IYO, does formula/heavy solids help them sleep?

[cilantro]

I'm so desperate for sleep.  B-bot started crawling.  His sleep is even worse.  I'm so tired.  I'm just so so tired.

So, I thought formula/heavy solids helping them sleep was just supposed to be a myth.  Does anyone have any belief/evidence to the contrary?

Sorry, this is a half-coherent rant. 

[littlemisschatty]

I think the lack of sleep has more to do with a growth spurt and the new skill than what he is eating. IMO (and this is based on nothing by my own experience), sleep has more to do with development and each kid is so different.

...Brought to you by someone who survived the 4MW recently, and tried CIO, and my son started eating cereal all around the same time. So did CIO make a difference? Did the cereal? Or did he just make it out of a developmental phase? WHO THE FUCK KNOWS.

Anyway, hope it gets better for you soon!

[bunch]

For this kid she definitely sleeps better when she eats dinner (1 wake v 2) but I can't imagine it making a difference for true sleep issues.

[Deleted]

Nope

:-(

But time does. Around five months it got a ton better for us.

[dbsk8dance]

No. E eats a lot. She sleeps like crap.

[Deleted]

Nope. At least not in my experience. I formula fed each of my kids starting at around 3 months and none of them started STTN until much later. Sorry.



eta: It does, however, easily allow you to share night duties with your H, which may lead to more sleep for YOU (which was all that really mattered to me anyway, lol). You're sounding pretty wiped. Maybe you should let him take over for a few wakeups?

[kdubs923]

I BF but had to start supplementing with formula at a week old due to weight loss/slow weight gain. I've since been able to cut back on the amount of formula we give. BUT I always give 4 oz of formula before DS goes down for the night. When he gets formula, he'll give me a 5-6 hour stretch. When it's just breast milk, it's more like 3 1/2-4ish hours.

Not sure if it will help you, but in our case, formula does mean better/longer sleep for us.

[cinco]

I've noticed a correlation with DD2 between how much she eats for dinner and how much she sleeps. It is part of the reason why I'm so frustrated that I can't get her to eat!

[Marmee]

It seems to help my DD4. She's 9mo & when just nursing, she wanted to all night long. It drove me crazy. Now that she's eating significant solids, she's only waking up 2-3 times & will actually detach the nursing on her own. Also she's in a lull in teething & according to Wo der Weeks is now in a sunny period...so it may just be that too.

[Deleted]

It did not seem to make a difference for us.

[cilantro]

Jan 6, 2014 15:11:17 GMT -5 @lcap said:

Nope. At least not in my experience. I formula fed each of my kids starting at around 3 months and none of them started STTN until much later. Sorry.



eta: It does, however, easily allow you to share night duties with your H, which may lead to more sleep for YOU (which was all that really mattered to me anyway, lol). You're sounding pretty wiped. Maybe you should let him take over for a few wakeups?

He actually has been, as sometimes it just takes the paci and a quick belly rub, and I limit nursing to no more than 2 times usually.   

It doesn't matter, though...we share a wall and have a monitor.  We are both still getting woken up each time he wakes up.  Even though he goes back down pretty easily, it's been every hour a lot of nights after a certain point.  Like, he will sleep 7 to midnight, then up every hour until 7.  Awful. 

[turtlegirl]

With DS2 we got longer stretches on initial sleep if he got a bottle at bedtime (didn't matter if it was BM or formula) than if he nursed. I think when he was nursing he got all warm and snuggly and would just fall asleep at the boob before he was truly full. With a bottle we'd be able to make sure he got that last oz or two he needed to fill up his tummy right before bedtime.

[sjh722]

It didn't make a noticeable difference for us.

[Deleted]

Jan 6, 2014 15:16:22 GMT -5 cilantro said:

Jan 6, 2014 15:11:17 GMT -5 @lcap said:

Nope. At least not in my experience. I formula fed each of my kids starting at around 3 months and none of them started STTN until much later. Sorry.



eta: It does, however, easily allow you to share night duties with your H, which may lead to more sleep for YOU (which was all that really mattered to me anyway, lol). You're sounding pretty wiped. Maybe you should let him take over for a few wakeups?

He actually has been, as sometimes it just takes the paci and a quick belly rub, and I limit nursing to no more than 2 times usually.   

It doesn't matter, though...we share a wall and have a monitor.  We are both still getting woken up each time he wakes up.  Even though he goes back down pretty easily, it's been every hour a lot of nights after a certain point.  Like, he will sleep 7 to midnight, then up every hour until 7.  Awful. 

When we had nights like that we divided the night up into shifts and switched at around 1 or 2 just to make sure we each got a decent stretch. Is that something you guys could do? If space is an issue in your apartment, I'd turn the monitor off and let one of you sleep on the couch while the other handles the baby. Good luck, I know how draining multiple wake ups can be.

[zeewifeandmama]

Nope. Usually upsets my kids tummies and they sleep like crap

[anna7602]

Maybe this is an old wives tale, but size had more to do with her sleeping well than anything else. Once she hit about 16 lbs, she started consistently STTn, with the exception of teething, illness and hitting milestones like crawling, walking, etc.

[cilantro]

Jan 6, 2014 15:29:20 GMT -5 @lcap said:

Jan 6, 2014 15:16:22 GMT -5 cilantro said:

He actually has been, as sometimes it just takes the paci and a quick belly rub, and I limit nursing to no more than 2 times usually.   

It doesn't matter, though...we share a wall and have a monitor.  We are both still getting woken up each time he wakes up.  Even though he goes back down pretty easily, it's been every hour a lot of nights after a certain point.  Like, he will sleep 7 to midnight, then up every hour until 7.  Awful. 

When we had nights like that we divided the night up into shifts and switched at around 1 or 2 just to make sure we each got a decent stretch. Is that something you guys could do? If space is an issue in your apartment, I'd turn the monitor off and let one of you sleep on the couch while the other handles the baby. Good luck, I know how draining multiple wake ups can be.

This could be a good idea...I can sleep with earplugs, too.

Sorry for so much whining about this today, mmm.  It was just a bad weekend for sleep. 

[cilantro]

Jan 6, 2014 15:31:16 GMT -5 anna7602 said:

Maybe this is an old wives tale, but size had more to do with her sleeping well than anything else. Once she hit about 16 lbs, she started consistently STTn, with the exception of teething, illness and hitting milestones like crawling, walking, etc.

Yeah....I have a 22 lb 7 month old....

[CloudBee]

Solids may have helped, but formula did not impact his sleep.

[Deleted]

No.

*cries deeply*

[thebreakfastclub]

One thing that really swayed me to try FF was hoping it would help with sleep.

Mine STTN at 10 weeks. I do think it was the addition of the swaddle, white noise, ON diaper that really did the trick as a package. He would probably be a good sleeper regardless, since teeth and milestones do not affect sleep.

I did read James McKenna's site while pregnant, and he does claim at some point that BF babies do sleep for shorter periods of time. That site encouraged me to have a reality check with myself and discouraged me from BF big time.

[carolinagirl831]

Jan 6, 2014 15:05:42 GMT -5 cilantro said:

I'm so desperate for sleep.  B-bot started crawling.  His sleep is even worse.  I'm so tired.  I'm just so so tired.

So, I thought formula/heavy solids helping them sleep was just supposed to be a myth.  Does anyone have any belief/evidence to the contrary?

Sorry, this is a half-coherent rant. 

IMO- I don't think so..
DD was on BM for 3 months and supplemented with formula, after 3 months she has been straight formula. Since 2 months she has woken up once a night to eat. I didn't notice any difference when we switched to straight formula. Recently she has STTN 3/7 nights. She is 10 months old.

You mentioned he just started crawling. Elle went through a major sleep disruption when she was learning to crawl. She would wake up in a crawling position and not know how to get herself back down. It was like her brain was telling her to crawl in her sleep.  Once she was fully able to crawl, it helped tremendously. This lasted a few weeks and was by far her worse sleep even compared to a newborn. She also seemed really hungry when she woke at night. We had to up her bottles oz. Now we've backed off because she doesn't finish it.  I think such a major develpemental milestone like crawling had her waking and needed more food.
Recently she has been eating more solids, but drinking a little less. Her sleep has been better, with her sleeping through the night more often but I think it's because she's moving so much she is tired.
good luck everything is a phase and will pass!

[schrodinger]

LOL, no. Nothing so far has helped sleep.

[carolinagirl831]

DH and I also fully switch each night. Its better than slitting nights, because every other night one of us gets a full night sleep. that helps tremendously imo.
It's amazing how much i am able to block out if I know its not my night.

Also don't rush to get him the second he's up. We found she would fuss a little and then sit down and fall over alseep. Obviously if shes all out screaming we'd get her. But him being up once every hour, maybe you don't have to get him every time.

[h]

No. My 8 month old eats a ton, including lots of protein and carbs, and he is still up 3-5 times a night. Sometimes more. His big brothers were the same way. IME, nothing helps but time.

[dcn]

Nope. Sorry. Time and consistency was really the inly thing for ds. He still has bad nights due to growth spurts, developmental spurts and teeth.

Hang in there!

[litasail]

Jan 6, 2014 16:06:12 GMT -5 spunbutterfly said:

I just read the crawling bit.

If he just started crawling, he will want to wake up to practice it. His brain is running at full speed and he's excited.

Every milestone of this magnitude will be met with a loss of sleep. Standing and walking were fun ones here.

Yup, agree with this completely.