Should I start DD on soids?

[LarsMal]

I am at a loss. After three solid months of sleeping through the night (8-10 hours) DD has started waking up again. For the past two or three weeks she has been waking up several times during the night, but I can usually just put her paci in and she goes back to sleep. There have been a few times, though, where she wants no part of that and I have to feed her. This week she has slept through two nights, woke up for the paci a couple nights, and then last night she was up from 1-2:30 wanting to eat, having a marathon feeding, and still not wanting to go back to sleep. I finally caved and put her in bed with us so she could fall asleep and then put her back in her bed.

At first I thought it was a growth spurt, but I don't remember DS's growth spurts going on for weeks!

Should I try her on cereal? I'm wondering if she is ready to start solids. Maybe a fuller belly might help her get through the night. I was trying to hold off until closer to six months, but I guess 5 1/2 is pretty close.

Any input is greatly appreciated!

[pb&j]

I think it's fine to start her on solids, but I wouldn't expect miracles with her sleep.

[Clarity]

Everything I've read suggests that there is no correlation between solids and sleeping through the night. That said, I did start my dd on solids at about your dd's age. My dd had been sitting on her own for at least 3 weeks by that time and showed other signs of readiness. And, we were ready too.

I'll add that it was at about 4 months that my dd started waking up at night again and she did that for at least a month and a half before finally sleeping through the night again. I don't know if it was a growth spurt or some developmental gain at that stage, but she definitely reverted to night wakings.

[hillview]

My sister tried this at about this age (same wake up issue) and it didn't solve it. That said every child is different so you could try it if you think it will help. My sister stopped after a few nights when it was just a big mess and didn't help.
GOOD LUCK!
/hillary

[egoldber]

I would start solids only if she seems ready for solids:

http://www.kellymom.com/nutrition/solids/solids-when.html

I wouldn't start solids in an effort to help her sleep. There's usually no correlation.

[LarsMal]

I didn't realize there wasn't a correlation between solids and sleeping (I don't read many of the books b/c they make me more neurotic than I already am!). I'm glad I posted here, b/c I am not really ready to start DD on solids, and while she's starting to show signs of readiness, I don't think she's there quite yet. I guess I'll just keep doing what I'm doing, maybe try to wake her before *I* go to bed to feed her and hope that she sleeps through. Other than that, I hope it's just a phase and she gets back to her good sleep habits!

I didn't experience this with DS- my rockstar sleeper- so I am just so tired!

Thanks again :-)

[lisams]

When DD was around that age I would wake her right before I went to bed to "top her off". Seemed to give me a few extra hours before she woke.

Good luck, hope you're getting some good sleep here soon!

[SnuggleBuggles]

I topped ds off too. I usually came to bed right around the time he would probably wake up anyway but it was nice not to be woken up 20 minutes after falling asleep. I could reset the clock btw feedings and get a stretch of sleep in me.

I tried solids with ds around 5 months and for like a night he seemed to sleep longer. It didn't last at all and we gave up on solids till after 6 months.

GL!! That's the thing with infant sleep, huh? It just plain isn't reliable. You get settled into a routine and it just goes away. :( Of course, if it had been a bad routine those changes are good. :)

Beth