tongue thrust question

emg2010

Sorry to post another solid question but I see a lot of people mentioning tongue thrust and I'm a little confused about it. If your LO is doing a tongue thrust does it always mean they aren't ready or do they need to get the idea of eating? When they are ready do the automatically swallow all the food and don't push it out with their tongue?

My LO is 4 1/2 months and I started giving him cereal at night. He can sit up in his highchair without falling over and is interested in food but he does push out some of the cereal when it goes in his mouth. As soon as he sees the spoon he opens his mouth. If we are too slow he gets upset, grabs the spoon and brings it to his mouth. He does push some of the food out with his tongue. I don't know if this mean he's not ready or he's still getting the hang of it.

My pedi recommended waiting until 6 months or close to 6 months to start solids. Recently he went from STTN to waking up almost 4 times for food. I had some left over BM so I thought I'd test out the cereal with him. That night he only woke up twice for food. I've been giving him cereal for almost a week now and it's been helping with his sleep. I called my pedi to check with her and she said as long as I'm not replacing a meal and I think it's ready it's okay to feed him cereal at night. Now I'm starting to second guess it with the tongue thrust thing. I don't want to force cereal on him if he isn't ready just so he won't wake up so much.

 

LisaLisa1980

It's a reflex like the startle reflex

Why are you giving him cereal when your pedi told you to wait?

emg2010

 

LisaLisa1980 said:

It's a reflex like the startle reflex Why are you giving him cereal when your pedi told you to wait?

She advises all breastfed babies to wait as close to 6 months as you can unless they are really showing signs (head control, sitting up and showing interest) to start solids. Her concern about starting solids before 6 months is that it might mess up my milk supply. She strongly advises to BF for at least 6 months. She also said he shouldn't be waking more than twice a night for food. I thought since he's showing the signs we discussed and he continues to wake more than twice a night for food, I thought I would give it a try. I called her to discuss it again and as long as I'm not replacing a meal with it and it's only at night she said it's fine. The whole tongue thrust thing is now making me second guess it.

emg2010

@tricia560 Thanks. I know I'm overanalyzing the situation but I don't want to push him if he's not ready.  I will wait a week and see how he does. I wasn't sure if pushing out the food is normal when you first start or that only happens if they aren't ready.

ASmallWonder

Ok,  here's my spiel.  Your baby was waking up because he was hungry, ok NBD.  But that means he needs calories that count.  Cereal for babies is like rice cakes for dieting adults.  It makes the belly think it's full without adding any decent calories or benefits.  Cereal is fed because it's unlikely to cause an allergic reaction and is bland enough not to shock their palate. It brings nothing to the table for nutrition.  Actually, until they're much closer to a year, any actual hunger they have should be met with additional formula or BM because hunger is their body's way of telling them they need more fuel.  Cereal isn't fuel.  It's like putting water in your gas tank.  The gauge may go up but it's not what the car needs to run.  I'd increase his BM intake and pull back on the cereal.

flkong

The cereal thing is a hot topic and one you'll see opinions vary with, even amongst pediatricians. I firmly believe that some babies become hungry and give telling signs when they want more than BM. My 2nd DD was screaming her head off and obviously wanted more by this time, so she got cereal at 4 mths. Now, this LO is still satisfied with just bm so we'll hold off past 4 mths. and aim for 6 if it works for her. 

5 years ago, it was ok to give cereal at 4 mths. But childhood obesity and increased food allergies changed the recommendations to skipping cereal and starting solids at 6 mths. While I agree that cereal isn't necessary, I feel like oatmeal mixed with bm isn't comparable to rice cakes for adults. The oatmeal alone has iron, zinc and 6 vitamins added. When mixed with bm, it's pretty decent. As for the rice cereal.....eh...to each his own.

Oh, back to your question OP...tongue thrusting is a reflex that usually fades around 3-4 mths but up to 6 mths. If LO does that, experts say they're not ready for solids. Now my momma will tell you to feed the damn cereal and stop worrying, I say do what you feel is best as long as your pedi is in agreement. 

jlpev

fklang said:

The cereal thing is a hot topic and one you'll see opinions vary with, even amongst pediatricians. I firmly believe that some babies become hungry and give telling signs when they want more than BM. My 2nd DD was screaming her head off and obviously wanted more by this time, so she got cereal at 4 mths. Now, this LO is still satisfied with just bm so we'll hold off past 4 mths. and aim for 6 if it works for her. 

5 years ago, it was ok to give cereal at 4 mths. But childhood obesity and increased food allergies changed the recommendations to skipping cereal and starting solids at 6 mths. While I agree that cereal isn't necessary, I feel like oatmeal mixed with bm isn't comparable to rice cakes for adults. The oatmeal alone has iron, zinc and 6 vitamins added. When mixed with bm, it's pretty decent. As for the rice cereal.....eh...to each his own.

Oh, back to your question OP...tongue thrusting is a reflex that usually fades around 3-4 mths but up to 6 mths. If LO does that, experts say they're not ready for solids. Now my momma will tell you to feed the damn cereal and stop worrying, I say do what you feel is best as long as your pedi is in agreement. 

Basically this...I would keep up with it. Your lo is just getting the whole idea