Desperate for some help with sleep & solids😣

Please know less food intake isn’t (always) the reason for poor sleep. My son is almost 1 year old and only just started sleeping through the night about 1-2 months ago but he has always eaten like he’s starving at every meal.

We’ve always struggled with his sleep so no advice there, the only thing that helped my son sleep through the night was we had a mini holiday at my mums house and he immediately started sleeping perfectly at her house 🙄 not sure why, but he did, and now I just cross my fingers every night he doesn’t go back to waking 5 times every night

Hi! My little one is 10 months too and she’s only just started sleeping longer stretches in the night. I’ve been feeding her cerelac mixed with breastmilk/water an hour before bed, followed by a feed right before bed and it’s been keeping her full for longer in the night. Sometimes when my little one is refusing to eat I stand up and hold her on my hip and feed her whilst holding her which I know is not ideal but it seems to work for us! Hang in there, it won’t be long and she will be sleeping through 🙂 some babies just take longer that others but it will happen one day xx

The struggle is real and you’re not alone.

I have a 10 month old and we coslept for the longest time but it just wasn’t sustainable anymore. I purchased a guide from Raising Healthy Sleepers on Instagram and it helped massively. Yes it is sleep training in some form but I was there next to my baby every step of the way. It’s completely up to you what you feel comfortable with though! 💗

Food wise, I also sometimes put my son on my hip and feed him whilst holding him. For some he eats more that way sometimes. I also offer him snacks that I find at the shops and then I dip them in whatever purée I made or I feed him a spoonful of purée while he eats his snacks. I’m pretty sure that’s not the best way of doing it and before I became a mom I always thought I’d never do sometimes like that, but my son is super active and loses lots of energy so feeding him only fruits and yoghurt (the only things that he genuinely loves) just wouldn’t be enough so I’m finding a way around it 🤷🏽‍♀️

My son is 15 months old and has never slept through the night. Just know that what you're experiencing is very normal, just really freaking hard.

My son is 9 months and he is exactly the same! Down too refusing bottles and only eating cucumber and yoghurt or custard. He gets up every hour at night and if we sleep longer then that I try think what I did different too repeat but it's honestly nothing. As far as iv gathered from asking around once they have formula they will sleep longer but my son refuses so it's just a battle we need to push through unfortunately babe, but you've got this! Enjoy the extra cuddles, she may also be teething? Have you tried some panadol before bed? My son has just cut 3 at once so I'm guessing that has been keeping him awake also.

Yeah I dunno if food has much to with sleep, well not in my sons case anyway. This kid is 11 months old, eats enough to feed a starving family in Africa every day and has about 3-4 bottles a day and is still up every hour from when he goes to bed, until about 7am. I don't think these babies sleep any more. My other two followed the eat play sleep routine perfectly, this guy refuses and does what he wants. I have done the sleep classes, had the health nurses come to my home and try help, he just isn't a sleeper.
If you're really worried about the eating though, I know it sounds dumb, but have you tried putting her food on your plate and giving it to her? My son could have the exact same thing in his bowl as I have on my plate, and he will still prefer mums food 🙄
If you find the magic trick to get her to sleep through the night, please let me know 😭

Are you nursing her back to sleep at night? How many breastfeeding sessions do you have during the day? I reckon she might be getting too much milk, which is often reason for poor appetite for solids (she's likely never truly hungry). I would also recommend introducing spices and different flavors/textures. Babies like food that is full of flavour (no salt and sugar. Solid Starts is a good website with plenty of ideas.

As to sleep, you probably have been assisting her to sleep and at each wake-up throughout the night? My first child was rocked to sleep, second breastfed to sleep and at 8 months they were waking up almost hourly requiring parental assistance each time to fall back asleep. I'm a big fan of sleep training as I know how positive it is. We went from hourly wake-ups to sleeping through the night after sleep training. There are also a lot of approaches out there so it really doesn't have to involve leaving a baby to cry. It's about empowering bub to connect sleep cycles independently.

At 10 months, try offering her solid food before her milk feeds rather than the other way around.

And her sleep most likely isn’t related to how much she’s eating! My 17mo only slept through for the first time maybe a month or two ago? And it’s now a very rare occurrence and she eats so much 🤣

Are you feeding her at night? She’s old enough now that she could handle night weaning. It can be a tough process - a few nights of even worse sleep - but then she’s likely to wake les at night.

This should make her more hungry during the day.

My number one piece of advice with the food is to try not to worry about it though - every baby starts doing things at different rates. I stressed so much about my baby only wanting to eat purée and that went on for months, but then at some point it just shifted and he finally started eating some finger foods. I stressed when he would only eat certain foods and would refuse others repeatedly, but eventually his tastes shifted. Sometimes he goes off foods that have been his favourites and will eat only foods that he’d previously hated. These changes happen soooo slowly over months, but they do happen eventually. Your baby is getting lots of nutrients from breast milk. Just keep offering different foods, but do not get pushy as it can backfire.

I can offer anything in regards to sleep as my daughter slept well, but for solids I always offered what we were eating and she was never super interested also ebf no bottles. It wasn't until 1 where she really started to eat. They go through a lot at such a young age. Just keep offering and try not to feel bad when they don't eat or throw their food around. Eat together and model as much as you can. Remember milk is still their main source of nutrition until 1. Hope sleep improves for you

You want your baby’s relationship with food to remain positive. Try and feel breezy about it and have faith it will change eventually. Just follow your baby’s lead.

Good luck. Be kind to yourself.

I do recommend The Ellon Barron Program they go over sleep settling, introducing solids, understanding sleep settling, understanding toddlers behaviours and remember as a parent if you are doing enough then that’s all that matters, one thing I will recommend for foods is give her a variety on a plate and she will pick what she wants, if she doesn’t eat it all that is okay, she will pick what she needs, babies know what they need like us mummy’s when we have cravings it’s the same for them

I would also stick to main meals 30 minutes in the high chair then out and then for snacks it is a 10/15 minute high chair sit

And like what the other mum said always introduce foods first before boobie

And for sleep always have a routine/association for example reading a book before bed, it teaches them to wind down before bed and gets them into the pattern of sleeping longer. For me when my son was born our evening routine was bath bottle bed now it’s dinner, bath, book, bed same for the day nap as well, gotta keep in consistent. Children/babies LOVE routine

My now 14mo daughter also just didn't really like food for quite a while. It did improve when I reduced her milk intake, I guess she just wasn't hungry enough for solids. I've come to terms with the fact my girl just doesn't have a big appetite, as long as there's nothing medically wrong and they are a healthy weight you just have to trust that they'll eat what they need to/want to. I know that's harder said than done, but pressure to eat when they don't want to will just make everything more difficult for you both.

As for sleep, her overnight sleep got a lot better when we got naps going smoothly. Being careful with wake windows was very important for us as if she was too tired when she went to sleep for the night she'd 100% wake up at either one or two hours after bedtime and be quite difficult to get back down again. She'd also wake up way too early as well which just kept the crap sleep cycle going.

Hope you see some improvement soon 🤞

I would definitely explode tongue tie and food allergies. Both those things affect both eating and sleep. The red flag for me is bub waking hourly on a regular basis

Tongue tie: has bub been assessed by either an ibclc or a paediatric dentist?

Allergy: any family history of food allergies? Any excema?