How do I know if he is ready for solids??

My son is 5 months and one week and has slept through the night on and off since three months, but only goes for a stretch of 3 or 4 nights before reverting back for a feed (mind you, hasn't slept through in AGES now!!!) He is put to bed awake, we have a good bed time routine and he can self settle during the night other than the one time he feeds.

Currently he feeds at 7am ish, 11am ish, 2.30pm, 5.30pm ish and has 100ml EBM before bed around 6.30pm ish.

He used to wake about 2 or 3am hungry, now it is before midnight most nights! And he wakes a few other times in the night (but self settles). How do I know if this is the change in sleep cycles or that he is hungry and ready for solids???

He is showing SOME of the signs (can hold his head up, putting things in the mouth, opens his mouth for spoons, tongue no longer protrudes) BUT doesn't really watch us eat.

I dont want to rush into solids if he is not ready, but also don't want to deprive should he need more than just my milk now :-)


Edited by 1st_Time_Preggies

Waking in the night doesn't necessarily mean he is ready for solids, it is actually more "normal" for babies at that age to wake than it is for them to sleep through, although it doesn't seem like it.

I always found the signs that Plunket and others 'advertised' as the ready signs to be quite confusing and not quite 'right'. Obviously being able to hold their head and tounge no longer protruding are important. But to me putting things in their mouth and watching you eat are just delvelopmental things and how they learn, Ben is 1yr and often follows me to the toilet and watches me *sigh* (no alone time even in the toilet!) but it doesn't mean he is ready to be TTed.

Like Kebakat suggested you could try him on some solids or you could have a look into BLW which is what I followed with Ben and I think has worked realy well; he is a great eater and does alot better at chewing etc than alot of babies his age or older. If you are interested have a look at this thread or this website, both have really good info

Will he take any more of the EBM? my little guy has a similar feeding pattern but he has 200mls of EBM before he goes to bed..

But i agree try it and he will soon tell you!

DS did this a few weeks ago and I was sure he was ready for solids. It continued for a week or 2 and now hes back to sleeping 10 - 12 hours overnight. I think it was just a growth spurt?

We are holding off on solids until we get his allergies under control.