Tell me your first experience with rice cereal

MADforever2009 · April 2011

i dont know why im so excited... im thinking they may not get it for a while though. can you tell me your cereal experiences?

When did you start and why? pedi said? you thought it was the right time?...

kafunder · April 2011

Pedi told us not to start solids until at least 5 months since they were born a bit early (36w4d) and DD still wasn't eating 32 oz. He wanted them eating at least 32 oz per day b/c some babies reduce their formula intake when they start solids, and there's not much room to reduce when the LO is taking in less than 32 oz.

MADforever2009 · April 2011

kafunder:
Pedi told us not to start solids until at least 5 months since they were born a bit early (36w4d) and DD still wasn't eating 32 oz. He wanted them eating at least 32 oz per day b/c some babies reduce their formula intake when they start solids, and there's not much room to reduce when the LO is taking in less than 32 oz.

that was my concern (the boys were born at 34.5) and arent even close to that. He feels mixing cereal with formula will help them gain more weight. Cooper just under 11 lbs and eating 18-22 oz/day. Whats the down side to reducing formula this early? Not getting nutrients?

AlishaMay · April 2011

I know why you're excited, the same reason I was, a change for routine! By the time we started I was sick to death of the same old bottle routine. It just seemed like sitting up in a highchair, eating cereal was so much more fun.

That is until only one wanted to eat...Maggie took to it really well. I started her out with just a tsp. (dry) of rice cereal, after she drank her bottle. I decided right away that I would do solids after the bottle, rather than as a separate 'meal'. Fast forward to almost 11 months, and it's easier to transition from bottle to sippy because they only have the bottle during meal time - never outside of their highchairs, and we cut out the bedtime at 9 mo too.

Nanette on the other hand wanted nothing to do with it. She'd make this horrible face like I was trying to kill her and if she got any in her mouth she'd gag and cry. Our pedi said that this is common though with kids who have had bad reflux like she did. It has something to do with the gag reflux and associating it with pain. She just wasn't ready at 4 months. I tried every week or so, and finally at 5.5 months she took to it.

GL!

AlishaMay · April 2011

MADforever2009:
kafunder:
Pedi told us not to start solids until at least 5 months since they were born a bit early (36w4d) and DD still wasn't eating 32 oz. He wanted them eating at least 32 oz per day b/c some babies reduce their formula intake when they start solids, and there's not much room to reduce when the LO is taking in less than 32 oz.
that was my concern (the boys were born at 34.5) and arent even close to that. He feels mixing cereal with formula will help them gain more weight. Cooper just under 11 lbs and eating 18-22 oz/day. Whats the down side to reducing formula this early? Not getting nutrients?

Yes. It wasn't until my LOs were 9 mo that the pedi was okay with decreasing the formula intake to make room for solids, but only down to 18-20 oz at that point. Ours was okay with decreasing the amount of liquid formula consumed when we used formula to make the cereal. In other words, we didn't make separate or more formula to make their cereal.

MADforever2009 · April 2011

AlishaMay:
MADforever2009:
kafunder:
Pedi told us not to start solids until at least 5 months since they were born a bit early (36w4d) and DD still wasn't eating 32 oz. He wanted them eating at least 32 oz per day b/c some babies reduce their formula intake when they start solids, and there's not much room to reduce when the LO is taking in less than 32 oz.
that was my concern (the boys were born at 34.5) and arent even close to that. He feels mixing cereal with formula will help them gain more weight. Cooper just under 11 lbs and eating 18-22 oz/day. Whats the down side to reducing formula this early? Not getting nutrients?
Yes. It wasn't until my LOs were 9 mo that the pedi was okay with decreasing the formula intake to make room for solids, but only down to 18-20 oz at that point. Ours was okay with decreasing the amount of liquid formula consumed when we used formula to make the cereal. In other words, we didn't make separate or more formula to make their cereal.

So what if they are still getting the same amount of formula PLUS cereal? and maybe more formula cause im mixing it with cereal? why would he think that would help cooper gain weight? man i always think of the questions AFTER the appointment.

kafunder · April 2011

We never did any cereal, so I don't have any advice or insight into the formula-cereal combo. Our pedi actually advised us not to start with cereal b/c it provides no nutritonal value to formula fed infants (it provides iron to BM fed infants, I think) and it can cause constipation. We went right to purees. If your pedi has concern about weight gain, it's probably best to talk to him/her about it.

meldoo2002 · April 2011

We started solids with actual foods - sweet potatoes, then bananas, avocado, pears, etc. We didn't do cereal until about 1.5 months later. I wanted foods that combat constipation in the rotation first. We waited until 6 months to start. That's what pedi agreed to also. We followed wholesomebabyfood.com for readiness signs, recipes, ideas, etc.

AlishaMay · April 2011

MADforever2009:
AlishaMay:
MADforever2009:
kafunder:
Pedi told us not to start solids until at least 5 months since they were born a bit early (36w4d) and DD still wasn't eating 32 oz. He wanted them eating at least 32 oz per day b/c some babies reduce their formula intake when they start solids, and there's not much room to reduce when the LO is taking in less than 32 oz.
that was my concern (the boys were born at 34.5) and arent even close to that. He feels mixing cereal with formula will help them gain more weight. Cooper just under 11 lbs and eating 18-22 oz/day. Whats the down side to reducing formula this early? Not getting nutrients?
Yes. It wasn't until my LOs were 9 mo that the pedi was okay with decreasing the formula intake to make room for solids, but only down to 18-20 oz at that point. Ours was okay with decreasing the amount of liquid formula consumed when we used formula to make the cereal. In other words, we didn't make separate or more formula to make their cereal.
So what if they are still getting the same amount of formula PLUS cereal? and maybe more formula cause im mixing it with cereal? why would he think that would help cooper gain weight? man i always think of the questions AFTER the appointment.

Cooper would gain more weight because he'd be getting the extra calories from the rice cereal, in addition to what he's getting in his formula. They generally recommend starting out with it because it's very low on the scale of allergic reactions, and is easy to digest - so it's a good practice food. Nutritionally, it is actually pretty good because not only do they get a good amount of Iron, they also get 25% of their daily value of Zinc and 7 B Vitamins - at least that's the case with Beechnut, which always came recommended from our pedi and pedi GI.

They had us mixing it in with Nanny's formula starting at about a month old to help with her reflux, and to help her gain weight. She did great. Once in a while, she'd get constipated, but we just give her a little shot of diluted pear juice and that would move things right along.

MADforever2009 · April 2011

Thanks!!!

MrsLnt · April 2011

We started around 4.5 months old. DD has been getting cereal in her bottle for reflux (first rice, now oatmeal because it's less binding) but DS did not. He hated it, she kept giving us looks like "People, I barf up my bottles because it's gross! I wanted real food!"

I only did rice cereal twice. The second time she wasn't interested and DS still acted like we were trying to kill him. I figured, why waste everyone's time on cardboard, and moved straight to purees. We've done sweet potatoes, which they love, and squash, which they didn't care for too much.

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