Question About Rice Cereal for 4.5 Month Old

I put my daughters food in the microwave all the time. Just stir it well and test it like you would if you warmed it any other way. She's 21 now and doesn't glow in the dark or anything!

I never heated up the milk just gave it to her straight from the fridge when mixing with cereal. That is the way she has always had it so she expects nothing else.

I used to heat up everything in the microwave. I know they say not too but really?? I would always test a small amount by putting in on my upper lip. Not actually taste it, but apply it(if you will!!) on top of my upper lip. It is a very senstive area and you will know at once if it is too hot, or just right! Good luck.

i put 1.5 oz in a spare bottle and place that in a cup of hot water. It heats up while I measure cereal, get bib, put baby in high chair... very easy to do.

no heating in the microwave wont hurt at all, that is how i used to heat my daughters bottles and she's just fine 2 years later. But you might want to add some applesauce to the rice or bananas or some type of fruit they seem to like that better i heated the fruit for about 20 seconds, and still use the milk (but try the water too) but deff the fruit

K.
I have a 6 month old. Once I mix the milk (formula in my case) with the cereal, I put in in the microwave for 11 seconds. My son prefers it warm (especially when I'm forcing him to eat green beans with it!). Good Luck!

I can't imagine it would hurt to nuke the milk - it just depletes the nutrients. I found it easier to run the milk under hot water a few minutes in a bottle. After she got used to the cereal I started mixing it with a bit of powdered forumula in water, and now that she is 10 mos old I just use the water and she is fine with it!

I don't think it hurts at all. All you have to do is stir it when you take it out and then check the temperature with your finger to make sure the hot spots are out.

I put everything in the microwave for my girls - they are 4 and 2 and are doing great......Good Luck

I never heated cereal, I gave it room temp and he was fine.

K.,
Instead of the breastmilk, put the water in the microwave.

1/2 mug of water at 1 Minute will warm up a tiny amount of breastmilk.

Any amount of microwaving changes the makeup of breastmilk. You are right. It is not good to do it. You would be better off giving the cereal in water than breastmilk if it is that important he have it.

An extra 45 seconds won't hurt, and the bottle warming up shouldn't take that long, either. A bottle warmer (or mini crock pot was what my old place of employment would use to warm bottles at odd times during the day).

I just reread what you wrote, and now realize that there is only a small amount of breastmilk being added to cereal, not cereal to breast milk in a bottle. I don't think you need to warm it up. It will only come down to the temperature of the cereal when you put it in.

My son hasn't had breastmilk warmed up yet. It's either cold in cereal or warm from me. Call me lazy, but if he's not turning it down, I'm not worrying about it. :) The little guy eats frozen peas. :D

Good Luck!
M.

Hi- I'm at the same point you are. I've been mixing the cereal and milk in a small coffee cup and then placing that in a pan of warm sink water. I never put the pan on the stove, but it seems to heat the cereal enough and it's easy to dip my finger and test the temperature.

If you make homemade rice cereal, you can make it on the stovetop and then let it cool. You grind brown rice into a powder (it took about 2 minutes of grinding in our spice grinder for a 6 mo old baby), then add it to boiling water for 10 minutes (1/4 cup rice to 1 cup water). Stir frequently. After it is cooked, add in the breast milk to make it the consistency that you need. This can also be frozen.

If he's not into it yet that is fine, he is a bit young for solids, anyway.

I echo Christa O's response.......
D. N.

You're not supposed to microwave because it denatures important proteins, and can cause 'hot spots' in the milk. I just used it room temperature. Breast milk can sit out for up to 10 hours. So just save a bit and use it room temperature. That's how my 6 month old daughter got breastmilk for 5 1/2 months (I was an exclusive pumper due to latching problems), and now she gets room temperature formula, and it has never been a problem.

I've just been expressing brastmilk into a bowl, and adding in the food. Is that gross or creepy? I tend to think of it as my own superpower: "I make milk!"

Our little guy is 5 months old, just had his first food this weekend -- but the 3 year old big brother let out a loud LOUD shriek just as the food was getting to the baby, so now the baby looks paranoid whenever we bring out the bowl. It's hard to be the little one!

My baby girl is 4.5 months old and she's been eating cereal for less than a week now.

I bag my milk, and freeze it (laying it down flat in the freezer so its a thin slab of milk instead of it all sitting at the bottom), so when I'm ready to get milk for cereal, I snap the milk in several pieces, take out a piece for her cereal, and put the rest in the freezer for next time (which includes putting an additional bag around the milk as you will crack the bag open). Then I put the chunk of milk in a sandwich baggie and put it in a mug of hot water. By the time I get the bowl, spoon and cereal out, its ready to go.

Its not a perfect solution, nor does it allow you to give your baby the same amount each time, but it works well for me.

Hello again! Maybe I'm doing it wrong, but I don't heat the cereal up. I just serve it at room temperature. I believe heating is optional! I would be careful with the microwave cause of hot spots.

I put it in the micro for both kids. I did 10 seconds maybe less come to think of it..like 7 seconds. My house keeps cold air so room temp is cold. But in all honesty, I do hear you shouldn't but I did anyway.

Hi K.!! congrats on your baby boy!!! You are supposed to mix the cereal with either breast milk or formula. I say absolutely heat it in the microwave, just be careful to not overheat!!! I always use the microwave to heat up formula... good luck and enjoy!

K.,

i would just be sure to stir it and test to make sure it is not to hot. I think it will be fine to do as long as you are careful. if he hates the cereal I used to put some fruit mixed in to help it taste better. Things were different when my kids were little i know now some doctors start veggies before fruit. Good luck!!

On weekends when I'm not at work, I typically pump in the a.m. and am able to leave a little bit out at room temp. to use with the cereal a couple of hours later. Same in the afternoon for evening cereal. No heating necessary!

microwaves do not heat evenly and it is possible to be hot enough in some spots to burn
i would use a crocpot, heats more throughly, i always just kept mine on low all day and just dumped out the water to change it once a day

Hi K.~
If you are breast feeding, expel some milk into a bowl or bottle and mix it with the cereal. Or you can also try a little fruit with the cereal.
So you know, microwaving things for baby is not reccommended because they create hot spots. We tend to forget that they cook from the inside out. If you microwave food for your son, start absurdly low (5 to 8 seconds), mix it well and test it on your upper lip before adding any more time. It should just be warm, not hot. Remember he's used to things at body temperature so warm to us could be hot to him. Just trust your own instinct. A good part of parenting is natural and the rest is instinctual. Trust yourself and you'll be fine.
Good luck...
J.

I have read that by microwaving any food, it actually reduces its nutritional value. The example was that they took 2 plants and watered one with water and the other with (cooled) microwaved water and the plant watered with the microwaved water died. So, it may not hurt your baby but it may lessen the nutritional value of the food. Have you tried feeding it to him cold?

I wouldn't worry about it for the cereal. Just don't give bottles that way. The milk will break down.

Is there a reason that you need to warm up the breastmilk? I never warm up the breastmilk for the cereal or for feeding time (I pump exclusively). He drinks it cold or warm - when I have just pumped.

Hi K.,

I too am 37 year old Mommy to an almost five-mos old little boy. I am partially nursing him while at home and he's getting formula during the day. What we do is warm up the bottle and then put the warmed milk in that way. Does that help?

I've never put a bottle in the micro (except in the sanitizer container), so can't help you with that one. You can always test it with your mouth too.

The microwave is tricky, because the milk can seem like an ok temperature...but then have pockets of really hot liquid! The same happens with any food you heat up. When I pumped, I would leave about 3 oz in the fridge at all times, and then just mix it with the cereal. I never worried about warming up the cereal or milk.

You can also mix cereal with applesauce or pears. The liquid from the fruit can work just as well as milk. By 5 months, my son would only take cereal if it was mixed with fruit.

I didn't have tons of breastmilk to spare, so I always used formula for cereal that I mixed with really hot water.

your not supposed to use the microwave because of the chances of burning the baby, not for anything else, so just be careful OK

M

you put the water in the microwave, then the breastmilk in a glass jar in the hot water to heat.

but aside from that, esp if you are breastfeeding, 4.5 months is young to be starting solids. the recommendation is to exclusively breastfeed for the first 6 months. babies stomachs are often not mature enough to handle solids, and the iron in the cereal actually changes the way your baby will absorbed breastmilk iron. did your doctor suggest to start cereal? if so, what reason did they give and have you asked them about the AAP recommendation of waiting till 6 months?

my daughter was EBF for 7 months, and then went to solids completely bypassing the cereals. rice cereal esp has no nutrional value. just something you might want to look into.

good luck.

Your milk is just the right temperature, so why risk burning your childs mouth by using microwave, which also destroys the nutrients!