Will Putting Cereal In My Baby’s Bottle Help Her Sleep?
Tired parents desperate for a good night’s sleep will try just about anything. Vibrating matresses, long car rides, special lavender-scented bath soap… the list goes on and on!
One of the “tricks” parents often hear about is to mix a little cereal into their baby’s bottle just before bedtime. (The idea being that the solid food will fill their little tummies so they don’t wake up hungry so soon.)
Is this a good idea? Watch the video below to find out:
View Transcript
Dana Obleman: Hi, I’m Dana Obleman. Welcome to this week’s video blog.
Today I had an interesting question that we should talk about here today, and that is “Will putting cereal in my baby’s bottle help him sleep better?”
I hear that all the time. I know it’s an old wives’ tale. Your grandmother probably told you, “Oh, put cereal in the breast milk or the formula, and this baby will sleep all night.” The truth is that is not true.
You want to be very careful and cautious about when you introduce solids to your baby. There’s a lot of evidence that suggests starting solids too early can lead to some allergies in the future.
The rule of thumb around solids is anywhere between the fifth and sixth month, not before. I know it’s so tempting when you’ve got a three or four‑month‑old baby who is up every hour, hour and a half throughout the night, and you’re thinking, “What can I do?”
You’re grasping at straws thinking, “Is there anything I can do to help this baby sleep well?” Food is not the problem unless, you’ve got a baby who’s been struggling with weight and has any kind of health issues. Then, yes, food might be the issue. They’re waking through the night and look for food, because they truly need it.
For any healthy baby who’s gained weight well, food is not the problem. You need to look at how does this baby falls asleep initially?
Most of the time it’s they’re rocked to sleep. They’re feed to sleep. They’re bounced to sleep. What they have done then is associated the feeding, and the bouncing, and the rocking with sleep.
Therefore, an hour and a half, two hours into their night they’re going to have a wake‑up. That is normal and natural. There’s no way around that.
Everybody has wake‑ups through the night. However, if they’re used to being fed, bounced, rocked, you name it at bed time, then they’re going to wake through the night looking for that again
For example feeding…That is hands down the number one reason why baby’s waking through the night because of the association between the feeding and the sleep, not the food. That gets confusing. I get it.
You think your baby’s waking up from hunger, but really it’s the strategy that that baby’s using to get himself to sleep every night. It’s nice that he gets food with it. That’s a little bonus, and I’m sure he appreciates it, but it’s more the strategy.
Before you run to the store, buy yourself some cereal and give that a try, I want you to stop yourself and have a good look at how does this baby fall asleep at night? That is the first place you need to start to teach him to sleep well and through the night.
Thanks for watching. Sleep well.
After you’re done watching, I’d love to hear your thoughts on this? Have you tried this approach? Did it work for you? Share your stories in the ‘Comments’ section below.
If you’re looking for even more information on how to get your child sleeping 11 – 12 hours straight through the night – make sure to check out The Sleep Sense Program.
