When Do I Start Adding Cereal

Give it to him when you want to. My little one had cereal added to her bottles around six to eight weeks old for reflux. She did well with it and had no problems. So if your little guy is hungry adding cereal may help. He should do fine. You can always ask your doctor as well. He could tell you the right amount to add. I think my doctor told me to add one tablespoon for every two ounces. It has been awhile my daughter is fixing to be a year old. His bm's might get a little hard at first but once he is use to the cereal it should go away. I would also just watch for signs like fussiness or gas. When adding cereal it could give him a tummy ache. If it does I wouldn't use it anymore until he is older. My daughter did fine but each baby will be different. I would go by your motherly instincts, if you feel it is right then try it but if you have doubts don't try it or call your peditrician and get his opinion.

Hi, H.,
I remember feeling the same way. My son was ALWAYS hungry too. Even though most breastfeeding articles say to feed on demand, I had to put my son on a 2 1/2 hour feeding schedule during the day to keep from going crazy. At night he ate at 10 pm, 1:30 am, and 4:30 am (on demand). He was still 15 pounds and 23 inches by 11 weeks old, so cutting back didn't seem to hurt his weight gain. I was told that he wouldn't be able to digest anything but breastmilk or formula until at least 4 months, so I waited until then to introduce cereal. He has consistently been 95th percentile in height and after losing the baby fat by about 9 months, he's stayed 75th percentile in weight. Now I'm glad I fed him often because he obviously needed the extra calories for growth, and it doesn't last forever. When I finished weaning him at 15 month, I cried!

The doctor advice is to wait until 6 months to add any kind of food besides breastmilk or formula...but they're used to seeing a lot of people do it at four months and sometimes will ok/recommend that as well. I would wait if I were you. This "hungry all the time" thing is just a very normal function for babies. You didn't say if you were nursing or formula feeding but either way, he's just trying to get you to step it up and give him MORE MILK! =) If you are nursing, then his constant feeding will stimulate your body to help you produce the more milk that he needed...a very cool feedback system. If you are formula feeding, now's the time to try giving him a bigger bottle/a larger number of ounces at once (for example, if you're giving him a 4-ounce bottle for every feeding, try a 6-ounce bottle for at least a couple of them). Also remember that babies tend to go through a growth spurt around 12 weeks so he's just compensating for that and making sure he gets enough "food"--but all the food he needs is either that breastmilk or formula...it's highly unlikely that cereal or whatever is what he needs right now, and it might cause him some unwanted troubles with allergies and stuff. Kellymom.com is a great site, it has some good information about that kind of thing, growth spurts, starting solids, everything, although it's geared towards nursing moms so if you're formula feeding there won't be nearly as much that's helpful to you there. Congratulations on your bundle of joy, by the way, and best of luck!

You should ask your baby's doctor what is right for your baby. He might just need the comforting that feeding provides, not necessarily the food.

If he seems hungry add more ounces to his bottles, or feed him more frequently. Why put off feeding a baby who seems hungry? Babies should not have cereal until at least 4 months and sometimes Peds recommend 6 months. Feeding rice cereal for medical reasons like reflux is different than just giving it to healthy babies.

Before deciding to feed him cereal based on internet advice I would recommend talking to your Pediatrician.