Starting My 5 Month Old on Cereal

M.,

I have five month old son, and he does the same thing. He might get through the first or second spoonful and then start fussing. I was told to try to give it to him after a bottle, so he isn't starving and maybe he will take it better. I have had no success with that either. His daycare provider is going through the same thing with him. Maybe he is just too young yet to eat from a spoon. He acts like he is being teased and gets frustrated. I also started him on peas and he didn't like that either. Let me know how it goes.

Jackie

Hi M. - my son is 5 months and has the exact same issue. He actually used to be better with the cereal and recently started "losing his mind" part-way through. My latest guess is that perhaps I'm waiting until too late to feed him (6:30PM) and he's too tired to cooperate. So we'll see if that goes any differently. I'm sure it all waxes and wanes....seems like it's normal.

L. Z.

M.,

It sounds to me like your daughter is simply full at half a regular-sized serving. I would simply stop when she starts fussing. Forcing her to eat it is only going to make it hard on you and have her create negative associations with eating. I think half a serving in the first week is actually quite an accomplishment! I understand it can take that long to get them to accept even one spoonful (it did with one of my kids). It's such an unusual thing for them to get used to. Don't stress about it. Before you know it she'll be sitting at the table asking for more cookies and drinking milk out of a cup!
Enjoy!
D.

She's probably just letting you know that she's full. Remember that babies' stomachs are tiny, so a little bit is all she needs. You could give her cereal at more times through the day if you think she wants more cereal.

I'm not sure what type of daycare situation you have, but I have found that teachers in a center are very experienced with all these milestones for babies. They've seen it all and won't be flustered in the least. I've found that my daycare teachers have been great partners in helping me and my 2 boys learn new skills like eating.

Good luck and congratulations on your little darling!

I wouldn't worry. My son is similar. He just isn't ready yet for food. After all, she is only 5 months, you have time.

As far as teething, that may be a possiblity, but I would not recommend using Tylenol for "topical" relief on the gums. I'm a pharmacist and that could be a dangerous habit b/c then you don't know what cumulitive dose you are giving your child. Also, tylenol is intended for systemic use. You would be better off giving your child a full dose based on thier weight to relieve pain.

She may be teething and when she bites on the spoon it could bother her. That could be why in the middle of the feeding she starts to cry. My son was going through the same thing. You can use some tylenol and put it directly on her gums. I find that is better than Oragel. It lasts longer. Not too much but just enough for her gums. Good luck.

I'm not sure I understand. Why not stop the feeding for now, but still put the cereal in her bottle? Don't force anything. For whatever reason, she does not seem to be ready to eat from a spoon or to finish a serving. Follow her cues.
Soon she will eat more ceral.
Amy

HI, As soon as mines begins to fussy I cut it. Also in the cereleal I put smach banana or smach apple,and/or sometimes I also put cheese(bulgarian cheese, sit in hot water take out the salt) I also let him to take the spoon so he understands what I am going to do. I put a calm music sing to him during the feeding. On the end I give him A LITTLE BIT OF WARM WATER, SO HE CAN DIGEST BETTER. It is my experience that they won't throw up later. Hopes it helps.

Hi M.,

You may want to try giving her a few sips of her bottle every so often between her spoonfuls of cereal. My sitter would feed my daughter that way when I started her on cereal.

It could also be that she is too hungry when you are trying to feed her. I started giving my daughter cereal in between bottles, before she was hungry. She eventually learned that the cereal would satisfy her hunger, but in the beginning it didn't register quickly enough, she knew a bottle would satisfy her hunger so she would rather have it.

I definitely recommend continuing with feeding her with a spoon; it helps their development for eating vs. putting cereal in her bottle.

Good luck

She may just be done eating cereal too - either too hungry and would rather have a bottle - or full and not wanting any more food. There's no reason to force it - especially at only 5 months. Remember: a "serving" of food for a baby is defined as "however much your baby will eat in a sitting" - so maybe you're making too much cereal for her? Maybe just make her a smaller serving instead?

There's no real nutritional reason she needs anything but formula at this age - the main point of feeding a 5-month old would be to get her used to eating from a spoon.

So in short, I wouldn't worry about it.