Why do babies need to get full faster?

Question

Why is that people think they have to get their babies full faster by feeding them cereal in a bottle as newborns or a few weeks old?
Is it to benefit the baby? Or is it to shut them up so they dont need all the attention and care that they really need?
It so does not make sense to me. A babies stomach is tiny and so obvioulsy needs small feeds frequently until their stomach is big enough to handle more milk which will keep them satisfied for longer.
Why do so many people start feeding their babies so early?
I thought it was a given that babies need constant attention and food which means sleepless nights due to feeding needs or overtired babies that dont sleep well etc.
So why try and stuff them full of food so they dont have to be dealt with?
What are your thoughts and feelings?

Answer 1

mommy to david is absolutely right.
Formula is not RIGHT for babies. Its not really healthy, and baby's never seem full because, unfortunately, formula contains MSG, which, if you know anything about fast food, makes it so you don't feel full as fast and makes you feel hungry faster.
When you breastfeed, you don't know how much your baby is getting because you can't read ounces off your breast. But that is the way it should be. You should be watching your baby and learning your baby's cues, not just shoving a bottle into their mouths and making them gulp it down (which they have to or they'll choke).
Putting cereal in bottles is a dangerous, outdated practice that can cause childhood obesity, diabetes, and growth/ thriving issues. Cereal doesn't contain the right nutrients for an infants brain growth, and therefore fills them up with empty junk that their little bodies can't use. They sleep longer because their body is working so so hard to digest that cereal which is not supposed to be there.

Answer 2

I think that nature did not intend for mothers to scrutinize every oz the baby takes in.

When you can see exactly whats going in, you start to worry... 40 oz may seem like alot to an adult, but for a baby it is normal.

Also, Did you ever notice that when you eat junk food, you never seem full? You're constantly grazing? I wonder if formula has the same effect. If the baby 'never seems full' because it's looking for something that formula can't provide.

Also... when youre bottle-feeding, nighttime feeds arent as easy... so theres the temptation to make the infant sleep longer.

Answer 3

1

Answer 4

With my daughter I didn't give her cereal in her bottle until she was four months old. She was 8 lbs when she was born, and ate like she was supposed to. She was not hungry all the time.
I just had my son a month and a half ago, and he was 10 lbs when he was born. I had to start giving him cereal last night b/c I had not slep in two days. He is constantly wanting to eat. I literally give him bottle after bottle, not to "shut him up", but to stop him from getting himself so upset that his entire body turned red, and his voice from straining. I literally had to hold him constantly, not being able to put him down for more than 5 minutes b/c he just couldn't get full, which kept him up and fussy. I put a little pinch of cereal in his formula, and he slept for 4 hours for the first time.
A lot of moms on here, and a lot of women that don't even have children, say how wrong it is, and bla bla bla, but, let me tell you this, until you have been in my shoes with a baby that just CAN NOT get full, get over yourself b/c you don't know what your talking about.