Toddlers: 12 - 24 Months
Liz342
member
Do you/did you put cereal in LO's bottle?
Liz342
member
I never did with DD because the pedi said not to, it is a choking hazard but most people I know HAVE done it.
Most people on the bump seem to say not to, except maybe for reflux.
I used to feed DD a bowl of cereal then a bottle of breastmilk before bed and now DS is ready to start cereal and I was just going to do the same but would like some opinions on cereal in the bottle first!
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Re: Do you/did you put cereal in LO's bottle?
Still a choking hazard, still unnecessary.
I also wouldn't feed cereal right before bed either. A full belly doesn't equal sleeping longer IMO. Do you sleep longer after having a huge meal? I would stick to giving a couple teaspoons of cereal at breakfast and dinner then a bottle or nurse before bed. But again, just my opinion!
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DS STTN. I'm doing it before bed because he drinks a HUGE bottle of breastmilk before bed (10-12 oz) and has been doing this since 2 months old. My supply is starting to drop at night and I can't keep up (it's ok during the day) so I thought maybe he was ready for something else in addition to the bottle in the evening.
This is just your opinion. It is generally recommended between 4-6 months. We started at 5 months because he was nursing so much and still having to have supplimentary bottles. He hasn't had any issues. It is the OPs decision on when to begin.
same here
Thank you. This is exactly the reason why I was thinking about cereal now. I have been there before and did cereal at 5 1/2 months with DD and waited until 6 months for other foods. I don't think 5 months is that big of a deal if he's hungry and ready.
no, actually it's not an 'opinion' , do some research on a baby's digestive system. allergy issues aside, a baby's stomach isn't matured enough until 6 months to do solids. can you do it before? sure. but what is the rush??
Actually it's not just HER opinion.
https://www.who.int/inf-pr-2001/en/note2001-07.html
https://www.askdrsears.com/html/3/t032000.asp
https://www.kellymom.com/nutrition/solids/delay-solids.html
https://www.espghan.med.up.pt/position_papers/con_28.pdf
I must agree. I have seen it recommended for a BF baby getting rice cereal before 6 months since the main reason for it is iron intake. A BF baby just doesn't need the iron until then. FF babies can get cereal 4-6 months because they aren't getting the same iron from the BM. But no, a baby's stomach isn't really mature at that point.
We never did rice cereal in a bottle. It doesn't teach a child HOW to eat. For reflux, I totally understand, but I hate the argument about STTN crap. We started with bananas and avocado at 6 months. We did use cereal around 6.5 to thicken up purees.
a lot of pediatricians recommend formula too, turning the car-seat forward at 1 year / 20 lbs and CIO at 3 months. I think you need to do your own research and be informed, not blindly follow what could be old advice.
I agree with not blindly following old advice... but formula? How is that old advice? I have never met a pedi or doctor that would recommend formula over BM. (And I am of the mindset that as long as you are feeding your kid one of those you are good with me).
This is wrong. Formula is iron fortified. FF babies get plenty of iron from formula. Sometime around 6 months, many BF babies DO NOT get enough iron from BM, thus cereal is sometimes recommended for iron. That said, I EBF both my kids and didn't do any cereal in the bottle or any until 6 months because they both had dairy allergies so I wanted to wait and introduce foods later and slower.
Yup, that's why I said BF babies don't need cereal until six months. And actually, if you read up on it, many doctors agree that the iron in the cereal isn't even digested or absorbed the same as naturally occurring iron. I was under the impression that FF babies were allowed solids at an earlier stage because the formula is fortified and not "natural" so additional iron would be fine for them. I haven't read up that much on that end though.
I don't care that parents feed solids early, but it is common knowledge that BF babies are *usually* not advised to have anything other than BM until after 6 months. And many docs will tell you they don't need ANY solids until 9-12 months if they are still nursing well. Many parents just want to start solids early. It's fun to watch your baby eat from a spoon for the first time! I have to admit that it took a little will power to wait until 6 months
Ok since this is turning out to be a huge debate, I'll give more background info....At DS' 4 month appt, the pedi said it was ok to do cereal if DS started waking at night or acting hungry.
She recommends waiting until 6 months for solids but said cereal was ok if he seems to want it. DS weighed 17 pounds 8 oz at his 4 month appt and is obviously huge so we talked about the possibility of me not being able to keep up with his appetite.
I asked about skipping rice cereal and going to the whole grain kind because DD was very constipated from the rice cereal and I am afraid this will happen with DS and then it will turn into him needing prunes, prune juice etc (which I don't want to start any fruits/veggies until 6 months) and the pedi said to try the rice cereal for a few days then go to whole grain.
I get what people are saying about waiting until 6 months but in all actuality I will probably wait another week or 2 anyway, and he will be about 5 1/2 months then so honestly I don't think a couple weeks is worth getting all worked up for. I know tons of people who start cereal way before this and I am not one of them. I EBF, made my own organic babyfood for DD and will for DS. I work extremely hard to make sure that my kids are well fed am am trying to do what I think is best for them!
no, never. I recommend it for reflux babies on formula, but DS was EBF and mixing cereal in breastmilk doesn't thicken it the same way as it does formula. Plus he got it from the tap anyway at home.
Next time we probably won't even do cereal at all, other than in combos with fruits/veggies.
No; to me it has a lot more cons than pros (except in some cases for reflux). My boys did both have reflux but I don't think the cereal would've helped and from what I've read you need to add a pretty high concentration of cereal for it to be effective, and then they're getting a lot less of the nutrition they need from the formula. (e.g. if they're hungry enough for 28 oz of formula a day, I want them to get 28 oz of formula; not 8 oz of rice cereal and 20 oz of formula.)
We started solids at 6.5 months. We did some veggies first, then some fruits, and introduced cereal (mixed with purees, and by far mostly oatmeal rather than rice cereal) starting around 8m.