so my choices are pump every day or buy formula?

Just checking in case there is some third option that I don't know about. I'm just starting my baby on 1 tbsp of rice cereal by spoon in the evenings mixed with 1 ounce of milk. All of a sudden he is rolling both ways and STTN. :cry: - well I'm not sad about the sleeping but anyway I know he is ready to start practicing with the spoon. Does everyone pump every morning for milk for cereal or what does everyone do?

 

I never BF'ed but I do think you can mix it with water or with a fruit (applesauce was always a hit)...

 

yup - you can mix it with water, or a fruit puree. that's what i did.

and yay for STTN! :yahoo:

 

I BF them before they go to bed...around 7ish. Then I pump just before I got to bed (10-11ish) to have milk for the next day for cereal. It only takes 10mins or so for me to get enough for the next day. Then when they started eating thicker cereal I actually ended up dumping some...and gradually a little more is getting dumped.
My sister in law did not have any luck pumping so she did formula for solid feedings. I guess it is totally up to you.

 

I've always just mixed it with water.

 

I mixed mine with Gerber baby juice. I think I started with pear. I cut it with water- just added a little flavor.

 

I cant believe no one mentioned this! You could jus SKIP the rice cereal/baby food all together
Just be sure to mash up or cut up things in tiny pieces. We started solids at 6 months and would mash bananas, or potatoes, dice up a pear or an apple, hard boiled eggs, avocado etc. Whatever you are eating just make it small enough (finger nail size) for baby.

Saves a lot of money and a lot of time

 

Yep, this is exactly what we did! We don't start solids before six months and we don't do rice cereal at all. Things like banana and avacado are usually pretty soft and easy for baby to eat. Good luck!

 

The other option is to self express just enough for cereal. We used water for DD but extra breastmilk for DS because he needed the extra calories

 

we also just skipped the rice cereal. Started with mashed home made veggies and they never had pureed food. they started finger foods at about 10 months as well and by then ate everyting we ate. Just a little modified where necessary.

For the cereal in the morning I did buy a small formula and used that.

in the beginning when they ate little still i expressed.

 

We didn't even start rice cereal until 5.5 months, and beyond the first few days we always mixed it with a fruit or veggie puree just to thicken it a bit.

 

Mine get cereal for breakfast and I mix it with regular full-fat milk. Babies shouldn't DRINK cow's milk but mixing a little into the cereal is fine. (I knew they weren't allergic as they had a little bit of formula for a couple of months).

 

I hadn't thought about water. I'm hesitant to try juice b/c his poop is already so liquidy I'm afraid that juice will give him diarrhea. I might try water and see how he acts. I don't think I'm going to be able to skip baby food with this baby, he has a huge appetite. He is gobbling down every last bite of rice cereal. Such a different experience than I had with my twins. I nurse him, then do 1.5 tbsp rice cereal, then clean him up and nurse him again, then bed.

 

My kids love cereal mixed breast milk. I pumped only so we always had BM in the fridge. They don't like it mixed with anything else. So since we weaned, thy haven't had much cereal. Gl!

If u decide to pump for their cereal. You should get a manual avert Isis. You can get 5-10oz in Just 5 mins and Use it for days without daily pumping.

 

I mixed with BM or watered down apple juice...they didnt love the cereal mixed with formula.