Will Solid Food Help Baby Sleep?
One common trick used to getting babies to sleep through the night is the old “cereal in the bottle” routine.
It has been used by parents for years, and I understand why it is so popular. As adults, we know that sleeping on an empty stomach is challenging. We also know that staying awake when you have just eaten a big hearty meal is next to impossible- think Thanksgiving!
So, the notion that a little cereal in baby’s bottle should take longer to digest than breastmilk or formula, which will keep them feeling full for longer, and therefore help them sleep through the night seems reasonable.
Unfortunately, the vast majority of parents who use this trick find that, even if it is successful at first, the results are only temporary, and here is the reason why.
Once your baby reaches a certain age and weight, (I will use the 6 month mark here as a happy medium) waking in the night is not about food. I have heard from parents who were getting up with their little ones 8-9 times a night, claiming that their baby was waking that often to eat.
Sure, baby might have nursed a little every time they were offered the breast, but that does not mean they were hungry.
What is much more likely is that baby has become dependent on nursing as a method to get to sleep, which is what we call a “sleep prop.”
After all, if they have nursed to sleep every time they have woken up for the first six months of their lives, it only makes sense that they will not be able to get to sleep without that familiar routine.
The cereal in the bottle works based on the idea that babies fall asleep at bedtime and do not wake up until morning, assuming there is nothing bothering them. But that is not how sleep works. Not for babies, and not for adults. We all cycle in and out of deep sleep, and at the end of every cycle, we tend to wake up. Maybe not fully, but we do attain a certain level of consciousness. As adults, we know how to fall back asleep and usually do so quickly that we do not even know we woke up.
In babies, that cycle is usually about 45 minutes, so even on a good night, they are going to wake up a lot. And if the only way they know how to get to sleep is by nursing, they are going to cry to get your attention, and wait for you to come in and help them out.
So if it has got nothing to do with hunger, how can you help them sleep through the night?
The solution to the issue is teaching your baby to fall asleep independently.
That might seem like a tall order for a 6 month old, but I assure you, they are fully capable of learning this invaluable skill. It is natural, and they typically take to it faster than you would expect.
Lots of babies will babble to themselves, rub their feet together, suck on their fingers, or some combination of all three. Almost every client I have worked with has had some new (and often amusing) trick that their baby has adopted as a sleep strategy. Let them discover these strategies on their own, and then let them practice a little. It is a skill after all, and skills take time to master.
Now, I am not saying that you should leave a crying baby to sort themselves out without any comfort or attention. You should feel free to attend to them, let them know you are nearby and available, but do not rock, nurse, or cuddle them until they fall asleep. Let them find a way to do it on their own. That way, when they wake in the night, they will have the skills they need to settle back down on their own.
Sleep Well!
