When to Start Cereal? - Loudon,NH

4 months is a good age to start. I wouldn't start this early a baby can't digest it yet. Starting food too early can cause weight problems and also food allergies. Best to wait. Giving a young baby cereal at night isn't going to help him sleep either if anything he will probably wake more because his stomach isn't ready for food yet.

1 mom found this helpful

Every child is different and it's up to you(the parent)some don't feel satified enough with just formula so they need the cereal to feel full.It was good enough for us and should be good enough for your child.When you child crys before their regular feeding,that may be one of the reason.You will do fine getting to know your child.God be with you.Rose,mother of 2 grown kids 37,and 31 and grandmother of 5,ages are 18,10,8,5,1

What does your Dr. say?
I have found that my pediatrician has different guidelines than some of my friends Dr.'s - but my feeling is that I chose this Dr., I trust her, and I am willing to stick with her guidelines.

Having said that, I feel STRONGLY about waiting until 6 months to start cereal. They did lots of things when we were kids that we now know are dangerous. Feeding cereal is one of them. I can tell you, I have several food allergies (gluten, dairy being the biggest two). Eating out is a total pain in the neck, and I have to be careful EVERYWHERE I go. In my opinion, it is not worth the risk to your son. What justification does your fiance use to justify this dangerous practice?

Speak to your pediatrician, read up on some books yourself (one of the books we used was "Super Baby Food Cookbook by Ruth Yaron - very well written and VERY well researched. Has many guidelines about what foods to introduce when) and stick to your guns. He is your son, too - and you are the Mommy. It is your job to advocate for your sons needs, since he is too little to do it for himself.

Good Luck!
E.

no way to early hun

wait until 3-4 months ok?

if the formula isnt forfilling him and he is fussy talk to your doctor and have ur husband with you so he can learn as well........ you kno ur baby

Really encourage you to wait until at least 4 months (better 6 months!) Think long-term, your little WILL sleep through the night in a few months, (i didn't sleep for the first 6 1/2 months, but now that he's finally sleeping through the night, i've since forgotten the pain! and you will too!) just remember, what's best for your child in the long run. welcome to parenthood!

We got the same "advice" (push for cereal) early on with our daughter too. My parents gave it to me and my brothers in small amounts when we were just a few weeks old. And, my mother claims, had us sleeping through the night at 3 weeks. None of us have food allergies. We did decide to wait though. Our daughter is 3 1/2 months old, I nurse and she has been sleeping through the night for a month. We will be starting cereal in a few weeks. You have to do what you think is best, and don't let anyone pressure you otherwise. You are his mom and can read his signals. If he is growing, thriving, wetting diapers etc, then he is probably just fine. If your fiance is worried about sleep and wants to give cereal to the baby for that reason, there are other methods to calm baby for bedtime.

Good luck - it is a tough decision, but whatever you decide will be best.

i was told it is a big "NO" when it comes to pputting cereal in the babies bottle so i never did...i didnt give my son anything but the breast for the first 3 months then both breast and formula for the 4th month. i started with rice cereal in a bowl mixed with breast milk i had frozen at my sons 4th month as his pedi recomended...from rice cereal i went to carrots mixing the rice cereal with the carrots to ween...then went from there. i dont think it is best to give a baby under 4 months anything but breast or formula if you are unable to breast feed. that is all a baby needs! i wish i had waited till 5-6 months to start which im reading is much more common and recomended now...so far my son has no allergies that we know of and he is 29 months, wishing for baby #2 :)

With a first baby you get so much advice it can be very confusing! Why does he want to start cereal so early? It does not help babies sleep through the night; that's really an old wives tale. Also, babies are not ready at that age to eat, there can be serious issues with choking and with their digestive systems. My doctor said it was OK to start cereal at 4 months or when my son could sit up. We waited until 5 months. He had been sitting up for awhile, but we felt more comfortable waiting a bit more. Good luck!

Hi..as you may know by now, everyone has an opinion but you have to do what YOU think is best for YOUR family! There must be a reason that hubby wants your son to start cereal...if he's thinking that the baby will sleep through the night then think again. Especially if you are introducing something new to the baby, you just can't know what the response will be. I suggest giving the cereal in the daytime to see the reaction rather than at night when problems can arise during sleep. My son, who weighed almost 10 pounds at birth began eating cereal at about 7-8 weeks old. He was always very hungry and formula just wasn't enough. We kept one bottle with the nipple cut open a bit more than the others and mixed the cereal with some of his formula/breast milk. This allowed for the bottle to be used, better control of it for you and baby and the consistency was similiar to formula just a bit thicker...If you do this make sure to give baby a bottle of water in the day as well. This will help with digestion etc...a little sugar in the water if baby won't drink it straight.This also helps with any gas etc. that may develop with the introduction of anything new. I don't subscribe to the whole 'food allergy' thing and really don't see the connection but that's jsut my opinion. I say give it a whirl....see how it goes but really keep the consistency very liquified to begin with. Remember, baby has had nothing but liquid formula..so the transition needs to be smooth. Good luck.

If your child isn't sleeping through the night, it is because he is young still. Seven weeks is still very new! It will take some time before he is sleeping through tne night, and feeding him cereal, as the other moms have said, probably will not help. I'm not surprised his parents want to feed you baby cereal now - back when we were little, cereal was started at 6 weeks. But lots of things have changed since we were babies and this is one of them. If your baby does get solids (against your wishes and/or unbeknownst to you) it probably won't be the end of the world, but still, it's better to wait.

K.,

I don't know about the food allergies but there are a whole host of other reasons why you should NOT introduce food before 4 months! I have a friend that has digestive issues and his GI doctor told him it was because his mother introduced food at 3 months. Babies are not meant to be able to move food on their tongue til at least 4 months. Everything I have read and all the doctor's say start between 4 and 6 months. Some will say it helps them sleep thru the night - no it doesn't! They also need to have head control and be able to sit semi upright - neither of which a 7 week old can do. If Tim means put cereal in the babies bottle it isn't going to help him sleep any longer but perhaps it might help if the baby has acid reflux but only slightly to stop the food from coming up again (for the night bottle).
One of the reasons Tim might want to introduce food now is because at this stage of your son's development he really doesn't do anything and guys seem to get bored with them. They figure if he 'does something' he will be more interesting and fun. You both should enjoy this infancy stage of your son's life -it goes by so fast and before you know it your son will be old enough to have food.
Tell Tim to concentrate on things your son should be able to do now and still needs to work on - like tummy time, head control, eye tracting. Have Tim hold the baby on his lap and read him a story. At this stage it's really about bonding with the baby and not about what he can do.
I hope for your son's sake you can hold Tim off from starting food until at least 4 months.

Good luck,
L. M

I would definitely put the solid food off for as long as possible. The longer you wait the better your chances are of heading off food allergies. When you start solid foods too soon their little digestive systems aren't ready to process it. Babies are not meant to always sleep through the night because they need the calories and fuel those middle of the night feedings give them.

HI K., my doctor recommends waiting until 6 months for the same reason, although we didnt wait that long, my son was just ready early and too hungry! 7 weeks still seems very early though, I believe we started the first cereal around 12-14 weeks old, did that for a few weeks until he was comfortable and then started to make it thicker and add in a veggie...by the time my son was six months old he was eating three meals a day of cereal, fruit and veggie and he is a happy healthy boy today! Good luck, I would say you dont have to wait all that long, but still give it another month or so
K.

Hi K.,

Your little one's digestive system is still developing and may not be able to handle cereal just yet. The earliest you can start feeding your son solids is 4 months. My son has multiple food alleries and his MD told us to wait until 6 months.
Also, keep in mind that rice cereal is very constipating.

Regards,
M. G

YOU are right! He is way too little to even handle cereal. Back in the day, mom's used to give cereal before bed and it made them sleep longer cause their little bodies were working so hard to digest something so foriegn to them. What kind of restful sleep is that?! He will be a much healthier and happier baby if you listen to yourself and your very educated dr. ( i highly doubt ur fce. or his fam. have medical degrees)

Oh my goodness! I usually don't respond to these but I was shocked when I read yours and felt like I had to give you some input. Listen to the doctors! You aren't supposed to start until AT LEAST 4 months! There has been tons of research on this, much which doesn't have anything to do with just allergies, but for the health of the baby, documented by the AAP (American Academy of PEdiatrics). Of course it can be tempting, in the hopes that your baby will sleep longer, which in my experiences, never worked anyway. But please do what is best for your baby and put your wants aside. There is a reason why you have a doctor and your husband is not one!

Please be patient. Babies this young don't have the necessary enzymes to digest solid food properly, and it can cause them a lot of discomfort as a result. Early introduction of solids has also been shown to increase your child's risk of not only food allergies, but also diabetes. And, as others have pointed out, it doesn't make children sleep longer or better. Sleep is a neurological function and as such it matures at its own rate. Some children sleep for long stretches early on, but it is normal for many children to wake frequently for several months or longer.

Please do some research, and share the results with your fiance. Science understands the digestive maturation of infants better now than when we were children. My in-laws also were advocates of the early cereal approach to child nutrition, but when we explained the risks and the dietary needs of young babies they stopped pushing. There's no benefit to starting early that outweighs the risks, and no need either.

Good luck, Mama! Parenting can be tough when people close to you don't agree on what's right. But follow your gut and do lots of reading--you are your baby's advocate and he needs you to be strong and informed.

All doctors now tell parents to wait on the cereal until the child is 6 months old. It is something a lot of our parents used to do when we were younger. My own mother had me on cereal at night at 2 months old and I was 6 & 1/2 weeks early. Now that I am in my 30's I do have some food sensitivities but there was a chance I would've had those anyway. As an example, I can't drink any milk over 1% on a regular basis. My doctor believes it might be the higher fat content from drinking a lot of skim and 1% milk when I was younger as I was obese from the time I was 8. However, I know of other children that weren't started on cereal until they were almost 6 months old that have allergies to food. I say it's up to you. If you want to start your son on cereal, do it. At that age, though, I would go a teaspoon or two of cereal mixed into a lot of formula to make it easier for him to swallow as he's still used to liquid meals. As he gets older, I would decrease the amount of formula or breast milk and increase the amount of cereal to make it more of an oatmeal consistency. Though I do believe the doctors give permission to add cereal into the formula bottles around 3 or 4 months old, usual amount is 1 or 2 tablespoons to a bottle. Another helpful tip, stick with one cereal for a few days to make sure of no allergies before trying a new one. If you start with rice cereal first, stay with that at least 3 days before trying the oatmeal cereal or barley cereal. This will continue to be a helpful hint as your son gets older and you are starting to introduce him to new baby foods. Good luck!

Hi K.,

Back in the day our parents practically fed us cereal on the way home from the hospital. I started both my kids early, arould 3-4 months. They do not need food until they are 6 months. If your fiance really insists, I would not do it unless you felt like your baby was totally starving. But if you have to just use rice cereal there are not that many ingredients in it to be allergic to but really the baby does not need cereal at this age. Ask you fiance and his family whey they would want to give the baby something he does not need and that could cause complications? I lived w/ inlaws when I had my first son and it's not always easy but just tell everyone you know best.

I had a lot of pressure from my mother, but from multiple sources it said to wait as long as possible up to six months. I waited till 5 months, and started cereal at night. By the time she figured out how to eat with a spoon it was 6 months.

There is also the strong chance that developmentally your child is not ready (pushing food out, etc), and you need to wait anyway. You have to stick to your guns as a mother, and get as much research as possible to explain it to his family - perhaps compromise to 4 months. Do not let his family tell you what to do. It is more of a problem when your fiancee is also pushing - is that from his own research or caving into pressure from parents? Many things have changed since we were babies, and the parents may take offense but it is YOUR child, and doctors are also doctors for a reason - they are up on all the latest when people who had kids over 20 years ago are not. Let the baby be a baby - enjoy the bottle in the very short time of his life while it lasts.

HI K.,
i started my daughter at 10 weeks b/c i was going back to work and needed her to sleep longer - basically with the rice cereal she went from 11PM to 6am - which worked out great when i went back to work.

i formula fed her - so i would make the bottle then use some of the formula to make the rice. using the rubber tipped spoon we'd give her 3 to 4 spoonfuls to start (it was about 1/2 of the spoon size).

each week we added 1 spoonful.

she was too young to add it to the bottle (b/c the bigger nipples to let the rice flow through - was too fast for her).

we basically gave her a spoon full then stuck the bottle right in to chase it down.

Hi K.-Your pedi won't even recommend starting cereal until 4 mos, regardless of food allergies. And I've learned that with food allergies (my dtr has them) they don't begin to even present until 3 months of age. I would definitely wait until his 4 month visit to get the recommendation from the pedi. At 7 weeks a newborn isn't ready for the texture/thickness of cereal and they have a tongue thrust and won't be able to eat anyway since you shouldn't put it in a bottle. Hope that helps--living life with food allergies isn't fun, I'd recommend doing whatever you can to follow pedi's instructions to potentially avoid them.

I'd wait a couple more weeks, but it's safe. My son has food allergies and I started him early on cereal. Just a word of advice...start with Barley and don't mix sweet anything with it. When you start babyfood start with the veggies...your child will be more likely to like veggies if that's what they taste first. Heard all of this AFTER I already started then it was too late!

Good luck!

Definately need to wait until atleast 4 months for solid fods. Also, cereal does not need to be the first food- I started my son on very mashed up avocado with breast milk/formula mixed in at a little past 4months and also did sweet potato- these foods are not common allergens and the avocado especially is very good for baby. We waited 6 months for cereal.

Best of luck

I would say that 7 weeks is way too early to start cereal. I would have your fiance talk to your pediatrician and get the right info!

I would wait until your son is at least 4 months. I don't think it would cause allergies, but at this point he should still be getting all of his nutrition from breast milk or formula.

7 weeks is too young from what I understand. Not only could it cause food allergies at 7 weeks their digestive systems can not handle it..I would wait! Good luck with your fiance.

Your fiance...and his parents...need to listen to the doctor. I can never understand why the doctor tells a parent one thing, and they go ahead and try doing the opposite. Makes no sense.

I wouldn't do that. Take your husband to the pediatritian with you, and talk with them about it in the presense of the doctor. There are reasons other than food allergies for them saying not to give babies foods before five months, including weight problems, and the baby not getting enough of the proper nutrition they need from the breast milk/formula.
If the problem is he is hoping that the baby will sleep longer during the night, giving them cereal is not the answer to that at this young age. Don't let him give the baby cereal or any type of food until you've seen the baby's doctor. And unless his parents are doctors, they shouldn't have a say in the issue.

You should definitely wait. Your son doesn't make the enzyme amylase which is needed to break down carbohydrates. He could definitely develop allergies and digestive issues if you feed him solids too early. His first food should be avocados, bananas and other soft, pureed veggies and I would wait until his is 6-7 months old, or until he shows some real interest in food. The best thing for him now is breast milk and LOTS of it. Your fiance is doesn't know what he is talking about. A good resource is a book called Child of Mine, feeding with love and good sense, by Ellen Satter.

Good luck,
Mara Hahn

K.,
Ask you ped. and go from there. If your fiance wants to give your 7 week old cereal because he thinks it will help him sleep through the night then thats just being selfish. The reason you don't give cereal is because their little digestive systems aren't ready for cereal yet. It could potentially hurt your little man, and there is a choking hazard if your son can't hold his head up all by himself. Trust your gut instinct and follow that. You need to be able to speek for your son and tell everyone who is pushing you that he is not ready!! You are after all his mom! Good luck

They say to wait til 6 mos for a good reason. I personally started my daughter (who was breastfed) at 4 mos by 6 mos I gave her 1st foods. Do you pump? You can mix the BM w/ the cereal.

Hi - My ped recommended starting at 4 mths...which I did and found that my son was more content afterwards. It didn't help him sleep any better though.

I would try it. It will help him sleep through the night. I have 3 boys who are now 5, 3 and 1. My first boy was on cereal at about 2 months. The other 2 came home with cereal in their bottles. They all had acid reflux and the cereal helped keep the formula down. They are all fine. No allergies or anything.

how is your sons head control? was he sleeping through the night now he seems hungrier? do you have food allergies in your family? i found most of my kids (4) we started practicing with cereal at 8-10 weeks but didn't really get good at it until 3 mths.....mother of 13 11 8 and 18mths.... K. d

Please wait to give your child solid foods. A good rule of thumb is wait until they can sit up.
(Doesn't that just make sense?)
The 6 month wait is not only going to lessen the chance of allergies,or food sensitivities, but it's b/c their little digestive systems need time to get ready! You don't want your new precious little baby to have digestive issues, b/c your husband is eager to hurry things up - right?
Enjoy your baby being a baby.
Grandparents didn't have these guidelines in their child rearing time, so they just don't know, but you know what the pediatric association recommends, so you need to be the mom who puts her foot down and takes charge of what is in the best interest of your baby, b/c nothing else matters.

My advise is to talk and have your fiance talk with your Pediatrician. Most say it is best to wait until 4 to 6 months. There is no proof that it will help your baby sleep better. As a mom with kids with food alergies I would take every precaution not to have that happen. Wait a bit longer if you can.

Good Luck,

J.

Remember, parents did a LOT of things years ago that we don't consider to be safe or healthy now... for example his parents, and yours, and mine put us to bed on our tummies. Ultimately it's up to you, but why would you do something that so many people recommend against if there's no real benefit?

The real point of feeding babies solid food is to get them accustomed to the texture and eating from a spoon or with their hands. Feeding them solid food from a bottle can be confusing, plus it's no guarantee that they'll sleep any longer. One thing to remember is that babies can live off breast milk or formula alone for an entire year. Your child will never be "starving" on just formula or your milk. My mother-in-law tried to get me to feed my baby before 6 months EVERY time I saw her. I just had to resist the pressure in the most pleasant way I could until my baby was ready.

Hi K., 7 weeks is a bit early for cereal and putting in the bottle could make your son choke - just not worth the risk. My daughter started on solids 3 1/2 -4 months and took to it right away, and loved it. We tried the same with our son but he didn't have a clue what to do with it or his tongue until he was about 5 months old. I would wait a few months - until he can really hold his head up before starting on cereal. Good luck, W.

I ran into the same thing: grandparents said to start cereal like at 6 WEEKS, doctor said 6 MONTHS. Big difference there. We ended up starting cereal at like 5 months. I think 6 weeks is a little early, but 40 years ago, that was the school of thought. Fill them up so they sleep better, and maybe as long as they keep the food down, it's fine. I actually had one nurse, a breast feeding proponent, tell me that all they needed was breast milk for like 9 MONTHS. Now that's crazy. And I as much told her so. Try the cereal when YOU think the baby's ready, and never mind what anyone else says. The baby will let you know if he's not ready, believe me! And if he wants more, and keeps it down, go for it!

Our son started on having cereal in his bottle at about 6 weeks but only due to severe relux issues. We didn't actually start giving him cereal until 3 1/2 - 4 months with a spoon, which he is now 5 months old and doing great but it took some time for him to adapt. I would say after talking to your doctor see what works best for you, he may not need cereal just wait, if my son didn't have the reflux issues we would've waited a little longer. But just remember you are his mother and you should do what you feel is best for him.
Good Luck

It is WAY too early for cereal. If you want to start earlier than 6 mos. start at either 3 or 4 mos. Check with your doc because every doc is different. If you start too soon, it can make your baby more gassy and uncomfortable and it could cause allergies. Good luck with the wait!

I think 7 weeks is VERY early to start your baby on cereal. I started my son around 6 mos and my daughter around 5 mos. Anytime between 4-6 mos is the norm. A lot of things are parents did with us have been changed....listen to your pediatrician on this one!

I would not feed a 7 week old baby cereal. Their bodies are not ready for it yet. It is a myth that it will help them sleep better. I could create allergy problems. I would wait until 6 months.

I think thtat giving a baby cereal is totally dependent on how the parent feels and how the Baby is. My sisters started having cereal in their bottles when they were two weeks old because the formula was not enough to keep them full for more than an hour or 2.. I started my son eating cereal in the bottle at around 3 months old because he was not getting enough sleep. My oppion is if the child is still hungry after just formula then give him cereal.. If not.. then dont rush it... I dont see that rice cereal has cause either my son or my sister any food allergee's

B. first time mommy to 8 month old Evan :)

when my daughter was about the same age my neighbor suggested the same thing and i was unsure about it. i asked her doctor and he said no. she got what she needed from her formula. at that she didn't start cereal til 5 months and that was just once in the morning. if you fiance still pushes have his talk to he pedi. maybe this will change his mind. good luck! ~K.

I would absolutely take your doctor's advice on this issue. From my understanding, it's not just about food allergies. Little digestive systems can only digest so much, which is why you don't want to prematurely overload them, potentially making them sick. And cereal is iron-fortified. At 7 weeks, your baby should still have plenty of iron reserves. I would be very nervous to introduce cereal to a 7 week old! Grandparents mean well, but they don't always give the most up-to-date/accurate advice.

WHAT!!! WAY too early. Please please please ask your pediatrician before giving cereal. Six months and seven weeks are developmentally incomparable. Six months is appropriate. Seven weeks is not. I'm actually shocked that other posts here would even suggest that it's ok. What in the world is the hurry? This is a little infant we're talking about - too bad about what your fiance wants. It's not even the food allergy issue, it's about what their little systems can handle.

I started my daughter on crereal around 3 months at night before bed. I would suggest any earlier than that. They also recommend that you never put it in a bottle. So you need to know that they are old enough to take it from a spoon and 7 weeks is a little early for that. When my daughter was born, in 2005, they suggested time for cereal was 4 months, then 6 months for baby food. You also want to start with rice because it is the least likely to cause allergies. I hope that helps.

Whoa! 7 weeks is way too young. I have heard of older people doing this back in the day. but now we know that ther're bodies are too young to handle cereal. not only the allergic reaction but the digestive system, as well as they're ability to even swallow something so thick. There is no quick fix to getting our children to sleep heavily if this is their thought and a food induced coma isn't very healthy for adults let alone a small baby! It's better to start some veggies and fruits around 4 mo. if you're feeding formula and 6 mo. if breastfeeding. slowly introduce the cereal soon after. trust your instinct and backup your argument with information and insist that your family respect it. I hope that helps.

you could give it to him, but chances are unless you put it in his bottle he wont know what to do with it, i waited till 3 months then started putting a tablespoon in an 8oz bottle before bedtime (cut the nipple just put an X across it, to get the cereal to flow through it)

When in doubt ask the pedi. I started my son on cereal at 10 weeks because he was sucking down the formula more and more and still always hungry. My son was also a big baby. I just asked the pedi and she said it was a perfect time to start because the formula was not cutting it. All she said to do was try a little a night to start and make sure he held it. After about a month she said to start trying baby foods one at a time
for about 3 days each that way if he had an allergy to anything we would know which food it was.

I work in a large pediatric practice and almost all the doctors say wait until six months. And those that don't, say four to six months. Starting so early does increase the likelihood for allergies. And it doesn't necessarily mean he will sleep any better. Good luck!!!!

Kate, as other mothers have said I'd try to wait. If it feels funny to you, you should wait. Babies guts are not ready to digest cereal in any form that early. Only one of my 3 children was ready for dereal even @ 4mon. Perhaps you could tell him you'd like to wait till 4 mon instead of 6 to try it, but allowing your child to them take the lead. Remind him you want what is best for your child. If you need back up there is ton of info on line. And as a mother of a chidlren with sever food allergies, if you can wait great!!!
Living a life in fear of food is not fun!
Good Luck to you in what ever you do!

I would wait at least until 4 and 1/2 months. It's not just allergys it's swallowing too. He may choke. and also digestive. Babys can't digest things like we can because they are still growing. I always use a rule of thumb of mine..."When in doubt, throw it out"

Seven weeks is much too early for any sort of food. Babies have trouble swallowing at this age. I would stick to formula until at least 4 months of age. You should also check with your pediatrician before doing anything.

Wait. I know it feels like an eternity, but 4 months is not that long. He probably won't be able to figure out how to eat off a spoon, and doctors really say putting cereal into a bottle is a no-no. The long and short is that there is no harm at all in waiting, and the potential for harm in starting now. Why take the risk?

I would definitely not give him cereal or any foods until at least six months old. His digestive has not fully developed for solid food yet. What is the reasoning behind your fiances desire to give him food? There is no nutritional need for solid food yet, seven weeks is too young. For more information I would go to a Le Leche League group or check out their website.