starting cereal questions

SMac2013

i am a sahm and exclusivlet breastfeed. I am starting my baby with some rice cereal. I hate pumping and lately when I do pump I only get 2-3 oz from both breasts combined. I am thinking about using formula to mix with his rice cereal instead of trying to pump 5 times a day in between his normal feedings. Has anyone experienced this or have any tips?

devinsmommy31115

I use breastmilk- it helps the baby adjust to the new texture if the taste is familiar. Cereal can constipated babies so I would try to keep all other variables the same, if possible, especially since formula tends to constipated breastfed babies as well. Start slow- I started my son with 1 tablespoon of cereal and mixed it with 2 ounces of breastmilk.

EricandKaren

Pumping 5 times a day seems like a lot if you just need some milk for cereal?
2-3 oz sounds like just enough to start with cereal but I understand that it may not seem like a lot to you (I just pumped before bed to try to build up my freezer supply better and only got barely 1 oz!). If you can pump in the morning you may get more milk (I can get 5 oz from my "good side", and about 3 from my "not as good" side). Maybe try pumping just 1 side in the morning if you are worried about not having enough for baby? Or, I will even just pump off an ounce or two when I'm really full in the mornings (if by CHANCE little one sleeps a longer stretch overnight?) - that first ounce or two is really thin (looks like skim milk haha), but I freeze it anticipating it'll be just perfect to use for cereal sometime soon.
If you hate pumping though, don't torture yourself! With my first baby I hated the pump I had and dreaded using it. Now I have both a medela pump in style that I love, and the medela hand pump that I also love.
Best wishes to you!

KD32412

I just take out my boob and squirt milk into a bowl until I like the consistency. I am a lazy SOB! Hahaha!!!

leibas

I do exactly what your suggesting. My little guy loves his mommy milk and I don't make extra to make cereal with so we make his rice cereal with formula. He hasn't had any issues so far. It's worked out well for us.

NLB2009

I also used formula.  We skipped the rice cereal due to the arsenic issue and did oatmeal first for a week.  The very first batch I made, I used breast milk and then the next night I used half breast milk, half formula.  After that, just formula.  He did great and had no problems.  After a week of oatmeal, we moved on to sweet potato puree with just formula and it's been going great.  Just did the same with avocado.  I really don't think there's a reason to get too hung up on needing to mix solids with breast milk.  I agonized over it at first but it was just so much easier to use formula!  Remember, formula isn't poison and plenty of babies get by just fine on formula exclusively so just using it for solids should be fine.  

SMac2013

Very true! Thank you for all of your advice! We have tons of formula that the hospital sent home with us that will expire in November so that was another reason I was thinking about using it. ( if not I will donate it in October) I was able to pump 2 oz this morning after he ate and I plan on trying the cereal around dinner time tonight. Thanks again everyone!

myjessesgirl

I use formula for my daughter's cereal. I actually found that formula helps it to hold its consistency better than breast milk; the cereal seems to get thinner over time with breastmilk. But you can definitely use the 2-3 oz, which should be more than enough. I started with milk, then switched to formula. Now she does better with her cereal slightly thicker.