Adding cereal to milk before 4 months

scharle3

Has anyone added cereal to babies milk before turned 4 months. I know doctors say no, but all of family and friends were telling me what worked for them. My husband and I are usually by the books, and all said that baby will sleep longer at night if we added 1/2 teaspoon in his milk.

justkeeptrying

It's your call if you do it or not. But why would you want to take the chance if the doctor says no??

Rice cereal has no nutritional value for LO. So although they feel full and may sleep longer, they're not getting the nutrition they would from breastmilk or formula.

It seems silly to me to give LO something other than breastmilk or formula when that is all they need nutritionally for the first 6 months!

Buckles0528

Agree with pp. Also, if you use the search function you'll find endless talks about this on several boards. If you aren't going to listen to doctors why do you go to doctor appointments?

Also, I believe in the fill em up fallacy. If cereal made babies sleep better everyone would do it and there wouldn't be hundreds of books and websites geared toward helping parents get babies to sleep.

ashleyandely

......

SmrBrd2012

I'd rather follow my doctor's advice than friends and family.

shadykady

My LO has acid reflux, and I tried to hold off on medication as long as I could, so as per my pediatrician, I've given her rice cereal in her bottle for about 3 weeks to help everything "stick in her stomach" better. LO is 3.5months. Each doctor may have a different opinion, but mine explained that as long as it is mixed with the proper amount of liquid(not mush consistency as you would feed LO on a spoon), her stomach is able to digest it. She's always been a good sleeper, so I have no comment on it assisting with that. My opinion, for what it's worth, is if you are only giving your LO rice cereal as a sleep aid, you should refrain.

Curlygirl84

I think the other thing is: are you trying to get them to sleep longer for you or for them? Adding something with no nutritional value that makes them feel fuller may get them to sleep longer at night, but perhaps developmentally they should actually be waking up hungry in the night to get additional nutrients. That false feeling of full might not be good for them.

shadykady

Yes^

DMEL

https://forums.thebump.com/discussion/comment/12621082#Comment_12621082

Also rice is binding and can lead to constipation

morgansWed105148

I say no.. Have you tried a dream feed.. He takes his last feeding at 10. I stay up till 12 put him on the boob asleep and he sleeps till at least 5 if not later.. Today 6:30

mars8k

How early are we talking? My ped told me i can start feeding my LO a on Sunday, she is 4 months on friday.

I didn't start though, i feel she's too young and although babies can eat at 4 months they don't need to until 6.

Adding food could work against you if your baby develops reflux or it was too heavy for him

khaleesi123

Ok.. Someone told me they did that so I asked my midwife as I have no clue about baby food (I have a midwife that visits me fortnightly just started monthly) she said the reason why you can't feed before 4 months is their body isn't able to digest it properly and their (what ever you call the thing that gives them the sucking reflex) isn't able to deal with it. My baby is now 4 months so I started giving her baby food for dinner and I have to say FOOD MAKES NO DIFFERENCE TO THEIR SLEEP I have proof as I've done it as she is 4 months. My midwife also said that they recommend not feeding food until 6 months as food has less nutrients to milk and they end up missing out on those nutrients.

nursej519

Don't do it. As PP mentioned, we did it for reflux, not to sleep longer, under the supervision of our pediatrician. Started at 3.5 months. BUT it ended up making her so constipated that she screamed all the time because she was so miserable. It ended up causing more issues than it was ever worth so we stopped it.