Giving Baby Cereal With Breastmilk

Mom s are urged to add a little rice baby cereal and formula to baby s bottle as a way to keep him full and sleep through the night.

Giving baby cereal with breastmilk.

Feed only a quarter of a teaspoonful of baby cereal or mashed food to begin with increasing the amount very slowly as your baby shows more interest. To start the introduction process mix 1 to 2 tablespoons of iron fortified rice cereal with 4 to 6 tablespoons of formula breast milk or water. If you are mixing oatmeal cereal in formula. Start by serving one or two teaspoons.

You may want to nurse your baby before their serving of solid food. Iron fortified infant cereal such as rice cereal or oatmeal is another good solid food to complement breast milk. Find more baby food cereal recipes here what is the best oatmeal cereal for babies. Most pediatricians recommend starting rice baby cereal at about 4 6 months old for baby s first food.

Formula or breast milk thickened with rice cereal is more dense in calories than formula or breast milk alone. Parents can mix 1 to 2 tablespoons of baby oatmeal cereal with about 4 to 5 tablespoons of breast milk or formula. This means it is a more efficient food to give to babies who may still be under six months but whose appetite seems to be outgrowing a liquid diet alone. Solids can be offered just once a day in the beginning and then slowly increased as the baby wants.

Some people mix rice cereal with fruit juice too. Increase to 1 tablespoon of pureed food or 1 tablespoon of cereal mixed with breast milk or formula twice a day. It is most effective if done no more than 20 to 30 minutes before your infant will feed. If you mix it too early the enzymes in the breast milk will break down the oatmeal making it ineffective.

Mix 1 tablespoon of a single grain iron fortified baby cereal with 4 tablespoons 60 milliliters of breast milk or formula. Begin with about 1 teaspoon pureed food or cereal. Some doctors will recommend it even earlier as a way to help newborns sleep. Don t serve it from a bottle.

When first starting infant cereal check the label to make sure that the cereal is a single ingredient product that is rice cereal or oatmeal and does not contain added fruit milk or yogurt solids or infant formula. Instead help your baby sit upright and offer the cereal with a small spoon once or twice a day after a bottle or breast feeding.