At Monkey’s four month old appointment our pediatrician told us that we should start rice cereal because Monkey was eating between 43-48.5 oz of formula in a 24 hour period. The pediatrician handed me some handouts, answered any questions I had then, & we went on our way.
We tried rice cereal that day & Monkey didn’t like it. At all. I kept it up for a few days & he hated it equally each day. In the handouts from the pediatrician I read something about oatmeal, so I decided we would try oatmeal to see if Monkey had a better response. And he did. He loves his baby oatmeal.
He’s been getting 1tbsp of oatmeal in a little less than 2oz of formula for a few days now. He eats it with no problem & really likes it. After the oatmeal, he eats about 3oz of formula in a bottle.
The reason we started rice cereal was because he was consuming a lot of formula & eating every 2 hours while he was awake. I thought that the oatmeal would hold him over, but he’s still wanting to eat 2 hours later. Obviously I can’t call my pediatrician today because it’s Saturday, so I was wondering if this happened with any of y’all.
Also, how long did you feed your baby rice cereal and/or oatmeal before moving to veggies and fruit? Of course I can’t find my handouts from the pediatrician right now, so just curious what you all did.
Thanks & any help is appreciated!
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= a post from Mommy Jane 
= a post from Daddy Tarzan
{ 19 comments… read them below or add one }
After mine tolerated the cereal fine for a few days to a week, I started mixing in a little bit of fruit. Just enough to give it a little flavor, but gradually increasing the amount of fruit. After making sure there was no reaction, I introduced a new food. I started w/fruits, they go over better than veggies.
With N, my first, we stuck to the guidelines as best we could, but the boy was hungry, so we gave him more. Padded out with fruits added to the cereal. And on that, N was happily eating fruit and veg within about 2 weeks of starting solids; on 3 meals a day by the time he was about 5 months. It went very quick!
My second, I, pretty much jumped straight into fully fledged solids meals, and was perfectly happy to take solids three times a day. I dropped nursing down to 4 times a day; I, at 7 months now, is eating meat/veg/fruit/finger foods three times a day and nurses twice a.m., twice p.m.
Neither were interested in baby rice; there wasn’t enough substance in it for them. Follow what your baby wants, if he wants more food, I say give him more food! I adores the solids he gets but still loves the boob. ;o)
Good luck
Cereals and most other first foods offered to infants in the US are less calorically dense than breastmilk or formula, which have about 20 calories per ounce. If you want something that is going to fill him up, try more nutrient dense foods. We liked avocado and egg yolk. Some people also use liver as a first food. How about a little liver pate?
a week or two after starting cereal, try veggies! If you start with fruit, he most likely will not like the veggies! Good luck!
I always mixed my childrens’ (I have 4) oatmeal with fruit, starting with pureed bananas. I made my baby food at home from fresh or frozen fruits and veggies – it is MUCH less expensive than jarred baby food. Try 1 need food per week, to rule out any allergies, and alternate between a fruit and a veggie so they don’t develop an overly “sweet tooth”.
You’re supposed to do one new food a week just in case there’s an allergic reaction. If he’s eating the oatmeal just fine, pick a fruit or veggie to try for then next week. With Adia, I’d mix a little into the oatmeal to start before eventually switching to the straight fruit or veggie. If you have food allergies in your family, I’d start with low allergenic foods. Otherwise, it doesn’t really matter. I have rice cereal & sweet potatoes for the twins, but we won’t start solids until after Christmas. Adia’s gluten intolerant & has food allergies so the longer I wait, the better. The twins also have a milk allergy. They also don’t eat anywhere near as much as your little guy. I think they drink maybe 24oz/day.
http://www.wholesomebabyfood.com/cereal.htm This website has lots of good info.
I can’t really help though, because we are doing baby led weaning with Daisy, so she’s just gone straight onto finger foods.
I do know that cereals are fairly low in calories compared to formula or breastmilk so you can’t really expect them to eat less milk just because they’re having cereal. If anything they might need more cos you’re replacing a feed (ie filling up their tummy) with something low calorie and they still need the same (or more) calories over a 24hr period.
I started mine at 4 months. Also went right to the oatmeal because he didn’t like the rice. I started mixing it with fruit a week later. He loved it! I don’t believe that bs about don’t give them fruit first because then they won’t like veggies. The only thing he didn’t like was peas.. And who could blame him LOL. He is now 14 months and will eat anything you put in front of him!
I just can’t past the fact that the pediatrician told you to start solids TWO FULL MONTHS before the standard recommendation! That boggles my mind. The 4-6 month recommendation was outdated years ago. (Be clear, this is NOT a criticism of you, as parents. It is very obvious that you and Tarzan are loving, attentive parents who make every effort to take the best possible care of your little monkey.)
That said, you should definitely wait a full week before introducing any new food so that if there is an allergic reaction you can readily identify the culprit.
Also, solid food will not really stretch out the time between feedings. If your son is hungry every two hours, giving him cereal isn’t really going to change that. If it does, it means that he’s not properly digesting the new foods, which is a BAD thing.
Chances are, you are just going to have to deal with him eating lots and lots every two hours for the time being. He’s at an age where many babies have big growth spurts.
When you are ready to introduce the next food, I’d recommend avacado or banana, fork mashed. (Starting on cereal is very common, but not actually necessary, or even always the best idea. MANY of the cereals are highly allergenic due to gluten content and should be held off until baby is older. The cereal first concept is a hold over from when babies were given cereal at MUCH younger ages and couldn’t handle anything thicker than a thin gruel… for example, my 14 year old was started on cereal at 6 weeks, despite being a preemie. Older babies can tolerate thicker textures and stronger flavors without it being as much of a choking risk.)
Keep in mind, too, that your baby sleeps for a long stretch every night, this WILL mean that he has to make up for the calories he would otherwise be getting in night time feedings (more of which would be directed to growing than a ‘wake-up and play time meal’). As long as he’s sleeping long stretches overnight, expect him to be very hungry during the day. On average, a baby his age should be eating every 3-4 hours round the clock… which means about 6-8 feedings of 8-9 ozs of formula in a 24 hour period… which is pretty much what you described he was eating. Solid foods will be IN ADDITION to that volume of formula, not replacing any of it.
Frankly, while looking for new foods to introduce, I’d recommend that you ALSO do more research on the current recommendations for infant nutrition because it sounds like you are getting out-dated information.
Hi Jane, I’ve got a few posts on my site about first stage feeding experiences, which might help. Check out http://www.babyfoodgrinder.org/tag/first-stage to see if any of the comments are helpful.
- BFG
The pediatrician is always going to give you the standard answer especially since they are always worried about allergies. As a mother, you are the only one that can understand what it is that Monkey needs. If he needs more food then he needs more food. Just make sure to get him used to the veggies before you go for fruit so that he doesn’t refuse anything that isn’t sweet. My two oldest children transitioned well from formula to fruit, veggies and cereal but my youngest wasn’t keen. I kept him on just formula, (a lot of it) until he was ready. All three of my children eat well and are very slender as well. Let Monkey guide you.
I know every Pediatrician is different and will advise you differently. What ours told us was that rice cereal and/or any solids you start at this age (before 6 mos) is mainly for practice…to get them familiar with textures and to practice eating from a spoon. They generally will not eat enough to alter their current eating habits. I asked her if there was an amount I should aim for each day and she said no – that once a day to start is fine and if he seems like he wants to do it more, then move to twice a day.
I’ve heard/read about other babies who are eating whole jars of baby food at this time…and that covers one ‘meal’ for them (ie: what one bottle would). I don’t recall if any of them said if it helped to space out the feedings or not. My son is still breastfed, so we’re still on a 2 hour schedule and that is to be expected for a while at this age. I would say to keep following Monkey’s cues…he will let you know when he’s ready to start spacing out those feedings…and if you still have questions, definitely call the Pediatrician and ask. Especially if he continues to eat the 40+ oz that was a concern in the first place. Even then, I would say that as long as his weight gain is at a healthy level and he’s not projectile vomiting..he’s probably ok. When they’re overfed, one or the other of those things will usually occur.
Hi! Saw you posting on thebump and checked out your blog. We are starting rice cereal tomorrow (LO is 5m1w). Hoping it goes well!
I glanced over the other posts, but am not sure that I won’t repeat info/advice you’ve already read. G hated rice cereal too…and we didn’t try another kind, just moved on. I’m not sure what the next thing we tried was. I want to say bananas. We waited 3-4 days with each new food before trying something else. After a few weeks, she had tried enough that I started to make some combos – she wouldn’t eat fruit so I’d usually mix 2/3 vegetable, 1/3 fruit, and a few dashes of cereal to thicken it up (she also didn’t like runny food at all, and did much much better with thicker stuff.) We were also told to wait after solids and give her a bottle 1/2-1 hour later. She ate every 4 hours or so.
She stopped eating baby food around 8 months…and we switched to mushy finger food (carrots, bananas, etc) and fork-mashed dinner (whatever we were eating.) Now at 18 months, she alternates between starving and picky, but overall has an amazing appetite and will eat just about anything
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I’m in agreement with the ones who said to follow Monkey’s cues. I would perhaps consult with your pediatrician just to keep him/her in the know, but if Monkey is super hungry, then he’s super hungry! And don’t concern yourself with the advice of his age and starting cereal. Every child is different and recommended guidelines are just that…guidelines.
My little guy will be 3 months on dec. 9th and we’re having to put cereal in his formula (oatmeal) due to his severe reflux. We’re doing 1 tsp for every ounce of formula and it’s done WONDERS for him! I’m hoping we’ll be able to get him off of the medication he’s had to be on. We’re using oatmeal b/c it’s easier on the GI tract too.
Good luck! SO exciting to hear of all of these changes with Monkey!!
I like recommendations that aren’t based on age (i.e. not until 6 months) and more about following baby’s cues. We noticed that our son a)was sitting up supported very well, b)was extremely interested in watching us eat, and c)when offered a spoon did not automatically push it back out (that’s one of those newborn reflexes that they have to lose before successful solid feeding) at a week shy of 4 months, so we went ahead and started offering him some rice cereal mixed with breastmilk. For the first few weeks it was just every couple of days and not that much, just letting him try it out. The next food we gave him was mashed up avocado, which he did fine with, despite some well-meaning relatives who looked at me like I was nuts (”what about some normal vegetables” lol) and now at 6 months he likes plain yogurt the best, and has also tried green beans and broccoli. I’ve been making my own by steaming and then mashing fresh veggies, and then dividing it up into ice cube trays, freezing, and tossing the cubes in a labeled plastic baggie in the freezer. Then, you can just grab a cube of whatever, and nuke it for a 20 seconds or so and you’re good to go! Making carrots the other day was torture for me because I HATE cooked carrots and the smell made me want to throw up, but we’ll see what Kevin thinks when he tries them next week!
My little guy is 5 months and has no problem with rice cereal-mixed with formula and banana,applesause or pears. We tried squash-he did not like it at all. It did upset his little tummy. I am going to try carrots as he has not had very many veggies yet except sweet potato. I haven’t tried yogurt yet ..or oatmeal. As for starting too early-I leave that choice up to the parents even though they say 4-6 months is too early. We had one whopper of a poopie this morning-he had peaches last night.
My little guy is a couple weeks older than Monkey. We started rice cereal @ 4 mos because he was eating so much also. He was ready for it on day 1 but he does also really like oatmeal which a nurse in my ped’s office says some babies tolerate better digestively. After a few days on cereal, we introduced veggies starting with yellow/orange veggies (squash, sweet potato, carrots). We’ve sinced moved on to green veggies (peas and green beans) and slowly fruits. I am a believer in introducing veggies first and more often so my little guy doesn’t only eat fruits (which are much more popular than veggies). Talk to your dr before introducing any meat/protein or dairy. Most sources say they’re not ready for those foods until 6-8 months. My guy takes 1/4 cup of rice cereal (w/abt 1 1/2 oz of milk) or oatmeal 3x per day as well as 1/2 tub of fruit in the morning, abt 3/4 tub of veggies (usually some of 2 kinds, one green, one orange) at lunch and some veggies at night. He still takes ~30 oz of breastmilk in bottles as well (he was b/w 40-45 oz of milk b/f we started solids). Be careful about monitoring Monkey’s bowel movements until you get things regulated. My little guy got constipated and we’re still figuring out the right fruit/veggie balance. According to my dr, applesauce, bananas and carrots are all constipating. Prunes work wonders for constipation but other fruits help too. Good luck!
My little one just had her 4 month appointment and the doctor also suggested starting cereal after checking how well she could hold her head up without support. The doctor said not to be discouraged if she doesn’t like something after the first try. It could take 10-12 tries to find out if a baby doesn’t like a food. I haven’t started the cereal yet, but I can’t wait to try.