cereal/sleep

jhkatz331

When can baby start having cereal? I heard some gave it after a couple weeks and some waited a few months. And how can you get baby to sleep longer than 1.5-2 hrs at night??

ASmallWonder

Solids aren't recommended until 6 months, with 4 months being the absolute earliest (and debatable).  Cereal won't help them sleep.  At this point you accept that they don't sleep a long time.  

mnj05

It's advised not to give cereals until 4 months or older, however some pediatricians will tell parents of reflux babies to give a little to help with the reflux. I do know people who have given cereal early without any medical issue attached and nothing bad happened to their babies.

As for sleep, there really isn't much to do when they're really young. Babies make their own schedule for a while and eventually you can sleep train to help with that. Some babies are great sleepers and others aren't.

Cellis

When they start solids, so after 4 months, but they're starting to recommend starting solids at 6 months. But some people are skipping cereal since it has no nutritional value. It's normal for your baby to sleep 1.5-2 hours at night when they are this young. 

rjeller32

mnj05:

It's advised not to give cereals until 4 months or older, however some pediatricians will tell parents of reflux babies to give a little to help with the reflux. I do know people who have given cereal early without any medical issue attached and nothing bad happened to their babies.

As for sleep, there really isn't much to do when they're really young. Babies make their own schedule for a while and eventually you can sleep train to help with that. Some babies are great sleepers and others aren't.

The reason they say not to give cereal in a bottle without a medical reason is it can teach a child to over eat. They are taking in what they normally do with BM or formula, but are actually taking in far more calories. I would only do this if it were for reflux. Here is a good source for why not to give thicken a feeding, scroll down to subheading

What about thickened feeds?

This is another good article on solids early

rjeller32

And sleep will come. Some babies are more high maintenance and will do this for the first month or two, but will gradually start to sleep longer and longer. Start a night time routine to help get LO on the right track to better night sleep. My FB was a great sleeper from day one. My second child didn't start sleeping more than 3 hours at night until 7 weeks, and even still wakes up once a night at 19 weeks.

In the grand scheme of things, the lack of sleep is a very short period of time, just stay strong, it get's easier with time.

amandadawson

I really won't suggest you to give cereal to your baby just to make him sleep. Try to get him into a sleeping routine.