2 Month Old and Cereal

A.:

I raised 3 sons all had cereal in their bottles about\
1 month of age, slept thru the night when doing this.
Allergies in both sides of the family, but my mother did
it to me and nothing happened. Sons are now 30, 29, 26,
6'5", 6'3", 6'2". It did not stunt their growth, or
brains.
Auntie in her 50's/

Hi A.,

What I used to do was add a little cereal to the bottle. It's worth a try.

Another suggestion is to make the cereal really thin with more formula in it when feeding it to him then he might be more likely to take it in the bottle also.

L.

unless medical reason for it, stop the cereal and wait till the doc says ok after 4 mths.

Now is the time for formula only.

I started all my kids on cereal around 2months and they loved it.I always had them do a bottle first thing in the morning and than after they ate.
But good luck on everything.and it wasn't a prolem for any of my kids

.

Hi A.,

I think I would give him his bottle first and if he is still hungry, then follow with a little (teaspoon) of cereal. Most 2 month olds don't need cereal at that age.

If however you want to continue the cereal, I wouldn't also push him to finish a bottle. We do more harm than good by encouraging children to ignore their appetite. After 5 kids and babysitting others, I offer good healthy food (no junk at all) and they eat until they are full.

My son was BF, & refused a bottle. He wasn't sleeping & I was exhausted. I also started cereal at 2 1/2 months (after reading my husbands baby book & discovering he was on cereal at 2 weeks, fruits & veggies by 1 month & meats by month 3). He survived w/no food allergies or other problems, so I felt comfortable giving my son cereal "early". It was the best thing I did for all of us. He immediately began sleeping for longer stretches. About 5-6 hours at night (as opposed to 2 hours). And he began taking naps during the day. We quickly moved on to 2 meals a day, then started veggies at 4 months & by 5 months were up to 3 meals a day. He is now 6 months, eating 3 meals a day of fruits, veggies, cereal, meat. He has not show any signs of allergies. He has never been uncomfortable. In fact I think he is a much more comfortable & happier baby since the solid food has started. He is now on a daily schedule (food & nap wise) which he dictates, but is still pretty regular. Also, since starting the cereal, he has become willing to take a bottle. Which is a big relief to me b/c now I can leave him for a few hours w/someone else. Even if its just to go grocery shopping. I wouldn't worry about the bottle. Let him take it when he wants. Babies are really good at knowing what they need. We are the ones that have to learn how to listen. Also, the cereal is new, so its more interesting. And since you started the cereal he will need fewer bottles, because he will be full for longer periods of time with the cereal. Good luck. I hope you benefit as much as I did from "early" cereal introduction. And don't let other people make you second guess yourself. You know what is best for your son.

Honey, you started him WAAAAYYY too early on cereal. Most Peds will tell between 4 and 6 mos, but closer to 6. He could develope allergies and such.
But my advise to you would be, stop the cereal, he will not let himself starve, and will eventually take the bottle.

Having had 3 children, cereal @ 2 mos. is not what I know to be needed. The earliest I started cereal was at 4 mos. & the latest was 6 1/2 mos. The baby's digestive system isn't mature enough at this point for cereal....as I know it, PS. Formula and/or breast milk is all that baby needs at this point. I really would suggest stopping the cereal & check with the doctor as another woman stated.

Good luck!

ACK! 2 months is far too early to start an infant on cereal. The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends around 6 months. The antibodies, nutrition, vitamins, minerals, etc from your milk (I don't think there are antibodies in formula) are exactly what the little one needs right now, as cereal, fruits, fruit juices, provide incomplete nutrition and shouldn't be used to supplement until their systems are more mature.

I would wean/stop the cereal ASAP and go back to just straight milk. I hope that helps...

I have two kids, now 4yrs and 2yrs, but our pediatrician didn't recommend cereal until after 4 months old. I think the reason is that prior to 4 months their stomachs aren't developed enough to deal with semi-solids and are more likely to have discomfort. However, if you started cereal per the doctors orders, then I would say that he'll drink a bottle when he is thristy. I wouldn't worry, but if it seems like he is drinking a lot less then before, maybe you should cut back on the cereal. I believe that at his age the breat milk or formula is more important. Double check with your pediatrician. Jennifer

Hi A.,

At 2 or even 3 months old, your baby is really too young to be starting cereal. The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that you don't start these until 6 months of age. Prior to that your baby can have difficutlies digesting the food and may develop food allergies or other sensitivies. Your baby should be getting 100% of his nutrition from breastmilk or formula until he is 6 months old and the majority of his nutrition should come from breastmilk or formula until he is 12 months old even after he starts some foods.

J.

Way to go!!! I wish more mothers were like you

hi A.. glad to hear your son likes the cereal! sometimes babies can be a little finicky with it at first and it takes them longer to develope the taste or desire for it. everyone raises their children differently. so you, as his mother, just need to do whats best for your baby. your daughter is now 6 years old! and she turned out ok... so im sure if your baby is taking the cereal and not having problems with it... gas, constipation, cholic, i think its ok, personally. i too had a situation where many friends and relatives didnt support me giving my baby cereal at such a young age. and i know another mom whos pediatrician actually told her to give her baby the cereal early, so dont worry, each situation is different. i myself, started giving my baby a tablespoon of rice cereal in her night time bottle only at one month of age. i needed to use a larger nipple size, but it wasnt too thick or anything, and she had no problem sucking it down. she slept great and had no complications or adverse reactions. i continued to put cereal in her night time bottle only until age 3 months. then i started mixing the cereal in a bowl with a little bit of formula and feeding it to her morning and night. i know they say to make it runny for them, but my daughter actually ate it better a little thicker and learned to swallow it almost immedietly. she still slept through the night great, and i would still put just one tablespoon in her bed time bottle. then after a month of the cereal in a bowl i moved on to veggies at 4 months of age. then fruits at 5 months, and so on and so on. i would sugguest asking your pediatrician, just to be safe, but if he likes the cereal so much now and is used to that filling his belly more and that full feeling... maybe they would allow you to just put some cereal in the bottle??? again, make sure you ask them first, b/c each doctor is different. but that worked great for my friend and she did it with every single bottle. i was shocked, b/c like i said, i only did it with the night time bottle, but you just might have a hungry little guy! hope my story helps you and please let us know how it turns out for you. .... if he gets hungry enough, i think he will take the bottle regardless. :o)

2 months old is TOO EARLY for cereal. If your child is bottle fed I think the rule of thumb for starting solids is 4 months. If he's breastfed it's 6 months. They're little bellies are not ready for cereal yet!

Just be sure his cereal intake doesn't start to replace his milk/formula intake in any way. It may make him full so he doesn't care about the milk as much. The milk is the most important thing, so beware of that, especially until he is 4-6 months old at least. Right now cereal is a luxury, not necessity to his development. My doctor said to avoid it until 6 months, but I doubt that's necessary. If he likes it-great -just don't overdo it!

Have you tried the cereal in the bottle? that workd pretty good for me.

Hey A.. If there's anything that brings out opinions in moms, it's food! :-)

Here's my 2 cents... I have a 4 1/2 month old who also LOVES his solid foods. On the advice of the pediatrician, we started putting rice in his bottles at not-quite-4-months(he's 1/2 breast fed, half bottle fed) at the rate of one Tablespoon per 4 ounces to try to deal with his reflux issues. Once we found a nipple that worked (dr. brown's Y cut) he loved it, and it did help with the reflux. At the same time the pediatrician suggested that I try solid foods to see if he would start taking them AFTER he nursed/bottlefed. We started him with sweet potatoes and he LOVED them. So I would say a.) work with your pediatrician, b.) offer solid AFTER bottle (because they really do need the nutrition from breastmilk/formula. I would also suggest you look into what is in the rice cereal you serve-- the ones from the "big names" often have barley in them which contains gluten and can be a problem for some kids. We use an organic cereal (Earth's Best) which is just rice (and gluten free.)

Good luck!

A.
I was always told not to start cereal until about 6 months - or later. Not only can cereal (and other "foods") be hard on a baby's digestive tract, but they do not have the vitamins that formula does. This is why they say feed the baby a full bottle, and then cereal if they still appear hungry. I don't think it would be hard to reverse your baby's habit to this way - you just may make him a little unhappy - if he's hungry he will eat the bottle.