Need help with feeding cereal to my boys

[grkkat]

Hello -
I am a first time mom and have 5 month old twins. Our doctor has given me the ok to start to feed cereal to our children. With our oldest he still needs to gain weight so we have been told to feed him his cereal only with his formula and with his brother we were told to spoon feed him.

Are there nipples that are specifically designed to release formula + cereal? I have tried opening up the nipples but can't seem to get the hole the right size. Any suggestions how how to create a bigger hole on the nipple so the mixture of cereal and formula flow out at a good pace? I have not yet tried to spoon feed my other child as I'm not sure if there are special spoons that are needed. Any suggestions.

Thanks!!!

[amom526]

There's no reason you need to be putting cereals in their bottles or stressing about feeding them cereal.

I'm not sure what the idea is behind these guidelines, but you should not feel pressured to start solids at 5 months, and you should definitely not feel pressured to start with rice cereal.

It is most important for your babies to get their nutrients from breast milk or formula. If you want to try spoon feeding, you just mix the rice with a little breast milk/formula/water and put it on a small spoon. But a lot of babies are really not ready at 5 months, and still have the tongue thrust reflex. I also found all the baby cereals to be really constipating for both of my sons and just skipped over them in the end.

I also find rice cereal to be really nasty, so I usually wait until closer to 6 months and then start with a fruit or vegetable that is easier on the stomach. I remember as a FTM I could not wait to start solids, but there really is no rush.

[ArizonaGirl]

Welcome to the Boards :wavey:

We had good luck with our preemie gaining weight by adding avocado.

It is an excellent veggie with lots of good fat and an excellent first food.

I would also caution you on the rice cereal because it can be very constipating to their little digestive systems.

HTH

[AnnieW625]

I would do some avocado and spoon feed him if you can't find a nipple that will work. My DD2 didn't care for the rice cereal so we switched to baby oatmeal and she did much better with that. I think the Playtex drop ins bottles have a special y cut nipple for formula and cereal.

(people here can be pretty resistant to solid foods before 6 months, some even a year so you may not get many responses about sticking with the solid foods, but you need to do what is best for the baby too. Both of my girls started solid foods at 4-5 months per the doctor)

[edurnemk]

Does it have to be rice cereal? I agree it's really constipating and not really very nutritious (refined carbs are not good for anyone). DS didn't like it, so we switched to Oatmeal, with DD I didn't even try it and went straight to oatmeal. DS started solids at exactly 6 months and did well, DD started at 6.5 months but wasn't very interested in them until 8 months. I didn't push her because at that age solids are about learning and experimenting, 90% of their nutrients still need to come from breast milk or formula. Also with DD we didn't start with cereal, we did veggies and fruits, she liked them better so she ate more. Good ones for starting are: sweet potatoes, carrots, squash, avocado, banana, pear, apple

No idea bout the nipples. As far as the spoons, just get any baby spoon you like, the only special thing needed is the size of the spoon, nothing else. We used Gerber ones, they're metal with the spoon part covered with soft plastic. The first times they probably won't ingest much and that's OK, they have to master a lot of stuff to be able to effectively eat a plate of cereal and it's very new to them.