4 month old baby starting rice cereal?

Question

My 4month old daughter is starting rice cereal and i was wondering if anyone had any way of getting her used to the spoon...she will suck on the spoon but spit the cereal out...any idea's tips or tricks on getting her to eat it?

Answer 1

i started my 4 month old son on rice just yesterday, i found that giving it to him when he's in a happy playful mood works beautifully. but just put the spoon in her mouth and kinda scrape the rice off the spoon from the top lip if that makes any sense. dont keep the spoon in her mouth long enough for her to suck on it. she will spit it out unentiontially because she use to the bottle but jsut keep scraping the food that comes out back into her mouth, she'll get the hang of it

Answer 2

She's probably not ready then yet. My daughter still had her tongue reflex at 4 months and spit out anything you put in her mouth. We had to try again at 5 months.  

Answer 3

Everyone has said the same thing, not really ready to eat yet. I agree, but I would try it every couple of days anyway, even at 6 months mine spit it back out, my dr said it was a reflex he would have for the first couple feedings anyway. Good luck

Answer 4

My best advice would be to wait another two months until she's ready.  You tried, but it sounds like she has told you that she is not ready for solids.  6 months of age is the average at which parents now introduce solids (when i was a kid 30 years ago they did do it at four months, but now we know that most kids mouth reflexes aren't prepared yet).

So, if she spits it out, you are seeing an important tongue reflex - until that reflex diminishes you should not try to feed her solids.  

Answer 5

She's spitting it out because she's not ready for it yet. Try again in two months or so and she'll probably love it!

Answer 6

Alot of people will (and are) telling you shes not ready yet... I was in your same boat! I started my son at 4 months, about a month and a half ago. People told me the same thing... but I did it anyway because his pediatrician told me to start. Your baby might be a little young for it. But, I dont think it hurts. The point of cereal is to get them used to eating anyway. Its normal for her to just be spitting it out. After trying with my son for a couple weeks (I even mixed sweet potatoes with it) he wasnt really that interested. But, yesterday I gave him sweet potatoes (no cereal) and he loved it... ate them all. So, I would just keep trying with the cereal but remember that you baby is just learning. After a couple weeks of that, she will love baby food!  

Answer 7

yeah, the tongue thrust is totally REAL. to give you an idea how real it is, when my daughter was just shy of 6 months, i tried giving her some banana off my finger. she spit it right out. a mere two weeks later, she ate a quarter of a banana, no problem. when they're ready, they're ready. no need to rush it.

4 months is really early. i personally wouldn't introduce solids to a child who wasn't sitting independently pretty well, showing keen interest and food, and not having the thrust reflex.

Answer 8

a few weeks before we started our son on rice cereal (also at 4 months) we started putting him in his high chair to play with a few toys. one of those 'toys' we gave him was one of his spoons. when the time came to start putting cereal on that spoon he was an old pro.

good luck.

Answer 9

try a cereal feeder.... you can get one at wal-mart. this helps her get used to using her tongue.  Be patient she will learn : )

Answer 10

try adding JUST A TOUCH of baby applesauce. It will give it some flavor and she'll like it better!

Answer 11

Yeah like some people said she's not rdy , there are some thigns too look for when baby is ready to feed at the tounge relfex is on of them

Answer 12

While many doctors give the go ahead for babies around 4 months to begin to eat solids many babies aren't ready for this adventure quite yet.  It is a common and normal misconception that if baby spits out the cereal it is because he/she doesn't like the taste.  Actually, spitting out the food has nothing to do with taste, but everything to do with something called a tongue-thrust reflex that babies are born with.  No amount of added flavor is going to make rice cereal go in and stay in any better until the tongue thrust reflex begins to subside sometime in the first 6 months of life.  You can just keep trying or you can wait a few weeks and try again.  When it comes to nutrition, breast milk and/or formula will supply everything your baby needs for proper growth and development for around the first 6 months and will continue to provide a large portion of nutrition for the about the first 12 months.  Every baby is ready for solids at different ages.  My own youngest daughter was exclusively breast fed until just before she turned 7 months and became interested in what we were eating.  We pretty much skipped all commercially prepared baby food and she basically went right to eating table foods.  For her, it worked well, for other babies it might not be the best way to go for them.  Your baby is still very tiny and doesn't need solids right now so if it isn't going well it is usually best to hold off and try again later.

Answer 13

The tongue thrust reflex is causing her to spit the cereal out.  That reflex is important and you should listen to it.  That is literally her body's way of telling you that she is not ready for solids yet.

The tongue thrust reflex is there to keep stuff from getting in her mouth that shouldn't be there.  Listen to her body.  

Answer 14

Wait till shes 6 month old like you are suppose to then you wont have problems. By the way rice cereal is very constipating dont know why everyone is in such a hurry to start feeding babies

Answer 15

try putting in a bottle and poke a larger hole in the nipple so she can suck it out.

Answer 16

She's probably not ready, and that's fine.  6 months is really when you should start solids.  4 months is the absolute earliest, but there's no need to start at that age.  

By the way, even if you do want her starting solids at 4 months, it's fine if she really doesn't eat it.  Starting solids is about introducing them so she gets used to the taste and texture.  Solids really should not be providing any kind of nourishment this early, so if she doesn't swallow any, it's perfectly fine.