The most significant measure of adequate nutrition is your son's weight gain over the past 3 months; If he is growing and developing well, then chances are he is getting what he needs.
With regards to eating every 2 hours, it is important to know whether he has always eaten this frequently, or did he only recently switch from an every 3-4 hour schedule? If this is a new pattern for him, how long has he been doing it? Growth spurts are very common in infants and can last several days.
If your baby is in a growth spurt, he will need to increase the amount of breastmilk he gets to keep up with his increased growth requirements. For a breastfed baby, this means that he needs to tell your body to make more milk, and he will do so by nursing more frequently.
For healthy babies, cereal is generally not recommended until 4-6 months of age. Especially in the case of breastfed babies, there are now some convincing studies that suggest that it is better to wait until closer to 6 month to introduce cereal.
If you have concerns about the frequency of your son's nursing because he continues to act hungry all the time, starts sleeping shorter stretches at night because he seems to wake up hungry, or he stops gaining weight appropriately, be sure to discuss these concerns with your pediatrician.
— by Laura Jana, M.D., F.A.A.P. |
