Is Three Months Old Too Early to Begin Cereal, and Gerber 1St Foods?

You could actually try adding a couple of tablespoons of rice cereal to his bottle of milk. This way he's getting the extra "bulk" that he needs to stay fuller longer. Most ped's are going to tell you to not feed a baby anything other than milk from a bottle but I truly believe that whatever works for you is the motto you need to live by. I tell my husband, "the pediatrician gives guidelines, we make the rules". If you want to start feeding him from a spoon I would do rice cereal until he's at least 4 months before you start stage 1 foods.

Our doctor told us to wait until 6 months to start feeding our daughter anything except formula. He said the baby should be able to sit up and support their own head first.

My daughter is now 4 1/2 months old and eats 6-10 oz of formula about every 4 hours.

If your son is gnawing in his fists and fingers then he may be teething. I read online that babies begin teething between 3-7 months of age. They can teeth for a while before a tooth actually pops out. My daughter is doing the same gnawing. Yesterday I checked her gums and found where a tooth is starting to come in.

I say wait a few more months.

Hi K.,

My daughter is almost 4 months old and I have been contemplating starting cereal as well.

I found this link last night and was reading reasons to delay solids. On one hand I believe the research is valid but on the other, I wonder if my little one could benefit from at least starting cereal.

http://www.kellymom.com/nutrition/solids/delay-solids.html

My little one was eating 4 oz of breastmilk every 3 hours or so. THe other night, she screamed when her bottle was empty. So now I send her to day care with 5 oz bottles and apparently she is doing much better.

Definitely check with your pediatrition though.

Brenda

has it been just a while that he's been this hungry? could just be a growth spurt. hoenstly, i'd hold out until at least 5 months.

If your baby was a bigger baby at birth maybe he is ready for cereal. Just make it a little runny at first till he is used to solids.

I think three months is too early. I think the rule of thumb is if they can't situp, no solids. Their digestive system isn't developed enough yet to handle solids, and there is still a major risk of choking. Babies do not have the ability to swallow anything other than thin liquids like breastmilk because their tongues thrust forward or stick out of their mouths a little. They outgrow this. But until they do, they are more susceptible to choking because they don't have the development necessary to swallow let alone knash or chew thicker foods like formula thickened with cereal or even pureed foods. Also, babies fed solids too early have a higher incidence of food allergies. Always check with your pediatrician of course, but I think that 6 months is the earliest for introducing solids safely. I'd just increase the number of feedings throughout the day. He's probably one of those babies that doctors like to call "snackers". They need more feedings in smaller amounts throughout the day.

I would ask your doctor. Mine would say yes, it is too early because they can't digest rice cereal & especially food that early. Maybe some would say at 4 months you can give it a try, but I really think that 5 months for rice cereal & NEVER TRY food until 6 months. That's whay my doctor says as well. My son was an eater like yours & that's just the way he was. I wouldn't do anything without asking your doctor & getting his/her approval first. Good luck!

I started with rice in his milk at 6 weeks just one small scoop mixed in at his night bottle. Adding a little more at a time. I have placed banana's at his mouth to suck on and a few days ago spoon feed him some rice, he did not like it so much at first but that was okay, I did not think he would. Then I also tried the gerber 1st sweet potatoes, same result. Last night mixed them together and he seemed to like it alot. I find the night bottle with rice helps him sleep longer. Just my path.

Hi K.,
I would definitely talk to your pediatrician before making a big decision like that. Maybe its just a growth spurt.

Good Luck!

Don't start solids yet, it is too early. Barbie is accurate in regards to recent research. You are also likely to have digestive issues if you start now. Just give him more formula, he is probably going through aa growth spurt. Gnawing his hands is normal at this age just because he can and he is exploring things orally as they become available to him.

My son was sleeping through the night at 4 weeks. He breast fed all meals except one a day when I did formula. At about 3 months he started refusing formula and would only breast feed. Then he started waking in the night once or twice.

I started putting cereal in a bottle with breast milk at last feeding at night. This worked great. You will need to make it very thin and maybe get larger holed nipple.

I see alot of responses about allergies, diabeties, obesity. Since my boys are grown now I havent kept up on the new research so I dont know.

The son I did this with is now 20. has now allergies, illnesses and is a former football player that still works out at the gym and works construction and is in peak physical health. So.....

Do research for yourself and know that whatever you decide is ok- cuz YOURE THE MOM ! :)

We started working with the spoon feeding of ceral at a little over 3 months, but was putting cereal in his bottle at nite since about 2 months. You have to make sure the ceral is very thin though. It is to early for 1st foods yet. He need to learn how to eat off a spoon first. We talked to our doctor at his four month check up and we were told to wait on the first food till closer to five months so we just stuck with baby cereal and baby oatmeal till then and then did one kind of baby food at a time to watch for any food allergies. Now my son is 8 months old and has no problem eating anything. We give him all sorts of different stuff to try and long as he can gum it since he has no teeth yet. I would say you could try some thin cereal and see what he does just like once a day and let him get used to eating off a spoon. Then the older he gets and the better he gets with the spoon just start to thicken it a little more. Hope this helps.

My babies were all big and they needed food early. I put a little cereal in their formula and used a crosscut nipple (watch the size - smaller for the littlest ones, moving up as they get older) so they would sleep through the night. Opinions vary on introducing 1st foods and cereal with a spoon that early, but I did, around 3-5mos, because they were so hungry.

SAHM of seven, 23yrs -18 mos.

Hi K.. Recently there have been studies that link diabetes and obesity to children who started eating solids before they turned six months, so perhaps 3 months is too early to start solids. When I started introducing solids, I used a book called "Super Baby Food" by Ruth Yaron, and found it exceptional. In a personal conversation with her, she said that at 6 months our daughter should be having at least 32 ozs of formula, in addition to any solids. Perhaps you son is hungry because he is not having enough formula? Hope this helps.

Hi K.,
I agree with the others; everything I've read says that starting too early can cause digestic and allergy problems later on. If it makes you feel better, my first son did the same things as yours, and was often drinking 10oz. per bottle (4x/day). He was just a big eater, and at 3 months all their nutrition should be coming from formula or breast milk. I'd wait until his 4mo. check-up and discuss with his pediatrician. It sounds like when you do finally start, he'll be intersted and eager!

Hi K.! It sounds like your little guy is going through a growth spurt. I would never feed a baby cereal or any type of baby food at this point. They should be able to sit first. I would worry about choking, allergies and even increased risk of diabetes later in life. Just give more formula and if you are really concerned, talk to your doctor.
He may be chewing on his hands because it is a fun discovery.
I would wait until he is able to sit without support. Your Dr. can give you a good timeline for these things.
Congrats on your baby boy!

Way to early, babys can start on Rice cereals at 6 months then 1 month after that mix in 1 tsp of gerber applesauce or bananas. But 3 months WAY TO EARLY. Til then try a tablespoon of Rice ceral in his bottles one in the morning, 1 at night before bed. This will help his tummy feel fuller and should help him sleep better at night.

Both my girls where on cereal bottles 2 months out but they where both 11 lbs plus babies. Good luck

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baby_food