What Could Be the Cause of My 4 Month Old Constantly Thirsty

I think you should tell your pediatrician immediately that you decided to give cereal at 10 days.
I think you should tell your pediatrician immediately that you are giving juice to an infant.
I think you should tell your pediatrician immediately that you are giving Pedialyte to a child without direction.
I think you should tell your pediatrician immediately that you are taking formula away from an infant.
I think you should tell your pediatrician immediately that you think c-section babies are likely to be diabetic.
I think you should tell your pediatrician immediately that your child is always thirsty.
I think you should stop listening to whoever is giving you silly and potentially dangerous parenting advice, and ask your child's doctor for the facts and access to a parenting course to help you with nutrition, safety, first aid, and more. Your child will flourish with a well-informed mother, and will struggle for her entire life if she is not properly nourished. It's okay to not have been well-informed at the beginning, but it's not okay from this moment on when you have been told by experienced mothers that this type of infant care is irresponsible.

Your child is hungry. Not sure why you think she isn't. STOP giving her cereal. Stop giving her Pedialyte, Stop giving her apple juice. Feed your child formula or breast milk ONLY. Not sure why you are giving her cereal. They are not ready for that at such a young age.

My recommendation, feed your child. Stop taking food away from her, stop giving her food that she is too young to process. Just curious, what does her doctor say about all this? You do take her, right?

Also both my kids were C-section and neither are diabetic. That is a big pile of poo someone fed you.

Your daughter is hungry. Give her more formula. Let her drink as much formula as she wants, whenever she wants. Do not give her anything else until the pediatrician tells you to. This includes rice cereal, juice, water, pedialyte, baby food, etc. Formula (or breastmilk) is the only thing she should be getting right now.

A baby that young is supposed to be only drinking formula or breastmilk. Many people will start their baby on some baby cereal (like rice cereal) at about age 6 months, but their main nutrition STILL comes from formula or breastmilk. There is no reason to give your 4 month old water or pedialyte or apple juice. Just bottles of formula throughout the day. Here is what doctors say is the average amount of formula to feed a 4 month old: 4 to 6 ounces each feeding. 5 feedings for every 24 hours. However during a growth spurt a baby might want more than this. Please talk to your pediatrician about this because it seems like you have some misinformation.

Stop giving rice cereal.
Stop giving water, pedialyte, and apple juice.
If she is finishing her bottle and not satisfied, then you are not putting enough in her bottle. Increase the amount in her bottle by 2 ounces and see if that helps. If she's still hungry, start feeding her more often.

If you are concerned about diabetes, make an appointment with the pediatrician.

(ETA: Scientist hat on: For those interested, there is some data about a correlation between c-sections and type 1 diabetes. HOWEVER, this is a classic example about how public health data - great for developing policy - should not be applied to individuals because it gets twisted and scares people unnecessarily. An example of some of the data shows that 8% (107/1414) vaginally delivered babies developed T1 diabetes compared with 9% (78/833) c-section babies. This small increase is important when considering disease susceptibility in large populations (1% of millions of babies is a lot of babies), but a 1% increase is completely meaningless if you try to apply it to any individual person. (studies available on pubmed)

All this to say - some babies do develop T1 diabetes (regardless of how they are born) and to D. h - if you are concerned, take your baby to your pediatrician to have her tested. Do NOT starve your child in the meantime by giving her foods with no real nutrition (water, rice cereal, juice, etc).) The only thing going in your baby's mouth at this age is formula.

I find it hard to believe that this post is real.

In case it's not, I want to point out the following:

1. C-section babies are not more likely to be diabetic. Who fed you this misinformation?!

2. Newborns and infants under 6 months old must only be fed breastmilk, formula or a combination of the two. This means no rice cereal, no juice, no Pedialyte, no water. Solids start around 6 months old. How old is your daughter?

3. If she's acting like she's "thirsting to death," it's probably because her body needs it. Either she's going through a growth spurt or she's just hungry/thirsty.

Speak to her pediatrician and ask for guidance.

Please stop giving your baby anything but breast milk or formula.

Please go to your pediatrician and tell them you need help. Serious parenting help. Tell them you've been feeding your baby cereal since she was 10 days old and you have unfounded fears.

Your daughter should ONLY have breast milk or formula until she is 6 months old.

I agree with other posts that say your baby should only drink formula and breastmilk. I've taken care of lots of baby's. When they're hungry they gulp down their milk. What you describe is good for your baby.

You say she's thirsty, yet you take the bottle away from her. If your baby is thirsty let her finish the bottle. What seems like thirst can mean they need more milk. Seeming to be thirsty can also mean we're hungry.

Sounds like you might not be seeing the pediatrician regularly. If that's because you can't afford it, go to a county clinic where you pay according to what you're able. They have a sliding scale based on what you can afford.

Do you get WIC, which is a government program that gives you vouchers for baby's food. They also provide well baby checkups on a regular basis. They will explain nutrition.

First of all, c-section babies are not likely to be diabetics. That's just wrong. Whoever told you that is doing you as a mom a disservice.

I'm not sure why you have been feeding your daughter rice cereal since she was 10 days old - that is not advisable. The only nutrition that babies need and that their digestive tracts handle well is breast milk or formula. At 4 months (6 months according to the American Pediatrics Association) is when you start with cereal. The cereal has NO nutritional value. She needs calories, and the formula has calories in it.

Babies have growth spurts. They also have an instinctive need to suck that lasts up to 5 months. Babies also drink for comfort.

You need to tell your pediatrician what your fears are and ask for a blood test so that you can put this worry about diabetes to rest. And if this actually is the case, you definitely need to understand what to do to help her. Talking to NON-MEDICAL people is not really the answer. You need the doctor to explain how things work with your baby. Feeding cereal from 10 days old is an example - the doctor would never have recommended that.

Probably a growth spurt, and possibly hot. It's fine to give formula for babies needing to quench thirst, and more during a growth spurt.

I didn't introduce solids until much later. Mine would not have been able to eat solids at 10 days old. That confuses me. It had to be ok'd first by their physician - baby had to be able to hold head up, able to swallow, etc. It used to be 4-6 months as a starting point but not everyone starts then. That was just a guide.

I wouldn't take her formula away from her if she is thirsty. She obviously needs it.

Water used to be introduced for thirst from heat sometime after 6 months when mine were babies. Not sure now. You can ask the pediatrician. (*but generally, milk/formula - I don't remember mine being thirsty from heat thinking back)

In case you missed it, NOTHING BUT FORMULA AND GIVE HER AS MUCH AS SHE NEEDS. YOUR BABY IS CRAVING NUTRITION. Babies need regular doctor visits. Mine had 4 by 4 months old. No doctor would ok what you are doing to her.

What does your doctor say?
Just breast milk or formula till she's 6 months old although some kids don't take to solid food until their first birthday.
You really need to work with your pediatrician and make the most of every well baby checkup.
Write down your questions and take them with you to the doctors office.
A book on early child development would be good too.
"What to Expect the First Year" - buy it or get it from your local library.

Hi, I'm a neonatal nurse. Babies need all of their calories in liquid form for the first 6 months of life. When you give her rice cereal at such a young age, it hurts her digestive system and it decreases the amount of liquid she gets, the liquid is required for her metabolic needs. She might be trying to move that gluey stuff out of her body with more fluids. More likely, her calories are too harshly and thickly delivered and she just needs to replace the fluids she is being denied when her calories come via cereal. She does not need pedialyte or apple juice, which are very high in sugars (and can make her thirsty) nor does she need supplemental water. All of these things are detracting from the nutrition of the milk she should be exclusively drinking for the first six months of life. Breastmilk is the ideal food, of course, but if that is not possible, formula is all she needs. Some people start feeding at 4 months, but it is not advised by medical science.

If she is dehydrated, her eyes will be sunken, if you pinch her skin it will stay pinched looking, she will not be making at least 6 wet diapers per day. If she is fine on all of those counts, especially the diaper bit, she is not dehydrated. Babies have high sucking needs. If you are concerned about her blood sugar talk to her pediatrician. She would likely have other symptoms if she were diabetic. Does her breath smell like juicy fruit gum? Is she sometimes jittery and shaky before meals or 30 min after? If you are concerned about diabetes at all, stop with the juice immediately (do it anyway, it's not good for her and could be making her thirsty) and talk to her pedi. Being a new mom is hard, and I know you are doing the best you can for your baby. There's a learning curve to all of this. If you suspect anything as serious as diabetes, see your pedi right away. In the mean time, stick to milk until 6 months.

I think you are right to be concerned. First of all, a 4 month old should only be having formula or breast milk. Why are you giving her juice? I suspect she needs more formula. When she finishes the amount you think she needs, it sounds like she is still hungry and will take anything at that point. How did you decide how much to put in her bottle before you switch to juice or water? Please take her to a pediatrician for a checkup and ask for a feeding consult to guide you.

My girls are 20 yo and 15 yo. I still don’t give them juice and they don’t drink it out. You can’t possibly be for real. Surly your pediatrician would have told you what to feed an infant. 🤦‍♀️

D.

hello. Welcome to mamapedia.

You've been giving your daughter RICE CEREAL since she was 10 days old?! Are you freaking INSANE??? What pediatrician told you to do that?! Please tell me you are a troll and just spamming the site because it's summer and you're bored!!

She's 4 months old and you are giving her things a 4 month old should NOT be consuming. WHAT MAKES YOU FEEL LIKE SHE'S THIRSTY?? Can you explain that to us, please? What signs is she giving you?

1. If you can't breast feed? Sorry - use the formula.
2. STOP GIVING YOUR DAUGHTER RICE CEREAL!!
3. STOP GIVING YOUR DAUGHTER PEDIALYTE!
4. STOP GIVING YOUR DAUGHTER APPLE JUICE!!!
5. C-Section babies are NOT prone to diabetes - not sure who told you that..

Call your pediatrician IMMEDIATELY and share with them what you have been giving your child and tell them you need parenting classes and information on WHAT you should be feeding your child and at what age.

I PRAY you are a troll. I PRAY this is just some poor person, sad and alone on summer break.

So many issues here. I think mostly caused by misinformation. Don't know who is giving you advice on that baby but wrong, wrong, wrong. Too early to feed cereal and apple juice? You are going to rot her teeth before they even come in. No infant needs juice.

Remember that her body is growing every single day and her brain is making connections that will help her learn everything. You don't want to give her nutrition that is worthless. Formula or bread milk is what she needs. A little water if its really hot. Wait on cereal and all that stuff for a couple more months.

Babies suck on things so if she's full but still looking like she wants to suck then use a pacifier.

Please talk to the doctor on your child's next visit or look at websites on what to do at different ages for babies. You don't want to worry unnecessarily over things. If you honestly think the baby has a medical issue then go directly to the doctor instead of soliciting ideas. My nephew is type ! diabetic since age 2. Almost died before he was diagnosed.

I fed my daughter rice cereal at 2 months and she turned out fine. Like other's have said she may still be hungry. At you next dr appointment discuss what is going on so that you are well informed. Good luck!