How Do I Start Cereal?

You might want to start with cereal in the morning so you can see his reaction to it--if it made his tummy uncomfortable or gassy, that may be why he woke so much.

Hi E.,

You don't really need a schedule for this or a "right" amount for it, I started with the suggestions on the cereal box by making the last botle of milk with the cereal and graduately increased until they can take it with the spoon.
It will really depends on what your child like and when he is ready for the consistency.
My oldest one didn't want anything but milk and my youngest wanted solid food soon, she took her first Mc Donalds bite when she was about 8 month! LOL! Just by stealing some of her sister's Mac.
So you never realy know how much is going to be right, ask your pediatrician too, but the boxes of cereal usually has pretty acurate amounts recommended there.
On the other hand, routines works for some not for everybody, sometimes they nap more so you have to feed them later and so on.
So it is usually about this much at about this time.
Six months is young though. I would say just a little bit of rice on the milk to get used to taste on his last meal.
Hope it helps,
Mariana Abadie
www.MyKidsFirst.com

Hi E.,
how much do i start with?
I started my kids with 2 tablespoons with 2 ounces of BM or formula twice a day. I increased from there after 2 weeks and went up to 3 tablespoons and then to 4. Once we were there I went on to give them the other kinds. I never went past 4 tablespoons.

how many times a day to start?
I started with 2. 1 in the morning and 1 before bedtime. I fed my kids their cereal about 30 minutes after they woke up. And about an hour before they went to bed or before bath.

Here was mine
7:30 get kids up and dressed
and then breakfast cereal could go here
9 am morning nap
11:30 I start lunch
12:00 noon, we eat
2:00 - 4:00 afternoon nap
when they get up its right to the table and snack time
5:30 I start dinner
6:00 pm eating and then cereal could go here
8:00 pm bath, bottle bed, or here

My daughter will be 1 year old one the 14th of November we have been on this schedule since she was born, all of my kids have.
Once thye were going good on the cereal I added in vegetables and fruits. I fruit at breakfast, a vegetable at lunch, and then cereal at dinner. As they kept getting older I would add in more, to where we were eating a fruit and a vagetable at lunch and dinner and then we gradually weened of the cereal at night to where they didn't need it anymore.
Hope this helps, W.

I gave my daughter rice cereal in the evening, and just mixed it to the same thickness as cream of wheat, usually an hour or so before bed. Then she got a bottle at bed time. Later I started giving it to her morning and night.

If you think she's waking up because the rice cereal isn't settling well on her stomach, try the baby oatmeal instead of cereal.

Just start with a few teaspoons like you're doing. The consistency should just be a little thicker than breast milk. Right now, you are mainly just trying to get him used to the idea of eating from a spoon. After he gets used to that you can make it thicker, introduce veggies/fruits, etc.

I started rice cereal just once a day and I did it after I breast fed. You don't want him to be starving when trying to introduce the spoon. After he gets used to one serving of cereal per day, then you can move it up to 2. Then you can make it thicker too.

My daughters schedule was something like this:
7:00 am - breastfeed
8:00 - cereal
9:30 - breastfeed & nap
12:00 - breastfeed & nap
2:30 - breastfeed
5:00 - breastfeed
7:30 - breastfeed
9:00 - 8 oz bottle of pumped breast milk & down for the night

Now her schedule is like this:
7:00 breastfeed
9:00 cereal (3 tbsp oatmeal, 1 oz milk, fruit)
10:00 breastfeed
1:00 breastfeed & nap
4:00 breastfeed
5:00 (3 tbsp oatmeal, 1 oz milk, veggie)
7:30 8 oz bottle of pumped breast milk & off to bed for the night.

Every baby is different and your son will have his own schedule. Just start slow. Hope this helps!

I've always just "eyeballed" it. I was told by my Doc to make it a bit soupy at first until my kids learned to gum food. I fed them once in the am and once in the pm at dinner time. Now that my baby is on more real food she gets it in the morning. I also found that neither of my kids like the taste of "plain" cereal, so I add Gerber fruit to it and it goes down better.

Just trust your instincts and it'll be fine.

I found it easy to follow the advice on the Gerber website. I started with 1 Tb of cereal to 4 Tb of milk, the next day 2 to 4, 3 to 4 and then 1/2 and 1/2 over four days.

We only fed in the evening, as he went to daycare and I wanted to be the one to feed him cereal. I know others suggest introducing foods in the morning so that way if there was a reaction, you would be able to see the doctor that day.

My doctor had me feed my son 1/4 cup of cereal every day for a month before we moved onto vegetables and then fruit. After a month of once a day we moved up to twice a day once in the morning and then 6:30pm in the evening.

As far as schedules, I have found the book The Baby Whisperer Solves All Your Problems by Tracey Hogg, to be very helpful in determining a schedule for my little guy including four hour feedings and three naps a day.

Hope this helps,
R.

Try one third cup of cereal with foods one or two container of fruit with your milk all mixed together. You could do this in the morning & at night to keep his belly full.