Frustrated Feeder!

Yes, totally normal. He is getting almost no nutrition from the rice cereal. At this point solid feeding is for practice and getting to understand taste and textures, it is really not much about nutrition. Rice cereal is empty calories with some iron thrown in. I'm surprised the doc is recommending starting solids so early. The current AAP guidelines recommend waiting until 6 months. Most babies will continue the night feedings for quite a while. He needs a lot of nutrition for all that growing. Hang in there, you will be able to sleep again some day!

Totally normal, and will continue to be for the next several months AT LEAST. Rice cereal usually causes more problems than it solves - it is binding and causes constipation and gas, which just makes the baby uncomfortable, which causes them to sleep less and worse. I would stop the cereal, and start barley cereal or oatmeal in another two months. Expect nighttime feedings to go on for at least two more months. My kids were nighttime nursers until 15 months old when I saw that their growth had slowed down and their activity increased and I felt that they could easily sleep through without extra calories.

Rice is completely void of nutrition and can cause gas and constipation. I know you may be getting tired with waking in the night to feed - whether formula or breast (I'm hoping breastfeeding)... but it is standard for young infants. Their body grows the most physically, mentally and emotionally than it EVER will in their lifetime. That requires constant refueling of highly dense nutritional food (breastmilk) or it's attempted equivalent (formula).

A young infant's immature and open GI tract cannot fully absorb, use or even breakdown solids yet until about 7 months when it finally closes and matures... I'd stop the rice cereal and just feed as needed. Growth spurts occur every 2-4 months and is a necessary part of development.

My daughter got up 2 times a night to nurse until she reached a year old...so she just started sleeping through the night. She's been eating solids for a couple months and that made no difference. Hang in there he will get there.

During the first 6 months most babies wake in the night at least twice to eat. Yours is pretty young yet, not sure the cereal is making him comfortable. Their little digestive tracts can be sensitive the first year and that is why the norm is to only bf or give formula for that year.
Getting up in the night and rocking him back to sleep with a paci might due the trick, you can fool him into not eating and maybe eventually he'll skip waking up with hunger pangs.

If your 4 month old wasn't getting up at night to eat I would worry. If you are insistant on starting solids so young, try some homemade (or store bought)babyfood instead of rice cereal- or any cereal for that matter.

Cereals are more "solid" than milk, and so we "think" they should satisfy longer. But cereals are primarily carbohydrate, which the body digests very quickly and either burns as energy or stores as fat. Mother's milk (or formula) has carbs (sugars) too for quick energy and satiation, but also contains considerable protein and fat, which the body digests and processes more slowly. Mother's milk is such a perfect food that babies can stay healthy on nothing else for well over a year.

Most babies are not started on cereals until 6 months – research suggests that before then, they can actually inflame the intestines and disrupt the baby's digestion and general health, which could also affect sleep. If I were in your position, I think I'd try a few days back on breastfeeding or formula only and see if that improves the sleep situation.

But be aware that many, many babies simply can't eat enough during the day to keep them asleep through the night. Their tummies are tiny, the size of their fist, and some simply can not accept being "stuffed." (This was true for my daughter, and then for her son.) Especially during growth spurts, and 4 months is a common age for that. I've known dozens of moms who get up with their babies/toddlers once or more a night until they are well over a year old.

Our ped said that once he hits 3 months, or 12 lbs, he no longer "needs" to be fed during the night. That is, he can get through the night without feeding. She suggested comforting/ crying out and seeing if that would help wean the night feeds.

Our son had colic/ gas/ indigestion (or who knows what for sure), and was possibly even being fed too often at first. My MIL had us feeding him hourly (every time he whimpered it seemed). Since he was already inconcolable, we started sleep training (the Dr. Ferber method), we figured, we had nothing to loose and everything to gain.

At first he slept from 10-6:30 with one wake up (around 4). Then he slept through from 10-6:30/7. recently, he's been going to bed earlier, and is down between 8:30-and 9, and wakes up between 6:30 & 7. I went back to work when he was 3.5 months. He's now 6 months. He gave up the 4 am wake up within my first week back.

Some people are happy to carry on getting up in the middle of the night. Sounds like you aren't one of that camp.

If you don't want to go whole hog and do the sleep training, you can try 1. moving baby to his own room. If you don't hear every gurgle, he'll have a chance to self soothe, and might surprise you by going back to sleep. 2. you can ditch the monitor (same idea as above). 3. you can try to comfort and help to sleep without feeding.

For what its worth, we were also part of the early feeding camp. We started cereal at 4 months, and are now onto 2nd fruits and veg and meats.

Finally, nothing lasts forever. You will be sleeping soon enough.

The AAP no longer recommends cereal before 6 months and hasn't in a long time. Your baby doesn't get any real nutrition from white rice cereal and gets all of the nutrients he needs from the breastmilk or formula. He shouldn't be taking less milk. If you are dead set on early solids, he should get a milk feeding first, then the solid food, not the other way around. Milk is still his primary nutrition til a year. Good luck.

Yes. It's normal for a baby to wake and eat in the night until a year or sometimes more. Please be aware that solids should NOT replace breastmilk or formula at this stage. If your son is eating less, you are supposed to back off in the amount of solids you are giving him. Breastmilk and formula have the right balance of nutrients for an infant -- solids do not. They are good for practice eating and introducing new flavors and textures, but they should not replace formula/breastmilk or he will not be getting the proper nutrition.

Btw, the old recommendation used to be starting solids at 4 months, and some peds still say that. However, almost every US and international pediatric health organization (the WHO, AAP, American Association of Family Physicians and many more) all recommend no solids before 6 months. Early introduction of solids is linked to things like increased risk of obesity, type 2 diabetes, allergies and asthma. If you do insist on giving solids now, it really should only be a tablespoon or two, and should only be given after nursing or a bottle.

The rice cereal isn't really going to give him a whole lot of nutrients or feeling of being full. He's probably only having a few teaspoons of it at this point. It's more to get him used to using a spoon and learning to swallow whole foods. So it's not surprising that he is still feeding as often. Eventually, when he eats more food, the bottles will become less needed. Does your doctor think he actually NEEDS the nighttime bottles? (i.e. is his weight ok?) If he doesn't need the nighttime bottles, he's probably just getting up because he's used to it.