What is Breastfeeding
Breastfeeding is the process of a woman feeding an infant or young child with milk from her breasts. Babies have a sucking reflex that enables them to suck and swallow milk. Also i...
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When to add cereal?
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Connor is about 4 months now and it solely breast fed.
He had a slow start, but we have jumped up from the 1% in weight to the 5%! The dr didn't mention cereal at his 4 month appointment and I forgot to ask, being to caught up in the whole immunization thing! So when did you start with cereal? Does it really help with sleeping? Posted on 11/01/09, 07:11 am |
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We started cereal with our youngest around 5 months because I worked and was having a hard time pumping enough - was always coming up just an ounce or 2 short of what he seemed to want. I chose to add a bit of cereal at daycare to help him last until I got there (rather than give him formula). It is recommended to wait until 6 months if possible. If your baby is happy, and your ped didn't mention it, I would wait a bit. It did NOT help with sleep. 
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It is recommended to wait until 6 months. We didn't start on cereal, we started on veggies then fruit. Cereal is very constipating and has little nutritional value. It didn't help our son sleep, he's 9 months old and still nurses 2 to 3 times a night.
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It does NOT help with sleeping. We started Natalie at about 4 1/2 months for the same reason Cherbear talked about -- my partner was (and is) having trouble pumping enough to keep up with her demand. So I give her a cereal/baby food lunch instead of a bottle on weekdays, and on weekends she nurses and then has a smaller lunch. If you are keeping up with his needs with breastfeeding there is no need to start food before 6 months and it is actually not really recommended until 6 months any way. We were lucky -- she has not had any negative reactions to baby food yet. But many babies are not developmentally ready to digest cereal and baby food until after 6 months.
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And yes, there are better foods to start on than cereal. Do a little research to see what you'd like to start on. Bananas and avocado come to mind - my son had those very early because we would mash up what we were eating.
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I agree with Cherbear, and everyone else!
If your baby is following his growth curve, staying at the same percentile, or exceeding it, there is definitely no need to add cereal Now. Indeed, it is not even recommended to "start." babies on cereal, esp. not rice cereal, anymore...not since the last few years. Cereal is hard to digest, as is the high iron content, and the iron found in cereal isnot readily absorbed by the baby. The only indication to start solids early ie before 6 mths, is poor weight gain from exclusive bf. So, I would wager that your baby is just fine. Keep up the great work! And when 6 mths rolls around, check out this link: http://www.nbci.ca/index.php?optio...:starting-solid-foods&catid=5:information&Itemid=17
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