When do you start cereal?

Question

My daughter is 3 months old and is a great eater! She eats about 7-9 oz every 4 hours. When do we start cereal in her bottle? How much do I give her? Each feeding or just nighttime? She doesn't need help sleeping.

Answer 1

Talk to your pediatrician.  Women used to give cereal earlier but now it is better to wait as close to 6 months as possible (some babies show signs that they need it sooner, but never earlier than 4 months).  Sooner may cause an immune reaction.

Answer 2

My pediatrician gave the okay for rice cereal at 4 months of age but only by spoon.

A baby has a hard time controlling how much they drink out of a bottle as opposed to what they eat off of a spoon. Now my baby girl will stop drinking a bottle if she is full but she recognizes that she is full quicker when I'm spoon feeding her. This is due to the fact that she has time to slowly digest the food in between bites. Whereas with bottle feeding she is continuously drinking and won't realize that she is full until later and by that time can be too full. This can possibly lead to a tummy ache, excessive spit ups and issues with portion control later on in life.

I think when to start rice cereal is up to the mother. I would just suggest feeding it via the spoon. It will be a little messy at first but it's a fun thing for the both of you to enjoy!

Answer 3

Normally at 4 months, but I give my 2 1/2 month old cereal once a day in her bottle because she is not satisfied from just the formula. Sounds to me like your little one should get some too.  Doctors will probably tell you to wait until 4 months, but go off what your instinct tells you.  My mom fed me and my 8 other siblings cereal at 5 weeks and we are all healthy with no medical conditions from eating cereal so young. She even spoon fed us!  

Answer 4

Babys can't digest cereal properly until six months.

Answer 5

well doctors usually say dont start cereal til 4 months because of allergies. However, Im sure a few teaspoons a day wont hurt her. Good luck

Answer 6

Normally you can start your baby on rice cereal at four months of age (and or when the pediatrician gives the ok to do so... whichever one comes first).  You are not suppose to add rice cereal to a baby's bottle. Rice cereal is the start of yoru baby learning to eat from a spoon... so putting rice cereal in your baby's bottle, kinda defeats the purpose of them learning to eat from a spoon.

Age: 4 to 6 months

Signs of readiness for solid food

Your baby probably won't do all these things — they're just clues to watch for.

• Can hold head up

• Sits well in highchair

• Makes chewing motions

• Shows significant weight gain (birth weight has doubled)

• Shows interest in food

• Can close mouth around a spoon

• Can move food from front to back of mouth

• Can move tongue back and forth, but is losing tendency to push food out with tongue

• Seems hungry after 8 to 10 feedings of breast milk or 40 oz. of formula in a day

• Is teething  

How much per day

• Begin with about 1 teaspoon dry rice cereal mixed with 4 to 5 teaspoons breast milk or formula (it'll be very runny).

• Gradually thicken consistency and increase to 1 tablespoon dry cereal mixed with breast milk or formula, twice a day.

What to feed

• Breast milk or formula, PLUS

• Semi-liquid iron-fortified rice cereal, THEN

• Other grain cereals like oats or barley

Feeding tips

• If your baby won't eat the cereal on the first try, offer it again in a few days.

Good luck. I could never get my son to eat rice cereal... so i skipped it and started him on stage one foods at four months (he had been eating 8-9 ounce bottles every 2-4 hours since the day he came home from the hospital. he started stage two foods at six months, and eating whatever i eat at lunch/dinner (finger foods) at eight months) trust me, he's a great eater, he's 9 months old and 28lbs 12ounces

Answer 7

PLEASE. do not put baby cereal in the bottle,    that is SO DANGEROUS...........  you use a baby spoon,  small amounts, but NEVER IN A BOTTLE.........I am A PED NURSE..........do not do that.  start at 4 months, old.......   and increase as baby seems to want more.........

Answer 8

You NEVER start cereal 'in her bottle.'  

Solids are fed with a spoon, from a bowl.  If she can't eat from a spoon, she isn't ready for solids.  

Her formula intake isn't too high. (8 ounces x 5 feeds a day is 40 ounces, which is fine.)  

The current advice is to begin solid at around 6 months, maybe a BIT sooner if baby is clearly ready, or later if baby isn't interested.  But you wouldn't even start to think about solids until 4-5 months, and even then, if she can't sit up well and eat solids from a spoon, she isn't ready.

When you do start, you don't have to give cereal either. Cereal has no really useful nutrition, and tastes like cardboard.  You might opt to start with fruits or veggies or, if she's 7-8 months when you begin, table foods.  

Answer 9

I would wait until your baby is 6 months old.  And never feed a baby cereal in her bottle...that is a choking hazard.  And you can start off at any time of the day you want...what ever is convenient to you.  I did it when the rest of us ate dinner at about 6:30.  Start with just one feeding a day!

Answer 10

I have three children whom were big babies weighing 8.1, 9.9, and 9.5 when they were born.  When they were three months, six weeks, and eight weeks old they began drinking eight to ten ounces every two to three hours.  At this point their pediatrician told me to give them cereal.  We started with rice cereal, but not in a bottle.  I mixed it in a bowl with some formula and spoon fed it to them.  Back then (six, nine, and twelve years ago) the guidelines said to start at four months.  My babies would have starved and been very crabby if I waited that long not to mention six months.  I would say put her some in a bowl with some formula mixed in and spoon feed her.  She will be fine.  You should not put it in her bottle though.

Answer 11

I started my girl on cereal at 4 mon but only at night right before bed...after that she started slepping thru the night!

Answer 12

I feed mine 1-2tbls before bed then breast milk after. Shes 4 months

Answer 13

They tell you not to put the cereal in bottles, but I did. Just to introduce the new taste. I think I started giving my little one cereal in solid form around 4 months? I was giving in the bottle at night and when we started solid for in the AM. About 2 scoops and milk to the  consistency I wanted.

Answer 14

My daughter is 11 weeks old. This past Friday, I called her Dr. and talked to her about her eating so much. She sounds the same as your's eating 6-8oz every 4-6 hours. She told me DO NOT put it in the bottle because you want them to start getting used to using their tongues and chewing movements. She told me to use one teaspoon of rice cereal with one teaspoon of formula or breastmilk, whichever you are doing. Just do this once per day. I haven't started it yet because she's been sick and not eating as much, but I hope this helps!!!!

GOOD LUCK! :)

Answer 15

Unless there is a specific medical condition, such as reflux, and your doctor has recommended it, cereal does not belong in a bottle.  Cereal or what ever other solid food you opt to begin with, should be served in a bowl with a spoon.  There is no need to start solids too early as there are numerous increased risks associated with early introduction of solids.  Your daughter is eating fine at 7-9 ounces every 4 hours.  Until she begins to show obvious signs of being ready for solids such as she is able to sit upright with good head and neck control plus seems interested in what you are eating then there is no need to rush into anything other than breast milk or formula.  Most babies younger than 4 months have a very strong tongue-thrust reflex designed specifically to aid in nursing from breast or bottle.  As your baby grows and her brain matures to the point where it begins to signal this reflex to subside then attempting to feed a baby from a spoon can only result in frustration for both you and your baby.  You will put the food in and her tongue-thrust reflex will push it out.  Skip the cereal in a bottle - she doesn't need the excessive calories if she is eating well, which it sounds like she is.  Breast milk or formula is going to be the main source of most of her vitmains and nutrients for the first year of her life.  Introducing solids as a supplement can wait until she is considerably older.  Introducing solids at 6 months is the recommended age, but some babies are ready earlier and some later.  Every baby is different.  You don't even have to begin solids by using cereal first.  Introducing solids is a process and sometime around 12 months your baby will be able to eat nearly everything you eat.  Don't feel as though you have to be in a hurry to introduce solids to your baby's diet.