Perkin MR, et al. - Whether the early introduction of solids influences infant sleep was determined in this randomized clinical trial. It was observed that the early introduction of solids into the infant’s diet was linked with longer sleep duration, less frequent nighttime wakings, and a decrease in reported very serious sleep problems.

Methods

• The Enquiring About Tolerance study was a population-based randomized clinical trial.
• This trial was conducted from January 15, 2008, to August 31, 2015, that involved 1303 exclusively breastfed 3-month-old infants from England and Wales.
• Clinical visits occurred at St Thomas’ Hospital, London, England, and the trial analyzed the early introduction of solids into the infant diet from age 3 months.
• The early introduction group (EIG) continued to breastfeed while nonallergenic and then 6 allergenic foods were introduced and the standard introduction group (SIG) followed British infant feeding guidelines (ie, exclusive breastfeeding to around age 6 months and to avoid any food consumption during this period).
• Secondary analysis of an a priori secondary outcome of the effect of early food introduction on infant sleep using the standardized Brief Infant Sleep Questionnaire were the main outcomes and measures.

Results

• According to the findings obtained, out of 1303 infants who were enlisted in the Enquiring About Tolerance study, 1225 participants (94%) completed the final 3-year questionnaire (618 SIG [95%] and 607 EIG [93%]).
• Randomization was effective and no significant baseline differences between the 2 groups were found.
• As compared to infants in the SIG, following the early introduction of solids, infants in the EIG slept significantly longer and woke significantly less frequently.
• It was observed that differences between the 2 groups peaked at age 6 months.
• Data reported that in the intention-to-treat analysis infants in the EIG slept for 16.6 (95% CI, 7.8-25.4) minutes longer per night and their night waking frequency had decreased from 2.01 to 1.74 wakings per night at this point.
• The study results showed that most clinically important, very serious sleep problems, which were significantly correlated with maternal quality of life, were reported significantly more frequently in the SIG than in the EIG (odds ratio, 1.8; 95% CI, 1.22-2.61).