Starting Oatmeal?

PickledPlums

When's the best time to start baby oatmeal? I was going to skip it but we get it from WIC. I can't find any good information about when to start when you delay it. Does anyone know when he'll be able to get the most from it? I don't really want it to be just empty calories. 

mrsmctaggart6

I usually mix it with fruit for roo's breakfast, she loves it, I also use it to thicken & smooth out puree's that don't have a texture she likes (I make my own, I'm not randomly adding it to the jarred stuff...)

lmbrandt

We skipped using rice cereal and went straight to oatmeal cereal.  We also mix it with his purees to help thicken them up a bit.

mrsmctaggart6

lmbrandt said:

We skipped using rice cereal and went straight to oatmeal cereal.  We also mix it with his purees to help thicken them up a bit.

We skipped the rice too

PickledPlums

Oh, okay- excellent! That's a great idea. I started out making LO's food but he doesn't eat much solid and we get so much from WIC. 

Thanks, everyone!

ems028

My LO loves oatmeal mixed with banana

jwebbbber45678

We've been feeding him oatmeal since five months.

jen83mn

mrsmctaggart6 said:

lmbrandt said:

We skipped using rice cereal and went straight to oatmeal cereal.  We also mix it with his purees to help thicken them up a bit.

We skipped the rice too

Us too! We mix with fruit purée and he loves it. We get the Earth's Best brand. He's been eating it for dinner since 6 months old, and now has it for breakfast too. 

This was his first solid, so we started out by mixing it with breastmilk, thin consistency, until he got the hang of it. 

wannabeamongoose

We've never done rice or oatmeal cereal. We started out with pureed veggies and fruits and now we just sort of chop up real tiny whatever we are eating. In fact, he gets regular oatmeal for breakfast sometimes. He loves it mixed with fruit and even had it once with peas/spinach and thought that was the greatest thing ever.

lmbrandt

@jen83mn Do you measure out how much oatmeal you add, or just eyeball it?  I was just eyeballing it, but we are going out of town for the weekend tomorrow and my parents are coming to watch LO at our house.  I was leaving them instructions for his feedings, etc.

I measured out what I normally pour and it's about 1 TB dry oatmeal cereal, 1 TB formula, and about 1/2 a pouch/jar of puree.  I never know if this is the correct amount or not, he typically ALWAYS finishes it, and then has about 10 puffs afterwards.  

He has a 7 oz bottle before, and then we feed him his solids about 45 min - 1 hr later.  The last few days he hasn't finished his last two bottles, so I can't imagine increasing his solids amounts anymore.  Not sure if teething or the current leap he's in has anything to do with it.  About a week ago the boy could not get enough food, he finished every bottle and all his solids and still seemed hungry!  But things have definitely slowed down again.

missliz53

I usually make ours to apple sauce consistency or slightly thicker which is about 2.5 teaspoons for every ounce of formula, then I add in any fruit puree. Currently we are doing 6 teaspoons of oatmeal with about 2.5 ounces of formula + 1 cube of puree. She's 9 months so our Dr. wants us to start increasing her solids and replacing the formula with them. I do solids first 3 times a day and follow that with a bottle. 

jen83mn

We do 3 TBS oatmeal mixed with a 4 oz jar of baby food - fruit.

When we started at 6 months, we did 1 TBS of oatmeal mixed with breastmilk (enough until it was the consistency we wanted). We started with dinner, then once he got the hang of that we added lunch in a few weeks later - one small jar of veggies. After he'd tried all the veggies, we started doing fruit with the oatmeal instead of breastmilk. And at 8 months we added breakfast: oatmeal and fruit. 

Our LOs food schedule looks like this now:

6:30 am: Nurse
8:30-9 am: Breakfast - 3 TBS oatmeal + 4 oz fruit
10:30-11 am: Bottle (4.5 oz breastmilk)
12:30-1 pm: 4 oz veggies, a few puffs or freeze-dried yogurt (we are starting to add in yogurt mixed with fruit purée as well)
2:30-3 pm: Bottle (4.5 oz breastmilk)
5:30-6 pm: Nurse
6:45-7 pm: 3 TBS oatmeal + 4 oz fruit, fruit in mesh feeder or puffs/freeze-dried yogurt
8 pm: Nurse, then bed (he sleeps until morning usually and doesn't wake to eat ... I think loading him up from 6 pm on helps!)

A few days ago our little guy was not interested in solid food whatsoever and would only drink his milk. But the next day he was back to normal, so it's probably just a phase as far as baby eating less!

(My LO is in the 86th percentile for weight and 98th for height, so he's a big baby and loves his food!)

mpache06

My daughters pediatrician switched her from rice cereal to oatmeal cereal around 6 1/2 months. She was having tummy issues and switched her formula to a sensitive formula as well. She always eats her oatmeal for breakfast and loves it!

amp61470

i add oatmeal to his purees to thicken them up. He likes thicker food. We are introducing different foods but he doesn't eat much of it. He'd rather have the purée. He loves puffs and arrowroot cookies. 

CaboBride2015

They mix oatmeal in her food at daycare, have been since 6 months. We don't do it at home but that's because we're only doing formula when she's home or her poop becomes too hard. 

jen83mn

CaboBride2015 said:

They mix oatmeal in her food at daycare, have been since 6 months. We don't do it at home but that's because we're only doing formula when she's home or her poop becomes too hard. 

Try mixing prune baby food in with her oatmeal every few days ... it works! Giving them a bit of water out of a sippy also helps ... not a lot, but a few oz total a day.

TabulaRasa25

We've used it for a couple of months,  now.  Usually mix in mashed banana,  pureed  steamed apple,  pear, plum,  or peach.

ABombard12

we skipped it also and started with avocado puree. We end up giving him oatmeal later on (may 7 months?) and glad we did because we got the stomach bug later and it helps to counteract the loose poopy diapers after the fact. I didn't buy the baby oatmeal though, I made our own out of the steel cut oats we eat and just grinding them down to a powder form and cooking like we would ours. (Don't use instant).   We also mixed with fruit.