Recent question I have received is about feeding infants. I have to admit that this was not my strongest point when Olivia Grace was under 6 months, but seeing this as a weakness I tried to immerse myself in the topic and even spent years working closely with a feeding team. So my information is a combination of self experience, professional experience, education, reading and getting information from Pediatricians, feeding experts and other Moms.
When should I start feeding cereal or when is it too early to feed cereal?
Ok, here is my take on it, first of all I would advise you to discuss this with YOUR Pediatrician. Then if you want my other advise/opinion I would say, once you have had your 4 month check up and the Pediatrician has evaluated your child's eating habits and tolerances then you can try feeding him or her cereal. This is the absolute earliest I would start (just my opinion).
This is my opinion, but there is research that states that starting children too early on cereal/baby food can cause them to have more food allergies as well as stomach irritations. If you have a child that is fussy and you are feeding him or her cereal/baby food prior to the 4-6 month suggested time then it may be the food that is causing the fussiness. Babies are generally happy in nature so try to think about your child and eliminate ANY possibilities. Food, not having a definite schedule, sleep schedule, enough sleep time all can be contributors to fussiness. Although there can be any more contributors, these are only a few.
Many free that by feeding them cereal they will sleep longer, well, sleeping through the night has NOTHING to do with food. Sleeping through the night is due to brain development, a baby has to have a certain level of brain development in order to do this, it IS NOT FOOD.
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