Baby Food and Cereal

Hi there, I see you got a lot of advice already. All I can add is to not to worry about breakfast time or lunchtime etc. for now pick a time when both of you are in a good mood. It takes a long time at first and is going to be an adjustment for both of you. Your child has to learn to eat and that can take a while with some babies. I found this website very helpful :
http://www.wholesomebabyfood.com/. It tells you everything they can eat, how much etc. by age and how to make your own baby food. We did that and it is very easy and a lot cheaper and my daughter got to eat things like mango and papaya. Things you don't get in a jar. I hope this helps.

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First time, do just a bite or two of rice cereal mixed with formula, breastmilk or just water...your baby is not likely to take more than that the first time. Work your way up to a tablespoon. Can do this within the first week. At the beginning it's just a learning process for the baby to learn to eat with a spoon. Start with just once a day and then increase to twice a day and then 3 times a day eventually. Feeding WITH the bottle/nursing, like just after, makes it a meal so their nap times are not affected by them being hungry because of snacking as opposed to meals. Take at least 3 days before introducing anything new, so you are able to notice any reaction to any type of food and then be able to pinpoint what food is affecting by having that be the only thing new introduced. We started with rice cereal at dinner, then added a green veggie mixed in with the cereal, then added breakfast rice cereal, then kept adding something and ended up with cereal and fruit for breakfast, a veggie for lunch, cereal and veggie for dinner. Of course there's different ways you can do it, but that's what we did. Hope this helps! Have fun with it. :)

Hi S.,

Check out http://www.drgreene.com/21_804.html

I love this website. I go to it for most every question I have. Obviously you should always go to your pediatrican first but this is the best 2nd stop!

I gave my daughter just cereal in the morning then for lunch and dinner I included the veggie's.

As for the amount that depends on the child. Just remember their little tummies are about the size of their fists right now.

S.:

RELAX>... food at this point is more about taste and texture and learning than nutrition... you can use fruits or vegtables.... cereal has no caloric value.. it is a filler - the iron is not needed.

let him take what he wants.

P.,RLC, IBCLC
Pres. Lactation Support Group, Inc
www.lactationsupportgroup.com

I always started out with just making a tablespoon of cereal mixed with warm milk a baby usually won't take much the first couple of times go slow and even if you get a tiny bit in that is good. I would do that in the morning and at lunch do the vegys stay away from the orange vegys first they tend to be sweeter and then the greens taste terrible so start with greens
and again about a tablespoon. Just go slow My one son always took a bite then had a drink I could never get him to take two bites in a row so I always had a bottle on hand.
Go slow, enjoy the one on one time during these feeding and Have a great day

My baby is 6 months now and has been on food for several months but when she first started I gave her 1 scoop (scoop from the formula container that I saved) of cereal, mixed with water to make it runny, and about 1/2 a 1st stages container of fruits or veggies, 2 times a day. I did cereal and fruit for breakfast, a bottle, or breastfed, for lunch and then cereal and veggies for dinner. You baby will let you know if he's had enough or not enough! Make sure you take videos the first couple of times for reactions! They're priceless! :)

You should start with baby food number 1'es. you can find them at any grocery store. As far as the cereal.....well i did this because i couldnt figure out how much either when i started my son on it. If you give your baby formula....take one of the scooper things and do like half a scoop of cereal mixed with formula first. Make it the consistency of cream of wheat....solid but runny enough so your baby can digest it. IF half a scoop isnt enough try a whole one and so forth. Try a veggie and some cereal also for a meal...but make sure its mixed with formula because at this age your baby still needs around 16-24 oz of formula. id try once a day with the solids, then after a month try twice a day. Hope this helps!

Hi S.,

I started my baby on solids at 4.5 months (now 5.5 mos). I startd with a 1 or 2 T (before adding breastmilk) of rice cereal. I added more at times, because she still seemed hungry. I started breakfast first, then added it to her dinner a days later. I was giving her a bottle first, then about an hour later her foods. One of my postings on mamasource is she wanted to feed herself - she kept grabbing the spoon. I now give her 2 spoons and alternate. I also came to the conclusion she eats and sleeps much better with her solids first then a bottle (every baby is different). She didn't care for rice cereal so I gave her oatmeal. She loves it. If you are worried about iron, rice cereal has it. Not sure about the oatmeal, but she shuld be getting it through formula or breastmilk (when I breastfed my ped. had me give her Enfamil iron supplement). I stopped breatfeeding her about 2 weeks ago.

Take alook at my file. I had a ton of questions as I just transtioned through this and had bascially the same question as you. I received alot of good advice. I gave her cereal alone for a week or so, then introduced the veggies first, then fruits. Peas didn't work very well.

Good luck.