Cereal

Our ped said to go ahead and start cereal. They are 4 months old. When do you give it. I know a.m. and p.m. but do you do it before you give their bottles or what do you do? We tried giving it a 1/2 hour before their bottles but it like teases them and they are fussy through it. Today we tried an hour before and they were fussy again. Maybe they are just not ready for it or is this normal for babies until they get used to it?

Our ped wants us to do the rice cereal week 1, week 2 do oatmeal and then week 3 start squash and so on. Any advise is appreciated.

Thanks

 

We always feed a bottle at 5amish, then they go back to sleep. When they wake up again it's usually around 9am, thats when I have been giving cereal. They like the cereal better with a little apple juice and water mixed in. Started off with two tablespoons of cereal and maybe a five oz bottle.

Now we do four tablespoons and half cup of fruit.

 

Do you put formula in the cereal also, along with flavoring with the juice and water?? Is it ok for htem to have a little juice at 4 months?

 

I have always fed solids at least a half an hour after a bottle. Usually, it's an hour after a bottle is started. HTH .

 

We started in the evenings only (of course hoping that it would help with sleep - it didn't). But I mixed it with breastmilk and later juices and gave them part of their bottle to take the hunger/anxious edge off, then gave as much cereal as they were willing and then they'd finish off the bottle. We did that adding some minor fruits and veggies as we got closer to 5 and 6 months. We added lunch next at 6 months and are still eratic with breakfast. I'm sure my Ped is going to want us to be doing 3/day at 9 months, but I'm holding out for some self feeding for breakfast.

Good luck! In the beginning it's a time for learning and practicing. I hated it at first, but it's gotten better over time.

 

My twins are just now 4 mo and were born at 35 weeks. We didn't see their normal ped at their 4 mo appt because he had broken his ankle. Should I wait a month to start rice cereal because they were early? Or it doesn't matter?

 

QUOTE(zerenita @ Jul 18 2008, 02:59 PM) [snapback]883626[/snapback]
My twins are just now 4 mo and were born at 35 weeks. We didn't see their normal ped at their 4 mo appt because he had broken his ankle. Should I wait a month to start rice cereal because they were early? Or it doesn't matter?


Mine were born at 35w4d, and we started at 5 months. I don't think there's a "magic number" for starting. My pedi told me it depended on developmental accomplishments - holding head up and relatively still, turning head when full, etc.

 

We started right at 4 months. I started with 'dinner', which was right between those last two bottles of the day. None of my kids cared for plain cereal, and we moved quickly to fruits and veggies, which they liked much better.

 

My pedi said bottle first, wait about an hour and then cereal. Time of day was of no importance to her, but formula is their main nutrition- cereal at this point is just for practice so she didn't want us giving cereal first and them being too full for a bottle. We started doing cereal for "dinner"- but with late afternoon naps and early bedtime we struggled to get their regular bottle in and then get cereal in before bed- so we now do a cereal "lunch". We have been through all the fruits- and are now onto veggies. Once we try all veggies we will begin two meals a day. I also am anxious to try oatmeal as they really don't love the rice- and will hopefully switch after talking to the pedi at our 6 mo. appointment.

 

It took mine awhile to get used to cereal! I think it's more just for practice than really for any sort of nutrients. I would do it about an hour after their bottle, if they are too hungry they won't take it.
My girls really didn't start eating solids until around 6 months. I tried about every other day but they were just weren't interested.

 

My dr said to wait until around 6mnths to introduce food, so we are going to wait a few more weeks. I think that there is no rush, try and take cues from the babies as to when they are ready. I hear the first few weeks can be hard, so hopefully by waiting a little longer maybe it will be easier!

 

When we started solids we did it in between the 4pm and 8 pm bottles. This was convenient for our schedules since DH and I both work and also ensured that the girls were a little hungry, but not too hungry. GL! and have the camera handy!!!