Cereal feeding

BabyHope2013

We just started DS on some rice cereal this weekend after the pediatrician advised us to at his four month wellness check on Friday. DS appears to be doing great on it, however I notice that in the morning he is obviously more interested in his bottle because he is hungry from not eating at night. (we dream feed him his last bottle at midnight and then he sleeps until 5-6 a.m.)

I am a FTM so am new at this whole cereal thing. When you feed your LO do you feed them their cereal along with the bottle at the same feeding or do you feed them cereal after they have had all or most of the bottle?

Currently, we are feeding him the cereal twice a day (breakfast and dinner). When did you start feeding him cereal for lunch as well, if ever? And lastly, how long were you on cereal before introducing purees? TIA!

minni_ash

We started cereal a week ago.  If I nurse her first, then immediately feed her cereal, she isn't interested because she is full.  If I feed her cereal first, she is so hungry and mad that I cannot feed her fast enough and she cries. So I feed her cereal about an hour to an hour and a half after she nurses so she is a little more interested and patient. I do this morning and evening.

minervacullen

I would try only giving LO cereal once per day about 30 min after nursing or bottle. When LO is good with that, without a decrease in bm or formula intake, then do twice a day. Only give a tablespoon per feeding. Lo's main source of nutrition still needs to come from formula or bm. If LO is too full from that, then try again in another 30 minutes. Good luck! Oh I'd wait on pures until LO can do two cereal feeding a without a decrease in bm or formula. You can also try a little bit if mashed up fresh banana or avocado. Babies love those and they're full of good stuff.

novmomtobe

Since you are just staring I would do just once a day.  At first he won't eat much its just to get used to using the spoon.  And I would offer it about 30min - 1 hr after bottle. 

sbevmc09

We bypass cereal and go straight to purees.  I think they say wait like 3 days before introducing something new if you want to play it safe for reactions so maybe wait 3 days and then go for something else?  Real food is really better than any cereals though so I would definitely move to purees as soon as you're ready.

Before a year solids should never replace a feeding, it's just for practice they should still be getting their nutrition from formula/breastmilk so like others have said feed them (formula/BM) and then a little later try the solids.

I too would only do solids 1x/day at this point.  

MrsT0514

sbevmc09:

We bypass cereal and go straight to purees.nbsp; I think they say wait like 3 days before introducing something new if you want to play it safe for reactions so maybe wait 3 days and then go for something else?nbsp; Real food is really better than any cereals though so I would definitely move to purees as soon as you're ready. Before a year solids should never replace a feeding, it's just for practice they should still be getting their nutrition from formula/breastmilk so like others have said feed them formula/BM and then a little later try the solids.I too would only do solids 1x/day at this point. nbsp;

I apologize to the OP for highjacking the thread, but sbevmc, I noticed that you skip cereals and go straight to purees. I'm interested in possibly doing this with DS, but I have questions. How much do you start with? Do you also mix purees with formula? And I assume you start with just once a day and only offer AFTER the bottle, do I have this right?

I've been debating on whether I want to go this route or maybe start with oatmeal cereal. Either way I think we're going to skip the rice cereal though. I'd also like to err on the side of caution with any solids, as DS is MPI.

novmomtobe

MrsT0514:

sbevmc09:

We bypass cereal and go straight to purees.nbsp; I think they say wait like 3 days before introducing something new if you want to play it safe for reactions so maybe wait 3 days and then go for something else?nbsp; Real food is really better than any cereals though so I would definitely move to purees as soon as you're ready. Before a year solids should never replace a feeding, it's just for practice they should still be getting their nutrition from formula/breastmilk so like others have said feed them formula/BM and then a little later try the solids.I too would only do solids 1x/day at this point. nbsp;

I apologize to the OP for highjacking the thread, but sbevmc, I noticed that you skip cereals and go straight to purees. I'm interested in possibly doing this with DS, but I have questions. How much do you start with? Do you also mix purees with formula? And I assume you start with just once a day and only offer AFTER the bottle, do I have this right? I've been debating on whether I want to go this route or maybe start with oatmeal cereal. Either way I think we're going to skip the rice cereal though. I'd also like to err on the side of caution with any solids, as DS is MPI.

 

My DS is also MPI if you do decide to offer rice cereal check the ingredients because some of the brands have soy or milk as a ingredient.  I know Gerber definitely has soy elements in their rice cereal.  We opted to skip rice and go to oatmeal with purees.  You can definitely skip the cereals all together we only offer it to help with DS's reflux.  If you choose to go straight to purees there is no need to mix with BM or formula, if you are using store bought.  Stage 1 purees are pretty watery.  If you make your own then you do use either the water used to steam, BM or formula to puree to the right consistency.  In the beginning, your DS won't even finish a tub of the stage 1 food.  Once he starts to turn away from the spoon or seem uninterested I would stop offering for that feeding.  Just watch for his cues.