Monday, May 9, 2011

Solids schmolids

The wee one, while still a precious angel from heaven, has decided that sleeping all night is totally not as party funtime as waking up multiple times to eat and snuggle and eat and eventually be taken into bed with me, where he snoozes away contentedly, tiny fists tangled securely in my hair, holy run-on sentence Batman.

So this is definitely something I addressed at his 4-month well-check today. It's worth mentioning that I have the best pediatrician in the world. I love him. I highly recommend him. If he was in general practice, I would take the whole dang family and possibly some of the neighbors to him. When I die I will have his entire staff entombed with me so they can take care of my whole family forever and ever. I hoped that he would have a magic miracle solution for the no-sleeping problem but I don't know why I was surprised when he suggested starting baby on a little rice cereal.

So now I'm feeling all sad and frowny, thinking that my baby is not old enough for solids, he has exhibited no interest in them and I'm really enjoying nursing this, my last baby.

But baby is 4 months - a perfectly good time to start solid food and his brother and sister both did fine with rice cereal at this age. He's also almost 16 pounds, big enough that he's probably super hungry.

Does this post feel rambly and confused? Good. Because that's how I feel. It could also be the 3 entire hours of sleep I got last night. Sleep would be super wonderful and fabulous. I didn't want to start cereal for another month or so. Sleep.... solids.... not enough Diet Dr. Pepper in my day....

What do I do?

7 comments:

Jenny said...

I guess you feed your fatty solids and see how it goes. I never felt like my 4-5 month olds ever had the coordination to get many calories from solids, but they weren't as advanced as your baby. Kelsey is the baby food guru, I'm pretty sure. Sorry you're so tired!

Carina said...

I wouldn't. In fact, I don't, not until they're about 8 months in age.

Weight doesn't have much to do with it, how their internal food processing is, does. Rice cereal doesn't make babies sleep through the night, it's a myth, and a dangerous one at that. The new recommendations are not to give any solid foods (some sort of actual medical underlying issue excepted, of course) until they are six months.

Babies are not physiologically capable of processing food that early, and all we do is screw their insides up when we try. Allergies increase, long term obesity, respiratory issues, all linked to early solid introduction, and specifically early rice cereal introduction.

Listen to your gut. And his...

Kelsey said...

Now. I'm no baby food guru. But. Here's what I think.

I usually wait until 6 months cause they can't really do it before then, as Jenny said. But your baby is enormous, so if he gets it, great.

My last pediatrician, who I didn't love enough to take to death with me, suggested feeding Carson formula right before bed. It metabolizes more slowly than breast milk and keeps the baby full longer. I can't remember if I tried it, Carson was a pretty good night time sleeper. But maybe that's a good first step toward more sleep without doing cereal? A bottle is easier than a bowl and a spoon afterall...

Good luck!

Megan said...

Same exact story here. My other three slept through the night at 6 weeks. At 7 months my 4th little one sounds EXACTLY like yours. I asked my pediatrician about feeding him cereal before 6 months and he said it wouldn't help. He was right. When I started a few weeks ago it didn't make any difference at all. Still getting up at least two times a night to feed him. (having him sleep in his own room didn't help either, just farther to walk to get him)

Carina said...

Kelsey, yes, formula metabolizes more slowly, because his body has to work harder to metabolize it (if that makes sense.) It unnaturally keeps them sleeping longer than they should. Babies are meant to wake up--that's one of the reasons that formula increases the risk of SIDS by 5 times.

Any doctor who recommends using formula to keep your baby sleeping (as opposed to using formula for sustenance because that's your choice/option) ought to be hung up by his toes.

Jenny said...

This is probably highlighting my dysfunction, but all this talk about formula and losing sleep and advice makes me miss newborns!

Jenny said...

Jeri,

My formula fed babies were awful sleepers. I mean, yeah they stopped screaming and having bloody poop so that was nice, but I think the boob had more powerful lull to sleep effects than the bottle. Joe needs to get boobs.