Notes From a Real Mom – Rice Cereal
Rice cereal is usually the first food given to a baby. According to experts babies should not be given solids, including rice cereal, until six months. When Jake was a baby, it was four months, but now apparently the “new†rule is six months.
I like to live on the edge, so I’ve already cheated. Brian has had cereal. And it didn’t work.
There are three reasons that spring to mind for giving cereal earlier than the “recommended†age – all of which are heavily debated.
1. It can help with reflux. Many believe that the heavier formulas with cereal included can sit better in a baby’s tummy. Mine have never had trouble with reflux or spitting up, so I don’t have an opinion on this. It’s best to ask your doctor what the latest info is unless you’ve already done your research or have personal experience.
2. It helps them sleep better. Many, including, my own parents, feel like having “real†food in a baby’s tummy will help them sleep longer at night. My parents swear it worked for them. I have a girlfriend who started her daughter on cereal (in a bottle) at six weeks. Her daughter is two and still waking up.
I tried it with Jake and went so far as to get a special baby food feeder (like a bottle with a big hole), and it didn’t work for him. So I stopped. I started him up again at three months, but for a different reason. Meanwhile, Jake didn’t actually start sleeping all night every night until twenty-five months.
3. They are drinking too much formula. Unless you have big babies like me, you might not know that there is an upper limit on formula. Apparently babies aren’t supposed to drink/eat more than about forty ounces in a day. My eight-week-old ate forty-two ounces yesterday. Oops.
Actually, I’ve given Brian cereal for a slight variation on this reason. The child was over twelve pounds at birth and needed about five ounces in a feeding. (He’s up to six now.) The slow flow nipples weren’t cutting it and the fast flows were a bit too fast. I tried a pinch of cereal in hopes of slowing it down, but just clogged the nipple – twice. I tried variable flows, but Brian can’t work them correctly. He’s tongue-tied like his brother.
I’ll probably start spooning cereal to Brian in another six weeks. Jake started at about three and a half months, so Brian will probably do the same. That is unless he’s starting to swim in all the formula he’ll be drinking in the meantime.
