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Many parents give their babies solid food before the usually recommended age of six months, in the hope of getting them to sleep better. A large British study published Monday, July 9, 2018 in the American journal JAMA Pediatrics confirms this practice, although it does not completely solve the problems of sleep. Be careful, however, not to introduce it before the age of 4 months, according to the French Pediatric Society.
In a 2010 UK survey, "l was right cited by 52% of respondents for the introduction solid before 6 months was the perception that their baby was no longer satisfied with dairy foods ", explain the authors of the study. However, the British recommendations recommend waiting 6 months to introduce solid foods. In France, since 2015, the low limit is 4 months, according to the French Society of Pediatrics. The experiment, which initially focused on allergies, was conducted on 1,303 three-month-olds in England and Wales, selected between 2009 and 2012 and followed up to their third birthday. Half of the parents were encouraged to give solid food, such as fish or wheat, before six months, while the other half of the children were exclusively badfed for up to six months. All mothers were asked to complete a detailed sleep questionnaire 15 times between the ages of three months and three years.
+17 minutes of sleep and -9% of nocturnal awakenings
Result: children who started to eat solid food earlier slept longer and woke less often at night. Thus, babies with early diversification slept up to 16.6 minutes longer than others. They also woke up less often, 1.74 times per night compared to 2.01 times for other babies, when looking at the median. This means that half of children eating solid foods woke up less than 1.74 times a night. Although apparently small, the difference is significant and corresponds to 9.1% less nocturnal awakenings in babies who started solid food before 6 months. " At the age of 6 months, when the differences between the two groups were the most significant, infants in the early introduction groups slept two hours more per week and woke up twice as much at night a week. "comments St George, University of London in a statement. Few studies have involved so many children, with such a rigorous protocol, with participants randomly divided between the two groups. " Since infant sleep directly affects the quality of life of parents, even a small improvement can have significant benefits ," said Dr. Michael Perkin, author of the study, a senior lecturer in Clinical Epidemiology and Pediatric Allergy Consultant at St George, University of London
Researchers, including Gideon Lack of King's College London, acknowledge that it is possible for mothers participating in the study responded more positively to the questionnaires when they were asked to provide solid foods, anticipating a positive effect. But according to them, it is unlikely that this bias has lasted beyond six months. In total, they conclude in their article, the recent new guidelines recommending parents to expose their children earlier than before to foods that can cause allergies, such as peanuts, could also produce a benefit in terms of sleep, both for children … as their parents.
NOT BEFORE 4 MONTHS . " Diversification should not be started before the age of 4 months, because of the risk of allergy ", according to the French Society of Pediatrics. Nor should it be delayed after the age of six months, " because bad milk or infant formula alone can no longer meet the nutritional needs and development of the infant ". Moreover, " there is no reason to delay dietary diversification for children at risk of allergies (father, mother, siblings or siblings) beyond the age of 6 months, including for children with allergies. more allergenic (egg, fish, peanut, wheat, etc.) "
CG with AFP
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