Babies need a nourishing-fat diet for good sleep

This is one of the most important blogs I have ever written.

What we feed our babies matters

I see many babies at 6-10 months having frequent night breastfeeds and even up to 15-20 feeds at night. These mums are so exhausted they don't know how to stop this situation. The baby is on very little solids during the day and they often wake at 5 am, nap badly in the day and are cranky by bedtime. These mums never started off planning to end up in this situation.

The big culprit is leaving the introduction of solids until 6 months. ASCIA (ASCIA guidelines 2017) recommends starting solid food at 4-6 months whereas WHO recommends exclusive breastfeeding until 6 months.

https://nurtureparenting.com.au/early-introduction-solids-reduces-food-allergies-in-babies/

https://www.allergy.org.au/patients/allergy-prevention/ascia-how-to-introduce-solid-foods-to-babies

A high-fat diet is essential for good sleep

Many mums are delaying starting solids until 6 months yet iron stores deplete at 6 months and the infants developing brain requires a nutritional intake of 50% fat at 6 months. Yet breast milk has only 4.4g of fat per 100mls, well below the 50% it needs.

https://www.zerotothree.org/resources/1372-how-does-nutrition-affect-the-developing-brain?

"Dietary fat is an important source of energy. Some fats provide essential fatty acids. Fat is also needed for the absorption of essential fat-soluble vitamins". (NHMRC)

NHMRC states "Restriction of dietary fat is not recommended during the first two years of life because it may compromise the intake of energy and essential fatty acids and adversely affect growth, development, and the myelination of the central nervous system".

https://www.eatforhealth.gov.au/sites/default/files/files/the_guidelines/n56b_infant_feeding_summary_130808.pdf

The traditional solids mums start on are very low in protein, carbohydrates and fat. Unless protein and fat are included in the diet at 6 months the baby will require much more breastfeeds than they were at 3-4 months old. And many of these breastfeeds will be at night.

A hungry baby starts waking more frequently at night after 3-4 months of age. Unless the necessary foods are introduced these night milk feeds can get really out of hand. I see many babies having up to 10 feeds at night. Once I examine their diet the reason becomes very clear.

"Nutritionally a baby after 6 months does not need night feeds," a direct quote from Dr Oliveira, Consultant Paediatrician at a seminar I attended on baby sleep on Tuesday 28th November 2017.

baby purees

How much solid food at 6 months old?

Most babies are eating 1-1.5 cups of food 3 x a day and main and dessert for lunch and evening meal. This is based on no night feeds and a baby who is sleeping well. Babies need to be able to self-settle to eat enough solids for growth and development. It's not the other way around.

Number of Calories Babies Need

Your baby is capable of determining how many calories he needs as long as you offer an adequate amount of food.

An average-sized 7-month-old boy needs 668 calories per day, a girl needs 608 calories per day.

The bottom 6 foods are the foods I see most babies at 6 months eating. Most are having very little protein and no fat at all in their diets. And yet the diet should be 50% fat!

Per 100mls/100g of food

Breastmilk calories = 70; Fat = 4.4g; Protein = 1g; Carbohydrates = 7g

Full cream milk calories = 42; Fat = 1g; Protein = 3.4g; Carbohydrates = 5g

Foods rated highest to lowest in fat to be added to babies solids

Olive oil calories = 884; Fat = 100g; Protein = 0g; Carbohydrates = 0.1g

Coconut oil calories = 862; Fat = 100g; Protein = 0g; Carbohydrates = 0g

Butter calories = 717; Fat = 81g; Protein = 0.9g; Carbohydrates = 0.1g

Peanut butter calories = 588; Fat =50g; Protein = 25g; Carbohydrates = 20g

Coconut cream calories = 330; Fat = 35g; Protein = 7g; Carbohydrates = 3.6

Cheese calories = 402; Fat = 33g; Protein = 25g; Carbohydrates = 1.3g

Chia seeds calories = 486; Fat = 31g; Protein = 17g; Carbohydrates = 17g

Avocado calories = 160; Fat = 15g; Protein = 2g; Carbohydrates = 9g

Salmon calories = 208; Fat = 13g; Protein =20g; Carbohydrates = 0g

Egg calories = 155; Fat = 11g; Protein = 13g; Carbohydrates = 1.1g

Pear calories = 57; fat = 0.1g; Carbohydrates = 15g; Protein = 0.4g

Blueberries calories = 57; Fat = 0.3g; Carbohydrates = 14g; Protein = 0.7g

Apple calories = 52; Fat = 0.2g; Carbohydrates = 10g; Protein = 0.3g

Carrots calories = 41; Fat = 0.2g; Protein = 0.9g; Carbohydrates = 10g

Broccoli calories = 34; Fat = 0.4g; Carbohydrates= 7g; Protein = 2.8g

Pumpkin calories = 26; Fat = 0.1g; Carbohydrates = 7g; Protein = 1g

Nutritional Composition
In addition to getting the right number of calories per day, your baby also needs to consume the right breakdown of protein, carbohydrate, and fat to grow properly.

Around 40 per cent of your baby's calorie intake should come from carbohydrates, 40 to 50 per cent from fats and 10 per cent from protein.

https://www.zerotothree.org/resources/1372-how-does-nutrition-affect-the-developing-brain?

FOODS that promote baby sleep

ROUTINE: easy, flexible, sleep-ready

ENVIRONMENT: getting it right

DEVELOPMENT: changes, how these affect sleep

SLEEP METHODS: secret tips that will change your life

Milk Calories

Generally, a baby aged 7 months will drink 3-4 breastfeeds or 500-750 MLS of formula per day, with solid food making up the rest of his calories.

Solid Food Calories

The calories in solid food will vary considerably, depending on what you give your baby. Most commercial jarred and pouch baby foods supply between 40 to 70 calories per jar for fruits and vegetables, depending on the food. Mixing 2 tablespoons of rice cereal, traditionally a baby's first solid food, with water will provide 30 calories. A baby food jar of commercial chicken contains 100 calories. However be careful about pouches of baby food, most are little more than a sugar hit and will not help your baby sleep.

https://nurtureparenting.com.au/helping-baby-sleep-with-diet/

https://nurtureparenting.com.au/baby-food-pouches-negative-effect-baby-sleep/

As your baby eats more solid food, his milk intake will often decrease. As long as he's gaining weight and height at a normal rate, you don't need to worry whether he's getting enough calories. Most babies double their birth weight by 6 months and triple it by 1 year.

Once babies get the right ratio of nutrients they sleep as well as grow and develop. And a sleeping baby = a happy mum. To grow and nurture those baby brains we need to nourish them with a high-fat diet.

babies need a high fat diet for good sleep

Tags: baby feeding baby food baby sleep Baby sleep problems breast feeding fil_Baby Sleep and Settling infant nutrition

← Older Post Newer Post →

Amazing

This program has saved my family! My 11 mo has never slept for more than 2 hours and lately it’s been hourly wakes for us. I was exhausted. We’re now 7 days into the program and last night my little one slept 2 x 4 hours. She woke twice in the night, once she self-settled and the other time she had a milk feed and self-settled afterwards. She also ditched the dummy through this program at day one and we’re not looking back. It’s been a lifesaver. Thank you Karen!

I'm so happy for you Romina, well done and thank you for your lovely review X

Karen really understand Toddler Behaviour

I have been going to Karen since my daughter was 7 weeks old. Even through her toddler years, Karen has been spot on and has helped immensely with toddler behaviour related questions. Karen guided me through potty training issues and how to best navigate them based on my strong willed child.

Nurture Parenting - knowledgeable, supportive and gentle

Karen was understanding, kind and supportive with clear strategies to help improve our toddlers sleep. She explained what was happening and gave us a plan to follow. This is the second child we have used Karen’s methods with and I would recommend Nurture Parenting to any parents wanting to better understand their babies sleep and gently help them to self soothe and sleep better.

After buying Karen’s newborn program and successfully using it on baby 2, i decided to start even earlier with baby 3. I got a little confused on certain things since she’s preemie but Karen helped me go back to my core and center, listened attentively and answered all my questions. She also went beyond that and shared new ideas with me. It was ace. I might book another in a few weeks if needed. For now baby is doing everything by the book

Advice and videos are so clear and succinct

I just wanted to write and say thank you. We started your program almost three weeks ago, and it has dramatically changed our babies sleep for the better. Toby (10 months) went from waking 6+ times each night. We fumbled during each wake, as we offered dummies, bottles, whatever we thought would stop the crying for a moment. The only thing that we achieved, was waking him up even more and frustrating the **** out of him!

The first night of magic presence took 40 minutes, and now he is down within minutes once he is placed in the cot. We have had a few sleep throughs as well.

Your advice and videos are so clear and succinct. We found them so easy to follow. To compare, we looked back on a sleep consultant plan that we paid $300+ for with our firstborn and were stunned at how complicated and convoluted the plan was. No wonder it didn't work!!

I was so nervous about going back to work being so sleep deprived, and I was also concerned about how Toby would cope with the transition to day care. However, I now feel a lot more confident (and well rested!).

All the best and thank you again.

Christina

0-6 Months Baby Sleep Rescue

6-24 Months Infant Sleep Rescue

3-5 years Child Sleep & Behaviour

E-Books

Physical