I recently was asked to weigh in on an old debate regarding introducing infant cereal at 4, 5 or 6 months old to help baby sleep better at night.
Read the label on any infant cereal on the market and you will see that it is predominantly carbohydrates. Carbohydrates make you sleepy because they cause your body to produce hormones (serotonin) associated with sleeping. So when our parents and grandparents added some infant cereal to our bottles full of cow's milk or formula at 3 or 4 weeks old, they were doing it because someone else told them it would help the baby sleep. And it did. Alcohol has the same effect...