When to Give Baby Cereal?

Sorry to tell you but i dont know either. All i know is ask my mom, she sends me these things and was always a great mom to me. She would be the best to aks. I may not get it but i do enjoy reading these kinds of messages. I may be young but please send more. Well i got to go, my birthday is coming up and im so excited! Gotta go get ready to do homework, yuck!!

If you want to start cereal, at least give it by spoon. I started mine at 10 weeks, but he was sleeping all night (9-5) at 7 weeks with breastmilk alone. Pediatrician gave ok, but said ONLY by spoon, NEVER in bottle! I mixed 1 TBSP with almost 1 oz of milk...little thick, but more like runny oatmeal. the baby's saliva will thin it more by the time you're done feeding.

Hi,

My son had acid reflex when he was 2 months old, his doctor put him on Zantac and he started sleeping thru the night the first night he started his medicine. We gave it to him in the morning and evening it made a huge difference. We started him on cereal at 4 months. We noticed carrots would upset his stomach and he would spit it up really bad but he has since outgrown it, he is 9 motnhs old now.

K.

Oh my, IMO, 8 weeks is way too early to introduce cereal. I only breastfed my babies, and I know that a full night's sleep is tempting, but it's not best for your baby. Infants that get cereal too early may sleep longer, but it is because the cereal is difficult for their systems to digest. Rest when your baby rests and you will get through this sleepless time:)

Unless your pediatrician tells you to add the cereal for reflux, I wouldn't recommend it. His stomach is not ready to digest it yet until around 4 months-old. There's also a theory that starting "food" too early is causing the rise in food allergies, which you definitely don't want!

8 week-olds really aren't supposed to sleep through the night...they need to eat more frequently in order to grow and gain weight. It's tempting to get a little extra sleep, but you really will adjust. There's a terrific sleep book I recommend called "Healthy Sleepy Habits: Happy Child" by Weissbluth. You might want to check it out.

Good luck and congrats on your baby!

Please please please do not feed him cereal this early!! I feel your pain...my daughter did not sleep through the night until she was about 9-10 months old (she's 13 months now and still occasionally wakes in the night). If he were to sleep longer with cereal it would be because cereal is hard to digest for babies. There is a reason that breastmilk (or formula) is the first food for the first year.

I really don't think that cereal makes any difference on sleep time. My oldest child was 5 pounds 15 ounces at birth. She had only breast milk with nothing added. She slept 7 - 8.5 hours consistently by 3 weeks and was sleeping 9 hours by my 6 week check up. The next two children were similar, but not quite as early. (They had ear problems that disrupted the sleeping thing until they got tubes) The thing that worked best for me was to write down how often they eat and how long (you could do ounces in your case). I found with my oldest, if she ate 7 times a day, she would wake up for number 8. I started waking her for daytime feedings (cringe), but she slept all night. She ate every 2.5 hours during the day for 4 months, but slept VERY well at night. By four months, she was sleeping 12 hours every night. That seemed to be her natural schedule and I tweeked it to fit my schedule. Also, don't try keeping him up longer to get him to sleep better - that will have the opposite effect. Sometimes, putting them to bed earlier can actually get them to sleep longer. Hang in there! Enjoy getting to know what makes your child "tick."

My ped told us to give my son a little cereal at 4 weeks, but it was because he was only sleeping 1-2 hours at a time. The cereal may not hurt, but if he is sleeping 4-5 hours, I would wait a few more weeks. Good luck!

Every 4-5 hours during the day also? How much? I would shorten it to 3.5 or not more than 4. Wake him up for feedings if you have to. Also, make sure he stays awake after feedings and then put him down after some play/interaction. Check out On Becoming Babywise. Also, make sure if he's waking up at night that you give him some time to settle back down on his own before rushing in to feed or try offering a paci instead.

I have a 3 month old son that has been getting rice cereal since he was about 3 or 4 weeks old. He also fought acid reflux and as per his pediatrician I started using rice cereal. The dr told me that I could have used the rice starch but in essence it is almost the same as rice cereal. Now be aware my lil man still does not sleep all night and he is getting 2 tablespoons of cereal in each and every bottle due to the reflux. But he does usually fall asleep around 6 or 7 and will sleep till 2 or 3, so he is sleeping longer at night but not like you would expect with that heavy of a bottle. So basically if you want to start your son on it, it won't hurt him, just don't depend on that to get him to sleep all night.

My 7 month old started at 2 weeks with cereal because of reflux, my doc. said it was ok. She gets 1 tablespoon per oz of formula. If your baby is sleeping 4-5 hours at a time at 8 weeks he is doing good. Also the best thing I did for her was set a bed time routine. By 4 weeks she had a set herself on a bit of a schedule so just just she a routine around what she did naturally--she would always fall aleep for the night at about 8:30-9 so I would start with bath, a book, and final bottle by 7. She now falls asleep not later than 8. She looks forward to bath and knows it is time for bed and to settle down. I also found this great product, 4 moms Goodnight sleep trainer, you can use it at about 4 months. Finally I would tell you not to rock your baby to sleep. Put him to bed when he is still awake but almost asleep this will teach him to go back to sleep on his own when he does wake up. I have done this with her since she was born and she can go to sleep most of the time bu just giving her her nunny back--she has about 6 in the crib with her--she is finding them on her own now most of the time. Hope this helps. Oh if the ceral clogs him up use the oatmeal it has more fiber.

Hi H., my daughter also had acid reflux and her pediatrician had me add rice cereal to her bottles, it was one tsp of rice cereal for every two ounces of formula, I dont think it helped get her to sleep through the night considering shes 11 months old and still wakes up through the night. but it did help with the reflux. You should talk to his ped. before starting him on cereal, it does has benefits. And I have read some people say dont start him on baby food til he is 6 months and I strongly disagree with that. Here is why my daughters pediatrician had me start introducing my daughter to feeding cereal with formula mixed in with a spoon once to twice a day when she was 4 months old, after a week of that he had me offer her baby food stage one and she has done really well, the only allergies she has is pollen and mold and me and her dad have those same allergies, it has nothing to do with her eating. It does not hurt to add cereal to the bottles as long as it is mixed up well, talk to his pediatrician he can give you the best advice. All parents are different and I followed my pediatricians advice on feedings, As I said my daughter is gonna be one on June 2 and has been eating table food since she turned 10 months old and had 4 teeth, it works for her and for me and my husband and the pediatrician said it was fine. Talk to him, he knows what would be best in your childs case.

my opinion is that he needs to get up and feed regularly. an 8 week old should be few every few hours with formula or breastmilk. you need to try to sleep when he sleeps and just understand that you are going to be tired. his little body needs to be fed more than you need sleep. i put cereal in my son's bottle early and it did help him sleep longer, but he was up every 3 hours for a feeding. like i said, this is my opinion, but from my experience you need to worry more about his nourishment than a full night sleep. to also help with the reflux, you should elevate the end of the crib where his head goes. another thought is that if you do decide to put food in his bottle, to try it during the day b/c it might make the reflux rear its ugly head if you lay him down after the bottle. have you tried putting gripe water in his bottle? it is homeopathic and does a great job on the reflux. his doctor may also let you give him some zantac.

You should not give them cereal til they are 6 months old and can eat it from a spoon. You should never add cereal or any thickeners to their bottles. The whole point of introducing cereal and baby foods at 6 months is to get them to learn how to eat, with a spoon, and put something in their mouths to eat other than a bottle of liquid, so all you are doing is tricking them into eating solids without giving them the benefit of learning how to actually eat (which he doesn't need to do yet). At this age their bodies are unable to digest solids like cereal, the only thing they should ever get is breastmilk or formula until 6 months old, then you can introduce cereal from a spoon, then slowly add other foods like pureed/strained fruits and vegetables. Plus it is really hard to suck thickened formula out of a bottle and it confuses them. Mine had bad reflux too but I got a prescription for Prevacid (which I didn't use very long) and kept her upright after feedings and the best help was when I switched to the special (expensive) formula, Nutramigan, but it made a huge difference, then we gradually switched to gentle formula which is still more expensive than regular, but this time it was available in generic so we saved money that way, and then eventually we were able to switch to regular formula. Oh yes, and it is pretty rare for babies to sleep throught the night at 8 weeks! Mine did, right at 8 weeks, but most people I know say their babies took a LOT longer than that. So please don't add cereal to your baby's bottle just so he will sleep through the night. He will sleep through the night when he is ready. Hope I helped, have a great day!

My baby also had reflux and we started adding rice cereal to her bottle at about 6 weeks. She did not do well with the rice so we changed to oatmeal cereal and that seemed to work. I would check with your pediatrician if you are unsure, but I would think it is never too early to put a little cereal in their bottle, especially if it helps him sleep!

From one reflux mom to another, don't do it unless your pediatrician recommends it. If he's already on AR formula he needs nothing else. The fact that it will make them sleep longer is a wives tale for most babies. They should start sleeping through the night at between 12 and 16lbs of weight when they have enough fat to make it, and enough capacity in their stomach to not throw up everything you feed them right before bed.

You should however try cluster feeding in the evenings...say you want your baby to go to bed at 11pm and sleep 6-7 hours, then at 7 give a bottle, at 830 give half of a normal bottle at 930 give half a bottle and at 11 give half a bottle and put him to bed (you can modify this to suit your needs) -- this puts enough extra in their bellies for them to make it longer, but doesn't put so much in them at once that they throw it up because of the reflux.

dd started sleeping through the night at 3.5 months (about 13.5lbs--she was a preemie and started at 5lb10oz) we had been adding the cereal to her bottles since 7 weeks old due to the reflux...so, it doesn't always help them sleep.

You'll also have to be careful when starting solids because of the reflux. Peaches are acidic and can cause flare ups, broccoli and sweet potatoes cause excess gas which isn't good, rice cereal can be constipating, oatmeal causes gas but helps with constipation, and yogurt can be very soothing to them but shouldn't be offered until they are 6-7 months at the earliest. Teething and any illness will cause the reflux to be worse as well.

Hi Hanna. I am wife and mother of five (13,6,4,2,and 9 months). I have always started my children on cereal at the age of 4 months, which is also what their pediatrician recommended. Our youngest had to switch to the formula with rice starch because of the same problem (she is off of it now). From what I was told by the doctor, that formula has cereal in it (the rice starch). Unfortunately, babies just don't sleep longer than that at a time. Feel blessed that your son sleeps that long, I started out nursing all of mine and they woke up every 2-3 hours or less! That's about the average time babies his age usually sleep. Don't worry, he'll start sleeping longer before you know it! One great piece of advice I received 13 years ago was to sleep when they sleep. Don't worry about what you need to take care of, just get as much rest as you can. I hope I have been of some help to you. May God bless you and your family!

Unless your baby's pediatrician specifically tells you to put cereal in the bottle then absolutely do not do it. Your baby needs to take a smaller bottle and eat more often or his reflux will get really bad. Adults who have reflux need to eat 4-6 small meals a day instead of 3 regular. The muscle that keeps the food from coming up in the throat isn't strong enough to keep the food down and extra food constantly pushing on it weakens that muscle even more. The smaller and more often you feed your baby the better the reflux.

With James we put gas drops in every bottle of formula. We took his bottles to Mothers-Day-Out with the water and drops already in them. They looked like we had put the water into an already used bottle but it was the medicine. Then before we even started mixing the formula into the bottle we gave him a little less than 1 tsp. Reglan, a prescription from the physician. It smelled very good and James just sucked it down. Anytime we gave him too much formula or didn't keep him sitting more upright he would puke, not just puke, his nickname was "volcano baby". He didn't have any problems that I can think of when it came time to introduce food. I didn't give him cereal until he got it on WIC. The back of the box tells you a good time to introduce different foods. It is better to wait and not rush.

If it is just more sleep you need and don't have family living with you then ask a friend to come over and help you out, they can spend the night watching the baby and let you get the much needed rest.

Here's my favorite website. You can pick baby, toddler, preschool, etc....

http://www.babycenter.com/baby

The later you add solids and anything other than breastmilk, the fewer allergies he will have and the stronger his immune system will be. Cereal which is made of grains is very allergenic, difficult to digest, and nutritionally wise physicians know to avoid it for the first year. Fruits and vegetables are the easiest to digests and would be introduced first but not before 6 months at least.
B. S. RN CCM

Hey H.,
You could give him cereal, but it may or may not help. Also, I think since you're thickening his milk with rice, that's essentially what you're doing already. The recommended age for starting solids is 6 months, but...alot of people don't follow that. You could try it, but don't be disappointed if you don't get a full night's sleep out of the deal! :)
W.

I have 3 children and all of them had cereal by the time they were 6 weeks old. It is ok to add a little to the bottle to help them sleep all night or at least longer in my case. I just had a baby. He is 4 months old now and he is very good with solids. If you feel to bad about it you can call a nurse line or the pediatrician.

Typically 4 mos old is the age to introduce cereal, however, I don't think it would hurt to give him a little. My son is almost 4 months old and he has been sleeping through the night for about a month now. His pediatrician wants me to introduce cereal when he turns 4 mos, but it's because he's on the small side.

Bottom line, you should be okay if you choose to add it, but if you're not comfortable with it, wait it out a couple more weeks and he should start sleeping longer on his own.

no. It will constipate him. Wait until closer to 4 months. :) At least 3 1/2.

I wouldn't give him anything extra in his bottle. The added rice starch in the formula takes the place of that and it's much safer than adding the cereal. My oldest son also had to have the AR formula and a few weeks after his system got used to that, he started sleeping all night long. I think he was about 8 weeks then. My younger son never had the reflux issues and just had regular formula, but he didn't sleep all night until he was almost a year old. I almost switched to the AR formula just for my sake! :) I hope he'll start sleeping all night for you soon!

Wait as long as possible!
I am from a family of eleven children,have heaps of nephews and nieces, and two kiddos of my own.
6 months old is the age that works best for our family, for adding solids of ANY variety.
Sooner seems to cause issues...ear infections, allergies, etc.

Have you read any books on sleep?
BabyWise is excellent.
Our children sleep like champs.
My daughter struggled with reflux for a LONG time too.
You will get through this!
You are a good mama.

Praying for you,
A.

I started cereal in the bottle at about six weeks, on doctors orders, but i have to say my little guy never had reflux so i don't know anything about that. He really never even really spit up, so i don't know how it would effect that. But, by 12 weeks he was eating cereal out of a spoon three times a day. Lots of people are against cereal, but my doctor was for it and so was i!! He stared sleeping all night at eight weeks, but i don't know if the cereal had anything to do with that or not. He was never a good napper, so i think he just had to sleep all night to make up for it. I can't imagine that the rice cereal would effect him any differently than the rice starch. I guess if i were you and the reflux is over, i'd give it a try but if it effects the reflux at all, i would stop it immediately. Best of luck!
Have a fabulous day and god bless!!

at 8 weeks old you shouldnt expect him to sleep through the night yet. every 4-5 hours is normal for his age. i wouldnt give him cereal until he was at least 3 1/2 to 4 months old. at 8 weeks old their tiny tummies can not digest cereal yet. i would hold off or ask your pediatrician. most say no to putting it in a bottle. it is a choking hazard. hope this helps. good luck :]

Miss H.,
My daughter went through the same things! She' 5 now but I started to give her baby cereal when she was about 2-3 weeks old. One tip though try wheat cereal. My little girl was lacto-intollerant, so I gave her wheat instead of rice. Put enough cereal in his bottle to thicken just a bit. If you can't get his formula to flow freely, take a knife to open the nipple a bit. But make sure when you use the knife to open the nipple that his formula with the cereal flows freely. If worked like a charm for me. My little girl would wake only once a night. Good luck!

I'm so glad you asked! First of all, it doesn't work to feed them baby cereal to help them sleep better because filling up a stomach before sleep makes one uncomfortable. Even worse, when you're talking about such a young infant, whose digestive system is nowhere near mature enough to handle anything other than breastmilk or formula, it can be even worse, so they'll wake up more.

Besides that, feeding a baby anything other than breastmilk or formula before 4-6 months (preferably later, like 6 months) will put your baby at risk for food allergies. Please just wait. This is the difficult period when your baby just plain needs to eat frequently, with a small stomach in a small baby body. As they say, if you cut corners, you'll just end up going around in circles. So I'm glad you asked and your baby will benefit from your waiting to feed cereal and other solids.

You might also want to consider stopping hte rice starch for this reason, as well. I suspect that the reason your baby appears to have acid reflux is, he's actually probably being overfed (like many babies who are formula-fed). Unfortunately, the guidelines provided by the formula companies favor their profit margins more than the health of babies. Basically, if you're feeding the baby more than he needs, it means you need to buy more formula, which pays the company more money, of course. Then, the baby spits up because he is overfull. Then, you feed the baby more.

On top of that, the bottles - even the slow-flow nipples flow too fast for babies so young, so they seem to ravenously gulp down what's in the bottle, and so they get overfed, because parents think, oh, he is so hungry.....

So, what you can do is take breaks frequently when feeding your son, and feed him less. The nutritionists recommend that they get as many ounces as they are old in months. So, give your son 2 ounces per feeding, and feed it to him slowly. Remove the nipple any time that he seems uncomfortable or confused or overwhelmed in any way. You will probably see the "acid reflux" disappear within a few hours!

L.

i would NOT give him cereal at this stage because his tummy has a hard time passing it throw it might make him throw up more because he has acid. I did not start giving my son milk with cereal until he was 6 months old but the choice is yours only a mother knows whats best for there child

it won't necessarily help. with my first it did, or maybe it was a coincidence and he slept through the night around 8 wks, my 2nd was 9 months before she slept through the night and my third was 18 months. we started a little rice cereal in the bottle with my first around that age, but we had to get the holes in the nipple the right size so it wouldn't clog it up and it was a lot of trouble. of course, i tried it again with my other two kids and it didn't work, so i think it just depends on the kid. they are all different. usually you don't start rice cereal with formula/water/breastmilk until 4-6 months. with my first i tried 4 months, but i really think they aren't ready until older. with my others i waited until closer to 6 months. if they use their tongue to push it out and don't really get used to swallowing the solids, just wait until they are ready. try again around 5mo, then 6mo. as soon as you start, and they get used to it, they you can start solids like squash, peas, sweet potatoes, etc. and there's no going back. to me, it was a lot easier only doing bottles until i knew they were ready b/c it's a lot more work. good luck.