I'm thinking of giving Bella cereal tonight. I was determined not to give it until 4 months at least and was hoping to go until 5, but I want to know if it will help her sleep.
I know the 'experts' say that it doesn't, but EVERY parent I know swears that as soon as they fed their babies cereal, they miraculously slept all night.
What did you guys do and what do you think?
3 comments:
Cereal really didn't help my babies sleep. One of them was ready for cereal by 4 months but the rest just kept pushing it out with their tongue which is a reflexive sign that they aren't ready. It can't hurt to try it and she will let you know if she's ready or not. good luck. I know how hard it is when you're tired.
Honestly? Don't do it. It won't help her sleep. I can point you to several blogs on moms who have JUST tried it with their same-age babies (they're on the other computer or I would right now). It just doesn't help.
In addition, Bella's intestines aren't ready to process solid food yet and she's not physically ready for the chewing and swallowing process. She should be able to sit up by herself and grab the spoon out of your hand before you start.
Another thought on this is that research is starting to show that starting on rice cereal at too young an age, or any solid when they're still so little can increase risk factors for obesity and diabetes later in life.
So, what to do? I would suggest giving her five ounces (or even letting her try for six) before bed and then reducing the amount of milk in her middle of the night bottle. Maybe go from four ounces to three to two to none altogether. This should mimic a breast-fed babies need to "cluster-feed" before bed, eating more food more often before the end of the night. The idea with this is that she doesn't need food in the middle of the night if you can get her used to not having it. Her stomach will stop processing food at night.
Also, I've found that rice cereal actually increases a babies appetite, so if you give it to her just before bed it's like carb-loading her before sleep. She may fall asleep quickly but when those carbs burn off she'll be ravenous and then wake up starving in the middle of the night, not the direction you want to go!
If... If you are going to start solid food sometime soon, keep in mind that the majority of your time with Bella will be spent around feeding for the first two years. You really want this to be something that she enjoys. I advocate waiting to start because then you can skip rice cereal altogether. There's no real nutritional value to it and other foods are so much better. Here's an article about feeding our babies spicy food instead of bland that I found interesting. http://calorielab.com/news/2005/10/10/us-baby-feeding-myths-set-kids-up-for-obesity/
If you're aching for more to do in your day (yeah, right) you can always make fresh food into baby food and freeze it for later. Steam fruits and veggies and then puree them, put them in ice cube trays and then pop them into baggies. By the time Bella can sit and grab that spoon you'll be ready with a wealth of yummy tastes for her to try!
Oh, and remember. You are doing a great job already! Six hours at a stretch is an amazing amount of sleep at night for her little self! Keep up the good work and don't down-play the excellent job you're doing! Way to go mommies! :)
in prior post you mentioned that Bella sleeps 6 hours straight at night. For MOST parents that I've talked to, that IS "sleeping throught the night"! Is that before or after cereal? Because it sounds like you already got a good thing goin'! YIPPEE!!
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