planning on starting cereal

i would like to start cereal this weekend for the first time while DH is home.
i was planning on sitting the kids in their infant seats (bouncers) to feed them. does anyone do anything differently? they can not sit up unassisted yet.

*when* should i give them cereal. when they wake up they are hungry and from looking at other schedules i was going to give them a bottle and then cereal later on. any ideas or suggestions as to how far later if my LO's eat every 3 hours? also if i give them cereal, do they still get a bottle every 3 hours? do i adjust the oz in the bottle?

 

I would wait maybe an hour, just so that they are not totally full. They aren't going to be eating very much in the beginning, so I wouldn't worry about adjusting bottles right now. They are still getting all their nutrients from their formula/breastmilk.

 

Our Pedi told me to give my sons milk once they wake up and then after 3 hours the cereal meal. On the other hand, because they are now just starting cereal, milk is still their main nutrient so my babies needed the same oz they are used to if not more because they are growing faster.

 

so should i give the cereal 3 hours later then give them their bottle? im sorry for all the questions, im confused.

 

I would continue to feed them their normal bottle every 3 hours, but as Tina suggested, just give them some cereal about an hour after the first bottle. We started off feeding our girls in their bumbo chairs. They worked great! But as long as they are sitting upright, they should be fine.

 

When my boys wake up in the morning the first thing I do is give them their bottle. When they are hungry later after 3 hours or so, I give them the cereals. However though they eat the whole quantity my boys still claim for few milk about half an hour later. I tried to give them water instead but it didn't work. They would still cry until they get their milk.

Take it easy, don't get so confused, relax and enjoy feeding your babies If a call to your Pedi will reassure you more why don't you just call her/him?

Good luck :hug:

 

When I started cereal, I usually gave it about an hour after the first bottle of the day. Early on, they are not going to be eating enough cereal for their bottles to be adjusted, at this point it's just to have them be introduced to new textures and learn to eat from a spoon. I still kept up with regular bottle feedings every 3 hours, we started cereal (per pedi's recommendation) at 4 months. We also started off with the first feedings in the bumbo chairs. Good luck!

 

When first starting cereal, I offered it a few minutes before it was time for their 10 am bottle. (they were eating at 7, 10, 1, 4 and 7.) It really was just a few bites each and then on to the bottle like normal. When they got better at it, I increased the amount offered but still did it right before the bottle. When it started effecting how much they drank at that 10 am feeding, I switched to a 3.5-ish hr schedule and added a second solid feeding at the 2pm bottle. So the 3.5 hr schedule was 7am, 10:30 am, 2 pm, 5ish and 7ish for bed. That only lasted a week or so until they were about 5.5 mos. Then we went to 7, 11, 3, and 7 with solids at the first three. At that point the solids were either before or after the bottle but always at the same time. It already felt like I fed them all the time, no way I was waiting an hour or more to feed solids after bottles! You just have to do what works for you and your babies. The way I looked at it is if they needed the solids they would eat them at the same time as the bottle. If the bottle (6ish ounces) filled them up, then they didn't need the solids. But I always offered them at the same times (consistency is huge for babies) and if they ate it great, if not no biggie.

 

should i wait a week until i introduce fruit? do you give it with the cereal?

 

Our pediatrician suggested for us to do this, give them the cereal for a week, then start with the vegetables, cycle through the veggies and then add on fruit. Her thought was if we started fruit first they may not want the veggies.
Once we went through most of the veggies and fruits, we started giving fruits with cereal.

 

my pedi said fruit...he said nothing about veggies.

 

Our pedi didn't say to give veggies before fruit, but a friend of mine told me that is what her pedi recommended years ago, with the thinking being that they may like the sweet of the fruits so much that they snub the veggies. And that makes sense to me, which is why after giving the boys oatmeal for a week we just introduced them to carrots 2 days ago and will add a new veggie every few days. Then we'll introduce fruits.

 

My pedi recommended cereal first and then once they are used to that - adding in fruits, cycling through fruits and adding in veggies. Now we do cereal & fruit (half jar each)at the first feeding, just veggies at the "lunch" feeding (half jar each), and veggies and fruit at the "dinner" feeding (half jar each) - and of course bottles (about 6 oz) at each. Then they get a bottle before bed. For one of my girls I give the bottle first and then the food - because the other way around and she wouldn't drink any of the bottle before she fell asleep. For Ellie, she gets the food first and then the bottle. But always at the same time. I feel like I would constantly be feeding them if I waited an hour in between - but that's just me - your babies will tell you what works best for them - just try things out until you find the best way for them and for you. Whatever you do - try not to stress or worry about it - it will all work out and it only makes it harder if you stress about it. Good luck!