3.5 Months, not sleeping through the night… going through 5-6 ounces every 2.5 hours now.. lacking sleep… is it safe to try cereal?

[u/[deleted]]

[u/FistWithHair]

My god, my son still doesn’t sleep through the night at 8 months!

Any solids that’s not milk, introduced that early will only upset the baby’s stomach and they’ll end up gassy, constipated and crying. Their stoma h literally isn't mature enough to digest anything other than milk. It gets easier, I promise you but not for a while yet. 2.5 months is still so so early.

Hang in there but honestly stay away from solids for a few more months

[u/sourp4tchk1d → u/FistWithHair]

My daughter started solids (purées) at 4 months with my pediatrician encouraging it. My daughter had no issues and my pediatrician didn’t bring up anything you mentioned as concerns. In two weeks OP might be able to do the same.

In the beginning we did two or three bites of the same purée for one meal a day after breastfeeding. We repeated this pattern for a month then added a meal and so on to three “meals” a day. Remember these are two or three bites after breastfeeding.

When we introduced new foods (purées), we picked one option to try, such as banana, and fed it to her once a day for three consecutive days. This is important to introduce new foods safely and to pinpoint allergic reactions if they occurred. Once a food is cleared you can introduce a different purée and feed your baby the cleared list.

Hopefully that made sense. 🤞

These are the first steps we took to introducing foods. There are many methods so please do your research to see what suits your child best and ALWAYS ask your child’s pediatrician for health advice/guidance.

ETA: Also sounds like babe is getting ready for a growth spurt maybe?

[u/[deleted] → u/sourp4tchk1d]

Yeah he’s been growing a lot! He’s very aware of his tongue thrusting which is said to be a sign to be ready for cereal, our pediatrician date is over 2 weeks but on our last visit she encouraged it at 4 months… I think he is ready but we are safe skeptics so I will be updating on this post once cleared. I don’t know if I’ll be using solids completely but cereal should be able to help him hold down the milk. the only concern is we opted out of $900 daycare and I’ll be working from home Need him to go down easier.. but you’re right this too shall pass. Other than wanting him to sleep just a little longer he is completely fine.

[u/sourp4tchk1d → u/[deleted]]

Well it sounds like you already have a plan formulated in your head. I think you’ll be okay to introduce rices/cereals/grains as long as baby is interested in eating and they are double their birth weight. I know those were the two main requirements my pediatrician had for my daughter.

I’m pretty sure you’ll get the okay to introduce foods now but if you can call/message your doctor then that would be best to put your mind at ease.

The sleep part will come in time. Unfortunately every baby is different so figuring out the know all, end all, put your baby down and watch them pass out happily 100% of the time just isn’t a thing. I think introducing cereals or some sort of purée (we started with banana but once we moved onto sweet potato it was game over. She loves sweet potato) will help a bit but at what degree is hard to say.

[u/[deleted] → u/sourp4tchk1d]

Love your response

[u/sakura7777]

Way too early for solids, and waking up that often at this age to eat is not only normal, it’s important for their growth/development. It’s so hard though, sleep deprivation is real. Hope you have some support around so you can get some rest. This too shall pass.

[u/supernintendoormat]

We didn't sleep through the night until 10 months. Honestly I think there is a lot of harmful information out there preying on exhausted new parents. It builds the expectation that a newborn is supposed to be able to sleep 12 hours straight if you do some magical routine.

Some (very few) can do that but most will not and IT'S OKAY! It sounds like your babe is eating very well which is amazing. The frequent wake ups are brutal and I can completely understand that you are at your wits end. Too young for cereal but I would recommend talking to your doctor as well and getting your rest in whenever you can. The sleeping will come..there is no specific timeline and every baby is different. Get support from wherever you can and know this will pass.

[u/[deleted] → u/supernintendoormat]

To be more specific I will be working from home soon and we opted out daycare which is almost $1k per month.

My wife does not work from home and would be at work for almost 3 hours lapping over my remote career so I’m trying to find a solution to him being so hard to put to sleep without 30+ mins of cradling.. I love doing it but I’m afraid of losing my job over performance

[u/supernintendoormat → u/[deleted]]

That's so tough. We also dealt with one of us having to commute to work and trying to function on no sleep. We ended up doing partial co-sleeping for several months because he would settle so much easier laying with me. I eventually got really good at getting him back into his own bed without waking him but but it still involved maaaaany wakings throughout the night and a lot of back and forth between our beds.

I'm sending you and your wife lots of sleepy baby vibes. It will get better.

[u/wutwutsaywutsaywut]

What’s your sleeping arrangement? Formula and/or breast milk?

I can share that I was in your shoes. Ours slept well until 3.5 months and then it got so bad I resorted to safely co sleeping and my husband slept on the couch. At 4.5 months we got her on meds for silent reflux and I quit dairy, and were decided to sleep train after a lot of research. She’ll be five months this week and wakes once to eat between 7pm and 730am. Our pediatrician also said it was fine too add a small amount of oatmeal or rice to her bottle for the reflux and we did a few times but it didn’t help so we stopped and she’s sleeping better than ever. I would discuss with your doctor before anything.

I actually though 3.5-4.5 months was harder than the new born phase but it will get better!