Breast milk and rice cereal...

bl021807

Hi moms:

Daughter is almost 15 weeks and went from sleeping 7+ hours a night to waking up every 4 hours to eat at about 13.5 weeks.  My mom was saying that she might be going through a growth spurt and just needs more to eat.  She said that I might want to consider giving her a bottle of rice cereal mixed with breast milk before she goes to sleep.

I will call my pediatrician to get her take, but has anyone else heard/done this?

Thanks! 

Mrs.Ram

I would definitely talk to your doctor. Our pediatrician recommends waiting until about 5 or 6 months to start on rice cereal, but I think in certain cases it's ok to start earlier. I wouldn't do it without medical advice, though.

LMH1209

That's what everyone's mom says   (And that's what our pediatricians told our moms.)  Most pediatricians these days say that starting solids early doesn't do anything to get babies to sleep longer before they are otherwise ready, though.  Also, pediatricians generally don't recommend putting rice cereal into bottles anymore except to help treat reflux. 

Baby4OT

Like pp said, back when we were babies, that was the advice given. Now recommendations from AAP are to wait until 6 months to start solids (I know a lot of people start before then though). When you start solids, use a bowl and spoon, not bottles. Ask your pediatrician what developmental signs to look for before starting solids.

lili_ana

LO's pedi recommended 1 tsp of rice cereal in his bottle 1 or 2 times a day to help with reflux. He did mention that usually this was not recommended until 4 months, but told us to give it a try before trying reflux medicine. In your case, I wouldn't do it, I'd feed the baby on demand until the growth spurt is over. GL

Sofka

all experts will tell you that being fuller will not make baby sleep longer but many moms will say otherwise. Personally, we did not start any solids until DD was 6mo old. As lili said, just feed on demand until the growth spurt ends. At this age, it is very common for babies to wake up to eat. In fact, our pedi said not to Ferberize (sleep-train) until 9mo old b/c e-BFed babies tend to need to eat in the middle of the night until 9mo old. so I was up BFing till she was almost 10 mo old.

tomandcourt

Sorry, growth spurts suck. But they're over pretty quickly - just feed on demand, as pp mentioned, and she'll get through it and be back to sleeping longer stretches soon.

HikerBride07

Please make sure to check modern recommendations or ask your Pediatrician before taking anyone's old school advice about what may have been done as early as even 10 years ago. There are always ongoing studies about what is best for our babies and the internet also equips us to be sure we are as informed as possible with current information.  Our parents didn't have the easy access to research they mostly just asked friends, sisters, mothers, doctors at the time, or just winged it.

This is a great article about why that advice is inaccurate.  The website is a wealth of information about when to start solids and the science behind each food decision.

https://www.wholesomebabyfood.com/tipcerealinbottle.htm

vtmezzo

My DS did the same thing...all you can do is feed on demand and get through it. I wouldn't do the rice cereal thing - it really doesn't do anything but clog up the nipples, hence why most peds will tell you NOT to put rice cereal in bottles. If you decide (with your ped's blessing) to start the cereal, use a spoon. Also, a teaspoon of rice cereal flakes has something like 10 calories, where as nursing/bottle has hundreds, so it's not likely to help your baby feel full at all. My son still eats more during a growth spurt at 10 months, so it's just something that's going to come and go.

We used Healthy Sleep Habits Happy Child and really liked it a lot - I believe they advised that by 6 months babies can sleep through the night without needing to eat (double check me on that milestone though!) So take heart, this phase will pass eventually!

****AWS****

The breast milk breaks down the rice cereal so it doesn't actually thicken it at all, I wouldn't do it.