Bedtime Feed Baby Rice Dilema - Please Advise!!!

[Rafael]

Hi there!

I've been to see the HV today to get my 16 week old weighed etc. I
mentioned to the HV that I was adding a little baby rice in to his last
bottle of the day. From the HVs face, you'd think I'd just admitted to
poking baby in the eye with red hot needles!!!!

We have a great bedtime routine with gentle play, relaxing bath, feed
etc from about 7pm and at about 7.30pm, I put baby down while still
awake. He is able to settle himself to sleep quickly. However, he used
to wake at approx 10.30pm, 1.30am, 3.30am and 5am. Nine times out of
ten, he'd have more food before settling back to sleep and I was
exhausted.

At the suggestion of my MIL, I've started adding just 3 teaspoons of
baby rice to 8 fluid oz of milk (formula) and feeding it to him (at
bedtime only) from a bottle with medium flow teats. (During the day, we
use just plain formula milk). He seems to have dropped the 10.30pm and
3.30am feeds and I am much happier with this. I'm not tempted at all to
increase the amount of added baby rice in order to get him to sleep
right through. I'm happy to take one step at a time...

The HV entirely understood my reasons for giving him baby rice but
warned me I should NOT be giving it in the bottle for several reasons.
1) It's a choking hazzard. 2) He'll get confused between 'drink' and
'food' and weaning will be a nightmare. 3) He's having to use different
facial muscles to suck that bit harder and it could cause ear
infections, problems with his speech in the future etc.

But my thoughts are as follows:

I think he is no more likely to choke on such a thin mixture than he is
with milk alone. I NEVER leave him unattended to feed. I couldn't even
if I wanted too! Also, he often has little coughing attacks when milk
alone goes 'down the wrong way' anyway! He seems to have absolutely no
problems sucking it through a medium flow teat at all.

If I do not feed him the baby rice/milk from a bottle, I see 2
alternatives. The first is to give him 8 fluid ounces of milk/rice from
a spoon. I don't think so!!!! The second is to give him a normal bottle
AND a much thicker milk/rice mixture from a spoon. But isn't this akin
to weaning? I don't want to start that quite yet - and certainly not at
bedtime!!!

I am so very confused. All I crave is a little more sleep but after the
HV said what she did, I feel so selfish. I only want the best for my
little boy. Please advise...What were your experiences? Thank you so
much in advance.

[Jamie Clark]

Rafael wrote:
> Hi there!
>
> I've been to see the HV today to get my 16 week old weighed etc. I
> mentioned to the HV that I was adding a little baby rice in to his
> last bottle of the day. From the HVs face, you'd think I'd just
> admitted to poking baby in the eye with red hot needles!!!!
>
> We have a great bedtime routine with gentle play, relaxing bath, feed
> etc from about 7pm and at about 7.30pm, I put baby down while still
> awake. He is able to settle himself to sleep quickly. However, he used
> to wake at approx 10.30pm, 1.30am, 3.30am and 5am. Nine times out of
> ten, he'd have more food before settling back to sleep and I was
> exhausted.
>
> At the suggestion of my MIL, I've started adding just 3 teaspoons of
> baby rice to 8 fluid oz of milk (formula) and feeding it to him (at
> bedtime only) from a bottle with medium flow teats. (During the day,
> we use just plain formula milk). He seems to have dropped the 10.30pm
> and
> 3.30am feeds and I am much happier with this. I'm not tempted at all
> to increase the amount of added baby rice in order to get him to sleep
> right through. I'm happy to take one step at a time...
>
> The HV entirely understood my reasons for giving him baby rice but
> warned me I should NOT be giving it in the bottle for several reasons.
> 1) It's a choking hazzard. 2) He'll get confused between 'drink' and
> 'food' and weaning will be a nightmare. 3) He's having to use
> different facial muscles to suck that bit harder and it could cause
> ear infections, problems with his speech in the future etc.
>
> But my thoughts are as follows:
>
> I think he is no more likely to choke on such a thin mixture than he
> is with milk alone. I NEVER leave him unattended to feed. I couldn't
> even if I wanted too! Also, he often has little coughing attacks when
> milk alone goes 'down the wrong way' anyway! He seems to have
> absolutely no problems sucking it through a medium flow teat at all.
>
> If I do not feed him the baby rice/milk from a bottle, I see 2
> alternatives. The first is to give him 8 fluid ounces of milk/rice
> from a spoon. I don't think so!!!! The second is to give him a normal
> bottle AND a much thicker milk/rice mixture from a spoon. But isn't
> this akin to weaning? I don't want to start that quite yet - and
> certainly not at bedtime!!!
>
> I am so very confused. All I crave is a little more sleep but after
> the HV said what she did, I feel so selfish. I only want the best for
> my little boy. Please advise...What were your experiences? Thank you
> so much in advance.

It is not recommended to give any rice cereal before 6 months. I understand
about wanting the baby to sleep through the night, but baby needs the
calories, so baby is going to wake multiple times a night. You added the
rice cereal for YOUR reasons, not for the best interests of your baby...so
it was sort of selfish, don't you think? I don't mean to sound harsh, and
I've been there. Not getting much sleep is hard. But babies are only
babies for a while, and eventually they learn on their own how to sleep
through the night...they drop one feed, then eventually another, all without
having to add anything to their bottle.

Since you asked for advice, I'd say stop adding the rice and go back to pure
formula. Your son will be starting to eat solids (i.e. rice cereal) soon
enough. They all learn to sleep through the night eventually.
--

Jamie
Earth Angels:
Taylor Marlys, 1/3/03
Addison Grace, 9/30/04

Check out the family! -- www.MyFamily.com, User ID: Clarkguest1,
Password: Guest Become a member for free - go to Add Member to set up
your own User ID and Password

[xkatx]

"Rafael" > wrote in message
oups.com...
> Hi there!
>
> I've been to see the HV today to get my 16 week old weighed etc. I
> mentioned to the HV that I was adding a little baby rice in to his last
> bottle of the day. From the HVs face, you'd think I'd just admitted to
> poking baby in the eye with red hot needles!!!!
>
> We have a great bedtime routine with gentle play, relaxing bath, feed
> etc from about 7pm and at about 7.30pm, I put baby down while still
> awake. He is able to settle himself to sleep quickly. However, he used
> to wake at approx 10.30pm, 1.30am, 3.30am and 5am. Nine times out of
> ten, he'd have more food before settling back to sleep and I was
> exhausted.

All babies have different sleeping patterns at different ages, and even
twins, or siblings of far different ages and babies of the same age sleep
differently. DS was up every 4 hours at night. You could set a clock to
it. He was 5 months old to the day when he first slept through the night,
and he did not slowly and gradually reduce his feedings at night. He just
up and stopped waking at night at 5 months of age. DD, OTOH, slept 6-7
hours through the night the day we brought her home from the hospital. Kept
that up for about 3-4 weeks, then at about a month of age, she slept about
8-9 hours at night. From about 2 and a half months, she slept a good 10
hours at night, and by the time she was about 3ish months old, she was
sleeping a good 10-12 hours at night, and she's been doing that ever since.
Normally in bed around 8-830, and she's down for the count until about 8am
the next morning, sometimes a bit later depending on how busy the day before
was.

I don't think being up every 3 hours is anything unreasonable for a baby
that is 4 months. He also could just be waking out of habit, not
necessarily because he's hungry.

> At the suggestion of my MIL, I've started adding just 3 teaspoons of
> baby rice to 8 fluid oz of milk (formula) and feeding it to him (at
> bedtime only) from a bottle with medium flow teats. (During the day, we
> use just plain formula milk). He seems to have dropped the 10.30pm and
> 3.30am feeds and I am much happier with this. I'm not tempted at all to
> increase the amount of added baby rice in order to get him to sleep
> right through. I'm happy to take one step at a time...

My MIL suggested giving DD regular Homo milk with some brown sugar in it. I
didn't do it because that was one of the more outrageous ideas she's come up
with. My aunt had shown me a very "convenient" way to fold cloth diapers,
which ended up with a bunched up rag pinned around my baby, and again, it
didn't make any sense to me and I didn't do it. Some advice you need to
take with a grain of salt, smile, nod and decline to actually put to use.

> The HV entirely understood my reasons for giving him baby rice but
> warned me I should NOT be giving it in the bottle for several reasons.
> 1) It's a choking hazzard. 2) He'll get confused between 'drink' and
> 'food' and weaning will be a nightmare. 3) He's having to use different
> facial muscles to suck that bit harder and it could cause ear
> infections, problems with his speech in the future etc.

That's all true, as I've heard.

> But my thoughts are as follows:
>
> I think he is no more likely to choke on such a thin mixture than he is
> with milk alone. I NEVER leave him unattended to feed. I couldn't even
> if I wanted too! Also, he often has little coughing attacks when milk
> alone goes 'down the wrong way' anyway! He seems to have absolutely no
> problems sucking it through a medium flow teat at all.

It's still a thicker mixture, and it's not recommended.

> If I do not feed him the baby rice/milk from a bottle, I see 2
> alternatives. The first is to give him 8 fluid ounces of milk/rice from
> a spoon. I don't think so!!!! The second is to give him a normal bottle
> AND a much thicker milk/rice mixture from a spoon. But isn't this akin
> to weaning? I don't want to start that quite yet - and certainly not at
> bedtime!!!

Why would you have to give him 8oz of milk and rice from a spoon? You said
you currently give him about 3 teaspoons of cereal in the evening mixed with
his formula. Just use those 3 teaspoons and add less milk. Feed food from
a spoon always.
Offering it at a thicker consistency isn't going to wean him from his
formula. Babies need and drink milk (breast milk or formula) until about a
year of age and require the nutrients of that for that long, and then if you
decide, you can offer homo milk to a baby around a year of age to drink. At
your son's age, his main source of food is still his milk, and it will be
for some time. If he has no problems with the rice cereal at his age, then
a small amount to help him sleep at night is not going to have him weaned by
the time he's 5 or 6 months old.

> I am so very confused. All I crave is a little more sleep but after the
> HV said what she did, I feel so selfish. I only want the best for my
> little boy. Please advise...What were your experiences? Thank you so
> much in advance.

You feel so selfish because what you are doing is selfish. We all want a
little more sleep. Babies tend to have their own agenda and that's just one
of the many joys that come standard with babies and children, and it doesn't
seem to stop... You have a baby that's up all night, then they start to
sleep through the night just fine. You then have a toddler that keeps you
on your feet ALL day long and sleeps through the night, but then when the
toddler is sleeping, there's always things that need to be done before you
get sleep - I dunno... Do the dishes, get some laundry done, have a
shower... Then you still lose out on some sleep. You then have a school
aged child that does sleep through the night, but again, dishes, laundry,
work you bring home from the office, whatever, and not only do you lose a
bit of sleep, you're also up an hour earlier to get the kid(s) ready for
school. Did I forget to mention there's also homework that you probably
need to help them out with, then you just have to go back and double or
triple check it over, and if something isn't right, then you work through it
in the morning. Then those kids turn into ghastly teens that say they'll be
home at 10pm and 1030 rolls around and then they decide to call to let you
know that they're running late and on their way home. So you end up waiting
up another half hour until they walk through the door... It just doesn't
seem to end. ;) Buut... it's really not so bad.
I would keep the cereal out of the bottle and try him with a spoon. I know
DD was about 4-5 months when we tried her on about the same amount of rice
cereal before bed for reasons not related to sleeping issues or concerns,
and I had found she just would NOT take runny rice cereal from a spoon, so I
added a bit more cereal/less milk to make it a bit thicker and she took it
just fine. No problems at all. There was NOT 3 teaspoons of cereal and 8oz
of milk... It was about 1:2 (cereal:milk - 1 tsp of cereal, 2 tsp of
formula)

[Anne Rogers]

sorry, but I'm with the HV, after all, natures way is to breastfeed, so if
you're going to substitute bottles you should still follow natures guideline
as much as possible and the breastmilk doesn't suddenly get rice in it.

There are some valid reasons for thickening milk (a baby with severe reflux
might not be able to keep anything down otherwise being the only one I can
think of), but wanting more sleep isn't one of them and even if it solves
the sleep problem now, it is liable only to be temporary, babies/toddlers
very rarely decrease night feeds one by one, then sleep through and stay
sleeping through with a gradually latening bed time until they leave home.

We have a 3 year old and a 1 year old, we've been through times in the past
year when the 3 year old has been up more in the night than the baby and at
least twice the baby has slept through consistently for a fortnight or more,
then stopped doing so.

> The second is to give him a normal bottle
>AND a much thicker milk/rice mixture from a spoon. But isn't this akin
>to weaning? I don't want to start that quite yet - and certainly not at
>bedtime!!!

actually what you are doing is akin to weaning, weaning is the process of
introducing nutrition that is not milk, it doesn't matter whether that is
rice in a bottle, rice on a spoon, or if you are my daughter, a fairy cake
when my back was turned at a couple of days short of 6 months.

what is it that makes you not want to wean? is it the behaviour or the
content? it's generally the content that people are concerned to delay as
it's considered better to delay the introduction of solids, not to delay
learning to use a spoon but to delay putting the food in the tummy and that
is what you are doing.

To reassure you, you are incredibly unlikely to have done any harm so far,
but it is something you can stop doing and remove any of the risks, which
are genuine, HVs don't always present information well, but unless your MIL
is an infant feeding specialist then the HV really does know better.

Anne

[Mum of Two]

"Anne Rogers" > wrote in message
...
> sorry, but I'm with the HV, after all, natures way is to breastfeed, so if
> you're going to substitute bottles you should still follow natures
> guideline as much as possible and the breastmilk doesn't suddenly get rice
> in it.

LOL! That sounds so painful. Plugged ducts anyone?

> There are some valid reasons for thickening milk (a baby with severe
> reflux might not be able to keep anything down otherwise being the only
> one I can think of)

Even that is questionable, and when it works it doesn't help silent reflux.

, but wanting more sleep isn't one of them and even if it solves
> the sleep problem now, it is liable only to be temporary, babies/toddlers
> very rarely decrease night feeds one by one, then sleep through and stay
> sleeping through with a gradually latening bed time until they leave home.
>
> We have a 3 year old and a 1 year old, we've been through times in the
> past year when the 3 year old has been up more in the night than the baby
> and at least twice the baby has slept through consistently for a fortnight
> or more, then stopped doing so.
>
>> The second is to give him a normal bottle
>>AND a much thicker milk/rice mixture from a spoon. But isn't this akin
>>to weaning? I don't want to start that quite yet - and certainly not at
>>bedtime!!!
>
> actually what you are doing is akin to weaning, weaning is the process of
> introducing nutrition that is not milk, it doesn't matter whether that is
> rice in a bottle, rice on a spoon, or if you are my daughter, a fairy cake
> when my back was turned at a couple of days short of 6 months.
>
> what is it that makes you not want to wean? is it the behaviour or the
> content? it's generally the content that people are concerned to delay as
> it's considered better to delay the introduction of solids, not to delay
> learning to use a spoon but to delay putting the food in the tummy and
> that is what you are doing.
>
> To reassure you, you are incredibly unlikely to have done any harm so far,
> but it is something you can stop doing and remove any of the risks, which
> are genuine, HVs don't always present information well, but unless your
> MIL is an infant feeding specialist then the HV really does know better.

Good post.


--
Amy
Mum to Carlos born sleeping 20/11/02,
& Ana born screaming 30/06/04
http://www.freewebs.com/carlos2002/
http://www.babiesonline.com/babies/a/ana%5Fj%5F2004/
My blog: http://spaces.msn.com/members/querer-hijo-querer-hija/

[Jennifer Massey-Howe]

I will tell you from experience the rice cereal is only a temporary bind.
it is selfish as all have said. I started feeding my DD and DS cereal from
at spoon at 4 months regardless of what my Ped said because I knew they were
ready for it and needed more calories. With my DD she didn't approve when i
told her. I told her well she is doing great with it and I'm not going to
change it. With my DS she actually agreed with me. (my DS was under weight
at the time). My suggestion is this: get him a spoon and a bowl, do 1 tsp
of rice cereal to 2tsp of milk (breast or formula) and mix it well. If it
still looks too thick mix a bit more milk (breast or formula) into it to
make it a bit more runny. but him in a highchair or hold him in your arms
sitting up and slowly feed him 1 bite at a time. he will show you when he
doesn't want anymore.

Jennifer
Ariana 8/17/03
Alex 6/4/05

"Rafael" > wrote in message
oups.com...
> Hi there!
>
> I've been to see the HV today to get my 16 week old weighed etc. I
> mentioned to the HV that I was adding a little baby rice in to his last
> bottle of the day. From the HVs face, you'd think I'd just admitted to
> poking baby in the eye with red hot needles!!!!
>
> We have a great bedtime routine with gentle play, relaxing bath, feed
> etc from about 7pm and at about 7.30pm, I put baby down while still
> awake. He is able to settle himself to sleep quickly. However, he used
> to wake at approx 10.30pm, 1.30am, 3.30am and 5am. Nine times out of
> ten, he'd have more food before settling back to sleep and I was
> exhausted.
>
> At the suggestion of my MIL, I've started adding just 3 teaspoons of
> baby rice to 8 fluid oz of milk (formula) and feeding it to him (at
> bedtime only) from a bottle with medium flow teats. (During the day, we
> use just plain formula milk). He seems to have dropped the 10.30pm and
> 3.30am feeds and I am much happier with this. I'm not tempted at all to
> increase the amount of added baby rice in order to get him to sleep
> right through. I'm happy to take one step at a time...
>
> The HV entirely understood my reasons for giving him baby rice but
> warned me I should NOT be giving it in the bottle for several reasons.
> 1) It's a choking hazzard. 2) He'll get confused between 'drink' and
> 'food' and weaning will be a nightmare. 3) He's having to use different
> facial muscles to suck that bit harder and it could cause ear
> infections, problems with his speech in the future etc.
>
> But my thoughts are as follows:
>
> I think he is no more likely to choke on such a thin mixture than he is
> with milk alone. I NEVER leave him unattended to feed. I couldn't even
> if I wanted too! Also, he often has little coughing attacks when milk
> alone goes 'down the wrong way' anyway! He seems to have absolutely no
> problems sucking it through a medium flow teat at all.
>
> If I do not feed him the baby rice/milk from a bottle, I see 2
> alternatives. The first is to give him 8 fluid ounces of milk/rice from
> a spoon. I don't think so!!!! The second is to give him a normal bottle
> AND a much thicker milk/rice mixture from a spoon. But isn't this akin
> to weaning? I don't want to start that quite yet - and certainly not at
> bedtime!!!
>
> I am so very confused. All I crave is a little more sleep but after the
> HV said what she did, I feel so selfish. I only want the best for my
> little boy. Please advise...What were your experiences? Thank you so
> much in advance.
>

[Ericka Kammerer]

Rafael wrote:
> Hi there!
>
> I've been to see the HV today to get my 16 week old weighed etc. I
> mentioned to the HV that I was adding a little baby rice in to his last
> bottle of the day. From the HVs face, you'd think I'd just admitted to
> poking baby in the eye with red hot needles!!!!
>
> We have a great bedtime routine with gentle play, relaxing bath, feed
> etc from about 7pm and at about 7.30pm, I put baby down while still
> awake. He is able to settle himself to sleep quickly. However, he used
> to wake at approx 10.30pm, 1.30am, 3.30am and 5am. Nine times out of
> ten, he'd have more food before settling back to sleep and I was
> exhausted.
>
> At the suggestion of my MIL, I've started adding just 3 teaspoons of
> baby rice to 8 fluid oz of milk (formula) and feeding it to him (at
> bedtime only) from a bottle with medium flow teats. (During the day, we
> use just plain formula milk). He seems to have dropped the 10.30pm and
> 3.30am feeds and I am much happier with this. I'm not tempted at all to
> increase the amount of added baby rice in order to get him to sleep
> right through. I'm happy to take one step at a time...
>
> The HV entirely understood my reasons for giving him baby rice but
> warned me I should NOT be giving it in the bottle for several reasons.
> 1) It's a choking hazzard. 2) He'll get confused between 'drink' and
> 'food' and weaning will be a nightmare. 3) He's having to use different
> facial muscles to suck that bit harder and it could cause ear
> infections, problems with his speech in the future etc.
>
> But my thoughts are as follows:
>
> I think he is no more likely to choke on such a thin mixture than he is
> with milk alone. I NEVER leave him unattended to feed. I couldn't even
> if I wanted too! Also, he often has little coughing attacks when milk
> alone goes 'down the wrong way' anyway! He seems to have absolutely no
> problems sucking it through a medium flow teat at all.
>
> If I do not feed him the baby rice/milk from a bottle, I see 2
> alternatives. The first is to give him 8 fluid ounces of milk/rice from
> a spoon. I don't think so!!!! The second is to give him a normal bottle
> AND a much thicker milk/rice mixture from a spoon. But isn't this akin
> to weaning? I don't want to start that quite yet - and certainly not at
> bedtime!!!
>
> I am so very confused. All I crave is a little more sleep but after the
> HV said what she did, I feel so selfish. I only want the best for my
> little boy. Please advise...What were your experiences? Thank you so
> much in advance.

Well, there has been more than one study looking
at whether adding cereal to nighttime bottles causes babies
to sleep longer, and all of those studies failed to show any
benefit to adding cereal. So, one has to wonder if, in fact,
he's sleeping better because of the cereal. He might well
do just fine without it.
Second, in terms of weaning (or the other possible
downsides of early solids), there really isn't any
difference between giving it to him on a spoon and giving
it to him in a bottle. It's still bulk with less nutrition,
and could possibly be taking space in his belly without
providing him as much nutrition as the same amount of
formula alone, which is more nutrient-dense.
Why not try dropping the cereal (and possibly
giving more than 8 oz., if that's what he wants)? He
might do just fine and skip the extra night wakings anyway.
And really, if he's truly hungry at those nighttime feedings,
and you're just able to fake him out by putting something
in his belly that's bulkier and doesn't digest as easily
for him, is that a good thing? Maybe he needs the additional
nutrition. I suspect that you got desperate and tried this
during a growth spurt, when it's quite normal for babies
to ramp up their need for food and perhaps wake more through
the night to eat. But the growth spurts go away after a bit
and they stop waking so frequently.
So, personally, I'd stop with the cereal, and not
bother to give it to him on a spoon yet, since it's rather
early for solids. I suspect you can work through the
night wakings without the cereal.

Best wishes,
Ericka

[Ericka Kammerer]

Jennifer Massey-Howe wrote:
> I will tell you from experience the rice cereal is only a temporary bind.
> it is selfish as all have said. I started feeding my DD and DS cereal from
> at spoon at 4 months regardless of what my Ped said because I knew they were
> ready for it and needed more calories.

However, cereal actually has *fewer* calories (and
fewer other nutrients) by volume than formula or breastmilk.
I think it's a common misconception that cereal provides
"more." The only thing it provides more of is bulk. If
you are trying to get additional calories into a baby,
giving more formula (or other foods that are more nutrient-
dense than formula, rather than less) will accomplish that
more than adding cereal, which actually displaces formula
and results in a net calorie loss.

Best wishes,
Ericka

[Irrational Number]

Rafael wrote:
>
> At the suggestion of my MIL, I've started adding just 3 teaspoons of
> baby rice to 8 fluid oz of milk (formula) and feeding it to him (at
> bedtime only) from a bottle with medium flow teats. (During the day, we
> use just plain formula milk). He seems to have dropped the 10.30pm and
> 3.30am feeds and I am much happier with this. I'm not tempted at all to
> increase the amount of added baby rice in order to get him to sleep
> right through. I'm happy to take one step at a time...

There is no evidence that cereal (or solids, in
general) helps baby sleep longer. (Solids never
helped my children sleep better!) But you are
putting stuff in baby's stomach that he may not
be ready to digest. Assuming you have no history
of allergies in the family, you are probably not
causing too much harm. Early introduction of
food has been associated with allergies and
sensitivities to foods.

> I am so very confused. All I crave is a little more sleep but after the
> HV said what she did, I feel so selfish. I only want the best for my
> little boy.

Ah, we all want more sleep! I went a year and
a half only getting 3 hours of sleep at a time!
It is truly tough. Now, however, Pillbug is
sleeping through the night, and I have kept Rocky
in my bed since his birth a year ago and I have
learned to nurse in my sleep, so I am getting
decent sleep, finally.

-- Anita --

[Anne Rogers]

>There are some valid reasons for thickening milk (a baby with severe
>> reflux might not be able to keep anything down otherwise being the only
>> one I can think of)
>
> Even that is questionable, and when it works it doesn't help silent
> reflux.

perhaps I should have said SEVERE, I mean literally the case when a baby
cannot keep anything down at all and so isn't thriving.


> Good post.

aww, thanks

Anne

[.oO rach Oo.]

I started my daughter on cereal around 4 months (roughly the same age ) but
from a spoon. They have to know the difference between drinking and eating.
At the time her cereal was a ratio of three tablespoons breast milk to one
of cereal. It was messy but that's what bibs are for. A lot of European
cultures start feeding even earlier... I was confused too. The nurses at the
well baby clinic gave me a big speech about starting that early would cause
allergies and to wait till after six months then start. I told my husband
that the advice will likely be opposite next year and since my doctor said
it was ok, we went ahead with it. Sure enough, a few weeks later there was a
study done that proves with actual test results that babies started too late
are the ones to develop allergies. Made sense to me because we were all
started early (4 months or earlier) and we are not the generation with
allergies. Anyway,,, I digress. Personally, I wouldn't give food in a
bottle... there is a huge difference between swallowing and the chewing
motion they pick up so fast with eating. Compare it to drinking water vs a
thick liquid... a baby's throat is a lot tinier than ours as you know.

My suggestion would be to start a mealtime routine if you think he's ready
and feed him a little cereal on the spoon. We all want more sleep but I
don't think that will ever happen again until we are dead. :)

--
..oO rach Oo.


"Rafael" > wrote in message
oups.com...
> Hi there!
>
> I've been to see the HV today to get my 16 week old weighed etc. I
> mentioned to the HV that I was adding a little baby rice in to his last
> bottle of the day. From the HVs face, you'd think I'd just admitted to
> poking baby in the eye with red hot needles!!!!
>
> We have a great bedtime routine with gentle play, relaxing bath, feed
> etc from about 7pm and at about 7.30pm, I put baby down while still
> awake. He is able to settle himself to sleep quickly. However, he used
> to wake at approx 10.30pm, 1.30am, 3.30am and 5am. Nine times out of
> ten, he'd have more food before settling back to sleep and I was
> exhausted.
>
> At the suggestion of my MIL, I've started adding just 3 teaspoons of
> baby rice to 8 fluid oz of milk (formula) and feeding it to him (at
> bedtime only) from a bottle with medium flow teats. (During the day, we
> use just plain formula milk). He seems to have dropped the 10.30pm and
> 3.30am feeds and I am much happier with this. I'm not tempted at all to
> increase the amount of added baby rice in order to get him to sleep
> right through. I'm happy to take one step at a time...
>
> The HV entirely understood my reasons for giving him baby rice but
> warned me I should NOT be giving it in the bottle for several reasons.
> 1) It's a choking hazzard. 2) He'll get confused between 'drink' and
> 'food' and weaning will be a nightmare. 3) He's having to use different
> facial muscles to suck that bit harder and it could cause ear
> infections, problems with his speech in the future etc.
>
> But my thoughts are as follows:
>
> I think he is no more likely to choke on such a thin mixture than he is
> with milk alone. I NEVER leave him unattended to feed. I couldn't even
> if I wanted too! Also, he often has little coughing attacks when milk
> alone goes 'down the wrong way' anyway! He seems to have absolutely no
> problems sucking it through a medium flow teat at all.
>
> If I do not feed him the baby rice/milk from a bottle, I see 2
> alternatives. The first is to give him 8 fluid ounces of milk/rice from
> a spoon. I don't think so!!!! The second is to give him a normal bottle
> AND a much thicker milk/rice mixture from a spoon. But isn't this akin
> to weaning? I don't want to start that quite yet - and certainly not at
> bedtime!!!
>
> I am so very confused. All I crave is a little more sleep but after the
> HV said what she did, I feel so selfish. I only want the best for my
> little boy. Please advise...What were your experiences? Thank you so
> much in advance.
>