How Do I Get My Baby to Eat/drink Something Other than Breast Milk

My son wasn't a fan of rice cereal either. I though he just wasn't ready for solid foods so I waited a couple of weeks and tried again with no luck. A friend suggested trying oatmeal and he loved it!

You say that you are pumping milk for your baby, but it is unclear if you are also having her nurse. If so, just let her nurse more often and it should increase your supply. If you are not nursing her in addition to pumping, then why not have her nurse? It would be so much better than introducing formula or rice cereal. She refuses because those things taste yucky! Breastmilk is the best, most sweet, most perfect food for her, and she knows a good thing. :)

She might just be having a growth spurt! Very few women (maybe 5%) really "dry up" and don't have enough milk for baby if you nurse whenever she wants. If she wants to nurse more often that doesn't mean you don't have enough milk. It means she's increasing your milk supply. The more she nurses, the more your breasts will produce. For my two cents. . . 4 1/2 mo is too early for food if she doesn't seem interested. And, as others have said, breastmilk is MUCH more nutritious than rice cereal. . . some kids hardly eat anything till 12 months. I'm sure it's hard with 2 other children to care for but I've always said I'm too lazy for formula. Now, with my 11mo old, I'm already getting tired of the baby food thing.... it's so much easier to lift my shirt! It's always the right temp and it's the snack we always remember to bring!

Just a couple of thoughts...

How often do you pump? If you are exclusively pumping, you need to pump every 3 hours around the clock in order to keep up your milk supply.

Second, if you want to increase your supply, you should try fenugreek. I'm not sure of the quantities but I have a friend that is a La Leche Group leader and if you want to IM me, I can get you in touch with her. Also, I heard that Oatmeal can help with supply. It never worked for me but I had friends that swore by a bowl of oatmeal in the morning to increase their supply.

Also, make sure that you are getting enough fluids. Not enough water can also affect your milk supply.

Just a thought about rice cereal, its really not very nutritious, its just something they want you to give your baby so they can learn how to swallow from a spoon. Both my girls NEVER ate it. I actually gave my youngest brown rice cereal that I made myself (Super Baby Food book), but you would have to wait until shes 6 months or older for that. Babys systems arent able to digest whole grains until they are at least 6 months old.

I'm really not much help on what alternatives to try, neither one of my kids would take a bottle or sippy or drink anything other than breastmilk before they were a year old. And neither one could do formula. My youngest has soy milk and cows milk intolerances.

If you are interested in getting in touch with my friend Laura, I'll be happy to pass on your information.

hi K.,
you may need to start out really slow introducing formula and cereal... i would mix tiny amounts with the breast milk so that little by little she is taking the formula and she won't notice the change. Rice cereal at this age may need to be super diluted and just adding a little to your milk and using a nipple with a larger hole may add enough to fill her little tummy. Good luck... i liked the suggestions given for upping milk supply too.

I went "dry" when my baby was 6 months old. Unfortunately he wasn't getting enough nutrients b/c I wasn't producing enough milk. My doctor had me start him on formula. He HATED the powder kind and refused to drink it. So I tried the ready made stuff- unfortunately it is much more expensive, but it was the only stuff he would drink. I like the organic simlac kind. Give it a try! Good Luck!

I am not sure about other things to feed your baby, but you may try taking fenugreek supplements (you can find them at any health food store) and drinking tons of water. You have to take a lot of fenugreek, about 3 capsules three times a day, to get any benefit. You can get it in a tea, but that isn't strong enough to do any good. I tried this when I was losing my mild and it really increased production.

My second child hated cereal...I started with the rice cereal, without much luck, and moved quickly into the veggies. She loved carrots and sweet potatoes. I think every child is different and can't be expected to start things the same as their siblings...

My daughter had to be introduced to formula slowly. We started out with 3/4 breast milk and 1/4 formula for a few feedings. We then went to half and half then 3/4 formula and eventually full breast milk.

This worked for us and yes it is recommended to breast feed your child for at least 6 months but at least you have stuck with it this long!

My lactation consultant also recommended I pump often. If you pump every 2-3 hours for 3 days your milk supply should go up and if you pump every 5-6 hrs it will again adjust to what your body thinks you are needing.
Hope this helps.

Try mixing the breast milk with the cereal. She will smell the breast milk. I had this problem with my son, he was a eater and I didn't have the milk production he needed. I first would mix formula with breast milk then gradually moved up to breast milk in the morning, then formula at night then by the time he was 7 mos he was exclusively on formula and then on solids. Four and a half mos seems young for cereal, just try maybe to alternate with formula too and see if that fills her up. Just keep offering her formula when she is really hungry and she won't be so picky, but keep that smell of breast milk by doing half and half. Good luck

I had the same problem. my baby boy wouldn't eat rice cereal or even oatmeal that was suggested by my doctor, and he was wanting more than what my milk supply would give him. my sister in law had the same problem herself and what she did was just skipped rice cereal and went to babyfood. I tried that with my little guy and he LOVED baby food! he did really well with it and that helped fill him up in addition to my milk. so you may want to try that. :)

Don't know if this will help, all kids are different, but my daughter was the same way. You can try to breastfeed her on demand, this will increase your milk supply allowing you to pump more milk. Then when you introduce her to solids, your milk storage should be back up. At that point hopefully she will enjoy the baby food more so than breast milk.

You've got to keep trying until she finally gives in. She can't be on breast milk forever

American Academy of Peds recommends exclusive breastmilk for the first 6 months. At 4 1/2 months, it sounds like a growth spurt. There are ways to boost your milk supply, even if you're pumping. La Leche League leaders are available by phone and online 24 hours a day and have specific information on how to build your supply while pumping. You can find the phone number for your area leaders and the online support forums at www.llli.org.