Rice Cereal To The Rescue

I'm pretty sure rice cereal is just the rescue we needed around here.

You see, my sleepy Maggie, who hasn't woken in the middle of the night since she was 10 1/2 weeks old, decided to request a 4:00 a.m. visit here recently. I didn't get it. 'What? Surely she's not hungry!' I held her, rocked her, checked for teeth, and tried to soothe her back to sleep. I got her back down around 6:00 am only to hear her belting out for me again at 6:45. 'Okay, she must be hungry'. I reluctantly fed her much earlier than her scheduled time.

Throughout the day I upped her ounces, which isn't easy to do when you are nursing. So I decided to follow up each feeding session with a supplemental 4 oz bottle of formula...and every time she guzzled it down.

I held my breath that night when I put her down for bed. That second night she graced me with a 6:00 am wake up. A whole hour and a half earlier than usual. No doubt it was definitely hunger. That's when I made the decision to add rice cereal to her diet.

And let me tell you, it was a decision. I was really hoping to wait until 6 months. I did start Jack at 5 1/2 months, but let's face it, they are two totally different babies. I just didn't think she was ready, mostly physically. But, she apparently had another plan.

After one feeding of rice cereal a day since then, I haven't heard another peep from her until 7:30-8:00 am. I admit it...I was wrong...she was ready.

Her first feeding was challenging to say the least. I forgot how messy babies get. I was constantly removing her fingers from her mouth, prying the spoon out of her grubby little fingers, and repeatedly assisting her back into a sitting position. All in all she was happy though--loving every bite and waiting for more.

Since then, we have made a lot of progress. She now keeps her chubby little fingers out of the way and let's me do the feeding. I could easily say this feeding is Maggie's most vocal time of the day. I think if she could talk she would be saying, "more", "mmmm", "yummy", and "hurry up Mommy".

Next on the agenda...add some pears. She's really going to go nuts over that!