Introducing Cereal

btm013

Has anyone attempted rice cereal for their LO's yet? If so, how did it go? If not, when are you planning on introducing it?

My doctor said anywhere between 4-6 months is fine start. He thought we should wait until 5 months unless he starts showing signs. Right now, I don't think he's ready but a part of me is so curious to see what he does!! haha

ChardeeMacDennis

I don't think we'll even bother with cereal this time. I don't do baby-led weaning or anything but baby cereal is so little like real food I wonder what's the point. Not that there's anything wrong with it, our first ate plenty of it but spoon feeding is so tedious, I'd rather wait a bit and feed her fruits and veggies.

Anyway, she's absolutely not interested in food yet.

btm013

@chardeemacdennis It's funny you say that...I was wondering if we should just wait until he can start vegetables as well.

ksimo6

I made purees for my dauggter and some were runny so we mixed with a little cereal... But never gave the cereal in its own. We will do the same for this LO.

scorredor2

We have started giving DS cereal...he loves it. He does really well with the spoon too! Our pediatrician said over 13 lbs or 6 months and he was over 13 lbs at 2 and half months....he gets the cereal in the AM after we take his sister to school....

foxa319

I gave lo cereal today for the first time! He did great and loved it! After the first bite he was leaning toward the spoon and opening his mouth!

lindsladle15

ChardeeMacDennis said:

I don't think we'll even bother with cereal this time. I don't do baby-led weaning or anything but baby cereal is so little like real food I wonder what's the point. Not that there's anything wrong with it, our first ate plenty of it but spoon feeding is so tedious, I'd rather wait a bit and feed her fruits and veggies.

Anyway, she's absolutely not interested in food yet.

If I'm not mistaken, I think a big advantage to baby cereal is its high iron content, and that's why it's encouraged to feed it several times per day until 12 months.
It is super hilarious when they start eating from a spoon!
We started DD1 at 3.5/4 months, because she was hungry (I had gotten pregnant and my milk supply suffered), but we also switched to formula at 5 months. This baby, I'm gonna hold out as long as I can...hopefully until 5-6 months before starting food.

klkonwi

I'm going to wait until he doesn't seem satisfied and is waking up every 2/3 hrs to eat at night. That's what our docs weighed their two cents at when I asked.

devyns2nd

We decided to do oatmeal (helicopter mom) because of arsenic in rice. We've also done fresh avocado and banana too. We were given the go ahead by a specialist though. LO needs to put on some weight. He was defiantly ready though. Sits up good, grunts at us when we eat, swallows without pushing his tounge forward and is hungry more often after a bottle. We are happy about our decision but, I don't want to over do it yet.

dancegurl1118

LO does zero of those things...definitely holding out for at least 2 more months. She's not even close to ready.

KaLikeAWind

dancegurl1118 said:

LO does zero of those things...definitely holding out for at least 2 more months. She's not even close to ready.

Mine either

slr1229

How do you know when "ready?"

henrytviii

slr1229 said:

How do you know when "ready?"

I just wait until they are reaching for my food and do baby led weaning. Takes the guess work out. With DS1 it was 5.5 months, LO is developing his physical skills at a leisurely pace. I suspect he won't be sitting unassisted or reaching until at least 6-7 months so we may be starting later.

ElRuby

LO is so intrigued by our mealtime... I think she may be judging us too haha...(these people are eating again!?)... I will ask doctor at the 4 month appt. but started around 4 months with DS and he really enjoyed the experience of eating

ahall0358

I asked our pediatrician at our 2 month checkup and she said it has little to no nutritional value so we are skipping it. We will start her on mashed bananas and avacodos soon! I'm excited to see what she likes/dislikes.

babybean9

We're skipping cereal and plan to do BLW at six months. DB is showing interest (he's 4 months) in solids already though.

lwhrmomma

LO is def starting to show interest. He was reaching for my dinner tonight! We did buy rice cereal just to try "for fun". Those who do it with a spoon- how much rice/BM do you give? I gave one tsp rice to 4 tsp milk and it was so watery and hard to feed via spoon.

KonaCoffeeBean

We won't be doing cereal. Maybe a mix of purées and BLW, maybe just BLW, either way only nutritious vegetables in the beginning. We'll start around six months.

btm013

What does BLW stand for?

KarasTwin

@btm013 baby lead weaning. I had to Google it.

alcrimmins

L/O's pedi said at her 2 month checkup not to do anything but milk until we discuss it further at her 4 month checkup. We are a couple of weeks behind the schedule so she'll actually be about 4.5 months if we do anything. She sits supported really well, but I haven't noticed her taking any interest in our food.

caitlincunn

We have lo's 4 month apt on the 19th so we'll see what the dr says. Yesterday she was staring at her sister eating an apple it was so funny, and she always cries while we eat dinner unless we hold her on our laps. I think she wants foos!

cheriep3

We started cereal in LO's bottle at 15 weeks. That poor baby was SO hungry, I didn't really have an option. It has changed our world! He is so content and sleeping much better.
We started cereal with a spoon a couple of weeks ago and he loves it! I'll probably start avocados soon since he is so hungry and loves eating like a big boy.
How did we get here already? He's supposed to still be tiny.

beemaya83

I had to google baby lead weaning :-S

HayesRN13

I started oatmeal and veggies a week ago.. He was ready ....

naccor

Bottle feeding moms how many oz does your little one eat in a feeding? My son is only eating 3-4 oz at a time and occasionally 5 oz before bed. I'm not sure if I should start cereal since he seems satisfied with formula still. Opinions? He has his 4 month visit on the 14th of October

HayesRN13

^^ mine also eats 4-5 but was really ready for food..

KaLikeAWind

naccor said:

Bottle feeding moms how many oz does your little one eat in a feeding? My son is only eating 3-4 oz at a time and occasionally 5 oz before bed. I'm not sure if I should start cereal since he seems satisfied with formula still. Opinions? He has his 4 month visit on the 14th of October

Mine eats 4oz of formula each feeding, and however much he gets in breastmilk before I give his bottle. But we're nowhere near to solids yet.

ciennah99

cheriep3 said:

We started cereal in LO's bottle at 15 weeks. That poor baby was SO hungry, I didn't really have an option. It has changed our world! He is so content and sleeping much better.
We started cereal with a spoon a couple of weeks ago and he loves it! I'll probably start avocados soon since he is so hungry and loves eating like a big boy.
How did we get here already? He's supposed to still be tiny.

I haven't started yet but our pediatrician said LO is probably still hungry since she wakes to eat frequently at night still. She said maybe some rice cereal would fill her up more. @devyns2nd I worried about the arsenic too but pediatrician didn't seem to care. I'm such a big believer in what you put in your body really affects you & I'm so scared I'll feed LO something that will mess her up later on. I know this is because of my autoimmune disease. I'm always wondering what caused it & of course would do anything to keep LO from ever developing one. If I remember right I think you have one as well. Do you worry about that too?

devyns2nd

ciennah99 said:

cheriep3 said:

We started cereal in LO's bottle at 15 weeks. That poor baby was SO hungry, I didn't really have an option. It has changed our world! He is so content and sleeping much better.
We started cereal with a spoon a couple of weeks ago and he loves it! I'll probably start avocados soon since he is so hungry and loves eating like a big boy.
How did we get here already? He's supposed to still be tiny.

I haven't started yet but our pediatrician said LO is probably still hungry since she wakes to eat frequently at night still. She said maybe some rice cereal would fill her up more. @devyns2nd I worried about the arsenic too but pediatrician didn't seem to care. I'm such a big believer in what you put in your body really affects you & I'm so scared I'll feed LO something that will mess her up later on. I know this is because of my autoimmune disease. I'm always wondering what caused it & of course would do anything to keep LO from ever developing one. If I remember right I think you have one as well. Do you worry about that too?

Right! I have lupus so I have to be careful myself. I didn't ask my pediatrician because....they don't know everything and it can't hurt to avoid things that don't make you feel comfortable as a mom. It is our job to grow these people. I say do what you feels best (not to encourage the crazy stuff/people ).

beemaya83

naccor said:

Bottle feeding moms how many oz does your little one eat in a feeding? My son is only eating 3-4 oz at a time and occasionally 5 oz before bed. I'm not sure if I should start cereal since he seems satisfied with formula still. Opinions? He has his 4 month visit on the 14th of October

Mine is going on 17 weeks and snacks on 2oz and sometimes takes the full 3oz. Only when he sleeps 5-6 hours straight at night he will have the 4oz. Btw he weighs 14lbs. His 4 month appt is coming up on 10/12, we'll see what doc says. @naccor

alcrimmins

My l/o is 16 weeks and has been drinking 5.5 oz for over a month now. She always seems full, not stuffed, but full after she eats. She usually eats at 5pm and again at 8pm when she goes to bed. However, she's gotten super cranky and hungry again between 6:30-7pm. Now she goes to bed around 7 and is always up at 4am. She used to sleep through the night. Ugh....

KaLikeAWind

alcrimmins said:

My l/o is 16 weeks and has been drinking 5.5 oz for over a month now. She always seems full, not stuffed, but full after she eats. She usually eats at 5pm and again at 8pm when she goes to bed. However, she's gotten super cranky and hungry again between 6:30-7pm. Now she goes to bed around 7 and is always up at 4am. She used to sleep through the night. Ugh....

This is similar to what's happening over here. He is becoming super cranky around 7 or straight up just falling asleep on his own down here in the living room with me around 7-730, but he should still technically be getting a feeding around 8-830. I end up waking him up when I move him to bed and feeding him then. If he doesn't wake I will let him sleep, but he will wake up overnight if I do that

Sammy K

I'm wondering if LO is really just that hungry that she's up all the time. She eats 6 oz first thing in the morning, 3 x 5oz bottles while at daycare and another 4-5 after we get home. Then she's up 3 times in the MOTN. She was 13lb at 3 months. She's no delicate flower!

marinamarina

World health organization states nothing but breastmilk for the first 6 months. It's strange how pediatrician a are pushing other things at 4 months when all breastfeeding councils and agreed upon scientific finding conclude bm, over and over again.

Formula mamas, I don't know what's protocol. But doctors don't know everything about food, sleep, or nutrition. There are lots of resources out there who do! Explore!

Ready for flames but I had to chime in.
It's a matter of displacing breastmilk calories with lesser quality foods.

ciennah99

I always thought 6 months too so thought it strange when pediatrician suggested rice cereal. I didn't have food on the mind at all. I may just wait now like I originally planned. This feeding thing stresses me!

7425cait

From what I understood, starting purees was supposed to be about the experience, not necessarily replacing nutrition/calories like @marinamarina said. I thought it was intended to get babies to taste and try, not supplement.

devyns2nd

Every baby is different. You can't forget that.

krystleshel

So my LOs afternoon teacher at daycare mentioned to me about pumping her night time bottle & adding a tiny amount of cereal in it at night since she wakes up 3 times at night & is cranky/tired during the day some. She said just a little wouldn't cause me to have to go up a nipple size.... We go to doc on Thursday for 4 months & I'm asking.

dancegurl1118

The more I spend time with our pediatricians the more I realize they really don't have any BF knowledge. They'll spout "breast is best" til the world ends but why are they pushing solids when she's growing and the AAP and WHO state otherwise? I also mentioned how I've been putting EBM in her eye for the goop and he was like "um I've never heard of that. Use a warm washcloth" and made me feel really stupid. Her eye is all clear after 2 times so...suck it, doc. But it makes me sad that they have such a lack of current practices.

klirwin82

dancegurl1118 said:

The more I spend time with our pediatricians the more I realize they really don't have any BF knowledge. They'll spout "breast is best" til the world ends but why are they pushing solids when she's growing and the AAP and WHO state otherwise?

Lurking from July...LO is 14 weeks, we went for his 3 month check up last week and the ped was visibly shocked he was still EBF...he's gained his 2 lbs/month as would be expected and she asked me twice, "You're STILL breastfeeding? He's only getting breast milk?" Like it was weird. Nevermind the "Breast is Best" promo posters hanging on the walls in each exam room and the waiting area.

Side note, the receptionist was surprised my baby and I had the same last name soooo I am not sure what I think of that place.