New Evidence That Early Solids May Lead to Better Infant Sleep

Although official infant feeding recommendations in the U.S. and other countries include waiting until 6 months to introduce solids, parents often introduce them earlier to help their infants sleep.

Researchers performed a secondary analysis of data from a randomized controlled trial of early infant food introduction and food allergies. In the original trial, 1303 exclusively breast-fed infants from England and Wales were randomized to start solids at 3 months (early introduction) or 6 months (standard introduction). Data on infant sleep were collected by parent self-report 15 times from ages 3 months to 3 years; 94% completed the final survey. In this secondary analysis, researchers compared child sleep duration, nighttime waking, and sleep…