Feeding Baby

H.,

Never put cereal in a baby's bottle to feed him. It is a choking hazard. If you want to introduce the cereals to him, you can start spoon feeding him at 3 months.

I knew a girl who only put cereal in her son's bottle. He never learned to spoon feed until he was 6 months old and he was also severly underweight. And my kids learned to self feed at 6 months.

But the choking hazard is a big one! Just be careful.

5 to 6 months

At 5 weeks everyone has trouble sleeping. It's normal and something everyone expects at that age.

I have a 3 and a half year old and a 6 month old

My ped. and the American Ped. Assoc. book I have both said NOT to put cereal in the bottle at all. So, I did't. I began feeding my son a little cereal by spoon around 3 months, and started solid foods at 6 months.

Hello. I am a nurse in the neonatal intensive care unit. The new American Academy of Pediatrics recommendation for starting solids is 6 months. It is never safe to put cereal in a bottle since the nipple will need to have a larger opening than your son is ready for. He could very easily choke on the the cereal and the increased flow of milk. Also, his digestive system is not yet ready to digest cereal or anything other than milk. Hope this helps!

Hi H.,
i know you already replied to this, but my whole family (old school) told me about it. But i started giving him just a little bit of cereal in his milk at night time (baby cereal rice)...just a little bit when he was maybe 2 months. Of course i tried it first during the morning time just to make sure he didn't have any allergies. But it worked fine for my son. But just remember do whatever you feel right for your baby, you can hear ideas but you are the one that decides what to do not anyone else.
Good luck!

Hi,

Everything I've herd from doctors, other moms, and ever read in any parenting books/magazines says you should not feed an infant anything but breatmilk or formula until they are 4-6 months old. And while it's not exactly scientific, I know a few moms who did give their child some rice cereal or other solid foods very ealy and the children now have food allergies. One of them is allergic to practically everything. I know there is some discussion in the medical community that feeding them solids too ealry can cause food allergies later in life but I don't know how well accepted an idea it is. I don't know if you breast feed or use formula or both. Maybe you can ask your doctor if adding a little extra formula would help satiate him. And if thats not an option or doesn't work, know that it'll be over soon. Eventually he'll start sleeping more soundly and longer and one day you'll even get a whole nights sleep again. :) Hope that helps.

Hello, I probably started giving some cereal in my childrens bottles around 3-4 mnths in age. Though I may be wrong. I feel 5 weeks is too soon. 5 week old babies are a lot of work and still need a bottle all the time, even at night. My ped. said that actually all babies need for the first year of life is formula, no baby food. But just follow your instinct, you'll do fine. Around six months, you gotta let them just cry (increase the amount you check on them,tell them they are okay, 1st 5min, then 10 min and so on), they have to learn and it will be better for everyone. We also moved our children out of the room at 6 mnths. Good luck.

Your baby is probably going through growth spurts. This is very normal in the first 6 months. I would encourage you to wait until 4 months or at least until a pediatrician gives you the go ahead for cereal at all and never in a bottle. Sorry!

Just to let you know what I did for my son. I never did use cereal. I know it is recommended to go to cereal first, then fruits, then veggies, then meat. But with my son I went straight to baby food at 4 months due to my son's constipation problems. And it worked just fine. He was not a picky eater until the age of 2. But has gotten better. But I believe cereal comes into play at 3-4 months. But do ask your pediatrician.

feeding cereal wont help them sleep any longer. i breastfed all of mine, and until they were about 3 months old i got up every 2-3 hours on the dot to feed. and when they would sleep longer i'd get about 4-5 hours of solid sleep before they would wake up. wether your baby is getting it all at once or in 2-3 hour spirts as long as they are getting an average of i think 11-12 hours of sleep a day then they are NOT having trouble sleeping. but to answer your question. if you want to feed cereal. put it in a bowl and spoon feed it. the cereal doesn't come out of the hole in the bottle anyway. and if you cut the nipple so the cereal will come out its going to choke the baby because too much is coming out at once. 2 of my boys took cereal with a spoon by 6 weeks old. and my third son wouldn't take cereal until he was 4 months. just have patience and your little one will start getting into a good schedule.

I waited until my daughter was four months old. But I mean what works for you may not work for others. Every baby is different and I think you should go with your gut and of course what your ped suggests. But there is a chance of him getting too much cereal, and not wanting to eat from a spoon at a later age. Just be careful not to give too much. When I first gave my daughter cereal she just kept eating and I just kept feeding her Well it all came back up because her tummy just couldnt handle it. Some babies GI tracts just arent ready for food yet. But I think a mother knows best.
Hope I helped
A.

5 week old babies having trouble sleeping. ha... sorry, but that statement cracked me up. Of course he has trouble sleeping. He's only 5 weeks old. Get him on a routine. I do not recommend doing the cereal thing. He doesn't need it and his body isn't ready to digest it yet. It won't make him sleep better or longer. My younger two were well over 9 pounds at birth and didn't have solid foods until 4-6 months. They were fine. One slept through the night from 2 months on, the other was 19 months. Sometimes it's just their personality. There are things you can do to help though. The routine is key. Make his sleeping environment comfortable. Dark, cool room. Swaddle him. Put on a sound machine in the background. And, if you're ready, move him to his own room. He'll eventually sleep just fine, but cut him some slack... he's brand new. Congrats on your new little one! Take lots of pictures, they change so fast.

From my experience pediatricians are not going to let you put cereal in the bottle. My sons ped said that he could not give him cereal until he could take it off a spoon. Course I ignored him because my son was starving and eating a bottle every hour, it was exhausting for both of us. I started putting cereal in his bottle and it really helped, although I did not start at 5 weeks. I think you just need to use your own judgement as a mommy. Although I can say that trouble sleeping in a 5 wk old could be do to a million things. Including the fact that he is 5 weeks old!! :)

T.

Today because of food allergies, the Academy of Pediatrics strongly recommends waiting 6 months before giving a baby anything but breastmilk (or formula).

Older generations swear that the cereal is helpful for sleeping, but today it is known to be a wive's tale and statistically has not shown to help sleeping at all.

Hang in there the first 6 weeks are the hardest! After 2 months things get a lot easier!

From a 39 y.o. mommie of a 6-month old infant.

Greetings H.~
I'm not sure what current information you have on infant feeding, but there is a considerable body of evidence that introducing cereals early does not actually encourage safe sleep habits for infants and that it can actually be harmful in the long run because infants have immature digestive systems, not ready for grains. I know, I know, feeding cereal early is many moms solution, but it isn't in babies best interest. Here is a great website from internationally respected pediatrician Dr. Sears and his sons. This page is on infant sleep, there are also links for sound nutrition.
Have a wonderful baby time!
CB

I have a 3 month old boy and the doc. said not to implement rice until 4 months. I breast feed on demand (every 2-3 hours) and he is growing at the proper rate (50% on every measurement).

I didn't start giving my son cereal until he was four months old. I never gave it to him in a bottle I started giving to him straight from a spoon. Their stomaches can't handle anything much more then milk right now. I know that some Moms give cereal in bottles but I dion't think it's recommended. When you do start giving it to him make sure you mix it very lightly with water or milk, whichever you use, and then you gradually increase the amount while his stomache gets adjusted. Good luck!
M.

H.,
I have raised two children and now have 3 grandchildren. Everything that we did back then has changed today. We put cereal in a bottle. Now days they say absolutely not. When the time comes you start them off with a very diluted cereal from a spoon. If you don't feel he is getting enough to eat try increasing the ounces of milk he is eating.
Two of my grandchildren were over 8 lbs. and were breast feed and it was the same with them. There isn't a magic cure, just time and patients.
T. M

Don't rush your child to grown up. Feeding a baby cereal before they are ready can have negative effects on them. If the baby is formula feed then you introduce solids at 3 mths if they are breastfeed then 6 mths. I introduced solids at 6 mths for both of my girls. Yes they did not sleep through the night before either but their health was way more important. I get so confused as to why people think newborns should sleep through the night. Having a newborn means 2hr feedings. Why do you think everyone says once you have the baby you wont getting any sleep. Do what is best for your baby not you that is what having a child is all about. Introducing cereal at this age is not in his best interest. Do the research and consult your pediatrician, they will confirm it.

I would not give him cereal until you know he's ready. I didn't start with mine until she was about 5 months old. And I also would NOT give him cereal in the bottle because I have heard an awful lot of negative things about doing this.

http://www.drgreene.com/21_861.html

Believe me, he doesn't need it. My Sofie is growing and sleeping through the night perfectly without it, despite my mother in laws attempts at encouraging me to do the bottle/cereal thing. She didn't start sleeping through the night until she was about 3 months old, but she's been sleeping about 10 hours a night (sometimes even 12!) EVERY NIGHT SINCE! I know it's hard, but you're almost there.

Bottom line, I just didn't want Sofie to have nearly as many allergy issues as my mother and I have, my family is also very prone to weight problems. Wasn't work chancing it to me.

Have a great day! And enjoy those new baby times while they last! I miss her being that small already. Take care

J.

I started feeding my first son cereal when he was six months old and my second son started eating cereal after 12 months. However each child is different, the reason why I started feeding him cereal so early was because he never was satisfied with just formula he always was doing his hunger cry. Only you may determine what is best for your baby, because every baby is completely different from the next. I wish you well and Congrats!

Hi my name is K. and I had two kids over 9 lbs, so I understand the issue a bit. We started feeding them cereal at about 4 month. It did help. I would feed them the cereal and then a little while later breast feed before bed and they would sleep about 2 hours longer. Hope this helps

At five weeks most babies do not sleep through the night. I know it can be frusturating but it is a bad idea to put any solid food into a bottle. Cereal should be started at the earliest at four months and then only if the child is willingly taking it from a spoon. I don't want to sound like I'm preaching because, in the end, only you know what is best for your child, but to avoid problems such as gas, tummy aches, and too much weight gain too early, stick with formula or breast milk for the next couple months.

I never did this. I've seen too many digestive problems/surgeries from it. I choose to feed the children once they've shown proper signs and physical readiness: sitting up; have teeth; no tongue thrust reflex; desire to eat, etc. Bottle fed babies may eat sooner 9-12 months. Breastfed may not want food until well after a year old

I started after the 8 week check up. And I started with just a tablespoon in a 6oz or more bottle maybe a little less if it were 6 oz. And I would only so this at night.

hi H.
this is my first baby to but mine is 4 month now.my mother in law told me when my baby kept crying that the formula just was not enough.she told me to try a little rice cearel in the bottle.i was scared to thier for a while.then everyone from church told me the samething. so i started it.give him 1 table
spoon full. my got it in the morning and right before bed.

At 5 wks. it's normal for babies to need feeding every few hrs around the clock. Does he seem colicky ---like gas etc? If so, you might need to change formula. If breastfeeding, you could ask the doctor about supplementing with formula. My son was 8 1/2lbs at birth and I added an evening formula bottle to his breastfeeding schedule.(as suggested by my doctor.) Also, the routine of a warm bath at night and soft music. Mine 1st slept thru the night at 3 months, and my friends said I was incredibly lucky it was that soon! I haven't heard of a doctor wanting to give cereal before 4 mos. But check with your doctor for your own peace of mind. Hope this helps. Bless you and your little guy---P. B

I think 5 weeks may be too young for cereal, ask your pediatrician. I didn't start my daughter on cereal until about 4 months old.

Cereal may or may not help him sleep. But I highly recommend to not give him cereal until 4-6 months. It is a choking hazard, the baby has not developed the muscles/reflexes to do so properly. Also, it could give him food allergies because the stomach is still delicate and giving the cereal can cause more harm than good. From personal experience, my daugher did not sleep any better after getting cereal, just one of those things you know. But talk to your ped for sure.

It is not recommended to give cereal or any other foods to infants until they break teeth at about 6 months. This is the body telling you their digestive systems are ready to digest these foods. Early introduction of cereals, fruits, etc. generally causes their bodies to develope allergies. The best food for an infant is mother's breastmilk. Best Wishes!