Please Help! Figuring Out How Much to Feed 5 Mo Twins Including Cereal/formula

what i did wasnt a science its like your friends said....you just know. as soon sa mine seemed ready to eat and yours already seem to i gave cereal and water/breastmilk/formula. then i switched it to cereal and an orange/yellow vegetable or fruit (it's best to start with veggies though) this made it thicker and easier to swallow instead of dripping out of their mouths and adds flavor. how much you give doesnt matter its how much they will eat that did for me. of course i didnt want them to eat too much because this stuff doesnt really contain much in the way of nutritional value and you dont want it to take away fom the real nurishment(formula). find out how many ounces a day they should be getting by your doctor or online. then pick certain feeding times and either substitute bottl for food or half them and start with food and finish with bottle. or vice versa. if baby would rather have bottle give it last if food give food last because if you give their favorite first they wont want to have the other. good luck.

The best book you'll ever buy, "Super Baby Food" by Ruth Y.(?). Can't seem to remember her last name, I gave my book to my sister. It's a great book that tells you how much formula they should be having according to their age. Also, it gives you a month by month list of foods to introduce. Go to Amazon and order it right now, you'll love it!

Advice until book shows up. Do not decrease formula, give them their bottle first then give them cereal. They will let you know when they are full. Good Luck!!

O.-mom of 3

What you should do is put some cearl in there bottles at night and they should sleep longer and you might want to give them ceral at brakfest time and then mabe againg for a snack.

hi C.! first- don't stress so much about it, i know it's very hard not too, but you're doing great and you WILL figure it out :) sounds like your boys are happy and well fed, but here's some advice:
1 - they probably do not need to eat at night anymore. they're at a healthy weight and really don't need that bottle at night. Check with your pediatrician, but at this point they should start learning to sleep through the night without eating. at my daughter's 6 month appt the pediatrician was very firm that she was eating only out of habit- so we gave it up cold turkey and it helped straighten out our days.
2- around 6 months babies need about 24-32 oz of breastmilk or formula per day. again, check with your doc, but at this point you can start with more cereal if you want- maybe increase it to a quarter cup (mixed with water or formula- my daughter liked it with water better) at breakfast and dinner. make sure you aren't putting it into the bottle- spoon feed them! :)
3- after a week or two of this if its going well, start adding cereal at lunchtime too, so they're getting three "meals" per day and three sometimes 4 bottles a day.
this worked really well for my daughter and I, and by the time she was 7 months we had her eating about a third to a quarter cup of cereal each "meal". then at 7 months I started adding pureed veggies to her dinner (one at a time every few days try a new one), and at 8 months we were eating a jar or two of both veggie and fruit per day mixed with the cereal, and by 9 months she was down to 3 8oz bottles per day.

you'll probably get lots of different advice- be aware that "everyone" says babies don't NEED extra food besides formula or breastmilk before their first birthday, but that's really hard when your 6 month old is reaching for and eating the food off your plates! Just watch your boys- if they start reaching and mimicing you eating, they're ready to try solids. We decided to very gradually teach my daughter how to eat and waht to eat. she's now 11 mos and eats just about everything in sight. ;)
your boys will tell you when they're full or when they're hungry- and yes they are probably teething as well, which does change things- they'll chew on everything and drool too, but that's a whole nother post! :)

my twin boys are 2 and 2 months so it's difficult to remember when they were only 5 months. i was exclusively breastfeeding them at 6 months when we started on rice cereal. we started with 1x day then it became obvious that they could eat more and we moved to 2x day. as they eat more they drink a bit less i think. after the cereal, we introduced veggies, then fruit last--one new one every 4 days or so. it's difficult to remember just how we did it. i think i wouldn't worry about overfeeding. just make sure they aren't hungry or thirsty. good luck to you!

I was worried that I was over feeding my first child and my mother as well as toher people always assured me that you can't overfeed a baby. A baby will stop eating when they are no longer hungrry. I am not a big fan of putting cereal in a bottle, i think its better to just mix a little bit of the bottle into a bowl of cereal and feed them that way, then give the rest of the bottle. When your children are eating cereal well then you can go ahead and start giving it in the morning as well as a bottle, but don't force them to finish it. Oh and if you give them a bowl of cereal I wouldn't give them a full 6 oz bottle. You can always try a bottle of water in between feedsing too. This is not to reduce the amount they eat but I found it my children liked to suck a lot and not necessarily eat also my child who I gave water to early likes water but my other child doesn't. Best of luck to you.

Just keep feeding them cereal until they refuse to eat it. Offer it to them morning, noon and evening. They will let you know when they are full.

Congratulations on two healthy babies! Sounds like they are doing well so relax.

Each baby is different, my son was up to 8 oz a bottle and back to every two hours by two weeks of age and couldn't seem to get enough so his doctor had us start cereal at that age (which otherwise would have seemed way TOO EARLY). He wouldn't take a bottle with some cereal so we had to spoon feed (and he liked it really thick). Although he weighed only 7lb 15 1/2 oz at birth, he gained about a pound a week for a while and weighed 19 lbs by 3 months. He was such a busy body that by six months, he weighed just 20 pounds even though he ate A LOT. Our doctor was thrilled with his growth and said he was thriving. We were never concerned with him being too big. He is now a healthy 16 YEAR old who is a little on the thin side (not overweight) so I would not worry about your sons being 15-16 lbs at just over 5 months. There is average, then their is above and below average but they are all NORMAL!

My daughter stayed at 6 ounce bottles for what seemed like an eternity and started cereal around three months and liked it thin. She is now a wonderfully healthy 19 month old. She doesn't look chubby like my son did but at a year old was within a pound or so of his 1 year weight.

The 35 ounces a day is not too much for them. At this age, they really won't take more than they want/need. Formula/Milk and Cereal at this age is great for their development.

Mine never only had a tsp or even a tbsp of cereal, it was always at least 1/4 C of cereal mixed with the amount of formula or milk that was needed for the consistency that they prefered. Obviously, you want to know what to do with your children not necessarily what I did with mine.

My suggestion would be to increase their other bottles (those not given with any solids)to 7-8 oz and then you can leave those given with solids at 6 oz. I would also increase the cereal to 1/4 C and give with both the breakfast and dinner feedings. If you children take this amount, you'll know it is not too much. If they don't, you can adjust accordingly.

Best of luck to you and your family.

Hi C.,
Congrats on the babies. With your babies being preemies, I'm surprised that the ped had you start foods. My friend just had twins last year at 7 wks early. Her ped told he to adjust all of the milestones by 2 months for the first year. So if normally you'd start foods at 4-6 months, start at 6-8 months, if they normally would crawl around 7m, look for it around 9m. If you've already started cereals, I would stick with that for awhile until they are a month or so older. I perhaps increasing the current bottles from 7oz to 8oz will help with the hunger. I used the Dr. Brown's bottles, and they were a bit messy trying to make a 8 oz bottle. My friend told me to make the bottle in a measuring cup with a wisk/formula mixer and then pour it into the bottle. Worked wonders.
Best of luck.
M.

i was feeding 8 oz. sometimes more at a single feeding

Hi C.,

First thing you need to do is relax. I am a first time mom of 9 month old twin boys who were born at 39 weeks. The weighed 6lbs 10 oz and 6lbs 1 oz. However, they are not very big to date and they have incredibly strong appetites. At the last weigh in they hovered around 17 pounds. Each baby is different so I will only tell you what I did. Because they were not very fond of cereal, I started feeding them applesauce laced with cereal. Eventually we added different types of fruit to their diet while still stirring in the cereal. If they were hungry after their feedings, I gave them a little more. Through their actions they told me they wanted more. The chewing on their hands is most likely a sign of teething and not of sheer hunger. As you begin to feed them more food, they will stop taking in 7 ounces of formula. You will notice that they will not finish bottles. My boys never had more than 6 ounces of breastmilk or formula at each feeding. Now that their diet has increased dramatically, they receive three five ounce bottles between 8 and 5 pm and one 6 ounce bottle at 8 pm. Your boys will let you know when they are hungry but don't be afraid to try something different. Stay alert for allergies.

Are you giving there age as an adjusted age? My son was born almost eleven weeks early and I started his solid foods at his adjusted age for six months. He was a little chubby at that time, but now is almost two, eats almost anything, but is very slender. You should ask your pediatrician what is the best course.

no thats about right and you can feed them that same amount of cereal 3 times a day and increase cereal by about a tablespoon. I added a tablespoon each month if he finishes what I was giving him,if you give them cereal right before bed they may sleep through night, thats what I had to do for mine wich upped him to cereal 4 times a day but when a babies hungry you feed them, for teething I used humphreys teething tablets especially right before bed and they were a lifesaver.

Hi C.! Congrats on your twins! When my twins were that age I fed them right about the same as your doing now. Remember that these little ones have allot of catching up to do in the growth department. From what I was told, you don't really have to worry about obesity at this age. Right now they are eating to grow. And it's not like you stuffing Twinkies in from of them. I did worry, as every mommy does, and added some water to their diet.(after approval from their doctor of course). I think you are doing a wonderful job. One last thing... don't forget yourself. Go out and get a pedicure or just stroll the mall without the kids. You deserve it! Being a mommy is hard work, treat yourself for a job well done!

Since your boys are almost 6 months old, why not start with other baby foods? I would start with sweet potatoes, since they are really bland and add them in at lunch time (your 11 AM feeding). Start out with the food and then top them off with a little formula at first so they can slowly adjust. Eventually nix the formula at that time and just feed them baby food.
What worked for me was sticking with one flavor of baby food for at least 3 days in a row to make sure there are no food allergy issues.
I started my last baby on cereal when she was 4 1/2 months old and by the time she was 6 months old, she had quite a food "repertoire"!
Good luck, and keep your camera close by because the faces they'll make when trying new foods are priceless!!!
OH! And FYI, my son was 10 pounds at birth and weighed 20 pounds by the time he was 5 months old! He was always a big eater and I never limited his food...I fed him if he was hungry. Now he's almost 5 years old and very slim and muscular, so don't worry about your boys being chubby :)

Hi C.:
First of congrats on twins :)
According to the latest pediatric course I have taken, the average feeding for normal infants is 40 oz a day.
The cereal idea is good for morning as well as night if they are appearing hungry.. Formula is complete food and if you count on them using 2 oz in their cereal, reduce that feeding by 2 oz. Simple solution, mix the cereal from the bottle milk,, feed cereal then finish with the bottle.
Also you could be right with the teething, any drooling or upset tummies? A teething baby can usually be cranky and hard to please. If you like respong to this and I can send you printed matter from my course! I am a Continuing Care worker and I am currently studing a pediatric course for my license.

My daughter is almost two and when she was four months she was 16 pounds. I remember asking her Dr. if she was too fat. (she was exclusively breastfed at this point.) He said, you don't have to worry about her over eating. She won't eat if she's not hungry. I agree with a previous response. Offer until they refuse. I never remember measuring out cereal...
They be fine and babies are supposed to be CHUBBY!!!

Hi C.,

I agree completely w/ the 1st post. You can't overfeed a baby, their tummies tell them when to stop eating & they listen to them, unlike adults. If your boys are hungry, feed them! I don't have twins, but my son has always had a very healthy appetite so we started him on rice cereal around the same age as your guys. He had a chubby faze that lasted until he was about 2 or 3 years old & now he's almost 9 years old, thin as a rail & eats at least as much as his father, if not more, so don't worry about the over-weight factor, really. Hope this helped and good luck!

Hello,

I completely understand you. I had the same problem when my baby turned five months old. Here is a schedule that you can use to get an idea on how much of everything you should be giving them. I understand that formula it is still the main source of vitamins and nutrients for them. You should offer a bottle before a meal so your babies get a higher amount of formula instead of the opposite. That way when they are full they will stop eating the cereal and still get the vitamins and nutrients they need. I think that if you still have questions, you should ask their pediatrician.

Here is the link:

http://www.earthsbest.com/baby_nutrition/feeding_schedule...

First of all- you're doing great, so don't stress! :) I think having one baby is the hardest job ever (mine is 6 months), but you have two! And it sounds like they're thriving and doing really well. So kudos!

I started feeding my son rice cereal at around 5 months, and my doctor told me to start with one tablespoon cereal (+ however much formula you want to add) the first day, 2 tablespoons the second day, and 3 tablespoons the third day. So you might want to increase the rice cereal amount if they're doing well with it. It's really up to them to eat the amount that they want- babies rarely overfeed at this stage with solid foods. I added in breakfast solids a few weeks later, and now (at 6.5 months) have just introduced lunch solids. Every baby is different with this- but mine would throw a fit if I ate without giving him food too. So just watch your li'l guys and see if they're interested!

However, I personally think it's very easy to overfeed babies with formula. 7 oz at one feeding seems like a pretty heavy duty meal! By keeping the bottles around 6 oz or so, and adding breakfast solids, I think you'll find that they get everything they need calorie-wise.

And yes- that sounds like teething to me! Though the tooth buds can cause all sorts of trouble for quite a while before an actual tooth shows. My son chewed, drooled, and fussed for over a month before his first two bottom teeth came in. Sorry- what a pain!

Good luck, and trust your instincts! You know your babies best, even though it feels crazy trying to figure all this stuff out!

Clarie,
my sister has had 3 sets of twins(and for of the babies are angels watching over the family -I lost a set of twins myself) But anyways we both sated the cereal at different times with tem becasue it was easier (month wise for their ages) with my son i gace him a bottle till 4 months and then it was cereal and formula or juivce mixed in and ten water in between. with my sisters kids she did the same thing adn even with her and i in diferent states we still talk about the feeding times lol and you might want to see if they will take some dry cereal as a snack too... if they are waking early and chewing their hands that means they were not given enough for dinner... i gave all my kids except my girls (my second was nursing and on solids at 6 months and i stopped nursing her at 16 months.)

C. - I found this age-by-age guide on Babycenter very handy when I was starting my daughter on solids.

http://www.babycenter.com/0_age-by-age-guide-to-feeding-y...

A lot of people are not saying that solids should really be started when the baby is 6 months and not 4 months so I wouldn't worry too much if they are taking in more Formula still at this point. The first couple of months of solids is just to get the baby adjusted to the different texture of solid foods.

Good luck!

I wouldn't offer food yet!
That's just me because I know feeding too early tends to cause food allergies.
I"d bathe them in the evening, and get them some fresh air maybe 15 minutes then put them in bed. The fresh air really helps them sleep good and longer.
If you want you can make thier bottle a bit more concentrated at bedtime too.
God Bless