Is it ok to feed baby solids before bed

Do Solids Help Babies Sleep?

Many parents have questions about starting solids and wonder how starting solids might impact their baby's sleep. Let's discuss the most common questions about introducing solids to your baby and how it affects sleep.

Will starting solid foods help my baby sleep better?#

Many hopeful parents truly believe that starting solids will be the turning point for those tough nights. However, research doesn’t support a significant connection between beginning solids and babies sleeping through the night. Adding cereal to a bottle, beginning solids before a baby is ready, or stuffing them full of food is NOT the solution to long, restful nights. In fact, studies show us that these three things can actually cause a disruption of sleep instead.

Please know, calories are an important component of restful nights, but adding solids is not the “fix” for most who are struggling with night sleep. Baby sleep is about so much more than just the fullness of a tummy.

How do I know if starting solids is causing problems with my baby’s sleep?#

For little ones who have a strong sleep foundation, adding solids usually does not derail sleep. But what should you do if nights suddenly become disrupted after beginning solids?

Ask yourself these questions:

1. Are solids replacing necessary milk intake?#

Understand that, during the first year, breast and bottle feeding is the main source of calories. Exposure to solids should never replace full breast/bottle feedings. If solids begin to replace milk intake, your baby may not get enough calories during the day, causing them to wake during the night.

This doesn’t mean you need to limit your baby’s solids, but instead try to follow these guidelines:

Avoid rigid feeding schedules.
Always be responsive to a baby’s hunger cues by offering the breast or bottle every 2. 5 - 3.5 hours during the day on a flexible feeding schedule.
Offer solids 30-90 minutes after breast/bottle feedings.

Your sample schedule when introducing solids to a 6 month old could look like this:

*Please don’t try to replicate this schedule exactly. Always be responsive to your baby’s hunger cues as you fit necessary feedings around nap times. The time of day when you offer solids can be whatever best fits your lifestyle and your baby’s temperament – in the morning, afternoon, or evening.

Your daytime routine for a 7-9 month old could look like this:

2. Is my baby experiencing physical discomfort after a new food is introduced?#

Don’t let this question alarm you. If your doctor has given you the "all clear" for solids, please don't let the fear of allergies or physical discomfort keep you from offering new foods.

Instead, watch for these things:

Allergic reaction: Speak with your doctor or get medical attention regarding any signs of allergies to food (itchiness, swelling, etc.). The AAP encourages introducing new food options to your baby one at a time and watching for their reaction. This will help you to identify possible allergies. (Please know that avoiding high allergen foods is no longer recommended after 6 months.)
Constipation: As we begin introducing solids, a baby’s digestive tract may need a bit of time to adjust, and for some, this can impact sleep. You may find your little one has bowel movements less frequently than before and/or the stool is more formed. This is normal and shouldn’t impact sleep. If your baby is experiencing pain and a firm belly (possible constipation), this should prompt you to contact your doctor.
More frequent bowel movements: Some foods may cause your baby to have more frequent bowel movements. When these poops occur at night or during the early morning hours, it will impact sleep. Simply keep track of what your little one ate and at what time. Try moving those specific foods earlier in the day. This issue typically resolves fairly quickly as your baby becomes more accustomed to eating solids.

Expert Tip: Once your baby reaches 6 months of age, be sure you are offering a couple of ounces of water in a cup as you offer solids too. (The AAP recommends waiting until 6 months to offer water and no more than 8 ounces of water per day for babies 6-12 months.)

3. Could something else be causing new sleep struggles?#

At the same time solids are being introduced, babies are facing huge developmental strides including: increasing mobility, expanding interest in the world around them, and changing sleep needs. Although it can look like introducing solids caused a sleep disturbance, this is often coincidental. Truly, your rough nights may have nothing to do with beginning solids.

If solids won’t fix sleep, how can I help my baby sleep better?#

Here are a few of the elements vital to restful baby sleep:

1. Age-appropriate daytime schedule#

Consolidated night sleep is directly impacted by what happens during the daytime. It’s important to have active awake-time, developmentally appropriate stimulation, and plenty of rest during the day too. (Yes, naps actually do help babies sleep better at nighttime.) Finding a flexible schedule that is age-appropriate will set your nights up for success.

2. Consistent bedtime routine#

In the 30 minutes prior to bedtime, offer a consistent bedtime routine that helps calm your baby and prepare for sleep. It doesn’t have to be complicated. It just needs to be the same activities in the same order each night. For example: change into jammies, offer breast or bottle feeding, read a book, sing a song, and put down into the crib.

3. Environment conducive to sleep#

Make sure your baby is wearing comfortable clothing, has an environment that is slightly cooler (but not cold), is using a sound machine, and has a dark room (use code Cara for 10% off).

4. Ability to fall asleep independently at bedtime and throughout the night#

Having the ability to fall asleep at bedtime without being fed, rocked, or bounced to sleep is the building block for great nights. Why? Because no one actually sleeps through the night. We all awaken multiple times a night (often without even knowing we are awake).

The key to having long, consolidated nights is the ability to connect sleep cycles by putting ourselves BACK to sleep after these wakings. Babies have to learn to do the same, and it all starts by falling asleep independently.

5. Adequate daytime calories#

We know that hungry babies don’t sleep well, and sleepy babies don’t eat well! Feedings and sleep are truly connected, so we always want to be responsive to a baby’s hunger cues. What does that mean? If your baby is hungry – feed them! During the first year of life, the majority of a baby’s calories should come from breast milk or formula, so we want to provide those full feedings every 2.5-3.5 hours during the day.

6. Solution to reverse cycling#

Often, exhausted parents are searching for a quick solution to get babies back to sleep at night. For many, breast or bottle feeding is their go-to response. However, more night feedings can result in a baby who simply isn’t hungry during the day but takes more feedings at night. The cycle repeats, and you have a legitimately hungry baby at night who doesn’t eat well during the day. The answer to breaking this cycle is to gradually wean night feedings so that your baby shifts all (or at least most) needed calories to the daytime.

7. Plan for teaching your baby to sleep#

If your baby is missing one of these elements, baby sleep can be so tough. Please know, help IS available. My 5–24 Month Collection will give you a step-by-step plan to 10-12 hour nights in the crib. These classes will cover bedtime, night wakings, night weaning, and naps through the first two years of life. You’ll have a plan to follow anytime sleep is disrupted: through regressions, teething, illnesses, and setbacks too.

Can solids affect how well your baby sleeps?

The introduction of solids into your baby’s diet can be a confusing process. There’s so much information and advice out there, and you can’t be entirely sure how your baby will react.

But it doesn’t have to be difficult!

The introduction of solids for your baby is the first time their bodies suddenly have to produce a range of new enzymes that are required to digest food. Combined with the production of new gut bacteria, it can be a strange time for your baby.

Their tummies will feel a bit weird, their bowel motions will change, and they might have more gas.

All of that doesn’t always add up to a good night’s sleep!

It’s a myth that your baby will start sleeping perfectly once they start solids.

Especially when you consider the fact that some children favour solids, so they eat too much volume-wise, they can certainly begin with a more uncomfortable sleeping experience.

It’s important to approach the introduction of solids into your baby’s diet with a little caution so you can minimise the impact it’ll have on their sleep.

With some preparation, it’s possible to do so!

Knowing what meal to start with

Often, it feels natural to start your baby off on solids for breakfast. After all, it’s the first meal of the day.

However, offering breakfast first can be the start of a solids and milk imbalance that keeps your baby awake at night. If your baby isn’t getting the milk they need during the day, they’ll often be awake at night wanting a feed to make up for it.

I typically suggest starting with ‘lunch’ – which technically will happen around 11am after your baby’s morning milk feed.

This meal gives your baby plenty of time for their food to be at least partially digested by their nap, and there are several more hours for any reaction before their night sleep starts.

Foods to help a good night’s sleep

Eating the right solids plays a huge part in the way your baby sleeps and there are a few food groups you should aim to incorporate into your baby’s diet sooner rather than later to help your child get more restful and restorative zzzzzzzs.

For starters, foods rich in tryptophan and B vitamins aid the production of the sleep-supporting transmitters serotonin and melatonin. Poultry, bananas, kidney beans, eggs and dairy products are all great sources of this nutrient.

Ensuring your child is eating plenty of protein throughout the day also helps them to sleep soundly. Protein is broken down slowly by the body, helping to maintain the body’s blood sugar levels and preventing night-time wake ups.

Calcium is a natural muscle relaxant and has a calming effect on the central nervous system, both of help with a more restorative sleep. Great sources of calcium for your bubba include dairy products, tinned salmon or sardines, leafy green vegetables, tofu, broccoli and almonds.

Magnesium is also a great muscle relaxant and can be found in leafy green vegetables, nuts and seeds, beans, lentils, brown rice, quinoa, avocado, bananas and dairy products.

Finally, iron is another essential to include in your baby’s diet – whether by way of lean red meat, green leafy vegetables, beans, tofu, sesame seeds, pumpkin seeds or fortified cereals.

I find that when it comes to ensuring your child is getting all the necessary vitamins and nutrients, homemade food is the best. While commercially prepared baby foods are helpful at times, it pays not to be completely reliant om them. A baby should ideally have some good, wholesome home-cooked meals as well.

I once worked with a baby named Zoe, who was 12 months old and still woke at night for at least two bottles.

She and Mum were both over it!

Zoe really loved her ready-made food pouches and had one at each meal as well as chopped up fruit and finger food.

To get Zoe sleeping through the night, we gave her diet an overhaul; she needed more protein and carbohydrates, as well as a wider variety of foods throughout the day.

Within a week of the diet, and accompanying sleep routine timing changes, Zoe was sleeping right through!

This backs up the fact that some simple diet changes can a big difference to our little people’s sleep.

Foods to avoid while introducing solids

As well as foods to include, there are other foods that can trigger pretty negative reactions when it comes to sleep – particularly foods that are difficult for developing tummies to digest.

Raw banana and avocado are full of complex fats/carbs that can be tricky to digest, so might be better saved for later on your baby’s solids journey. consider these a stage 2 food.

Quinoa is another potentially difficult one – while it’s gaining traction as an immensely healthy food, it is very fibrous and difficult for wee ones to digest.

Additionally, older children can have their sleep disturbed by bowel motions while sleeping. This can happen when your child’s diet is rich in fibrous foods. It’s best to limit foods like bliss balls, dried fruit and green smoothies.

It’s also important to remember that baby’s need carbohydrates to both have energy and also to get a good night’s sleep – so their bodies won’t appreciate a meal plan low-carb or diet food based!

They also need more than an entire ‘meal’ of pear, pumpkin, courgette or carrot.

Consider each meal you’re giving your baby and ensure it is balanced with some sort of carbohydrate – at first this might be baby rice, sweet potato or oats, and later on it might be quinoa, rice, pasta or potatoes.

All in all, it’s best not to rush the process of introducing solids and give your baby more than they can handle.

Take your time, enjoy the process, and think about any food from the point of view of your wee one and their digestion!

It’s all about the timing

No matter what solids you have your baby trying, the timing of eating is perhaps even more important than the eating itself.

While milk is fine to have right before bed, solids are much harder for children to digest so can wreak havoc when it’s time to sleep.

Start your solids at least one hour before you know you will put your baby to bed – whether that’s during the day or in the evening.

Getting it right

Understanding your baby and their digestion can take a little time, so it’s important to have patience during the process while you both figure out what works best. Getting the timing right, as well as starting with the ideal meal is a great place to start.

It can see fraught, but also try to remember that introducing solids is exciting!

It marks the beginning of a fun journey of watching your child be introduced to a whole new world of flavours, textures and taste.

Emma Purdue

Emma is the owner and founder of Baby Sleep Consultant, she is a certified infant and child sleep consultant, Happiest Baby on the block educator, has a Bachelor of Science, and Diploma in Education.

Emma is a mother to 3 children, and loves writing when she isn't working with tired clients and cheering on her team helping thousands of mums just like you.

Night feeding of a formula-fed baby

— Polina Aleksandrovna, do formula-fed babies need night feeding?

- Artificial feeding - a situation in which a child receives formula milk instead of breast milk. Whether to feed at night or not with this regimen depends on the stage of infancy: from birth to a year, the child changes very much and very noticeably.

Night feeding of the baby on IV

- Up to what age are night feedings justified with artificial feeding and how many should there be?

— Each age has its own norms. A newborn receives food 3-4 times a night, babies have a maximum of 1 feeding by the year, after which they stop eating at night. Formula-fed babies are less likely to eat at night, because with this option there is no close contact with the mother and the habit of falling asleep - a woman often puts a breast-fed baby with her breast.

— When should nighttime feedings be considered successful? How much mixture to give the child at night - are there any norms for night feedings?

— The daily amount of food for the full development of the child is calculated using special formulas. The volume is not divided so that most of it falls on the day or at night - the portions are equal. At the same time, for each age, the average number of meals is recommended (for a newborn - 7-8 times a day, for a child closer to a year - 5-6 times), which is divided by the daily norm. That is, the volume of night feedings does not decrease, since the volume of the baby's stomach is unchanged during the day. You can cover the baby's need for nutrition only with a full portion corresponding to his age. Therefore, at night, the mother feeds the baby in the same volume as during the day.

- Should the baby be raised for feeding if he is sleeping soundly?

— Much depends on the situation. If the child eats well during the day, is steadily gaining weight and growing within the age limits, he has enough nutrition, and there is no need for night food. The baby is growing up, and it does not make sense to disturb him during sleep.

In a different situation - with a lack of weight (sometimes children are given artificial feeding, because on breastfeeding they add weight extremely poorly) - the baby needs to be awakened. He should receive the age norm of food.

— Baby stopped waking up for night feedings — should parents panic?

- The main indicator is precisely the weight and height gain. The largest increase is observed in the first months, then the pace slows down. If development goes on without delay, with good increases in height and weight, and during the day the child eats enough milk formula and complementary foods, then there is no reason to panic (children often stop eating at night with the introduction of complementary foods). So the child adjusts to the adult mode and sleeps peacefully until the morning.

— When should I stop formula feeding my baby at night?

- You need to look at the condition of a particular child. It is one thing when by the year he eats quite satisfyingly during the day - in this case, there will be no need for night feeding. But if a child eats little during the day, then even by the year he will still ask for food at night. On average, about a year (plus or minus 8 weeks), the baby stops eating at night.

— How to wean an artificial person from hungry night awakenings?

— Drinking a bottle at night is not a habit, but a necessity. Breaks between doses of the mixture should always be at least three hours, so the baby does not need to be fed every hour at night. But if the baby's nightly need for nutrition is not satisfied, nothing good will come of it. No need to wean him from nightly "snacking" as a bad habit, this is a child's physiological need, and parents are obliged to satisfy it.

Night feeding schedule

— What “nightly” mistakes do parents most often make when breastfeeding?

- A baby up to a year old has the right to night feedings, this is not a problem and a pathology. Often there are parents who want to wean their child from eating at night for a month, which is simply impossible. It is necessary to adequately understand whether the child is ready to give up night feedings.

Most Common Mistakes

Offer water and other beverages to the child without meeting the need for food.
To rock a baby who has woken up from hunger. He might take a little nap. But as soon as the motion sickness stops, the hungry child will wake up, and he will have to be fed anyway. Mom will be tired, and the child without deep sleep and rest will also accumulate fatigue and break the routine. In addition, he will get used to motion sickness, from which it is difficult to wean.
Use a pacifier. The pacifier will satisfy the sucking reflex but will not make the baby feel full. It is necessary to adequately assess the condition of the child in order not to make such mistakes.

MAMACO ^® 1 Premium with 2'-FL human milk oligosaccharides is an important step in the evolution of baby nutrition.

— Will refusal to feed at night provoke digestive disorders? What is considered normal, and when to contact a pediatrician?

— Gradual withdrawal of food at night and the end of night feedings are physiological, and there is no point in feeding a child who does not want to eat. A situation may be alert when a nighttime refusal of food is accompanied by poor health. It is necessary to take into account how bad the child feels, and the reason for this condition, because there are children's ailments of varying severity that occur at night.

- Do children develop health problems if they continue to eat at night?

— If night feeding is not removed until a certain point, the risk of developing a habit of eating at night, violating the age norm of nutrients and gaining extra pounds increases. However, the time limit is rather arbitrary, and formula-fed children who eat too long at night are rare. Often such babies eat less during the day and more at night. Therefore, it is necessary to properly distribute nutrition: this will help artificial children get rid of nightly “snacks”.

— What are the best foods to use for night feeding?

- For night feeding with artificial feeding, nothing else is used, except for an adapted mixture. At night, children are fed from a bottle, and only expressed breast milk or artificial formula can be obtained through it. The child "sleeps like a baby" if he is satiated during the day, receiving the amount of milk and solid food he needs.

The MAMAKO 9 product line helps parents diversify their diet0082® . The product range is wide - baby formulas, milk porridges, fruit and cottage cheese purees, vegetable soups will satisfy all the needs of young children. The products are based on highly digestible goat's milk, and the likelihood that the child will remain hungry is minimized.

Night feedings up to a certain age will be the norm. Do not remove them early - it can harm the child. As the diet grows and expands, the baby begins to receive fairly large portions and cover his needs during the day, and at night he needs food less and less. At some point, the child independently stops asking for supplementary feeding, and night feedings go away almost by themselves.

* Breast milk is the best food for babies. WHO recommends exclusive breastfeeding for the first 6 months of a child's life and continued breastfeeding after complementary foods are introduced until the age of 2 years. Before introducing new products into the baby's diet, you should consult with a specialist. The material is for informational purposes and cannot replace the advice of a healthcare professional. For feeding children from birth. The product is certified.

Should I feed my baby at night?

Restful sleep and nutrition

Each child has his own individual rhythm of sleep and nutrition, as well as an individual need for them. Just in newborns in the first weeks of life, the ability to distinguish between day and night has not yet been developed. The child is simply not used to going without food for a long time. Indeed, in the womb, he could satisfy hunger at any time of the day or night. Therefore, at least in the first weeks, he will certainly wake you up at night for feeding.

If you are formula feeding your baby, unload yourself and take turns with your partner for nightly feedings. It is also possible if you express milk in the evening and store it in the refrigerator (from +4°C to +6°C, closed for no more than 2 days).

After three months, the baby can go without food for longer, so he has a longer nighttime sleep than daytime. Starting at about 6 months, babies no longer need nighttime feedings, as at this age the rhythm of hunger and satiety in a healthy baby stops at daytime.

Before going to bed - milk porridge

Milk dessert with biscuits

Milk porridge at night is more satisfying than milk food. HiPP milk porridges are available both in instant form for easy dilution with water, and in ready-made form, for example, our Good Night milk desserts. You can give milk to your baby first from a bottle and later from a cup. It goes without saying that with the introduction of complementary foods, the child should get used to the spoon, and his diet should contain a sufficient amount of solid food.