Babies: 0 - 3 Months
4 weeks old-rice cereal??
DS is 4 weeks old, we have been doing great with the breastfeeding. He is still waking up every 2-3hrs at night to feed. Is it too early to put a little rice cereal in his night time bottle to keep him fuller longer and sleep longer?? Thanks!!
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Re: 4 weeks old-rice cereal??
Too early! WAYYYYYYYYYY too early. Don't do it unless your pedi recommends it!
And if your pedi recommends it JUST so he sleeps longer, I'd get a second opinion.
i agree - i wouldn't give DS cereal just yet. a friends Dr told her that once baby gets to approx 12lbs they don't really need as many feeds in the middle of the night. i'm just now starting to not feed him when he wakes up at midnight - i just reswaddle and soother him and he just falls back to sleep.
sometimes they don't wake up from hunger, just habit so i'd just stick it out!
unfortunately babies wake lots at night! i would just wait it out a bit longer...my DS just started sleeping longer at night at he just turned 9 weeks
Unless for a medical reason, it is not okay to put rice cereal in a bottle. It is a choking hazard.
eta: It will not make your LO sleep longer.
With DS 1 I started doing cereal in the bottle at 3.5 months per the OK from the pedi but that was because he was hungry and my BM supply wasn't satisfying him. For the record, it didn't help him sleep longer and he still would wake every 3 hours until he was 5 months old. it was brutal but you just have to suffer through it right now.
If anything, give a formula bottle in the evening when your BM supply has decreased from the day's activities (or pump early morning and give that milk in the evening. It is fattier). That might help you get a longer stretch from 9pm - 2 am.
couldn't have said it better my self!
I would not do it. And it's not proven to help babies sleep through the night. I believe babies will sleep when they are ready. My 1st didn't sleep through the night until she was 18 months old. She still got up 1-2 times at night to nurse. And she ate table food, and plenty of it! My 2nd? Completely different baby, she sttn and has for weeks on only breast milk. I think you might risk tummy troubles because their system isn't ready for that kind of food just yet.
I know that we will do anything for sleep, but you might not get any even if you try the cereal. I know we didn't have luck with my first, she just wasn't a good sleeper, and still really isnt'.
https://www.parenting.com/article/mythbuster-infant-cereal-in-babys-bottle
What you've heard: It's okay to put infant cereal in your baby's bottle
The truth: It's not advised except in rare instances, such as when a baby has severe reflux and isn't getting enough calories to grow. "We're not talking about mildly spitty or gassy babies," says Jennifer Shu, M.D., coauthor of Food Fights: Winning the Nutritional Challenges of Parenthood Armed With Insight, Humor, and a Bottle of Ketchup (out August 2007 at aap.org). Even in the tough cases, first check with your doctor about other options, such as supplementing with extra formula or trying medication, like antacids.
"Babies know how much they need to drink based on volume, so upping the calories in the bottle can cause them to overfeed and become overweight," says Dr. Shu.
As for giving infant cereal at bedtime to help your baby sleep longer, studies show that it doesn't work. Bottom line: If your baby's old enough to digest solids (between 4 and 6 months), she should be getting them from a spoon.
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LOL @ that. Oh honey, you might be in for a rude awakening if you are frustrated with that at just 4 weeks. I know people who have a LO doing the 2-3 hours shifts at 10 weeks and beyond. My little guy is 9 weeks and will sometimes sleep 5 hours stretches but also does the every 2-3 hours on occassion just to drive my BSC. Be patient, longer sleep nights will come someday.