Rice Cereal - Rego Park,NY

Spoon. The whole point of giving the child food is to get used to the spoon, food on their tongue and swallowing food. It is not nutrition. They are getting that from the formula.

The introduction of rice cereal and/or solids is to begin teaching the child how to 'eat', and this means eating from a spoon. Skip the bottle - she already knows how to eat from a bottle.

Start out making it really runny and be prepared for your baby to make a big mess. Remember, she's learning a brand new skill and it will take time for her to adapt. As she gets better taking the food from a spoon, start to gradually thicken it.

Right now, the cereal isn't really for nutrition but for her to learn how to eat off a spoon and be social at the dinner table. Good luck, have fun, and don't stress out when she's eating - make this an exciting experience for her.

Rice cereal isnt for nutrition, its for learning how to eat. There is no advantage in putting cereal in a bottle.
Mix some in a bowl with enough breastmilk or formula to make it to your babies liking. You'll have to experiment. My kids liked it on the thicker side. If I made it too thin, they would gag on it.
If you like, you could mix a little stage 1 baby food, such as carrots, to give it a little flavor.
If you baby doesnt take to it, just put it away for a few weeks and try again later. Your baby is only 4 months, you have plenty of time.
Enjoy this new stage, its a lot of fun.

The current consensus is NOT to put cereal in a bottle. The best way is to mix it in a small bowl with formula or breast milk. It should be quite runny and feed to your baby with a spoon. Be sure to throw out whatever she/he doesn't eat at that feeding.

Use a spoon. Definately.
Do not use a bottle.

Yes, for the 1st year of life, "solids" is just an "introduction" to food/foods. Not a "meal" or a buffet.
1 teaspoon is appropriate. Their stomachs are tiny.
That is a baby's "portion sizing."
As she gets older into Toddlerhood, portions/serving size are then 1 Tablespoon.

Keep in mind, that it is a gradual increase in how many teaspoons a baby can/will eat.
For the 1st year of life, breastmilk/Formula is a baby's PRIMARY source of nutrition... NOT solids and NOT other liquids. And to still nurse on-demand.
Give "solids" AFTER nursing... otherwise, baby will be to full to nurse, after solids. Then that will make baby not want to nurse. Feeding "solids" BEFORE nursing... is done to WEAN a baby from breast. So you don't want to do that... because she is still so young and still needs breast milk/Formula.

ALSO, your baby is real young to have cereal... it should be SINGLE grain rice cereal. Also, if she does not like it or does not want to "eat" or pushes you/the spoon away. Just stop. Then she is too young, and you should try again later. Even until 6 months. Some babies, this age, cannot "eat" yet, because they STILL have their "tongue thrust" reflex... and will push the food out of their mouth. So it is about mouth development & coordination too, and their instinctual "tongue thrust" reflex.

all the best,
Susan

I agree with what others have said. add formula or breast milk and don't be surprised if she pushes the spoon away or spits out the cereal, or if she seems to love it! It can take a few trys for her to get used to the idea..it took a few days for my oldest children to really "eat" it and my almost 6 month old started at 4 months also and he is now just really getting the hang of it....every baby is different and goes at their own pace..I would not recommend putting it in a bottle. I did this with my second child only because he had acid reflux and was prescribed to by the doctor. Good luck and have fun!!!

4 months old is so young to start solids! Pediatricians are now recommending starting at 4 months, and I don't get the big push. My doctor also wants me to stop breastfeeding at 12 months because he says that cow's milk is more nutritious!!! I find that very hard to believe. So don't always trust your doctor. Unless there is some specific reason, wait until at least 6 months. Their little tummies are not able to digest solids when they are so immature, and studies are showing kids are more susceptible to allergies the earlier solids are started.

Prepare it in a bowl. Our pediatrician was adamant that you never put rice cereal in a bottle. Plus, he said it's an old wives' tale anyways and won't help your baby sleep.

Just mix it with a tiny bit of breast milk or formula. It should be pretty runny at first.

You can do either way - it's up to you. The Director of the NICU put my now 7 month old on 1 teaspoon per ounce of milk IN the bottle since he was 2 weeks old. My son was not a premie but had other health issues that had nothing to do w/ eating & was there a little over a month...his pediatrician also backed up this practice...I still put the same amount of cereal in his bottles plus give it by spoon & he also eats baby food stage 2...the only thing I had to change was the nipples on the bottles. I use Playtex Ventaire & switched the nipples to fast flow.I must say that he eats MUCH better than my other 2 kids did, sleeps thru the night since he was 1 month old & is considered to be on target w/ his weight. HTH!

I wouldn't use a bottle. That is an "old timey" thing to do. You can do your own research, but it is advised against by most pediatricians.
The whole point of the cereal is to get them used to texture. So I always put some in a little bowl of warm milk or formula. I used a spoon to serve it.
I will say that neither of my kids liked it. We ended up just going straight into mashed bananas and sweet potato's.

I tried in a bottle and it was a disaster. My daughter did just fine taking it from a spoon. In the beginning, I made it almost like a liquid and gradually increased the amount of cereal.

use a spoon. mix.. 1 tsp of cereal with enough formula or breast milk to make the right consistency.. in the beginning the cereal is very runny.. but you need it to be thick enough that you can actually use the spoon - or it is too messy. as she gets bigger you add more cereal and less formula.

babies do not need to eat any rice cereal or baby food for the first year. all of the nutrition comes from the formula. baby food is just practice for eating later.

so if she doesnt like rice cereal or any other baby food dont worry.. she doesnt need it.. always make sure she gets her milk. and not too much food that she is too full for the milk.

I also always used a spoon and made it very soupy until my girls got better at it. It was pretty interesting to watch so have someone taking pics! Good luck!

Just mix it with a little formula or breastmilk (although my daughter wouldn't take it this way), or you can add a bit of applesauce (unsweetened) to the mix to add a little flavor. I always spoon-fed it to my kids. It starts off messy! Have lots of towels, lol! She's probably just spit it out at first. :)
If you use the bottle, they sell a specific bottle for this with a push valve since it's too thick for them to suck. I've seen them at Walmart.

I always used a spoon when it came to cereals... it helps them to learn to adapt to the changes in feeding that will be coming soon. I would start of with really runny cereal & then add a little less milk/formula till you get to the directions on the box. It helps them get use to the new texture.

Once they got use to the cereal, I started on single item baby foods. Always leaving at least 3-5 days between adding a new type. Plus, I would mix a little bit of the food w/ the cereal. I liked giving oatmeal cereal w/ fruits & rice cereal w/ veg... but that is just my preferance. The doc did tell me to start w/ apples & pears (they are easier on the tummy) then yellow/orange veg/fruirs then green veg. They told me that 6 yrs ago & I've done it w/ 3 kids now... it did seem to work wonders w/ my kids. They still love eating & eat just about everything they are given.

I basicly used the baby foods to check for allergies... once they started getting their teeth, they started eating what we ate just cut up really small (about pea size or smaller).

Good luck w/ the new expericance & congratz on the little one!!