cereal at 4 months?

[lmh2402]

one of several recos made by therapist at our recent visit with feeding specialist, was starting cereal (oatmeal) at 4 months instead of waiting until 6

she said this might help DD with the absolutely crazy amount of vomiting she does on a regular basis

i'm not loving the idea, but might consider it if there is compelling reason to do so

plan to try and research at some point

but wondering if others have started cereal early...so early (4 months?!)...for similar reasons?

if so, did you see positive results? and/or do you regret having done so?

thanks

[Melaine]

I have heard a lot of people say it helps reflux-y babies. We are delaying all grains until 12 months per my natural health provider. She thinks a lot of babies with mucus/blood in the stool are more sensitive to grains.

[Momit]

This is probably completely irrelevant since DS was not a reflux baby, but we did do small amounts of rice and oatmeal cereal starting at about 4.5 months. Mainly homemade fruit and veggie purees but some cereal as well (my ped had me paranoid about low iron, since I was slightly anemic and BFing, so the cereal seemed like an ok choice at the time). DS didn't have issues with the cereal, or with any other food.

[123LuckyMom]

I think most pediatricians will tell you it's safe to start solids at 4 months. Mind you, our own mothers and grandmothers were shoving the cereal in our mouths at 4 WEEKS sometimes, and we made it. We waited until 6 months with both of our kids, but if my pediatrician had advised it as a possible relief for serious reflux, I definitely would have felt fine about starting at 4 months. I'm assuming that's in addition to BF, though, is that right? I wouldn't want to stop BF at 4 months unless it was absolutely, totally, and completely medically necessary. I would want the antibodies and other benefits of BF to continue beyond 4 months if at all possible.

[lmh2402]

I think most pediatricians will tell you it's safe to start solids at 4 months. Mind you, our own mothers and grandmothers were shoving the cereal in our mouths at 4 WEEKS sometimes, and we made it. We waited until 6 months with both of our kids, but if my pediatrician had advised it as a possible relief for serious reflux, I definitely would have felt fine about starting at 4 months. I'm assuming that's in addition to BF, though, is that right? I wouldn't want to stop BF at 4 months unless it was absolutely, totally, and completely medically necessary. I would want the antibodies and other benefits of BF to continue beyond 4 months if at all possible.

oh yes, absolutely

thanks for the feedback, guys

still not sure. have to find time to do a bit of research

[marymoo86]

I have heard a lot of people say it helps reflux-y babies. We are delaying all grains until 12 months per my natural health provider. She thinks a lot of babies with mucus/blood in the stool are more sensitive to grains.

:yeahthat:

I can't imagine why it would be a recommendation when most likely the gut has yet to be sealed. Seems like it would create more problems than solve. http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/cgi/content/full/117/4/e760?maxtoshow=&HITS=10&hits=10&RESULTFORMAT=&fulltext=open+gut&andorexactfulltext=and&searchid=1&FIRSTINDEX=0&sortspec=relevance&resourcetype=HWCIT

[BabyBearsMom]

Our pedi says 4 months or more is fine for solids and as long as you don't decrease the milk intake it is fine.

[Melaine]

http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/cgi/content/full/117/4/e760?maxtoshow=&HITS=10&hits=10&RESULTFORMAT=&fulltext=open+gut&andorexactfulltext=and&searchid=1&FIRSTINDEX=0&sortspec=relevance&resourcetype=HWCIT

Thanks for linking to that. In all my googling, I had not read that study and it was really interesting.

[Tondi G]

Mine weren't reflux babies (DS1 may have been a silent reflux baby though) but we started oatmeal at 4 months with both kids ... DS1 was Breast fed and DS2 was formula fed. Both did well.

[wellyes]

I would continue bfing and wait until the gut is sealed. Just about every ped ever says cereal is fine at four months. And it is. But the known advantages to waiting, IMO, outweigh the potential benefits of starting early.

http://kellymom.com/nutrition/starting-solids/delay-solids/

[Melaine]

I would continue bfing and wait until the gut is sealed. Just about every ped ever says cereal is fine at four months. And it is. But the known advantages to waiting, IMO, outweigh the potential benefits of starting early.

http://kellymom.com/nutrition/starting-solids/delay-solids/

I am so confused because that is completely contrary to what I have been reading lately about allergies and solid foods. It's so hard to weed through all the info.

[wellyes]

I am so confused because that is completely contrary to what I have been reading lately about allergies and solid foods. It's so hard to weed through all the info.

Researchers say one thing, then contradict it a few months later, and it's so hard for a layperson to know which study is more credible and comprehensive. But there is no doubt that there are some benefits to bfing to six months. So, that is why I said go with what is known, not potential good.

[okinawama]

I think there's a difference between starting solids at 4 months out of eagerness to move on to the next phase, or in attempt to get a baby sleeping better (like so many of my friends have done) and starting them in hopes of bringing a reflux baby some relief.

Our doctor spoke to us about going to rice cereal early on in attempt to help my refluxer in hopes of giving him some weight in his food to help keeping his food down. He also gave us the option of a drug that we could give prior to a breast feeding that thickens breast milk/formula and provides the same weight in the stomach. We never had to go down the thickening route, but my DH and I discussed it and felt that we would have gone with the rice cereal rather than another drug if it came to having to make a choice.

If the spitting up is painful, I'd think about giving rice cereal or explore other options. If your LO is a "happy spitter" than I'd just wait it out and start solids at 6 months.

[daisymommy]

Well, results can be mixed. We were advised to do it with child #1 due to severe reflux. It didn't help at all. Then he just spit up what looked like oatmeal. Yuck.

We had another doctor who was very against it, saying that it could cause aspiration of thickened milk, which was very dangerous.

ETA: We did thickened feeds, where we put the cereal in the bottle with a "Y" cut opening (Avent). We didn't feed it to him on a spoon.

[AnnieW625]

We did rice cereal with DD1 starting around 4-5 months. I tried mixing it with formula and she wouldn't eat it at all. We just mixed with a little bit of water and made it really runny.

With DD2 we tried the Added Rice Formula and it didn't work for her she still spit up so we stopped. We tried rice cereal at 5 months I think, but she preferred the oatmeal. We used Happy Baby Organics.

A little bit to try to sooth her tummy or help her sleep more would be okay in my book. as long as you water it down enough I would worry about asphyxiation.

[ArizonaGirl]

We started rice cereal at 4 months per pedi and GI recommendation and it definitely seemed to help the excessive spitting that DS did. I would recommend oatmeal tho because of the recent arsenic in rice information.

We only did 1 serving (1-2 tablespoons a day) and did seem to see drastic improvement.

HTH

[brittone2]

I am not experienced with reflux, but I thought there was some school of thought that thickened fees using cereals may assist in not having the child "lose" so much of their food, the child could still be silently refluxing with the cereal. I don't know if the findings on this differ in terms of introducing solids vs. a "thickened feed."

I think kellymom has this info. Hopefully someone with more experience can help out w/ whether that is still a concern. I would worry that even if it "worked" it might just mask symptoms of reflux, but I really am not experienced with reflux issues.

Thickened feed info toward the bottom; again, not sure if this applies to regular intro of solids. http://kellymom.com/health/baby-health/reflux/