How to Schedule Solids

cereal is given between bottle feedings at this time. Not as a substitition. She will wear more than she eats for a couple of weeks anyway!

When you start giving her food, she will not need eat as often (most likely, babies are unpredictable, as you know). The span in between meals should stretch because they are getting more filling foods.
So, what I did, was give cereal in the morning, eaten off of a spoon, not in the bottle! After the cereal, I'd give a bottle.
Now, with my son, he still drank close to 6 oz. of formula even with the food, so I didn't get to reduce it by much. He would stop eating if he didn't want it.
Then at lunch time, more cereal and bottle, dinner time, cereal and bottle, then the bedtime bottle was just a bottle.
Once I started with baby food, I kept the same schedule except only gave cereal in the morning, then food with the rest of the meals.
Mine basically got breakfast, lunch, dinner, and a bedtime bottle and that was it. He did fine on that from about 4 months to when I switched to real food and real milk!
She will probably sleep longer at night because she won't be as hungry. If you find she doesn't, then try a little cereal with the bedtime bottle.
I found the schedule to be a great thing for my son.

Hello! I am one month into the "introducing solids" process so hopefully this will help. I am breastfeeding so it might be a little different. At four months I started him on single grain cereal (oatmeal or rice). He had a teaspoon to start with for lunch...one tip I can give you is to let your daughter have some formula first. She won't understand yet that the cereal is going to fill her belly and take away the hunger pains. I tried to feed my son the cereal first and boy did he scream! I finally figured out to nurse him a little first then feed him the cereal and finish up with nursing. This has worked so well and he stops eating when he is full.
After a week once he got the hang of the whole eating solids thing I added another meal...dinner. Eventually increasing his portions to 2 tablespoons. This happened over the course of one month.
Now at five months I have begun introducing veggies - 1 teaspoon only. I give him a new veggie once a week. I have started with the orange (carrots, sweet potatoes, squash), then green (beans and peas), then on to the fruits!
I too wondered how much to give and I have found these two websites to be such a help...of course once you get the hang of feeding your daughter you will see how much she likes or doesn't like to eat at her different meal times. Good luck and let me know if I can help with anything else!
One more thing...they say baby will turn their head away or spit the food out when they are full...mine arches his back and screams! Aren't they just so cute?!

http://www.thepedcenter.com/advisor/pa/pa_foodchrt_art.htm

http://www.babycenter.com/0_age-by-age-guide-to-feeding-y...

Forget all those people who raise babies by books. If your baby doesn't seem satisfied, a little cereal goes a long way. A couple spoonfuls of cereal is fine to start with- 2 Tablespoons of the dried flakes. She probably won't eat all of it, and most will end up on her clothes. She'll know if she wants less bottle feeding or not. Oh, and giving your baby cereal before 6 months is not going to cause obesity in her future. I don't care what kind of studies there are about it. I have a funny graph which correlates the reduction in the number of pirates to an increase in global temperature, so trusting a single study is probably not as effective as trusting your daughter's hunger. Good luck!

Hi J.,
I started just giving a little cereal at dinnertime, then followed that will a full bottle right before putting my son down to sleep. Then, as my son got good with that, I started introducing foods a couple of times throughout the day. I would give him his bottle first, let him take most of that, and then supplement with food. The important part here it make sure he gets his formula first. It will take some practice for her, so not a lot of food is going to make it down the hatch at first anyway.

When I first started my daughter on solids, I would nurse her first thing in the morning when she got up, wait about an hour or so and then give her some cereal. At first I only gave her two solids a day..in the morning and at night around 5:00 or so. Solid foods at this age are not supposed to replace bottle feedings, they're just supposed to be supplementing what you're giving her already as her nutritional needs increase. Eventually your baby will start to decrease the amount of bottles on her own. I hope this helps but it's just a play it by ear type thing and every baby is different. She'll work herself into her own routine.

I wouldn't reduce the bottles or how much milk you make. Just try little bits of cereal for the first week and offer a bottle AFTER she eats (if she gets a bottle before she won't eat the cereal). Don't wory if she doesn't eat much cereal or drink much formula after; she just got enough. I would feed my boys between 5 and 5:30 so I could fix dinner after. I wouldn't put cereal in the bottle; that whole "it will make them sleep longer" is a MYTH. You will hear alot of people claim that it's true, but it just isn't. My oldest son was bottle fed and he was up every 2-4 hours until he was 6 months old (1 month after i started solids), and still woke up twice a night for a bottle till after he was a year old. My second child was breastfed and started sleeping through the night at 3 months; I never put cereal in his breastmilk either.
Once she gets used to rice cereal, try oatmeal in the morning about 30-60 minutes after her morning bottle. Once she gets used to oatmeal (around 2 weeks after you start solids) start veggies, one kind for 3-4 days before introducing another, with her cereal at dinner. (You want to start veggies before fruits so they don't develop a "sweet tooth" and not take the veggies at all) This will take a couple of weeks; then start fruit in the morning with the oatmeal. By around 2 months after you start, she should be getting oatmeal and a fruit in the morning followed by a bottle (instead of bottle first then cereal) then give her the veggie and rice cereal for lunch, and then start introducing meat and veggie combos with cereal for supper. I did this with both my boys, and it worked great. I hope this advice helps. Good luck

Have you considered waiting a bit to start the solids? There is sooooo much information and research about the benefits of waiting - I waited until close to 9 months to introduce solids. A book I used and still refer to is called The Super Baby Food Diet by Ruth Yaron. There is awesome info about what to introduce and when and how to prepare food for babies and to incorporate it with breastmilk/formula. She is a little nuts but if you can sort through the way she has the book organized it is a wonderful resource.

Hi J.!
Starting solids can be fun. It's like the first big milestone. But I have to urge you to wait until the 6 month mark. Much of the media, some books and even some doctors will tell you 4-6 months is fine but that is OUTDATED advice. The AAP (along with about 6 other respected organizations) have recently changed their recommendation to the 6 month mark. I'll list some links at the bottom of this with more info on why delaying solids until 6 months (and later is okay) is so important. You may say well, that's only a matter of weeks, what's the big deal. A lot is happening inside baby's body and especially in her digestive tract in those few weeks from 4 to 6 months. Remember when you were pregnant and how so much could happen in just a few weeks? Same for baby. New research shows that starting solids too early, even with a simple cereal, can lead to digestive problems later in life and lead to obesity. And hello, those are two big problems plaguing American adults right now. How many commercials do we see in one day for medications to fight these two problems. Too bad our parents didn't know this when they were feeding us meat and potatoes as infants!

You are right, formula or breastmilk continues to be the main source of nutrition for the first year. So you start the solids real slow. In the beginning, solids are not for nutrition at all, more for play and experimentation. Baby should only be getting solids once per day until around 8 months then you can increase to twice per day. The goal is to slowly increase the solids the closer you get to the one year mark yet still keep formula/breastmilk as the main source. Watch you baby's cues, she'll let you know when she's ready to move to the next level. But don't count on finishing those cute little jars of baby food for a while.

Why Delay Solids
http://www.kellymom.com/nutrition/solids/delay-solids.html

No Food Until 6 Months!
http://askdrsears.com/faq/fit12.asp

Feeding at a Glance
http://askdrsears.com/html/3/t030500.asp
This one has one of the best charts I've seen!

Will giving formula or solids at night help baby to sleep better?
http://www.kellymom.com/nutrition/solids/solids-sleep.html

First Foods
http://www.kellymom.com/nutrition/solids/first-foods.html

Starting Solid Foods
http://www.kellymom.com/newman/16starting_solid_foods.html

How do we get started with solids?
http://www.kellymom.com/nutrition/solids/solids-how.html
This on has a excellent chart to show you how that

Is My Baby Ready for Solids?
http://www.kellymom.com/nutrition/solids/solids-when.html

Starting Solid Foods
http://askdrsears.com/html/3/t032000.asp

I just recently started my four month old son on rice cereal. Right now I am giving him between 1 1/2 and 2 Tbs. of cereal with 2 oz of formula. I am breastfeeding but during the day he gets cereal and a regular bottle (5 to 5 1/2 oz.) at breakfast and dinner. I have also started giving him jar baby food at lunch time and dinner time (one new food per week to test for food allergies). What other moms have told me (I am a first timer too) is that there is no right way to do solid foods and not to be concerned if my son doesn't eat a lot at first. The main nutrition will still be the milk he/she receives. Believe me they have room for it if they are hungry. Watch your daughter for cues that she is full or not interested. Don't try and force feed either (peas don't feel good when they are spit in your face!) Hope this helps.

J., my best advice is to take it slow and don't feel like you have to start cereal on a certain date or jar food. I rushed a little to quick because I felt judged by others and my son started getting constipated and it took a little time to adjust. My best advice is to watch for cues. She may start making "chewing" motions with her mouth. That would be a good time to start. Maybe one teaspoon of cereal about 30 minutes after a bottle. I would do one cereal feeding a day for a couple of weeks to let her stomach adjust. (Also, make sure you start the cereal out REALLY thin so she doesn't get choked.) Once she is good with one feeding per day, I'd try two per day until she is pretty adjusted, then start adding in fruits & veggies. My ped said to try the same fruit or veggie for about 4 days in a row to make sure there won't be any allergies. Be careful with apples & bananas as they can have a tendency to constipate. Prunes tend to help with constipation if it occurs as well as apple JUICE (I know it sounds weird but it works even though apples have the opposite effect.) No more than an ounce or two of juice. You may want to try any find Super Baby Foods. It's a great book that really explains infant nutrition. Hope this helps! Let us know how it goes!

Can you wait till she is 6 months to start cereal? The later you start the less trouble she will have digesting the food.(Her digestive system is more developed). Unless she is hungry and waking up a lot at night I'd wait and stay on the 3 1/2 -4 hour feeding schedule. Then intro Cereal first then a bottle. Just morning and night to start with on the cereal. Bottle on regular schedule. At 6 months intruduce her to a sippy cup with meals. Remember only one new food at a time for 3 days to be sure she is not alergic
M.- Mother of 4 Do you have the Book WHat to Expect the first year? It is very helpful!
M.- Mother of 4

Likely she'll start drinking bottles more like every 4-6 hours once she starts eating a lot. With my 2 kids we started with rice cereal once or twice a day first, then fed them rice cereal in the morning, jarred fruit for lunch and a veggie jar for dinner around 6-7 months, then moved on to fruit and cereal for breakfast, yogurt and avocado for lunch, Cheerios for snack, jarred veggie and plain noodles for dinner by 8 or 9 months- stuff like that. Start with the cereal and keep bottles the same. At first she won't eat much cereal, but over time she'll want more people food and less bottle.

Since she is only 4 months old, you dont need to worry about any kind of change in bottle habits. This introduction to food is basically not nutritional, its just to get her used to eating solid foods. I used to feed my daughter (at 5 months when she started Rice cereal) her usual morning breast feed, followed by a small bowl of the rice cereal like an hour later (so she'd be a little hungry by then). At first, I only gave her the cereal once a day, then once I started adding other foods, I'd also do the same for lunch time. Eventually when your baby is older, the amount of formula you feed will decrease as her consumption of actual foods will increase. Hope that helped!

Start by giving her a lil bit of cereal at nite mixed with some forumla in a bowl given with a spoon. Once you think she is handling that, give it to her twice a day (once in the morning and then once in the evening). Then 3 times a day (morning noon and nite) Then replace the evening with a veggie (you can also mix some cereal with it). Then add a fruit in the morning and a veggie at nite with cereal for lunch. This should be a slow procees to watch for allergies. Once you get close to 6 months then i would try fruit for morning, veggie for lunch and meat/meal for supper. As far as the formula goes, at 4 months a baby should get 24-36 oz/24 hour period. I think I waited at least an hour after they ate to try a bottle to give him a chance to digest some. If she acts hungry before then by all means bottle it up. You should by this age be able to tell when shes hungry. But just relax and enjoy this stage. Get some good pictures of her first bite of food and those funny faces! Hope this helps.

I have 3 boys and when I did the intro to solids, I kept the bottle scheduel the same, and did the solids as breakfast 8am, lunch 12pm and supper 6pm. My kids had bottles every 3hours, and it depended on when they woke on the 1st one on when those times were. My food times stayed the same, and if it fell at the time of a bottle, I made it and gave it to them, and if they wanted it they drank it, but if not it was not a big deal, (my oldest son would take no more than 4oz when the times mixed) My youngest son would occasionally eat and take the whole bottle)I would just let them jugde if they wanted it. On the times the bottle and solids were not close I would offer them a little juice of water to wash it down. Cause who wants to eat without a drink:) Good luck hope this helps you some!
(on a different note, I always say introduce the love for water early, my oldest son is 5 and he never had pop until he was around 3 and I had always made him drink a couple cups of water a day, and when he had pop he thought it was discusting, and LOVES water:)

J.,

I will be the first to tell you.. you will probably get a million different answers to your questions. I will tell you what I do. My son is almost 7 months and when I started cereal, it was a couple spoons at a time. My lil man is breastfed and a lil chunker already. After a couple nights of a couple spoons I added more. I did this b/c he wasn't staying full before bed. He would wake up every couple hours. I continued the bottles although, I only offered the cereal at night in addition to a smaller portioned bottle. My son always falls asleep after a couple ozs, so no need in making a 6 ozs bottle. My Ped said not to start solids till 6 mos. The cereal I did start early b/c he seemed to not be satisfied. He pretty much tells me when he's full ... usually he dozes off. (yes, even in the high chair) Kelly mom is a good site to get info. http://www.kellymom.com There are topics for almost everything, breastfeeding or not. I hope this helps you if not, feel free to drop me a line. I'll try to help any way I can. Good luck and don't stress it.. seriously.

T.

J.,
You start out introducing cereal to the baby. That does not mean that she is going to eat the cereal. You put a small amount on the spoon and put it in their mouth. Some of it makes it down and some of it spills out of their little mouth. Feed the baby cereal at the same time as you eat meals--Breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Start the cereal at breakfast for three or four days. Then introduce it at dinner time. Gradually start introducing it at lunch time. Give the baby bottles at the regular time and let your daughter decide how much she wants. At first she will probably drink the same amount of milk. As she learns to swallow the cereal she will eventually start eating more cereal and drinking less milk. It is a gradual thing that happens over time as you start to gradually introduce baby veggies and fruits too. Most of her nutrition is still coming from the milk until she is about a year old. Enjoy your little one! Take lots of pictures of that sweet little messy face when she is eating!
S.

I have a six month old little girl. When she started rice cereal, she ate it once in the morning and again before bedtime. I put her formula in her cereal so that way she gets her formula. But, She did slack off on bottles when we started solids. I think as long as they get like 24 oz of milk a day or something like that they will be fine. That includes the amount of milk you put in her cereal. After she turned five and half months I started adding veggies. She is now down to about 20oz of milk a day that includes the amount in cereal. I put 4oz of milk in each cereal. It makes alot of cereal, but she's an eater. I hope this helps.

Hi J.-With my kids I have always started slow and just kinda let them tell you. Your schedule will change with the more solids she eats. I like to start with cereal for breakfast and bedtime. Then when she is tolerating that well start a veg. at lunch and then dinner. Do vegs. before fruits. Kinda the golden rule to get them to eat vegs. Fruits are sweet and they will tend to like them more than vegs. I always fed solids followed by a bottle. She will start not wanting the in-between feeding bottles with the more solids she eats.
Good luck!

I was wondering if you are starting solids b/c she doesn't seem satisfied with just formula/breastmilk? Even though everyone and their brother (many pediatricians included) say to start solids at 4 months, the American Academy of Pediatrics recommends not starting solids until 6 months. Starting too early can lead to obesity in adulthood. I, personally didn't start solids until 6 months and my son is a very good eater. Of course, many kids are fine after starting solids at 4 months. I started by mixing the cereal with breastmilk or formula and feeing him at dinner time, then nursing afterward. You gradually build up from there!

Hi J....

Here's the website I used...very helpful:
http://www.wholesomebabyfood.com/solidfood4to6montholdbab...

I've heard and read not to introduce cereal in the bottle. Mix it with formula or breast milk feed you baby with a spoon. The solid food is in addition to, not replacing any bottles since breast milk or formula is the best source of nutrition for the first year. Offer the bottle first and then wait 1/2 and hour and introduce the cereal.
This site lays it all out. BTW it's amazing how much they can fit in there!

Good luck!

T.