Where Do I Begin?

I started mine out slow to how they handled it bm wise. So I started them out very little about 10 baby spoons. The cereal I made it very watery.

I recommend getting a book to help guide you through a month-by-month diet. I liked Super Baby Foods (though only really until he got to finger foods). I like a lot of structure when trying new things and the book definitely guides you through which foods are good to start when and some foods to avoid due to possible allergic reactions, plus handy tips on making your own food if you're so inclined.

When you start with rice cereal, it's really just to just to get baby used to the idea of something new; he won't really be eating a meal because the bulk of his nutrients will still come from breastmilk/formula. So put a little cereal in a bowl and thin it with breastmilk or formula until it's just a little thicker than liquid. Do this once a day for a week or so. Don't worry about feeding him a certain amount; again, you're just trying something new, not really giving him a full meal. As he gets older, you'll increase food time to twice a day, still mainly feeding with breastmilk/formula.

Make sure to only introduce one new food at a time and to give the food a four-day trial period to test for any allergic reaction. So if you're doing sweet potatoes, only do sweet potatoes for four days. If that goes well and you want to introduce winter squash, do winter squash for four days. If you know he's cool with sweet potatoes, you can mix that in with the winter squash. The idea is to not try two new foods at once, because if he were to have a reaction, you wouldn't know which food caused it.

I believe in letting the child be the guide. If they act like they are enjoying the feeding, they aren't fussy, and they are swallowing it with a minimum of spitting out, then they must be hungry. Your baby will learn to let you know when he is finished.

Formula wise, I would just cut back on how full you are filling the bottles and if again, let him be the guide. If he is not getting too full, spitting up too much, and he's not pushing it away, let him have what he wants. I don't believe they usually over eat at this age.

Suzi

I don;t think you change the amoount of formula you give your son at first, I believe that changes naturally over time as your son starts eating more foods and naturally needs less formula. The first food I gave my sons was rice cereal, very watered down (w/ formula of course) from a spoon. How much he actually got into his mouth will alwasy remain a mystery b.c it seems like very little at first. Once they get a grip on the whole spoon thing you can gradually thicken up the cereal. I start out giving my son a few spoonfuls of cereal before bedtime, then add on a few in the morning. After he's really gotten the hang of the cereal thing I'll introduce baby foods. I start my sons on cereal at around 4 months and work up them starting to eat baby foods by 6 months, so for us its very gradual with plenty of time for adjustment in our routine, etc. No reason to rush anything, I think. You'll get the hang of it and you should have fun doing it! :o)

I started my son with pureed carrots and added breastmilk to make runny since rice cereal is hard for them to digest and he LOVED them once he got the hang of getting it in his mouth :). I also suggest, if you can to make homemade baby food b/c it is much healthier and cheaper to do it this way and most of all it tastes better!! Try the baby foods in a jar - I would not want to eat them so I did not feel like my son would like to eat them either. At this point the whole idea is to just get them used to eating and figuring out how this whole "eating" thing works so keep feeding them the same amount of breastmilk/formula as usual. Enjoy this time, as long as you make the food runny you really can do no harm and best of all it is fun to watch them try to eat. Good luck and have fun!!!

One thing I didn't really see mentioned was the warning of constipation! Beware! Rice cereal is awful! Your son will likely become constipated with it, and that's okay if he doesn't go every day, just be ready for it. I found that it's easier to just do rice cereal until 1. you know they're not allergic, and 2. until they sort of get used to the idea of food on a spoon and then I went to oat cereal. As far as other foods, personally I wouldn't even worry about it until you sort of have cereal down. Once you start...it's very easy to make your own. If you have the time/desire, I recommend it because it can save you quite a bit of money and is less wasteful in terms of trash/packaging, etc. But, if both you and your husband work outside the home, it might not be worth it for you! Good luck!

Give him the same amount of formula. He probably won't eat much for a while. Just make a few tablespoons worth of cereal and see what he eats. He'll only eat as much as he wants, it's not really controlled by you and how much you give him. You're overthinking it. Get small jars of baby food or make small amounts of your own in a blender or baby food mill and offer him a few bites. Get a baby cookbook or something. It's not rocket science. :-)

I'm a first time mom too! I've started feeding my little guy veggies and fruit recently too. A great sight to check out is Gerber.com! You can click on the little icon that is the developmental stage your baby is at (ie: supported sitter, crawling, etc.), and the sight will show you an approximate meal plan for your baby! It gives ranges like 2-4 tbsp of cereal, so you can start on the low end of the range and work from there. The beauty of it is that you don't have to use Gerber products for everything to make sense. I use some of their stuff, but I make alot of my own baby food.

I hope this helps you, it has been a great tool for me!

Mine are 3, 2 and newborn. My oldest didn't really eat ANY food until 1-year-old. I tried the baby food, and it mostly went down his chin. He never wanted it, really, either. Just give him the formula like normal until a year. You can try giving him the rice cereal and veggies, etc. at 6 months (earlier can lead to diabetes). He'll eat what he wants.
Once he is one, you can try more interesting foods. I don't think right now you'll need to reduce formula at all. Have fun with this, and take lots of pictures.

All this advice is great! I'd just add one thing. When you start the jar food, put the serving in the dish to warm it and to feed from. That way you can put the rest in the fridge for the next meal. I remember my pediatrician telling me that long ago (my oldest will soon be 33). If you feed straight from the jar, the saliva on the spoon will contaminate it and it can't be saved for another feeding. :o) Just my 2 cents. And, like another poster.. take lots of pictures!!

I'm a new mom too and my little one is almost 5 months. We have been doing the cereal thing for about 3 weeks and recently added bananas. My dr. said to only feed him solids once or twice a day until 6 months and stick to the three beginners: cereal (rice is binding and made his tummy hurt so we did organic oatmeal), bananas, and avacados. He eats 2.5 Tbl of cereal in about 2oz of breastmilk usually, but last night we tried mixing it with about what would be 2 bites of bananas for an adult with some breastmilk to make it a little less thick. He LOVED it!!
We have started doing one other feeding of solids a day but we are not going to push it. He loves the spoon and tries to grab it and put it in his mouth himself! It is really fun! Take lots of pictures and just give yourself enough time!

The most important tip I got was- never let him get angry during solid food trials. If he starts to cry, give him a bottle so he doesn't get frustrated with the solid foods.

Someone suggested mixing apple juice with the cereal. I would mix formula with it since it is a flavor he knows, plus apple juice is used in NICU's to test for reflux because it is so acidic (my sister-in-law is a NICU nurse). Introduce one thing at a time. I would give him a bottle, maybe an ounce less than he normally takes before the cereal so he gets the nutrition her needs. He may be a little hungry & more interested in the cereal. I never had any problem with my boys having constipation due to rice cereal. Make it very thin (equal amounts of prepared formula to cereal) so he can get used to the texture & not choke. For the first few trys you only need 1-2 tablespoons of cereal. Then gradually make it thicker.
I personally made my own baby food by steaming the veggies then putting them through the blender with a little water to get the right conststancy, then I put it in ice cube trays & froze it. When they were good & frozen I dumped them into freezer baggies. The cubes are easy to reheat & a nice small size.

God bless!

Wow- we have a lot in common- I am also 27, been married to my high school sweetheart for 8 years and just had our first baby boy too! We are about to introduce ours to cereal as well- I am assuming yours is around the 4 month+ mark? I go next week for his appt and once I find out all these questions for myself- I will pass it along to you! I know the dr told me a few weeks ago we could introduce cereal in his formula- so maybe do that first?! They also did not tell me how much to give and I have not bought any yet b/c I am afraid to!

Start off slow. Formula or breastmilk should still be his main source of nutrition until he's 1. So, you're not getting rid of any bottles yet. Still nurse/bottle feed him as much as you are already. Simply add the solids to his diet. Start off with rice cereal. You want to make it REALLY runny, just a little thicker than his milk/formula usually is. Try this once a day until he gets the hang of it. We did that for a couple weeks. Then add in veggies. Our pediatrician recommended starting with the yellow veggies, then the orange-ish, then on to green, then on to fruits. You can mix the fruits/veggies in with the cereal, or do it separately. Wait 5-7 days between introducing new foods, that way you can easily spot an allergic reaction. It's also best to make sure he's not famished when you introduce solids. Feed/nurse him first, then give the solids a try. Or do it in between feedings. If he's too hungry he might get very frustrated trying something new. Be patient, he might reject the spoon at first, it's a new skill.

Here's a few links from BabyCenter.com that have some helpful info:

http://www.babycenter.com/baby-solid-feeding-basics
http://www.babycenter.com/0_introducing-solid-foods_113.bc

Good luck and have fun!

Hi FS,

Try look for signs that your baby is full - distracted.. spitting food out.. not opening mouth.. then you know its safe to stop. If he refuses formula after - he is probably full.

Start with your yellow fruits and veggies - remember to do one food at least 5 times before moving onto another. With Cereal, you can mix formula and a scoop of fruit puree to sweeten it. Babies can eat anything from 2tsp to a whole jar, depending on how hungry they are.. so just look for signs he is full. (move on to your green veggies last)

If spoon feeding is too difficult, there are special bottles (babies are us) that helps introduce solids. Think its called "Introducing Solids". When he is ready/used to the texture you can move on to a spoon.

Cereal in his milk just before bed works too (-+1tsp per 4 ounces.. you don't want to thicken the milk, just give him a taste of it)

Good luck!

Good morning, I have a 4 month old baby boy and a 15 month old baby girl. My daughter ate a 1/4 cup twice a day from the start, but my son hasn't been so easy. He wasn't quite sure how to use his tongue to swallow, I guess. So I started out feeding him 1 T and have slowly increased it to a few T's, now that he's getting the hang of it. :) I still give him 7 ozs of formula, 4 times a day, like I did before he started on cereal. I'm going to start him on veggies next week, and I will do what I did with my daughter and give him the Gerber first foods and hopefully he'll eat it as good as my daughter did!!! If you have any questions, just let me know. Good luck!! This is such a fun time to see them learning how to eat!
S.

We have all been there. So morning ceral pour about 1/4 cup into a bowl. Now warm up about the same amount of baby apple juice. I like the juice to add a natural sugar to sweeten it. now pour enough juice in the bowl to make it soupy to start. They arent used to a thick substance yet. you thicken it up as she gets used to it a feww weeks down the road. you can also feed a fruit along with the cereal. so one bite of cereal then one bite of fruit. pour the fruit you will use into a small container so it can be reused. Feed until she turns the head away as if she does not want anymore, you will know when she is full. The bottle she will take less of that but feed her until she stops and does not want anymore, then she is full. Good luck and enjoy these moments they grow up so fast.

The box will tell you how much to give him for the first feeding... Then after time you will know how thick or thin he likes his cereal. Also, you will probably want to start with veggies first. Because they will gladly eat the fruits but if you give those first he may not want to eat the veggies. Just pick one and stay with it for about a week to make sure he is not allergic. Then you can move onto another and repeat this process. Just start with giving him about half or maybe even a fourth of the container. If he wants more, just give him more! :) I started this process with just dinner and then moved on from there. Good luck! S.

You already have some great responses. My oldest is almost three and my youngest just turned one, and they approached the eating thing very differently.
In both cases, we started with cereal. We mixed one teaspoon of cereal with four teaspoons of breastmilk. It was very runny.
We used a plastic spoon at first, but we did end up being more satisfied with the metal spoons. We also used a medicine syringe. Another poster mentioned that they will still be getting their nutrition from breastmilk/formula and this is just to introduce them to the idea of eating. We found that they didn't really understand that they should keep the food in their mouth until we used the syringe. After that, they were more able to eat from the spoon.
Start with cereal. Once your little one is able to eat that okay, add in one kind of food at a kind. We found that some of the most popular foods for our kids were carrots, sweet potatoes, and applesauce.
The absolute best advice? Relax! I was really nervous when I fed both of them the first time, and it became a lot easier when I loosened up.

when I first started feeding cereal I still made a 6 ounce bottle. I would put 1 Tablespoon cereal in a bowl and add some formula from the bottle to the cereal. I don't remember how much but when you first start feeding cereal you make it a little runny so they learn to swallow it, then after a week you can make it a little thicker but not thick like oatmeal, more like cream of wheat or grits. Start with cereal a few days watch for any breakouts then if he is fine after 3 days add one veggie--again start with 1 Tablespoon then maybe 2 if your baby eats it well. Introduce one new food at a time for 3 days and watch for allergies. 2 Tablespoons of fruits or veggies is actually a serving. Don't feed straight out of the jar as you contaminate the food with bacteria from the saliva on the spoon. I always used a divided dish, put 1-2 Tbls cereal in one, 1-2 Tbls of a veggie and 1-2 Tbls of fruit in one. This was usually the lunch or dinner meal with 4 ounces of formula to drink following the meal and fed this amount around 6 months-9 months. sometimes for Breakfast I would mix 2 Tbls cereal mixed with 1 Tbls fruit and a little water to mix it if needed. If no fruit then just 2 Tbls cereal and a little formula mixed together then would drink the rest of the bottle that was left after mixing the cereal.

my kids eating schedule went like this and seemed to work very well

7:00 or 8 AM when they woke up. 6 ounce formula
10:00 AM 2 Tbls cereal 4 ounce bottle
12:30 PM 2 Tbls cereal, 2 Tbls veggie, 2 Tbls fruit, 4 ounce bottle
took nap until 2:30
3:00 PM 6 ounce bottle
5:30 or 6 PM when we ate dinner, noodle dinner, veggie, fruit 2 Tbls of each 4 ounce bottle
9:00 PM 6 ounce bottle.. slept through the night until 7 or 8 AM.

I always put my cereal in my empty formula cans and used the scooper from that. I wouldn't recommend more than a couple of scoops to begin with...start him slow on the cereal and watch him because cereal will fill him up but it can also cause gas and constipation (Little Tummies gas drops are a godsend at this point). Likewise, you can counter it by offering him fruits like applesauce. I would recommend on starting on the jar foods one at a time...try it for 3 days and make sure he has no reactions (allergic) to them...if he's still clear 2 days later move on to the next. So that puts you at a new fruit or veggie to introduce every week. You can up the schedule if you feel more comfortable...my kids were pretty instantaneous whether they were allergic to somethign or not.

As for amounts, your child will pretty much be the gauge of that...he'll stop eating when he's not interested in food anymore or it doesn't taste good. I always kept the bottle by my kids side when I was feeding them regular food because I felt it wasn't another meal but a drink, just like we would have with our meals. Hope that helps!

welcome to mommyhood - one big excercise in trial and error! my mom has often said the first child is an experiment (i was the first child and am now raising my first lol). i was also 27 when my son was born. so basically i just wanted to say, if the dr. is saying it's time to start introducing him, just pick a time when you're not rushed, relax, and enjoy. put a little bit (a tsp or two) on a plate or in a bowl, and set him up in an upright position (we didn't have a highchair at first, we used his bouncy seat placed on the kitchen table). put a little on a spoon, then just place a bit on his lips/tongue and see how he likes it. just go for it! if your son is a good eater he'll probably devour it, and it'll be a great new experience for him. my son was always a big boy and we had trouble keeping him full, so this was a great milestone for us. they get so big so fast!! good luck and enjoy!