Starting Cereal & Baby Formula

This is a fun time for being a mom. I found that I kept rice, barley and oat cereals that way I variety. Then I started mixing something with the cereal. I picked up a couple of jars of baby food and began to add one to the cereal here and there. I began with apples and later tried peas. Mixing them can add a little flavor while not going straight to food. Hope this is helpful

I found cereal helped my babies be satisfied and sleep for longer. I started with a night time spoonful. Then moved to breakfast and finally to three meals a day prior to adding fruits and veggies. My kids loved the apple stuff and the orange/yellow fruits and veggies best to start. Good luck.

A little about me:
mom of 3. They are 16, 14 and 10 years old. I am a teacher.

A great book to get all of those questions answered is Super Baby Food. It gives you ideas when to start introducing new foods and what to introduce first. We have used it with both of our boys and love it.

Hi A. stop worrying i think you are doing great. I would try him with a couple of spoons of cereal in morning and one veggie at night

I don't remember what I did for my first, now I have a 5 mo old now who gets a little cereal occasionally. So it is time for me to start relearning the answers to your questions. I found the best advice for me about infant feeding came from Jack Newman. His approach fit well with my own views of the world and the advice was usually reassuring. Here is a link to one of his "handouts" about introducing solids so you can see what you think. http://www.breastfeedingmums.com/dr_jack_newman_starting_...

In any case, good luck and have fun. That is the part I do remember from my first - how much fun it was to watch him as he tried new foods and either loved them or hated them. Eating is one of life's great pleasures and it is an honor to get to be the one to introduce it to someone.

Hi A.,

I know exactly how you feel! I just had my first in 2006 and had no clue what I was doing. I basically followed what the doctor told me. When they said you can start cereal, I did. When they said you can start veggies & fruit...I did and so on. Now that I have my second (gave birth in 2007)...I'm just going based off of that. Go with your instincts really. If he seems hungry more than what you're giving him and he seems as though he's interested in feeding from a spoon...go for it! Start with a veggie or fruit in the morning with a little cereal mixed in and see how it goes. It's really all trial and error. We're human...we're going to make mistakes...just go with what you feel is right. Especially at 5 1/2 months I would definitely start trying fruit and veggies mixed with some cereal and start supplementing with bottles. This way, it will give him the idea that food is the main meal and not the bottle anymore. Hope this helps! If all else fails...or if you still are unsure...ask the doctor!

It's best to start the new food in the morning since this gives you all day to notice a reaction they may be having.
I started with rice, then moved to oats, etc gradually through the cereals and then I went to vegetables. A wise lady told me to start with veggies instead of fruit so the babies wouldn't reject vegetables later.
I now have two kids, nearly 10 and 7 who LOVE vegetables and are willing to try nearly any food.
But since you have been doing cereal before bed I would still do that too, with whatever type you have been feeding. Just don't introduce two new things in the same day and give several days of each new food.
THere are some kids now who are severely allergic to things. So any popular trigger such as strawberries, peanuts, seafood, and so on I would be very careful with and only introduce after all the other things have been done.

Hi A.,
first ol all congratulations for being a mom, its the most beautiful thing in the world, i raised three of my own,but, in those days, we did the old fashion way, fed them eggs, at five months, i cooked for them my own food, so it was different, but what i recommend is that you talk to his pediatrition,they should tell you when to start and how much to give him, that would be your best bet really, good luck r,s.

Hi A.,

I would first give your son's pediatrician's office a call to find out what he/she recommends. I know I started my now 8 month old daughter on rice cereal at 4 months because rice has the least amount of allergies. Then I started her on oatmeal. Around 6 months, I started her on fruits, and then veggies. My daughter's pediatrician recommended that I wait 5 days in between trying any new baby food in case any food allergies show up.

(I just typed this, and realized that you posted this message back in February. I thought I would forward this along just the same).

Your son is young still and if he is not really interested in eating, then just delay it another month or two. My own children were not started on cereal until 6 or 7 months and then it was minimum amounts.
Do not rush these things, they grow up all to quickly and then he will be eating like a horse and you will wonder where he puts all the food!!! haha

Hello A.!
You are the best Mom for your baby even if you do second guess yourself.It sounds like you are doing great-if the baby is responding to the amount you are giving now then try it for the 2 weeks and then introduce a little more and continue that pattern also when introducing fruits and veggies so you can be sure that if the baby does get fussy with a certain food you can narrow it down a little easier.Also at this age the babies are really just trying to get used to textures and the nutritional value is'nt such a big factor as long as they are still getting the bottle or the breast.Always run it by your pediatrition just to be sure.
Good Luck A.!

I started feeding my babe cereal at 6 mos. She was hungry...the bottle was not enough to satisfy her. I got a seat for her for the table and just mixed it really soupy at first, she loved it. I even started soy yogurt shortly after that...my ped said it would be fine to try, if they gag a lot they are not ready...she was ready.

First of all, go with your guts. Talk to your doctor. I always fed my babies (5 of them) as much as they wanted. You are doing great.

Hi A.,

I'm also a new mom. My son is 6 1/2 months and has been on cereal since 4 months (I know not all doctors recommend starting so early, but he has reflux and his GI doctor thought it was a good idea to start him at that time) The doctor suggested starting with 4 tsp of cereal and adding a little more each day to work up to about 9 tsp. Do a week of each new food. Working through the single grain cereals first and then starting on the fruits and veggies. Lately, I've been giving my son about 7-8 tsp of cereal with half a jar of either fruit or a veggie twice a day. A lot of the time he loses interest before he finishes, but sometimes he eats the whole thing. I think the important thing is to pay attention to how he reacts and don't force it on him if he's not interested. I can relate to feeling like you don't know what you're doing, but you probably know a lot more than you realize and just need to trust your instincts.

There's a book I love entitled Secrets of the Baby Whisperer for Toddlers by Tracy Hogg. In the book, the author gives a week-by-week description of how to go from a liquid diet to beginning foods. It includes which foods are easiest to digest (pears) and least allergenic, to the harder to digest and most allergenic. It also discusses adding only 1 new food at a time , usually for about a week, before adding a new food so that you can stay on top of allergies. It recommends giving food in the morning (at around 9) for the first week. Then adding an additional feeding of food at 1 p.m. after a 1 week. I don't want to plagiarize, so I won't write the full schedule. But the book was really helpful to me with my 1st, so you might want to check it out. Its available at the library.

Hi A.! Let me just tell you -this is where I am having the most trouble too! Not knowing what/when to feed my daughter. I recently asked about my 8 mo. old, and got tons of great responses, so I'm sure you will too. What I did when she was at that stage was to go to cereal twice a day for a few days to make sure she could handle the bulk. Then I switched the evening meal to veggies. I'm sure you know to do only single ingredient veggies for 3-5 days each to check for allergies. (we did carrots first - they are still her fave!) Good Luck Sweetie, you are gonna be great!!

Hi A.,
My son is the same age and I didn't want to start him too soon on anything (I'm nursing) but he was watching us eat and mimicking with his own chewing at just over 4 months. So we've been doing ceral for about a month. I did cereal for 5 days. Then tried pearssause, sometimes added to the cereal, for 5 days. (5 days to be sure of no alergic reaction), then applesause for 5 days, then corn-sauce(?). I make my own in a mini chopper/processer, cereal too, and he loves it all. Just cut up fruit and blend with a little water till like regular applesause. Same with oatmeal, we do oatmeal cereal because the iron in store bought binds him up and rice can do the same thing. Can be done in the blender too. Cook the Old Fashoined oats, not the instant, by pouring about a cup of boiling water over a half cup oats. Then I just let it sit till it's real soft, about an hour, then blend/process. Thin with water if too thick now and/or when mixing with fruit later I feed in at least once a day, sometimes twice and he is a little piggy. He'll eat 3 tablespoons without batting an eye and goes "mmmm,mmmm,mmm" while sucking on the spoon and crys for more when it's gone, which we don't give so he doesn't get sick on it. I make it very thin so it's easy to swallow, like milkshake consistancy. We shop at Stop and Shop and they have like this "day old" cart in the produce section where I find organic fruit that's good and ripe and perfectly soft for making his food with and at a fraction of the cost. The fresher stuff is too fresh and firm to blend up well. Good luck, let me know if I can help more. Oh, that amount of cereal and a whole piece of fruit last me about 3-4 days. I mix the cereal and fruit sauce 50/50 and it's like cobbler. Yummy! He LOVES it!

call your doctor and ask for some guidelines I fed mine cereal breakfast and dinner you need to feed him more food adding in fruit and vegtables

Trust your instincts A.. It sounds to me like you have the answers yourself, such as going to a little at different meals to increase the amount. Does your son still seem hungry after eating, with the present amounts you are giving him? If so, then you know it is time to increase the amount as well as the number of times you give him some solid foods. Just don't overdo and feel like he HAS TO eat the amount you are trying to give him. And as far as the veggies go, you can never start a child on the road to eating well too soon, so I say go for it. The sooner he is accustomed to eating a variety of solids that include healthy veggies, the better. No one knows your child better than you so as I said, trust your instincts and good luck! :-)

Just a general rule of thumb...Add only one food item at a time and stay with that for a week to see if he does okay. Usually they add fruit after cereal. If he doesn't seem extra hungry I think you could stay with the present routine (cereal at night) for a bit longer. When he seems to be less full with just his formula during the day, add a couple of spoons of cereal for breakfast. After you do that for a bit-try to add some fruit. The good news is they grow up and are healthy and wonderful in spite of what you do. Don't worry too much and trust your baby to let you know that something needs to change. Good luck.

A.,
My son is now 2, and due to colic, I started him on small amount of cereal when he was less than 2 months old (as the colic made him feel hungry all the time). By the time he was 4 months old, we were giving him rice or oatmeal cereal mixed with breast milk/formula for breakfast and dinner (with a milk chaser!), and he did great with it. As long as you start new foods slowly (try it and then don't try another food for the rest of the day to determine if there are allergies), at 5.5 months your son is capable of a great deal more than a spoonful. If he does well with cereal for a few weeks, I would try some of the stage 1 baby foods. By a month from now, he can probably be having cereal/baby food at every meal. Hope this helps.
M.

A.,

It is fine to give your baby rice cereal early But not veggies or fruit... The baby could develop a allergy if given these food to early, plus it is harder for them to digest than rice cereal. If a spoon full at night holds him then don't change it. Remember that his belly id very small and can only hold small amount of food. Do you give him the cereal in is bottle or by mouth? I always used to mix a tablespoon or 2 in the bottle at night and then the same in the am. My children always slept through the night.

Good policy to follow is when in doubt as your doctor.

Good Luck.. L.

Hi A.:
Check out the book "Top 100 Baby Purees" by Annabel Karmel. She has some great info about when to start different things. The only thing I talked to pediatrician (nurse at office) about was the intro. of corn, which whould be delayed b/c it's hard to digest.

I make all of my baby's food and he's 8 mos. old now. If you have the time, it's easy, fun, and really healthy - also CHEAPER than buying it. The only thing I buy is rice cereal, apple and pear juices, and plain yogurt (just started that recently).

Good luck!

By the way, most of us don't know what we're doing at least some of the time. It's trial and error - you're not alone.

-Sista Age

Hi A.-
Most guidelines recommend introducing a new food every 3 days to 1 week. That way you can monitor for allergic reactions. Once you've trialed a food and your baby is OK with it, you can always give him that food, even if you're starting a new one. With my baby, I gave him rice cereal, then barley, then regular oatmeal (once he could handle to texture)... After a few weeks of rice cereal, I started adding fruits in the morning and veggies at night. Feed your baby until he doesn't seem hungry anymore. He'll give you cues: turning his head, pushing away etc. You shouldn't give him cow milk until he's a year old or so, and wait for a while (9months) to give him lean meats.
Hope this helps! Have fun!