Feeding Schedule with Rice Cereal?

Don't take away any of her bottle feedings since those are actually providing the bulk of her nutrients for the day. What you might want to consider is feeding her half a bottle, then some solids, then the rest of the bottle, or the bottle first, then the solids. When you do decide to introduce other foods, puree or mash them will, and thin them with a little formula. As your baby learns to eat, just add less formula to the puree until you're just feeding her puree. Sweet potato, ripe banana, avocado (ripe, but not overripe), peaches, pears area all great first foods. You can mix them with rice or baby oatmeal to either make the cereal taste better or boost the iron content of the fruit puree. I don't know if you've considered it, but making your own purees is pretty easy. Peel and core two peaches or pears, lay cut side down in a shallow baking dish, add enough water that there is about 1/4 inch of it in the pan, and bake at 400 for about 40 minutes (knife inserted will go in easily). Take them out, toss them in a blender or food processor, and puree. Freeze the extras in an ice cube tray. Don't toss the leftover syrup in the pan - use it to sweeten baby's oatmeal (as a special treat in place of formula)! You can start first stage foods (purees) now, just make sure you follow the 4-day wait rule between new foods. Add a second and then a third feeding when you think your baby is ready. I would add a late afternoon "dinner" next, and then a "breakfast" since you already have a mid-day meal. There are lots of resources online with lists of what baby can eat when (but your pediatrician may have a different opinion, and should probably be consulted about foods during your next well-baby appointment). Good luck. This part is messy, but fun.

How much rice cereal you feed her and how often is just going to depend on her. My son is almost 7 months now and has been eating rice cereal and applesauce since 4 months per his pediatrician some days he eats cereal at every meal sometimes he wont take any at all. We introduced stage one foods right after his 6 month appointment once again per his pediatrician and he loves his veggies. Ask your pediatrician what they belive is a good schedule for her as well as suggested amounts. As far as mine he said that to just go off my sons cues as far as amount and how often. As far as baby food goes to start with stage one foods one at a time introducing a new food every 3 or 4 days so that you can watch for allergies and once he has tried all stage one move to stage 2 and so on. I dont know how much your little girl usually eats but it was when my son was consuming about 8 oz of formula and 2T of cereal at almost every meal that we really started working in foods. Good luck hope this helps. You will enjoy seeing some of the funny faces she will make when you introduce a new food.

The ultimate goal by the time she is one is to be feeding her three main meals a day (with a morning and afternoon snack) and no formula. If you keep that in mind it might help you see the whole picture. When you are ready i would start to add cereal at dinner and breakfast. you can also start adding babyfood and finger foods. it just sort of happened gradually for us. by the time she was 10 months i was only giving her 3 bottles a day. (after she got up, after nap and before bed) then i was feeding her mostly finger foods as meal times. My kids never eat baby food for long after they discover finger food.
Good luck and don't stress out too much!

Do not take away her formula. That is her source of nutrition until she turns one. You can add a night feeding of rice cereal before she has her last bottle. You can start her on veggies and fruit stage one baby food anytime as long as her pedi agrees. You can mix a little with her cereal if you like. I would begin with sweet potatoes or squash. They are slightly sweet and most babies like them. Just feed her in addition to her formula. You could reduce the amount in the bottle by a little bit since she is now eating some food, but feeding at this age is for practice and for her to try a variety of new tastes and textures, not necessarily for nutrition or that is what my pedi told me with both my children.

I just started rice cereal with my baby who is 6 month old. The whole purpose of solid foods is to teach a baby to eat. I think 2 feedings would be great. In fact, my pedi. said it is "fluff" and not necassary for the baby's nutrition - babies get all their nutrition from breastmilk or formula. He said with his 3rd child he probably got solid food at 9 months - it was table food. Since I am breastfeeding I don't schedule feed but I think giving you baby solids when your family is eating meals would ideal since the purpose is to learn to eat from a spoon. This what I did with my first 2 children. You can mix cereal with water and with other baby food once you can introduced it and not found an allergy. You can start veggies and fruits - stay with the same food for 3 day to rule out an allergy.

I have a schedule for infants a cheat sheet they gave us in the food program which is a government program. They quit feeding infants so early because of choking. If your baby can use her tongue to send the food back and swallow then it is ok. But do not subsitute the milk. They need formula for the first year, with iron. I would always start with veggies before fruit. Just a table spoon or 2 at first. Send me your e-mail and I can send you the schedule. I have sent it to a lot of moms here. I do not understand why they do not give this to moms at the hospital. G. W

I loved the rice cereal, but fed it at night as the last feeding , and then my baby slept all night , well until 5:30, and at the age I gave it to her that seemed like all night and no middle of the night wake up. I started some baby food by this age, but still had the bottle of a morning, one of an afternoon, and of course bed time. Every baby is a little different, and Dr.'s and books all say a little different things, but I see no reason to take away the bottle yet if she is just 6 months old. And as for mixing the cereal with anything but formula, and say no, but I nursed yet at 6 months so had regular milk in the cereal. When I say the bottle above it was for a later child, as I wasn't nursing by 6 months with them. My first baby was nursing that often more like four times a day.

Babies actually don't need anything besides breastmilk (or formula if that's the case) for their entire first year. In fact, contrary to popular opinion, their digestive systems aren't ready for any type of solids for their first year of life. Even their second year, it should be only fruits and vegetables. Research child nutrition from an all-natural standpoint and I'm sure you'll have many questions answered! Send me a message if you're interested in more all-natural nutritional baby stuff!

I breastfeed and actually started the rice cereal at 4 months then veggies at 6 months. Either way I started out by giving her cereal (mixed with breastmilk) at night before bed (note when I switched to oatmeal I just mixed it with water). At 6 months I began giving her the cereal in the morning about an hour or so after her first bottle. I felt this help ensured she would still be hungry enough for the next bottle. Since they say that the bulk of their nutrition still needs to come from breastmilk or formula I did not want anything to interfere with that. I started giving the cereal in the morning b/c I was starting the stage 1 veggies at night (again about an hour or so after a feeding). I know people who started food at lunch and kept the cereal at night. Either way would work just make sure she still gets plenty of the formula. Good luck!

You should be able to introduce fruits like apples and bananas at this age. You can mix it in with cereal. Just remember that formula is still their main source of nutrients. I started feeding my baby solids 2x a day when she was 7 months; however, she really never took to solids right away. She would get cereal in morning and cereal in the evening. There really is no set rule. Outside of the obvious... only introduce one food at a time. Also, steer clear of meats, eggs etc right now. There are schedules that are posted on the internet. However, I just kind of went with the flow. She is now 8 months old and likes to eat it 3x a day. We give her cereal mixed with a fruit in the morning and veggie at lunch or dinner. She doesn't like peas!!

Start your baby on a normal eating schedule. Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner. I would do ceral at those times and formula on all the other times. She needs the bottles for her brain development. You could of started cereal at 4 months and I would get her on ceral then start veggies then. Do veggies before fruits, that way she won't get used to the sweet of the fruit and not want veggies.

Answers to your questions:
1. Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
2. No, do not take away the milk
3. No, only mix it with the formula
4. Now. She is old enough for veggies and then fruit.

Maybe she doesn't like the ceral at all, try a veggie and see how she does, but only one at a time to see if shes allergic.

Good Luck!!!