. Try to make sure he's not drastically cutting back on milk and see how you go.

I've never believed that weaning will help sleep, as, particularly in the early months of weaning, the foods are all very low calorie things (fruit, vegetables etc.), so won't fill them up.

Good luck!

[mrs f]

Hi Em, could it be a tooth? we though C was being a pain waking up at all hours and unable to get back to sleep recently & couldn't work it out until a tooth popped through...???

[Yak]

I think round this age they tend to have another development leap / wonder week etc. But I loose track of where we are up to, to be honest - it all seems to blend into one thing after another!

Have you introduced protein / complex carbs yet? I found that really helped to keep the little one's tummy fully full, if you see what I mean.

Having said that, all has gone haywire today due to a combination of snot, wind and vast amounts of dribbling which I HOPE might mean this blessed tooth might pop through....

[Al&Em]

If it is a tooth coming through I wish it would hurry up!

Yak, unfortunately nothing more adventurous that fruit, veg and rice cakes for us at the moment... The joy of protein is yet to come!

[Gubodge]

The weaning/sleeping through thing is a bit of an old wives tale and it's just as likely to disturb their sleep. The unaccustomed digestive action can feel a bit odd and rouse them. It will pass though. If he's slept through before, he can do it again.

[ratty]

My daughter is certainly not correlating solid food to sleeping through and is waking at 4 every morning. Loudly.

[hellosailor]

with the clocks going back you can make that 3 o'clock Ratty...::o

[childsleepsolutions]

Hi there, I agree with Gubodge, sometimes the load on their digestive system actually leads to more disturbed sleep. Make sure that you introduce new foods at lunch rather than dinner, and also, as someone else mentioned, make sure he is still getting all his milk, the milk is actually more filling for them than some pureed veg! What a shock to the system though when he was previously such a good sleeper! Good luck