When did you start cereal by spoon?

[swampnurse]

Max is a very big and hungry 3 month old. He is 17 pounds, 25 inches long, and eats 6-7 ounces every 2 hours during the day. Thank goodness that he does sleep 10-12 hours at night! :)

I am planning to start cereal soon (at about 4 months)and want to feed it to him by spoon rather than put it in his bottle. At what age did your babies get the hang of spoon feeding? Any suggestions?

Thanks!

[Lynnie]

at about max's age since he was that size too! i was going to wait for the four month mark, but started about a week or so earlier when two doctors (we went for his checkup early) said to feed the poor guy already.

he likes food so much that he really didn't have a problem dealing with the spoon/toungue thrust issue, like my first guy did - who started much later.

i just started with very liquidy cereal, and i used breastmilk instead of formula so he would like it. i added fruit the next week with the cereal and he much preferred that. he is a total chubby pig, though, which is the complete opposite from my other son, but i think its great.

suggestions would be to feed him when he is hungry, but not starving, cause you don't want to get him frustrated. and my second one never liked the baby spoons (the teeny ones with the rubber coating over them) because it didn't hold enough food, and he would get frantic wanting more. so we have used a long iced tea spoon since almost the beginning.

he is almost 7 months now, and eating the stage 3 already prepared oatmeal with soft apple or banana chunks, and has gnawed on a baby teething cracker (forgot the name... sleep deprivation i guess- 2 year old could not sleep from 2-5) and eaten fresh mashed up banana and other stuff. but he still gets plenty of milk.

good luck and have fun !

[swampnurse]

Thanks for the advice! i think i'll call the pediatrician and ask if i can start a little earlier. the poor guy is starving! :)

[Lynnie]

i would call if i were you. and, to tell you the truth, i think my mother in law gave him food some before the doctor even said it was ok... and given that this was baby #2, i didn't really pitch a fit, like i would have with my first ! I had had to put some cereal in the bottle when he was younger because he had reflux, so i guess i figured if it was ok in the bottle then, it should be fine in the bowl when he is even older... although i do admit, i didn't start or officially sanction it until the doctor said i could, even though she, my grandmother, and every other older, experienced mother said i didn't have to wait to talk to the doctor (of course i never asked the doctor - she asked me what i was feeding him, and then looked at me like i was crazy, and said, aren't you feeding this kid solids yet... and he was born almost 4 weeks early )

oh, ps if you are going to introduce fruits, the plums or prunes are a good first one, since they help fix the problem that can be caused when babies first start eating solids (adult prune or apple juice works too. and i got that directly from the doctor) ....i would dip the spoon in the cereal side of the bowl, then the fruit side, and make a "baby food cobbler" type thing.

mmmm. cobbler..... i really should EAT at lunch instead of spending time here !!

[lizajane]

really, if he won't take it from a spoon, then he isn't ready for it anyway. i can relate because schuyler was 18 lbs and 27 inches tall by 16 weeks. he also slept well at night but ate and ate all day.

it is possible that max is having a 3 month growth spurt and his eating (drinking) could slow down a little. but if you do start solids early (before 6 months) just be aware of his tummy. it was a disaster for us and made schuyler miserable. as soon as i went back to breastmilk alone, he was super again. early solids can cause digestive problems- gas is an easy one to recognize.

[pritchettzoo]

We waited until 6 months to start solids. This site explains all of the research on why to wait pretty well: http://www.kellymom.com/nutrition/so...lids-when.html

Also, rice cereal has less calories than breast milk or formula, so feeding him cereal won't make him less hungry. It takes up more space in his tummy than cereal or formula, but he needs the calories more than volume.

Anna

[stillplayswithbarbies]

we started solids at almost 9 months, but didn't give her cereal until she was about 11 months. So many babies have tummy troubles with cereal we just didn't see any reason to subject her to that.

...Karen
DS Jake Feb 91, DD Logan Mar 03
http://members.aol.com/khowe14494/superpower.gif http://members.aol.com/khowe14494/bo...breastfed2.gif

[swampnurse]

that kellymom site was very informative, but it seems to be geared mostly toward breastfed babies. I weaned Max a few weeks ago before going back to work, so he just gets formula now. Thanks to all of you for all your advice, i'll ask my pedi what he thinks. i can't imagine Max would be satisfied drinking just formula until 6-9 months though if he is already drinking 40 ounces in 12 hours!

[audys]

Wow, Max is a great name for your DS!! He's a big boy!

We let our DS hold a spoon and play with it for about a month before we started solids.

We started with spoon, then spoon with breastmilk (or formula), then cereal with breastmilk/formula. We could test his tongue thrust reflex this way to tell when he was ready.

We waited until he was 6 months old because food allergies run in our family (both sides) and this is a major medical reason to wait...

Our DS ate well from the spoon when we started solids at 6 months(although we had to give him his own spoon to hold) - I think the spoon playing really helped.

Happy feeding,

Audrey, mother to Graham

[stillplayswithbarbies]

the American Academy of Pediatrics says that nutrition in the first year should come from breastmilk or formula. Solids can be introduced in the second half of the first year (after 6 months of age) but should not replace breastmilk or formula for nutrition.

It doesn't matter whether baby is breastfed or formula fed, the reccommendations about solids are the same.

Solid foods do not have the type of fat that babies need for brain development. You would not want to give so much solids that baby is not getting enough formula (or breastmilk for breastfed babies).

Babies should be satisfied with just formula or breastmilk for the first 12 months of life. That's what they need to develop and grow.

...Karen
DS Jake Feb 91, DD Logan Mar 03
http://members.aol.com/khowe14494/superpower.gif http://members.aol.com/khowe14494/bo...breastfed2.gif