What is the impact of food diversification on baby sleep?
Does food diversification have an impact on baby sleep?
When you are going to start the food diversification of your child, it is a huge upheaval for him.For 4 to 6 months, it has indeed ingested exclusively milk (whether breast milk or infantile milk) and now vegetables, fruits, then proteins and other foods appear in its menus.A hell of a change!What you put on your child's plate will have an influence on its development and its habits, in particular their sleep.Indeed, when baby's diet diversifies, his food needs during the night become superfluous and therefore goodbye night awakenings ... in principle!But it will also depend on the milk offered to the infant during the first months.
In breastfed children
Some children have only known breast milk up to 5 or 6 months, as the World Health Organization recommend.During the introduction of solid foods, the breastfeeding child is often still claiming one to two feedings overnight.Indeed, these feedings are a habit taken by the infant which will then produce endorphins (hormones of well-being, appeasement).The solution to make baby make his nights?Start by installing a well -established bedtime ritual and above all, make the couple decision to leave baby in his room when he wakes up overnight.Little by little, your child will less secrete endorphins and these night comfort feeds will no longer be necessary for him.
In the event of mixed breastfeeding or breastfeeding in infantile milk
Vidéo du jour :Diversification generally occurs around 5 months (or sometimes 4 months if the baby is subject to gastroesophageal reflux).At that age, the child has the ability to chew.The pediatrician then advises the DME (diversification led by the child), a process which invites the parent to offer pieces of the size of the baby's fist that the child will eat little by little.By following this method, the child will be pushed to chew and therefore to develop his nasal breathing.Direct consequence: his sleep will be improved.For those who opt for classic diversification, based on purees and compotes, sleep will also be modified.With solid meals, the child will be satisfied for the night and will not generally be awakened by hunger during the night, provided that you respect the right proportions.
Do you have to start diversification before 6 months to improve baby sleep?
The World Health Organization recommends exclusive breastfeeding up to the age of 6 months. French health insurance has not recommended food diversification before the age of 4 months. A British study of 2018, the results of which were published in the journal Jama Pediatrics, goes against this advice and invites you to start food diversification before the age of 6 months ... so that baby sleeps better! According to the researchers who conducted this study, introducing solid food in the baby under 6 months old would save 17 minutes of sleep and reduce the number of night awakenings by 9% on average. According to our pediatrician, we can recommend earlier diversification in certain cases, but the results of this study are to be taken with tweezers. However, when we see how food diversification is carried out around the world, we realize that certain cultures sometimes introduce from the birth of other foods than milk ... However, in France the discourse of pediatricians s' grant that of WHO.
What to give food to baby in the evening before going to sleep?
If the food has an impact on sleep, the content of the plate is what will really count.Baby must be able to make his nights without being awakened by hunger.He must therefore have a balanced diet throughout the day and especially at dinner.A satisfied meal and easy to digest in the evening will be just as important in its sleep as the bedtime ritual.You can start with milk and cereal porridges the early days of diversification, but very quickly you will find the right balance between milk and other foods.In total, the evening meal at the start of food diversification must be equivalent to 250 to 300 mg, balanced between milk and the rest.
Are some foods not recommended in the evening?
In the same way that certain foods can be difficult to digest in adults and complicate sleep, certain foods are to be avoided before going to bed baby:
- banana- chocolate- legumes- red meats- tomato- the cabbage
However, there again, each child is different and some will react better in the face of these foods than others.Listen to your child and analyze their reactions!
Baby has trouble sleeping at the time of food diversification.What to do ?
If in general babies are going to sleep better (to the delight of parents) at the time of food diversification, some infants have difficulty experienced difficulties.Do not panic, baby's sleep is not an exact science, so check these factors that can prevent it from doing its nights:
- a quantity of poorly adapted food
Diversify your diet, yes, but not anyhow.A baby has clean needs that must be respected.Too large quantities of food or conversely, a sub-regime, can contradict its sleep.So you have to listen to your child, try to find the right balance.
- poorly digested foods
As mentioned earlier, certain foods can be badly received by your child.Try to determine the foods that bother your child and eliminate them from the diet in the evening, for example.
- phases of its development (which have nothing to do with food)
The 8/9 month crisis, does that mean anything to you?This phase, also called "fear of the foreigner", is a key period of the development of the baby.This is a sign that he makes the difference between his mom and another person.But this can generate a fear of separation at bedtime, which will cause sleep disturbances.The diversification which is contemporary at this stage has nothing to do with it ...
Lire aussi :If you have any other questions about sleep and baby diet, you can consult these two works by Dr. Arnault Pfersdorff:
