Hi there -

My little one will be four months this week and just started on rice cereal once a day on Friday. Everyone told us this would help her sleep better because her tummy would be full; however, I had to stop giving it to her before bedtime because it was like the stuff was full of caffeine because she was extra wide awake after eating. :)

Anyway, my question is, when did you start your child on cereal more than once a day and at what point did you start to add fruits or vegetables to it? I get so many different opinions from people on this that I'm really confused. Some say to start slowing adding a vegetable now - some say she should be eating cereal two to three times a day at this point, and then others say wait another month or so before adding more food. I'm just curious what others have done. I'm a first time mom and confused as heck.

Thanks!

I think everyone has a different routine and does what works best for their baby. I personally went somewhat slowly with my twin boys through the transition to solid foods.

Their doc advised us to start cereal at 4 mos. b/c they were on the big side (90+ percentiles for height and weight) and it was taking too much to fill them with nursing and bottle feeding. They were preemies and because they started solids on the early side at 4 mos. - I wasn't sure if they were ready for solids. To start we gave them only rice cereal each morning - once a day - for about two weeks. They did very well, so then it was two meals a day with cereal (rice and multigrain) in the morning in the afternoon - for another two weeks or so. Then three meals a day with thereafter - and we started introducing veggies and other first foods every 3-4 days.

We didn't feed them their evening meal immediately before bedtime, either. We would try to have them finished up at least an hour before - and we gave them a small bottle to go to sleep.

I think you have to see what works best for your little one, and proceed as quickly or slowly as you feel comfortable - as long as she's gaining weight, taking to solids okay and getting enough to eat.

Good luck, mommy!

Anyway, my question is, when did you start your child on cereal more than once a day and at what point did you start to add fruits or vegetables to it? I get so many different opinions from people on this that I'm really confused. Some say to start slowing adding a vegetable now - some say she should be eating cereal two to three times a day at this point, and then others say wait another month or so before adding more food. I'm just curious what others have done. I'm a first time mom and confused as heck.

Thanks!


"expert" opinions change ALL the time, so yeah, it's hard to know what to believe anymore! just remember that all babies are different and there really isn't any one right answer here.

for my own two girls, i never really did plain cereal - i put it in their nighttime bottles, but didn't really spoon feed it to them. i started both my girls on cereal and jar food at 4 months. i think my first was eating about 2 jars a day (with cereal mixed in) by the time she was 5 months old. my second was doing well if she even finished a whole jar in a day, and then she didn't want to eat jar food the next day! i mixed all their size 1 jar foods with cereal (and most size 2 jars too) to thicken it up so it was easier for them to eat.

as far as fruit or vegetables first, i don't think it matters. we started with applesauce, and introduced something new about every third day or so. now at ages 3 1/2 and 20 months, both my girls eat all kinds of veggies and fruits and love them both (my three year old actually eats spinach and loves it! and my toddler will pass on cookies so that she can eat her broccoli!).

anyway, you'll hear a million different opinions here, and none of them are going to be wrong. my advice is to get some ideas from what you read in this thread and then just experiment until you find what works best for your baby. :)

If you really aren't sure ask your ped. I personally think it's whatever mommy thinks is best. I started my son out on baby oatmeal at 3 months. We gave it to him everyday for a month before we started solids. Within a few weeks of starting veggies, I introduced fruit in. Within about 4 weeks of eating solids he was eating three meals a day. Cereal with applesauce for breakfast 6 oz.for lunch and 6 for dinner.