Formula with Babyfood

Well, I think that 4 months is a little too early to start with baby foods. I waited till almost 6 months ( 5 1/2 to be exact) and then I only feed my baby once a day (usually at nite before a bath). The formula or breast milk is the most important right now until he's about 6 months old. so maybe you can try again later!!!!! about waking up at nites, maybe 930 pm is too late for him to go to bed. I have been putting my son to bed at 7 pm since he was born and wakes up at 630 am. at 4 month the last bottle was at 10 pm and then right to bed again!!!! I read the baby whisperer book and it really helped me with putting him to sleep!!!! let me know if you need more help with this issue. Like I said I have been very successful to get him to eat well and sleep throughout the nite!!!!
C.

Hi S.,
I am an R.N and a mom of a 3 yar old. At about 4 months I started to give my son cereal in his bottle before bedtime. From that moment on he began sleeping 12-14 hours a night and he still does!!! So what I am suggesting to you is after dinner but before bed about the 8 o'clock bottle put 2 tablespoons of rice cereal in it. (make sure you cut the nipple a little so the cereal can get through). It will keep his tummy full for at least 6 to 8 hours. Hope this helps!
R.

How much of the baby food are you feeding him? At 4 months old he should just be starting cereal once maybe twice a day and only a few tablespoons worth. I'd ask your pediatrician for advice if you were told to be feeding more at this age. Alsoi when my boys were little (I have 3 of them!) I always split the feedings and nursings - cereal/food was at a seperate time or after a nursing, not in the middle. Right now at this age, the solids are not at all important to your little ones growth so the formula should be what is fed the most with the solids as a "snack" between feedings. It sounds like he's waking up because he's hungry. His belly is filling up on solids and so he isn't drinking enough formula to hold him over during the night.

My daughter just went for her 9 month check up and weighs 18 lbs. I was worried, but the pediatrician wasn't. Don't worry about pushing food too much. (Four months is on the early side for introducing solids.) Your son does need his formula, though. This is what worked for us.
I give a full bottle at waking, wait an hour before cereal feeding. Remember that the nutrition your son needs is mostly in the formula at this point, the food is for "practice" for later nutritional needs. We fed only once a day for a month, added a second "dinner" feeding after a month of successful morning feedings. My friend fed her son cereal twice a day, but I have kept cereal to am only and used jar food (veggies or mixed dinners once I introduced second... and later third feedings.
Perhaps you could move up the 8 pm cereal feeding so that he takes more of his nighttime bottle?
As far as sleeping through the night... I didn't until my daughter was 8 months old. There were some nights that it was really tough, but she needed for me to get up and feed her at night. As her mommy, that's my job. It's quiet time, just the two of us and fortunately, doesn't last all that long. I'm fairly certain that most current medical advice is NOT to add cereal to a baby's bottle. It's a choking hazard and doesn't make a difference as far as sleep is concerned.

Of course this is my personal opinion, but it seems like he's eating a lot of cereal and babyfood for a 4mnth old. If correct, it's supposed to be an "introduction". If it's affecting his milk intake. Why not cut out all food and cereal and see how it goes. My daughter didn't eat cereal or solids til 6-7mnths and slept great until I started with cereal at night. She was also a big baby, 18lbs at 4mnths, and did fine with just milk. I think cereal was too heavy in her stomach and affected her sleeping. My son started solids at 5mnths, but I also noticed the cereal affected his sleep, so we gave it to him in the morning and that helped. He was also a big baby at 20lbs at 4mnths. Same thing, he did fine with just milk.

It's not necessary for them to eat foods/cereal at 4mnths, so cutting out the food/cereal wouldn't hurt at all. Most of the baby foods are fruits and veggies and contain little calories and no healthy fats, which is in the formula and is important for the first year.

Good Luck!

People worry too much about how much their children eat. My doctor told me that if my daughter is hungry she will eat. I would get him on a schedule for feeding so if he doesn't drink the bottle then he has to wait until his next feeding that way he will learn that he needs to eat otherwise he will have to wait. You shouldn't push him to drink because he might not be hungry and force feeding him will only make him have a weight problem in the future. Once my daughter started solid foods of course she was a lot older then your son (6 mths) she cut back significantly on her nursing. The solid food would fill her up a lot quicker. I wouldn't worry about your son's weigh as long as he is healthy and active.

My son just turned 7 months old.. I dont know about your son but my guy doesnt like to eat much as it is.. Friends laugh b/c I still give him the 4oz bottle when their 3 month is having a 12oz bottle.. I try and split up his feedings with baby food and formula.. I always give it a couple hours between feedings.. Since your son is only 4 months old I wouldn't be feeding him too much baby food.. Maybe once or twice a day.. I was told by my pediatrician to cut back on the food at one point b/c like your son mine was barely eating his formula.. My son has a small stomach and cant eat many ounces at one sitting so i'll give him like 3-4oz and then before he goes to sleep I make him another bottle to knock him out.. My suggestion is to just cut back on the baby food and give it to him in the morning after a hour or so after his bottle and then in the evening and hour or so before he goes to sleep and has his bottle for bed.. You can also try and put the cereal in his bottle at night to hold him over a bit more.. My son doesnt like cereal so that is the only way I can give it to him..

As regards to your sleep I feel your pain.. My son is 7 months old and still feels the need to wake up in the night and then at 6:30 every morning, but today was a treat he woke up at 5:45.. GOOD LUCK!!

I tried the Babywise principles for a short while when we first brought my daughter home. After a day or two of her really crying, I quit. I read some other books and they all tell you that prior to 3 months a baby really can't be put on a schedule. So, I was needlessly letting my daughter cry when I should've been giving her attention. I know your son is older than 3 months now, but it made me really question the Babywise methods. Bottom line, babies will eat when they're hungry. If he's not taking the rest of the bottle after the cereal he's probably full. Besides, as you introduce baby food, babies usually eat less formula. At your last doctor's visit was your pediatrician ok w/ his weight gain? As for the 1am waking, are you sure it's for food? He's not gassy, wet, or in some other way uncomfortable? Have you tried giving him an extra ounce or so in his last bottle of the night? I don't know if this helps, but maybe it will give you some ideas or things to consider. Good luck!

I would talk to the pediatrician about the "snacking". My daughter did that and it didn't hurt her. Once I started her on baby food, she refused the bottle just like your son is doing; and then she wougl get hungry later and want the bottle.

As for the waking up in the middle of the night, don't worry about that. Baby food is very easily digested and so is formula so their little tummies process it quickly and then they want more. My daughter did not start sleeping all the way through the night until she was almost 8 months old.

I recently started feeding my 5 mth old babyfood and this is what I did and it might work for you.

When he wakes up in the morning I make a bottle of formula (6 ounces) and babyfood (1 teasp. of cereal and 1 teasp. of babyfood and 3 teasp. of formula. I feed him the formula first until he is done. Then I give him some babyfood. he usually eats about 5 baby spoon fulls. It feels him up and then he eats again about 3 1/2 hours later and for lunch I do the same thing. I feed him this way for morning and breakfast. He goes to bed at 7:30 and doesn't wake up for a feeding until 5:30am.

I hope that you will be able to get some more sleep and maybe this method will work for you.

S.,
Try giving him the whole bottle and then the food. If he doesn't want the food, thats fine. As long if he is getting enough formula, he is getting sufficient nourishment. Keep trying to get him to get full feedings each time he eats. I used Babywise too, and it worked for me! I didn't start my children on solids until 6 months and that seemed to work good for them.

I have twins and had to come up with a schedule to get them to eat babyfood and drink a bottle for meals. We did really well and I hope it works for you. When my boys woke up in the morning I gave them a full bottle (at four months that was about 8 ounces). An hour later I gave them cereal that was mixed with formula and a little stage 1 fruit. Four hours after that they had a full 8 ounce bottle for lunch. Four hours later they had dinner (babyfood). They had baths and then before bed they had another 8 ounce bottle. They usually kept this schedule with the occasional evening where they wouldn't have the full bottle before bed, they sleep from about 8pm until 8am. But they steadily gained weight like they are supposed and it has helped to keep a regular meal schedule now that they are 18 months. I hope this helps.

It sounds like a big fat growth spurt to me! He's a growing boy! If ANY book was a cast in stone manual... Parenting would be easy! Don't take every WORD literally, read it and make it your own! Talk to his Peddy Doc. You and the Doc are the only two who can know for sure what is right for YOUR baby.
Don't be so hard on yourself. Baby will tell you when he's hungry and thirsty. Feed him and let him drink! As soon as he gets mobile, he's drop that baby gush "padding" and he'll stablize. I say wait a day or two more. If Baby is still waking up at night, take him to the Doc to make sure it's not anything else creeping up. But in my heart, it sounds like a growth spurt. Best of luck!!

S., do you work? Is there some reason why you feel the need to put your baby on a schedule? I know that it's difficult to allow infants to act like, well, infants. It's important to remember that their needs are very different from ours. That's difficult because it means we have to put our needs and wants on hold for the first 6-12 months of our baby's lives.

NONE, of my four babies slept through the night. Was it frustrating? Sure, but I knew when I got into the whole motherhood thing that it wasn't just about me anymore. My life, for the first year of their lives was going to be hard. Do I regret my decision to have babies? Honestly, there are some days that I would have hesitated and said "yes".

I have two books I'd like to recommend to you. The first one is After the Baby's Birth by Robin Lim. The second one is The Happiest Baby on the Block by Harvey Karp, M.D.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/1587611104/ref=dp_...
http://www.thehappiestbaby.org/

HI S.,
It sounds like he is getting full on the cereal. If you mix the cereal with the formula then you need not to worry, he is getting the formula this way so don't push it. He is only 4 months old, and most that young do not eat a lot of baby food. Usual cereal and fruit in the morning, and maybe some cereal at night. He is probably wakeing up at night not from being hungry but maybe gas, try not to give him to much cereal befor bed, just enough to fill his belly. Oh and never give him cereal in a bottle. This causes more gas.
HOpe this helps,
I am not an expert, just a mom three times around.
Good luck.
D.

YOur baby is still trying to figure things out, just like you. I have 3 and I always fed food first and a few ounces to wash it down and then an hour or so later feed the bottle. My babies as well did not start sleeping through the night until about 8 months old, but I did NOT feed them in the middle of the night after about 6 months. He may not be hungry when he wakes, just wanting you. Don't force anything on your child. He will eat when he is hungry and as long as he is healthy and not losing weight, he's doing great. Doctors tell you what should be happening and their opinions, but it's not always right for the individual. You have to do the best to find your rhythm and what your baby wants and how it works for you. My doctor always told me I was not feeding my baby enough formula, but they always liked the food better and they were healthy, so I never worried about it.