Soooo confused about starting solids - please help a baffled mommy!

[dinkery]

So the pediatrician says we can start B on rice cereal next week when he hits 5 months (instead of waiting til 6), to help his reflux. He didn't specify what kind of rice cereal. Okay. So everything I've heard says single grain - and I've seen those in the regular grocery store in the Gerber packages. However, my husband came home with THIS all excited and proud of himself that he chose something organic and whole grain for our child's first real meal. Cause all you ever hear about in mainstream media these days is organic whole grain stuff right? And upon reading the package I see that they do have instructions for a baby's very first solid feeding using this product. Seems about the same as any rice cereal: 1 tablespoon of the dry cereal mixed into 3 to 4 tablespoons of his formula. So my question is should I use this? Or do I need to use a more commercially available single grain instead? Can this hurt him in any way? And after our initial try, the pediatrician says to give him 1 tablespoon of cereal every day for a week, then 2 tablespoons (morning and evening) the second week, then after that we can try pureed vegetables. So how do you know how much of the veggie puree to give? Just the same amount at first, a tablespoon? And then what do we do with the cereal, stop giving it? Continue giving it separately from the veggie? Or do we add it to the veggie? And as we move along how do we know how much of a solid to give and when to give it? And what about his formula intake? Does it change from what it is now, or stay the same? I am so swamped by questions! Please help!

 

[TTCaWee1]

Here's what we did -

Started with single grain oatmeal cereal. Used a tablespoon and mixed it with breast milk. After a week or so, I started adding a spoonful or so of fruits until we went through all the fruits, giving each one over 3 days. She ended up getting constipated so we nixed the cereal and just did fruits for breakfast. After we had gone through all the fruits, I added "dinner" with a veggie. In the beginning she only ate about 1-2 oz per meal. I let her gauge if she needed more or less.

Her milk intake has stayed the same except that she now sleeps 11-12 hours straight at night so no night feedings. She eats 4-5 5oz bottles a day. I give breakfast an hour after the first bottle. Dinner is around 6:30 because she goes to bed at 8:30 so it spaces out her evening feedings.

 

[fieryphoenix]

Rice cereal is rice cereal I'd just give him as much as he would like, for the cereal and the veggies., just give him his formula first, his formula intake should stay the same for while.

 

[Kitteh_Kat]

Rice cereal is rice cereal I'd just give him as much as he would like, for the cereal and the veggies., just give him his formula first, his formula intake should stay the same for while.

This is what we did, except she hated the rice cereal so we moved to pureed veggies and fruit more quickly. She normally did around 7 oz of formula and a few baby spoonfuls of the jarred food. I just kept adding a little more every week or two until we worked up to solids several times a day (on top of her normal amount of formula). Take your cues from baby and what they want.

 

[jenmcn1]

Earths best is a great brand and organic is great. I was never big on cereal for my kids, but when I have used it I start with rice because it's the least irritable for baby and less likely to have an allergy. Digests well. Brown rice is usually the best since white rice breks down to sugar in the body much like white bread does. And try that for 5-7 days of there's no reaction move on to another cereal or puréed veggie. The more you add to the list of what your baby can tolerate than you can start mixing those items however you like once you know baby is ok with them