Solid food?

My MIL swears that rice cereal makes babies sleep. There are 2 singleton babies in our family within 2 weeks of our twins and they sleep. "They eat rice cereal" - this is all I hear.

All I read says not to feed them solid food until they are 6 months because of their digestive track. My boys are 4.5 months (born at 37.5 weeks) and they eat all the time and are hungry during the night. As an example they ate:

6:30 PM - 5 oz each
10:30 PM - 6 oz and 4.5 oz
2:30 AM - 5 oz each
5:15 AM - 3 oz each

This continues all day and they are on formula! Help!

 

A lot of pedi's still say it's okay to start feeding solids at 4 months. If they are showing signs, maybe you should call yours and say you'd like to start the babies on rice cereal.

 

My pedi told me up and down and sideways that food does not help babies sleep. When they are ready to sleep through the night, they will. I wouldn't rush food just to help them sleep, as it may not.

That 5:15am bottle doesn't really sound like they are eating all that much ... maybe they are doing it more out of habit? Is it possible that you can up some of their other bottles to see if they will take more?

That being said ... we started rice cereal (not in bottles, in bowls) at 4 months ... and didn't start baby food until 5 months. But they were already STTN when we started food ... so I can't say it made an impact.

 

The general consensus is that solids don't help a baby sleep. Some would call it an old wive's tale. Were your twins born smaller than the two singletons? If so, you can always tell MIL that they have to eat at night because they are growing much more quickly. It is perfectly normal for a 4 month old to wake at night to eat. Many babies need to be fed at night until 6 months old or so.

 

Cereal did NOT help my twins sleep better... if anything it upset their stomachs. We waited until 6 months and we will be doing the same thing with Evan.. .he doesn't need anything other than my milk until then... up to a year it is just practice!

 

QUOTE(SCC @ Sep 8 2008, 02:33 PM) [snapback]969794[/snapback]
My MIL swears that rice cereal makes babies sleep. There are 2 singleton babies in our family within 2 weeks of our twins and they sleep. "They eat rice cereal" - this is all I hear.

All I read says not to feed them solid food until they are 6 months because of their digestive track. My boys are 4.5 months (born at 37.5 weeks) and they eat all the time and are hungry during the night. As an example they ate:

6:30 PM - 5 oz each
10:30 PM - 6 oz and 4.5 oz
2:30 AM - 5 oz each
5:15 AM - 3 oz each

This continues all day and they are on formula! Help!


Let me try this again since my reply got lost in cyberspace :angry: . It could very well be that your boys are going through a growth spurt. If that is the case, then they need to eat all those oz of formula. If it is a consistent thing, then you may want to consider introducing rice cereal to them via spoon. I would most definitely check w/ your pedi before doing it. Cereal does not help babies get through the night but for some reason MILs believe this. I think it is coincidental that babies are introduced to cereal at about the same age/weight that is condusive to sleeping through. For instance, my babies dropped the 11pm feeding (3 hr feeding schedule) when they were about 9-10 lbs. They dropped the 2 am feeding when they hit about 11-12 lbs. We introduced rice cereal when they were 1 wk shy of 5 mths. It hasn't helped them sleep any better or drop the 5 am feeding.

Here are some guidelines you can look at to see if your babies are ready...

*weight about 13 lbs
*taking 32+ oz of formula per day
*interested in what you are eating
*can hold head up unassisted (to aid in swallowing)

Hopefully this will help you out!

 

Definitely an old wives' tale that solids help with sleep. My own experience bears that out too - my DD was STTN before we started solids, and STOPPED after!

Current AAP guidelines are to wait until 6 mo. Here's some more info:

http://wholesomebabyfood.com/solids.htm
http://wholesomebabyfood.com/readyforsolids.htm

How much/how often are they eating during the day? I wonder if more frequent daytime feedings might help. And ditto pp that it is normal for babies that age to eat at night.