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- $Unique_ID{BRK01347}
- $Pretitle{}
- $Title{Would it Hurt to Give a Baby Something Solid to Eat Before Bedtime?}
- $Subject{baby night feeding child care children babies infants infant sleep
- solid eat bedtime diet behavior behaviors sleeping eating food foods diets}
- $Volume{S-23, S-26}
- $Log{}
-
- Copyright (c) 1991-92,1993 Tribune Media Services, Inc.
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- Would it Hurt to Give a Baby Something Solid to Eat Before Bedtime?
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- QUESTION: My mother has this thing about giving a baby something solid to eat
- just before bedtime as a means of getting the child to sleep through the
- night. My physician never heard of this, and poo-poos the whole idea. Do
- you think that I would be hurting my 3 month old baby if I tried this feeding
- solution to the problem of waking up in the middle of the night?
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-
- ANSWER: I doubt that you would be doing any serious damage to your child's
- health by offering a feeding before bedtime, (although the American Academy of
- Pediatrics Committee on Nutrition advises holding off on solid food until the
- baby reaches the age of 4 to 6 months), but I guess I come down on the side of
- your own physician. Over the years there have been many reports that such a
- feeding, usually a cereal prepared with either breast milk or formula, could
- aid in encouraging an infant to sleep from 4 to 6 hours. However, when the
- idea was put to a scientifically conducted test at the Cleveland Clinic
- Foundation Pediatric Primary Care Center recently, analysis of the results
- failed to demonstrate any difference between children who were fed before
- bedtime and those that were not. They concluded that a child's ability to
- sleep through the night was a development and adaptive process that occurred
- regardless of diet composition.
-
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-
- The material contained here is "FOR INFORMATION ONLY" and should not replace
- the counsel and advice of your personal physician. Promptly consulting your
- doctor is the best path to a quick and successful resolution of any medical
- problem.
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-