How much cereal for a 5 month old?

[chelseav1213]

How much baby cereal are you supposed to give to a 5 month old baby? And how many feeds, I have no idea how to start solids :-\

 

[aliss]

You can just make the mix and give him a few dabs off your finger to start. You just watch him - first, it's offered after a milk feed. He should be able to tell you when he is done - either thrusting his tongue (I notice yours is preemie though, I'm not sure that reflex will be developed yet for him), looking away, boredom, letting it spit out. There's no right or wrong amount, since he has had his milk, it's more of a 'top-off' than a meal at that age.

 

[1stTimeOct.12]

If this is any help. My doctor said that the general goal is to be feeding three meals a day buy nine months. Start off with one meal then work on from there. As far amount, I been doing as much as lo wants. Which has been all of two bites, but mine is still young at four months

 

[JessPape]

Zero.......lol my personal opinion. Cereal is a money grab not needed thing.

 

[robinator]

I see you're in the US; our rice cereal is fortified with iron, which is a good thing as babies begin to lose their iron stores around six months.....

You could give him 1-2 tablespoons twice a day (maybe after the breakfast and lunch ff/bf). Or, mix it into banana or some other type of fruit.

 

[CMarie]

I agree with Jess . . I would avoid baby cereal if I were you. It's nutritionally useless for the most part, even my LO's old pediatrician told us that. If you don't mind me asking, why are you starting your LO on cereal already? 5 months is still quite young!

 

[rjm09]

My ped suggested starting solids at 5m too.

I started my son with mixing formula with the cereal, just maybe an ounce worth. I offer in the morning. After a few weeks, when fruits are introduced, i went to micing the cereal with the fruit for breakfast. As months go on and more solids are introduced, you can increase meals to say cerea/fruit in morning to veggie for dinner, then a plain fruit for lunch later on to make 3 meals a day.how much at a time as they get older, well, they'll eat it all real quick to let you know they want more,lol!

 

[StranjeGirl]

I was told to start slowly, once a day.

Why is everyone so against cereal?? I didn't start LO with cereal but I give her baby oatmeal most mornings. It's whole grain, organic and fortified with vitamins. I eat oatmeal for breakfast many times. I don't get the "no cereal" thing at all! If you buy the right one it is actually very healthy.

 

[greats]

We do once a day and she will only take about 2 spoonfuls after her bottle.

 

[CMarie]

I was told to start slowly, once a day.

Why is everyone so against cereal?? I didn't start LO with cereal but I give her baby oatmeal most mornings. It's whole grain, organic and fortified with vitamins. I eat oatmeal for breakfast many times. I don't get the "no cereal" thing at all! If you buy the right one it is actually very healthy.

The problem is most commercial brands of rice cereal. They are used more to fill your baby's tummy and worthless for nutrients.

 

[Tor]

Just give the normal amount of milk feeds and solids after milk and they will drop the milk feeds on their own, milk is most important at this age.

As for baby rice I don't think there is anything wrong with it, its personal choice and for me it was most gentle on his tummy so I used it for quite a while.

 

[chelseav1213]

I thought cereal was to be started at 4 months? I was also told here in the US cereal is mandatory before startng solids.. When do I start solids then and do i do the same? do milk first then whatever he wants of baby food after? Its very hard to get him to eat I dont see him eating any solids after a bottle hes been only drinking about 20 oz a day lately and I have no clue why I'm assuming teething because he's showing other signs of this - Ped didnt seem concerned though, hes just a little baby fom being a preemie she said..

 

[Casey3]

Nope not mandatory at all! Babies aren't ready for food at 4 months, usually closer to 6 months and by 6 months they can eat whatever you're eating. We skipped the "baby cereal" as its crap and just a sneaky way for formula companies to make more money. At 6 months they can just have regular oatmeal or cereal (like shredded wheat, muffets, etc) with you!

I'm not sure weaning guidelines with premies, can't be too different though as milk is more nutritious and beneficial for growth...

Milk is always first, solids just compliments the milk, they don't replace feeds.

 

[StranjeGirl]

Ok I'm still confused by why people are advising against cereal. yes certain brands are not good because of whatever reason, but that is the same with our adult cereal. Frosted Flakes isn't healthy for us either, but oatmeal(with nothing added) is. There are plenty whole grain cereals out there for babies with nothing else added except fortified with vitamins. I would avoid rice due to arsenic levels, but if it weren't for that, whole brown rice cereal with nothing else added except vitamins is NOT bad!!! Yes you can give your baby the oatmeal you eat yourself instead, but I don't typically eat breakfast and baby oatmeal is much easier and faster to make since I don't have to let it cool. It's also easy to transport and make on the spot. It's just regular oats ground up into a powder. I wish people would stop bashing cereals. Processed junk is processed junk and obviously there are better choices than sweetened cereals etc, but whole grains are good for you and to say "cereal is bad" is false. Pick a good cereal and it's totally healthy...and easy on the stomach and palette for a little baby not used to food.

 

[HLanders]

My pediatrician told me to steer clear of solids until 6 months as it will decrease the likelihood of food allergies. As the other mothers said, most nutrients will still come from milk, be it breast milk or formula. I asked point blank if I should avoid rice cereal because of arsenic levels... she said it may not be the arsenic I should be worried about, but more so that starting on a simple white carbohydrate like rice can set them up for higher BMI levels when they're older. She advised we stick with organic brown rice cereal or oatmeal. We get WIC, so I'm sticking with oatmeal.

Also want to add, 6 months old and babies still might not be ready for solids. One of my girls loves it, she perks up whenever the spoon comes towards her. The other girl will spit literally everything that enters her mouth out. She gives me a face of, "What in the heck are you doing to me?" So I offer a few bites and then let her be.

It's recommended on the box to give about a tablespoon of dry cereal and then mix it with formula or breastmilk. I eyeball it, what they eat, great... what's leftover goes down the drain (or on their faces, clothes, bibs, high chair... lol). Early on I think it's more about teaching them to swallow rather than any amount of food eaten.

 

[josephine3]

I agree with StranjeGirl i dont see why baby oat cereal is bad? Id never head of the wole arsenic thing till bnb but it does worry me and i do get the whole 'white carbs' issue... However we did start on rice cereal mixed with breast milk around 5 months too. Wuickly moved onto oat cereal and frutis. She still has rice pudding tho and also the old trick of a little cereal agasin close to bedtime. She loves the rice pudding i cant bear to take it away from her.. Is rice pudding still 'bad' .. I suppose it is!

 

[pinklightbulb]

I was told no matter what solids you start with, only a couple of spoonfuls at a time

 

[josephine3]

The spoonfuls with cereal thing confuses me.. When people say 2 spoond of cereal i never kno if thats 2 spoons of dry cereal or made up

 

[StranjeGirl]

I agree with StranjeGirl i dont see why baby oat cereal is bad? Id never head of the wole arsenic thing till bnb but it does worry me and i do get the whole 'white carbs' issue... However we did start on rice cereal mixed with breast milk around 5 months too. Wuickly moved onto oat cereal and frutis. She still has rice pudding tho and also the old trick of a little cereal agasin close to bedtime. She loves the rice pudding i cant bear to take it away from her.. Is rice pudding still 'bad' .. I suppose it is!

Is rice pudding the same there as it is here? I think just milk and rice? If you make it yourself you can use imported rice. It's the rice grown in the US that is bad, especially the south. The white rice in the south is really bad, as well as brown rice from anywhere in the US, except I think california had lower concentrations of arsenic. If you get imported basmati rice or jasmine rice from india or thailand it doesn't have the arsenic problem. If you buy rice pudding you can always call the company to see where they get their rice, and if you make it you can get imported brown basmati rice etc and you don't have to worry about it!

 

[aliss]

The spoonfuls with cereal thing confuses me.. When people say 2 spoond of cereal i never kno if thats 2 spoons of dry cereal or made up

To start with a young baby (5-6 months) it would be 2 spoons of made up cereal. Some babies can have a bad reaction, so just a small amount to start with as a taste.