When starting solids, what happens to the bottle? My doctor recommended giving a couple of ounces of formula first, then cereal immediately after. What do other mothers do when first introducing solids? My daughter gets mad when I try JUST solids and wants the bottle. Thanks!

Hey LauraLu!

Ella's had cereal since she was 4 months (about 2 months now)...we started her with just about a bite- she too just wanted her bottle, we started her slow with a bite or two and then increased a bit at a time.

Now she's on cereal 2-3 times a day and fruits and veggies...she still wants her bottle, she's even figured out how to pick up the bottle from the high chair and drink it (so we let her do that between bites) and it seems to help. But once we start, she eats so fast that we're done feeding her and she's ready for the rest of her bottle.

She still gets 4 bottles a day in addition to the cereal (she drinks about 6oz during each bottle)...

How's your little one doing?

The key is to offer solids when your child is not starving, otherwise, they want the bottle instead of the solids if they are hungry. Like, if you normally give the bottle every 4 hours, at 3.5 hours, give some solids and then finish with a bottle. The solids should not replace the bottle and babies still need the majority of their calories from milk (or formula).

Giving the bottle, solids, and then the bottle again never worked for me either. My son also would get mad. I found doing the solids a half hour before the bottle worked best.

Hope this makes sense.

My son's dr recommended to start w/ the solids and give him as much as he'd take, then to top off with formula. We went to a sippy cup at the same time that we added solids and it's gone very well.
DS still takes his full 6oz sippie of formula and a couple times a day he also gets about 2oz of squash.

i agree with keltokel, i had a hard time starting solids with my little girl i just wanted to do it right. that seemed to work for me was to offer the solids first then the bottle. i would have the bottle ready though b/c as soon as she was done with the rice/fruit/veggie she wanted her bottle asap. when your baby gets old enough you can offer juice or water with its soilds as well as table food like bits of cheese or goldfish crackers or the puffs made by gerber(great starter food for self feeding).

Thank you Mommies! I had initially tried solids about a month ago and she just seemed so upset, so I decided to wait a bit. I took the suggestion of not waiting until she was too hungry. I don't do rice cereal, because she's already on soy formula...which makes her a little constipated at times.
She's like a different child!!! She loved the oatmeal and was actually opening her mouth and making funny sounds for more! I'm so relieved.
Thank you!!!

Sarah ~ I can't believe my Madeline is almost 6 months (on the 31st)...ready for another one???