Hi, I have a 5 and a half month old and he started eating rice at 3-4 months and his ped said oatmeal/barley was good to start @ 5 months. He eats it once a day, usually in the morning. he eats 4 tablespoons of oatmeal w/water like its nothing and then after that he usually eats a 5-6 oz bottle. Should he be eating a bigger amount of oatmeal,if so how much, and how many times a day? Other than that he still eats 7 oz every 3 hrs. Thanks!!
Thank you for all of your advice:) I'm going to try feeding him his oatmeal one more time a day and see how that goes and then as our ped has advised, start him on baby food at 6 months. Veggies first with only one kind a week in case he has any allergies.
As for all of the very negative comments I just wanted to say that everything I have done I have checked with my son's pediatrician first. She is one of the best in her field with SEVERAL people reffering her. I've never had a baby before lol. I'm sure there are a lot of moms that come on here to get help like I have and it's very sad that some people feel the need to accuse and make new moms feel like they've done a horrible job already. Thank you to all the moms that have shared your experiences with me and understanding that it's all new and that new moms aren't perfect and need your advice/past experiences. We need your guidance. not judgement and harsh comments. Thanks again.
If he's still acting hungry give him more...you don't have to do it all at one sitting though! At his age I would start giving him some for breakfast, lunch, dinner and this will establish meal times. I started my daughter 3 x a day around 6 months but you can mix in other things besides cereal. You may first want to consider giving him larger bottles (8 oz) too and then you could stretch out time between feedings.
Hi A.,
I always fed my kids cereal in the morning and then again at night. Of course, they were also eating fruits and veggies as well. Best of luck!
Hi A.,
I don't know how you used your rice cereal, but we really had good luck with it in his night time bottle. We'd put the rice, then the oatmeal in with his 8 oz. bottle (well, it ended up being less than 8 oz. b/c that much milk with the added ceral didn't quite fit!).
He had 2-3 big heaping tablespoons in that milk and it helped him sleep better and longer, too.
We started actual baby foods between 4-5 months so we only gave him the cereals in that one night time bottle. Anyway, good luck! Sounds like a happy baby and good eater!
C. R
well you might want to try mixing the oatmeal with formula or breast milk. that way it's a little thicker in the stomach. and if your son it shovleing it down still give him more. when he is stuffed he will stop eating.hope this helps!
Hi A., My pediatrician said my 6 month old could be eating up to a 1/2 cup of cereal at a time. Also, I feed him cereal mixed with fruit twice a day. Once for his 11:00 feeding, and then again for his 5:00 feeding. Have you started him on fruits or veggies? This may help too. Both of my boys are big eaters - chunk babies are the best:)
none. wait till he's six months.
is he eating any veggies yet? i started my baby on rice cereal around 5 months and shortly after started veggies. he ate the cereal like a champ, we stared with 1-2 tbsp once a day, and then increased slowly util he was up to 4-5 tbsp. 2 times aday. then we introduced the veggie at lunch. now that he's 6 months he's eating fruits and cereal in the am, veggies at lunch and veggie and fruit(or cereal) for dinner, with a 5-6oz bottle of breastmilk inbetween. this was all rec. by our pediatrician and it has seemed to work well with our little guy! good luck, this can be a tough time because you want o give them enough, but don't want to over do i either! :)
First, you're supposed to wait until 6 months old for solids and they never "need" cereal. Second, you should be mixing it with breastmilk or formula, not water.
Third, you feed him as much as he'll take after and ONLY AFTER he's already had his formula or breastmilk because cereal has almost no nutrition and it's just to teach him to eat, not to provide nutrients. Always give a bottle or nurse, wait 30-60 minutes and offer solids. It's too early to be making meals out of food, but between 6 and 9 months, you can start 2-3 meals and by 9 months there should be 3 meals and 1-2 snacks. But he should continue to get the same amount of formula. Solids shouldn't replace formula until after 12 months.
My kids, at that age, ate 1/2 cup for breakfast (I think the serving is 1/4 cup according to the box) and I did start them off with small amounts and gradually added more until they reached 1 half cup and that seemed to be their limit (I would give them some sort of fruit with thier breakfast sometimes, too) Of course, my Ped said this was fine, so always check first, but both of my kids were pigs at that age LOL.
my babies were big (two were over 10 pounds) and they EAT. By six months...aren't the pediatricians saying to be on fruits and vegetables by then? The 7 oz bottle every 3 hours sounds like a lot of milk to me...as they eat more food, they usually drink less milk.
I think I might try more cereal at suppertime and maybe look at it cutting down some of the formula... or spacing it out a bit better. (Every 3 hours seems awfully frequent for six months old.) I know by 6 months we were also starting some table food, like cottage cheese, rice, scrambled eggs, but my children are all in their 20's, so manybe that's "old school" Sorry! :)
