When can I start cereal with a preemie?

Question

I have a 4 mo old preemie(2 mos corrected). I wondered if anyone had any expierence with starting cereal with a preemie. I have 3 older children(full term) that I started at 2-3mos.Is it okay to try now and see how he does or do i wait til 6mos(4mos corrected)?If anyone out there has expierenced this could you let me know, what you did? Thanks

Answer 1

My daughter was born at 25 weeks, so she was 15 weeks premature. Luckily, she had no feeding issues in the NICU and was able to tolerate feeds without any complications. Because of that, our Pediatrician was ok with us starting cereal at 6 months (actual age). You should ask your Pediatrician, but if your son hasn't had any feeding/digestive problems all along; I'm sure the doctor will ok it.

If you're interested, there's an online support group for parents of preemies: www.preemieparents.org There's tons of support and information there. CONGRATS on your son!

Answer 2

Yahoo Answers is not the place to get advice on anything more than general health care questions. How does anyone here know if your child might have specific health concerns related to being 2 months premature. This is a question to ask only your pediatrician. Every baby has different needs. A preemie has even more needs than a full-term baby. Be smart. Go to someone who knows your childs needs.

Answer 3

You should start full term babies at 4-6 months so your baby at 6-8 months which would be 4-6 corrected. Talk to you ped. I wouldn't start too soon especially with a preemie. Starting solids to early can cause lots of problems (allergies, intestinal bleeding etc)

Answer 4

Every child is different. First, what does your doctor say? Second if you are denying doctor visits (bad mommy) How easily is the child swallowing? Is it able to feed without gasping or coughing? You have to consider it's ability to swallow and how much you are giving the child. If you think the child is ready, start with a small amount in the bottle, enough to fill the tummy but still keeps the bottle flowing like plain milk. Slowly, I repeat slowly, increase it and monitor how well the child is swallowing and filling on the cereal. the main reason for cereal at a young age is to fill the child and cut down on feedings, as well as the amount of each feeding.

Answer 5

I'd suggest 6 months corrected unless his pediatrician recommends otherwise.

There's all kinds of debate about whether cereal before 6 months is good for baby.

Lots of people give it before 6-months to get them to sleep longer. (Most books say this doesn't actually work and that adding cereal to a bottle is never a good idea because of the risk if choking.) There's another opposing theory that introducing solids before 6-months can contribute to food allergies. APA recommends around six months to start solids.

Most baby's digestive systems aren't ready to handle baby food until 6 months and many still have the "tongue thrust reflex" that makes it nearly impossible to feed them solids anyway.

Of course she wasn't a preemie, but I started giving my daughter little tastes of things (that weren't common allergens) off my finger at about 4 months, but not feeding her with a spoon.

I had a good sleeper so we never even needed to consider cereal before 6 months and we started with rice cereal 5 days before her 6-month birthday. We stuck with just cereals for a month before moving into veggies and fruits every 3 days (to rule out allergies) starting at 7-months. (I would've started these in her 6th month too, but I was waiting for her 6-month check-up to talk to her doctor and it had to be rescheduled.)

If you're going to give your baby cereal before 6 months I'd recommend talking to your pediatrician first. Some pediatricians recommend it before 6-months depending on the growth of the baby, the doctor can tell you how much would be appropriate.

Take care & Good luck!

Answer 6

My preemie, too, was two months early. My pediatrician uses the same scale with her as babies that aren't early....6 months for cereal, 7 months for stage one foods and Gerber puffs, nine months for stage two foods and other finger foods that the child can eat on their own (Cheerios, Zwieback toast, biter biscuits), 11 months for stage three foods, and 12 months for whole milk, 4 oz. of watered down juice a day, and table food.

Answer 7

Hello,

My twins were born preemies as well, last November. My hubby and I did not start feeding them oatmeal cereal until they were 5 months old. Then, we began feeding them jar solid foods at 6 months starting with stage 1 foods.

Hope this helps you... :-)

Answer 8

You should not give your baby any solids until 6 months old. Babies given solids before that have a higher risk of allergies, childhood obesity and diabetes. The main source of nutrition before the age of one is from breastmilk or formula. The only reason to give babies solid foods before then is to help them learn to eat solids so they can start table foods at age one.

Answer 9

Signs that indicate baby is developmentally ready for solids include:

* Baby can sit up well without support.
* Baby has lost the tongue-thrust reflex and does not automatically push solids out of his mouth with his tongue.
* Baby is ready and willing to chew.
* Baby is developing a “pincer” grasp, where he picks up food or other objects between thumb and forefinger. Using the fingers and scraping the food into the palm of the hand (palmar grasp) does not substitute for pincer grasp development.
* Baby is eager to participate in mealtime and may try to grab food and put it in his mouth.

Answer 10

Does your premie have any health concerns still? If so, I would wait. Why increase the risk of allergies with a baby who is already facing health challenges?