when starting rice cereal how would I feed it to him?

Kim - posted on 07/06/2011

First off, DO NOT put the cereal in a bottle! It is a choking hazard! Second, he is too young yet to start on baby cereal, wait until he is 4 months old. When you do start giving him baby cereal, give it to him by using a baby spoon only.

Crystal - posted on 09/12/2010

i would not mix it in the bottle really i would mix it in a bowel and there a drections on the box how to make it but once u start putting it in the bottle then good lucky trying to feed it to him

Stefanie - posted on 03/07/2010

I didn't mean to offend. I saw her question as "when" to feed it. The answer is after 6 months per every major health organization world wide UNLESS your doctor says otherwise, the OP didn't mention her doctor suggesting it, so I figured that she wasn't one of those cases.

Cara - posted on 03/07/2010

you can do whatever u want with your kids. that wasnt her question. she wanted to know how to introduce it. her pediatrician and herself should be the judge on whether or not it could be harmful to her child.

Stefanie - posted on 03/07/2010

Cara - notice that I said "when directed by a doctor." This would include reflux babies. I know they are started on cereal because surviving (keeping down milk) is more important than allergies. I have read about those newer studies that you are refering too. Those talk about introducing certain foods like peanuts before a year old and if it contributes to peanut allergies. Basically, does it matter if we wait on certain foods like peanuts, berries, etc, etc. It is NOT refering to early introduction of cereal, which has been shown to be corrollated with a higher rate of allergies because the gut is not mature enough to digest it.

Allergy argument aside, why feed something to your child to make them "feel" full when it won't actually fill them up? Rice cereal has basically no nutritional value, so why fill them with that which prevents them from getting as much breastmilk/formula as they need.

Cara - posted on 03/07/2010

you can start a baby on cereal no matter how early it is. of course make sure you speak to his doctor because the ratio of cereal/formula or breast milk you should use can be different for every baby and his doctor can tell u about how much to use. you can also adjust this later so he's getting more from it if he needs that. i would recommend buying dr brown bottles with the y cut nipples so he doesnt have to work so hard to get it out with a regular bottle.



i did the exact same thing with my child. she was 4 weeks old (shes almost 8 weeks too ). i was unable to breastfeed so shes on formula. she has having trouble eating so we tried to thicken her formula with the cereal like her pediatrician suggested, and then later found out shes allergic to milk. now we mix her soy formula with the cereal



also babies with reflux are started on cereal usually between 3-6 weeks of age, so to Stefanie Erdman, thats not exactly accurate, although partly true. however there is new research suggesting that certain foods dont cause later allergies. if you're allergic you're allergic. eating certain foods wont create them if u already have them they just usually show up later.

Stefanie - posted on 03/06/2010

It isn't recommended to start cereal until 6 months of age, the same with any solids. The reason is that their gut isn't closed yet, and early introduction of solids could lead to more allergies. The only time that you should give rice cereal before 6 months is when directed by a doctor.

Kathy - posted on 03/05/2010

I had my son in the hospital with RSV and they actually started him on cereal just to keep his breast milk in his stomach. They had me put in 6 Tbsp for 4 oz. I would consult you peditrition just to make sure but I gave all four of my boys cereal by three months in the bottle with about 5 to 6 Tbsp per 4 oz of milk just to help with milk supply since they were eating non stop by this point.

Mianda - posted on 03/05/2010

yes you should put it in his bottle, you should try like one scoop og rice to a four oz bottle and see if that helps fill him up if not then add a little more till it does fill him up. . .and for the scoops its does best if you use the scoop that comes out on the formula can