Feed babies solids at 3 months to aid sleep
FEEDING babies solid food from when they are three months old could help them sleep better and improve their long-term health, a study suggests.
The Government currently advises mothers to feed babies exclusively with breast milk until they are at least six months, then gradually introduce solids.
But the new study suggests they do better if solid food is given earlier alongside breast milk.
Experts believe the study – funded by official bodies including the Food Standards Agency and Medical Research Council – should lead to a change in infant feeding guidelines, which are due to be reissued next week.
But officials are understood to be reluctant to alter the advice, even though it is ignored by most mothers – 75 per cent introduce solids before five months and a quarter did so to stop their babies becoming hungry overnight.
The NHS Choices website says this is a mistake and that solid foods will not make babies more likely to sleep through the night.
But the new study, by researchers at King’s College London and St George’s University of London, found solid food did in fact increase sleep time and reduced the number of times a baby woke.
The authors said improving sleep from an early age would help longterm health, reducing risk of obesity and diabetes. And the better babies sleep, the better their parents’ quality of life. Study leader Professor Gideon Lack, of King’s College London, said: ‘The results of this research support the widely held parental view that early introduction of solids improves sleep. ‘While the official guidance is that starting solid foods won’t make babies more likely to sleep through the night, this study suggests this advice needs to be re-examined.’
The researchers tracked 1,300 babies, half of them given solid foods from three months, and half fed exclusively with breast milk until at least six months.
The findings, published in the JAMA Pediatrics journal, showed those given solid foods slept for 16.6 minutes longer and woke 13 per cent less often in the night than those on just breast milk.
The authors also found the benefits were long lasting, with babies who had started eating earlier still sleeping better at one year old.
Professor Lack said the recommendations should still be decided by officials, but added: ‘Guidelines are changing around the world.’
The Food Standards Agency said: ‘There are limitations to the findings. We are encouraging all women to stick to existing advice to exclusively breastfeed for around the first six months of age.’
Dr Alison Tedstone, of Public Health England, said: ‘This is a single study and does not change current advice. We recommend babies are exclusively breastfed and not introduced to solid foods until around six months of age.’