Correlation between dinner and irritable sleep?

DS is 8 months old - suspected allergy to egg, dairy and tomatoes - I have avoided them since he was 8weeks old.
I'm doing a combination of BLW and just feeding him but i am sticking to the rule that food is fun till their one so i have only been giving him two meals a day. Breakfast and Lunch. With dinner happening once a week when we go to the in-laws. He still recieves many bf's within a day and night.
He has never been a great sleeper however he used to sleep a few hours in blocks at nights; however I've noticed that the nights i give him dinner he is terrible during the night. Waking more frequent than every hour; tosses and turns etc.
Has anyone experienced this and how do i get around it while trying to get him used to having three meals a day?

My last child was like that. He had reflux and sensitivities to sulphites and tomatoes and his sleep was terrible. One night though I was sick myself with a tummy bug and just could not stomach the thought of feeding him dinner that night and lo and behold - he slept right through the night. This was at 8 months old and the first time he'd slept through the night since he was 3 months old. Next night, I didn't give him dinner again and again we had a solid nights sleep. So I stopped the dinner time meal and his sleep was normal. I didn't introduce a nightly meal again till he was about 11 months old and we had no problems. If the dinner is only one night a week, I'd miss it altogether, explain to them why if they get a bit funny about it and try again when he's older. You are certainly on the right track with the whole 'food is fun' thing so I'd just stick with that and give him the extra BF's if he gets to a point where you think he needs a little extra but his gut still isn't ready for it.

yeh i already get alot of 'questions' from inlaws like they aren't too happy or agree with what i already do (ie. cut out dairy!); he still wakes up alot when i dont give him dinner but he doesn't seem as irrateable....do you think giving him dinner earlier in the arvo rather than only say an hour before bed might help as well?

I used to give him a late-ish afternoon snack about 4.30-5pm from about 10 months to get him used to eating late in the day again. Nothing heavy either, just light food that wouldn't sit heavy in his stomach. Usually rafferty's rice cereal with pureed broccoli and peas or fruit.

I still give DD a large, later lunch (2ish) and dinner at 5ish. I only give her about 1/2 a cup of food but if she's still hungry which is rarely she'll pick off our plates the stuff she wants to eat. DD had major reflux and if she has a large meal before bed she does the "acid cry" when she wakes in the night. It's not a hunger cry but a pain cry and it's not wind related. It's only recently I could start giving her stuff like spag bol and such but she prefers a very bland veg and a little meat with pasta dinner. She'll wake up on average once in the night for some water because it's hot and 0% humidity here but resettles after a few sips of water.

HTH hun

We REALLY noticed a major disruption to sleep in DD when she had a "normal" dinner time. She now has dinner between 5 and 530 and is much better at night.

Thanks for your replies, you've given me some things to consider and try....*fingers crossed* for some better sleep soon...i'm one tired mummy atm!

Until DD was about three she had dinner by 5:30pm. As a baby I would do the bath and bed time routine after that and she would go down for the night (not to say she didn't wake up, but that was bed time). As a toddler, she was always hungry in the late afternoon and I didn't see the point in giving her two 'meals', or keeping her up later. Even now, she'll wolf down a decent sized snack when she gets home from preschool and will sometimes eat hardly any dinner at 7pm-ish (DP cooks, so we wait for him).

I used to save leftovers from the night before and that's what I'd give DD for dinner at 5pm. Saved extra cooking!