Cereal or No Cereal?

I think my son was about 2-3 mos. old when we started the cereal in his bottle. I was constantly feeding him, and he was spitting it up. Once we started the cereal, he spit up a whole lot less and he slept through the night with no problems. He was a hefty eater.

I started feeding my daughter rice cereal at the age of 4 months. She was consuming 7 oz of milk about every 3 hours, 5 times a day - total of 35 oz daily. Pediatrian said go ahead and feed her rice cereal. Start off with it very liquified and runny and increase consisentcy as she gets use to it. Use the formula/breast milk in the cereal so she still get the nutrients.

Started off feeding her 2 tablespoons in morning and two at dinner feeding. She did not bat an eye. With her first bite it was as if she had been waiting for this moments for months. I think she enjoyed the feeling of food in her belly. Milk consumption dropped to 6-8 oz every 4 hours 4 times a day. Ped said as long as she gets a total of 25 oz of milk a day she is good. She gets 6 oz bottle when she ate the cereal and 8 oz bottle during the two day feedings.

My daughter was 8lbs 7oz when she born and grew consistently. I think bigger babies are ready for solids sooner.

There seem to be two camps on the cereal debate - those who wait until 4 to 6 months, and those who begin much earlier. The recommendation is to wait until the baby is four or even six months old to begin feeding solids of any kind. This reduces the possibility of allergies, digestive problems, etc. That said, my pediatrician recommends starting it earlier if needed - we started my first with cereal in her bottle at 7 weeks. My brother was started on cereal at two weeks. He was extremely fussy and my mom thought he was developing colic. Turns out he was just hungry. She started putting 1/4 tsp of rice cereal in his bottles (with the dr's recommendation) and he did great from then on. My baby is ten weeks old. We have given her cereal a few times, again with our doctor's recommedation. Our pediatrician is young, female and very current in her knowledge, so she could not be considered "old school" in her thinking. I would say you need to discuss this with your pediatrician and do what works best for you.

My husband and I were just looking into this for our 3 month old. "What to expect the first year" book talks about cereal at 5 months by spoon if baby is sitting up, doesn't tongue thrust any more, etc.

I'm going to ask the pediatrician what we should do if 6-8 ounces per feeding doesn't keep him satisfied.

No cereal! Their poor little tummy's can't digest it at that age!

I have an 8year old and one on the way. My first was 9lbs. when he was born and I started putting cereal in his 4oz. bottle when we came home from the hospital. When he was about 5-6 weeks old I started spoon feeding him cereal Then when he was 8 weeks old I put fruit in the cereal. I never had a problem keeping him on a schedule as far as eating or sleeping. You have to be sure not to make it to thick and get them use to the spoon but, the change in how happy they are when they are full is great. Remember all babies are different.

I didn't have issues like that, but, my cousin had a preemie and when he was just 5 mos old, he was having the same issues.(He was 2 mos premature, making him realistically 3 mos at this point)So, what they did was add cereal to his bottles. They swore by it for a few months till he could handle baby food. Their dr. was who recommended it, so I'm sure that if a preemie can handle a bit of cereal in their bottle to fill him up, it won't hurt your little one either.

I think the introduction of cereal is more about when their digestive system is ready to handle solid food and not about their size/weight. I would ask the pediatrician first- my opinion is that it is best to wait until 5-6 months for cereal.

My pedi always starts the kids at 4 months so I would check with your pedi. She said that she waits until that time to give their digestive tract time to fully develop to be able to process something besides milk without having digestive problems with it.

Check with your ped, but most now tells moms to wait until 6 months. Introducing solids earlier can cause allergies later -- especially if there's a family history of excema, hay fever and food allergies. I had a big guy and frankly, he wasn't ready until 7 months. There's really no hurry. Wait until your baby is interested in food too. Also, some Drs are now advising against starting babies on cereals but recommending things like banana, avocado and other fruits and veggies. A really good reference book is Super Baby Foods. It has all the foods and what age to introduce them at.

I started feeding my son rice cereal at 3 months. I never put it in his bottle like some people do. I started spoon feeding him. I started with just a few spoonfulls here and there until get became more familiar with using a spoon.

My son was also a heavy guy. He started very lightly at 2months only at his feeding right before bed. It would help him sleep longer at night. But our doctor told us we could.