Frustrated with Feeding Pattern, Schedule; Need Advice! ;-)

If you're having trouble getting her to eat solids, maybe she isn't quite ready for them yet. If she's taking the cereal well, I would stick with just the cereal for awhile before introducing other foods, and then only one at a time, with a week or so in between so that you can tell if she tolerates them well or may have any allergies to them. Try mixing the cereal with formula (not in the bottle, but to give to her with a spoon). If you've just started feeding her cereal, she probably only needs it once per day - in the evening if you're after a longer sleep schedule. If you're giving her solids three times a day already, that could be interfering with her bottle feeding, as she won't be as hungry.

Hi Amy,
Congrats on your little girl. My daughter didn't take to foods until 6m. Then it was still a little bit until she got the whole swallowing thing. Just be patient and don't worry. Since food isn't her main source of nutrition right now, she's not missing out. As she becomes more interested in foods, you will see that she will drink less formula.
Here is the schedule I followed.

Depending on when she wakes up - give a bottle. if its close to breakfast time, give a half bottle or wait.

When you are ready for breakfast, fix her the rice cereal. Follow it with a bottle.

After she's been on cereal for a week or so, start feeding it at breakfast and either lunch or dinner. The goal is to eventually feed her 3 meals a day.
M.

I've been through this problem and so much more. Try some strained fruit in the orning, then her formula. When they're eating food, they won't consume as much formula. At lunch, try the veggies and at bedtime, try the rice cereal. If she doesn't like the taste of it, add just a little of the fruit to it, then go to the formula. She'll sleep better also. Promise!
Bobbie

A.,
The biggest thing with starting on solids is to go slow. My peds also said I could start at 6m with all 3 of my children and only one was really ready. The other two waited until 8 months. It all depends on the child. If your baby girl does not show interest to rice cereal mixed with milk, which should be your first choice, then stop and wait a few weeks. Do not force - that will only cause you anguish! Always try the cereal first and then follow with milk. She needs to be good and hungry. After rice cereal, you may try a vegetable. Try fruits last since they are sweet and babies will generally prefer those over vegetables.
Take your time with this. You will not be starving your baby and she will show you when she is hungry and needs more than milk. Cereal before bed is always good too. But keep everything simple. And don't be fooled into thinking you have to buy your baby food. Whatever you are serving for dinner like carrots or green beans can be put in the blender with a little water and there is her vegetable! Save your money. Do that with a lot of her food. You will save a fortune. And it is soooooo easy!
Hope this helps. A.

First of all, take a deep breath! Your daughter will not starve! If she is on formula, she does not need cereal. My son was breastfed (never took to formula) and he hated cereal so we just went straight to purees. But what I'm saying is that she's already getting plenty of iron and vitamins from the formula so she really doesn't need the cereal. So if she doesn't like it, then don't bother with it. She might just not be ready for solids yet, or your timing might be off. This is what worked for us and you could give it a try and see if it works for you. When he would wake up in the morning he would nurse, so you would give a bottle, after like a diaper change and a couple of minutes of cuddling. Give her a bottle. About an hour after she wakes up you can try cereal, but don't get upset if she doesn't want it. You can also skip the cereal all together and try some pureed sweet potato or butternut squash or banana or prunes. If she doesn't want it, then don't worry about it. Then before her morning nap give her half a bottle and then another half bottle when she gets up after a change and a bit of cuddling.

For lunch, give half a bottle and then try pureed veggies. If she doesn't want the purees, then give the rest of the bottle.

Before he 2nd nap, give half the bottle and then the rest when she wakes up.

Same for dinner, give half the bottle, then try pureed veggies and fruits.

Another thing to keep in mind is that this might be upsetting her stomach and causing constipation and that's why she doesn't want it. To fix that, I used to give my son a couple of spoons of prunes with every meal and even now, at 20 months old, he gets prunes once a day.

Also, you have to be careful to wait like 3-5 days between introducing each new food to watch out for signs of allergies.

If after 2 days of trying this schedule she still doesn't want to eat, then give it a rest for 2 weeks and then try again.

Some kids just take longer to be ready. If at 8 months she's still not interested, then your doctor should run some tests and see if her digestive system is ok. She could also be teething and that's why she's not interested in eating. They are never interested in eating when teething.

Good luck!

Amy,
Have you tried putting the rice cereal in the bottle before bedtime, this way your little one getting both the cereal and formula. I know I had to use the ceeal in the bottle at bedtime with all 5 of my children.

I would to talk to you about the nutritional supplements you are selling/using for energy and weight loss. I have not seen my pre-pregnancy weight since right after my almost 5 year old was born! I look forward to speaking with you.

Hi Amy, The best advice I ever received when I had my first baby girl was to keep my girl on a 3-hour schedule, which I am also using for my 2-month-old girl. Of course, there is some flexibility to that, but here's an example of what I did: at 7 a.m., I nursed, then gave her some awake time, about 7:45 or so (or whenever she started to blink alot or yawn) I'd put her down for a nap. At 10 a.m., I repeated the same. That way, her body got used to metabolizing food at the same time, and she started sleeping through the night at 6 weeks (that was from 10:30 or 11 p.m. to 7 a.m. So, definitely feed her right when she wakes up.

When my first daughter got older, I would offer her some cereal and baby food after she nursed, which worked perfectly. In the beginning, sometimes she would take some, sometimes she wouldn't, but that was okay because I knew she was getting everything she "needed" through her milk. It is a slow process. I found, though, that it was the most fun to offer her solids at breakfast. But, I offered solids in the evening (when I ate dinner) as well.

I remember worrying about my first daughter eating enough too. She was always in the 25th percentile, and didn't eat a whole lot. My second girl is completely opposite, in the 97th percentile, even though I'm doing the exact same thing. So, I learned that each child has his/her way of eating -- and that's okay.

I hope that helps a little. Know that you're a great mom, and you are giving your little one everything she needs -- and she is happy! Have fun with it!

Hi,
I have a thought for the rice cereal-add some apple juice rather than mix w/ water. My daughter loved it this way.
Good luck,
A.

Hey Amy! I think that babies need to be on a flexable schedule. I use a schedule calles EASY...Eat, Activity, Sleep, You (mommy time). My son (3 months) begins his routine with eating. Then he plays for a bit. When I see the signs of him getting tired I lay him down for a nap. Then it is Mommy time.

I used the book Secrets of the Baby Whisperer to help with both my kids schedules. It has exlinataion and tips of the EASY schedule I was talking about. I lived by this book with my daugter. There is alot of proactile advice that you can take and use as approprate.

My son is only 3 months so he is not eating food yet. I plan on doing the same things I did with my daughter. I would give my daugher (who is now 3) breakfast, lunch, dinner with foods. I started the veggies first (besides ceral). Then I went to the fruits. Emma would get cereal for breakfast and some fruit. I then would give her about 4 oz of formula (from a 6 oz bottle I would use about 2 in the cereal leaving her with 4 oz to drink). She would eat another bottle (6oz) between breakfast and lunch for a 'snack'. At lunch she would eat a fruit and veggie and 4 oz bottle. I would always feed the food first and then give the bottle to wash it down. Between lunch and dinner she would eat another 6 oz bottle. Dinner would be either a veggie and fruit or cereal and some baby food. Adventually she stopped eating the cereal and she ate fruits and veggies instead. While I was first intoducing the foods I kept on giving her the normal 6 oz bottles...but as she ate more foods she only got 4 oz of formula when she ate. FYI she would eat 2 jars of baby food usually.

I hope this helps. If you need anything else please send me a message!

S.

I had the same issue with rice cereal and my son. One of my close friends suggested that I mix the rice cereal with juice. She also suggested mixing it with his formula. I went out and bought a few bottle nipples with a larger hole and just added 2-3 table spoons of cereal to his bottle. I didn't really have a problem with veggies. I always gave him veggies before I gave him fruit (I didn't want him to develope a 'sweet tooth'). However, I did have some problems with him waking up in the middle of the night to feed. I started giving him a cereal bottle and a nice warm bath before bed time to help him relax. Also the schedule of solids that we came up with was: formula bottle and about 1/4 jar of fruit in morning; formula bottle w/ cereal, 1/4 jar of veggies in afternoon; formula bottle w/ cereal, 1/4 jar of fruit and 1/4 jar of veggie at night. For snack he usually got 2-3 baby crackers and 3-4oz of juice. Your daughter may not eat that much (my son has always been a big eater) but that general schedule worked very well for us. I hope this helps!

hi amy. six months is pretty early to begin solid foods. most babies aren't ready yet. can she pick up food herself and put it into her mouth? does she have any teeth? can she sit unassisted at the table? these are all signs of readiness. some babies just aren't interested until a few more months. i wouldn't worry about pushing solids, and i think it's better to wait until they are ready and actively feeding themselves. there's no reason to push it earlier. in the meantime you can continue formula or goat milk, and do what feels right to you in terms of the food. you can continue to offer foods, and she'll eat when she wants to.

This makes me wonder if the cereals and other foods are not agreeing with the formula, if I were you I would talk to your her Dr. The same thing happened with my daughter and we switched formulas and that agreed with her tons better and all problems were solved.

Remember that when introducing a new food you should try it for a week before moving on to make sure that there is not reaction. Could be that she is not interested yet. Does she have any teeth? If not then I would not push it. Babies getting teeth is one way their bodies show they are ready for solids even if they are not "chewing yet"

I agree with Megan's response. Remember that right now she is just getting used to eating solids, so its more practice than meeting her nutritional needs. Her formula should still be her main source of food for now. I treated my daughter's solids like snacks at first, so in between bottle feedings I would give them to her. Keep trying: it can take several times of introducing a food before they decide they like it. Good luck!