Starting Cereal - Stoneham, MA

My son had severe reflux as well and was on liquid Zantac since he was 1 mo. old. I too gave him rice cereal in his bottle since he was 1 mo. just to hold down the formula. I started feeding him rice cereal with a spoon at 5 months and I'd dip the end of the spoon in to baby applesauce. He loved the taste. I started with applesause, peaches and bananas for awhile before I moved on to vegetables. Good luck - I know how hard it is! (My son outgrew his reflux at 1 yr. old and is 4 now - he eats everything in sight!)

Hi J.-
My second child had acid reflux and feeding him was totally different. When your baby has acid reflux, first of all, you can not go by those reference charts or what others have done. Acid reflux is so individual and ranges in severity. Having said that, I too was anxious about his nutrition, and always willing to hear someone's similar experience.
The fifth formula was the best for him, Good Start. He had to have cereal in every bottle to weigh it down. Straight formula would projectile right out him. Cereal off the spoon was introduced at about 5-6months. Sometimes it stayed down, other times it did not. My ped advised just orange veggies to start off with and then fruits. The major difference here is that he ate maybe 1/4 of the food my daughter ate. His nutrition came mostly from the formula and cereal in the bottle. If your daughter can handle the food that's great but do not push it before her system is ready. You had questioned giving her cereal off the spoon while also giving cereal in the bottle. Well, that depends on how much is staying down. Can you give her straight formula without her losing most of it? You can always do both, no worries. It's good to offer a variety but if it doesn't stay down, you have to go back to what will settle in their delicate system. My son only started to hold onto his food after he turned a year old... even though he was on Zantac & Prevacid.
This is such a difficult situation, good luck and feel free to email me directly: ____@____.com.

A.

First of all, my daughter is 15 months old and still cant feed herself with a spoon. They are just no co ordinated enough. But she started eating cereal at 4 months old (she turned out to be alergic to wheat and grain, but thats a different story). But they do sell cereal with fruit already in it, so i would try that. Ask your doctor first of course. But when my daughter started to eat solids i gradually gave her more everyday until she was eating 3 meals a day and nursing in between. But my sisters daughter had severe acid reflux and she always had to put the cereal in her bottle even after she started eating it from a spoon.

Hi J., I am a stay at home mom of a 12 year old, a 9 year old, and an almost-5-month-old girl. She began on rice cereal (which is the easiest for them to digest)a week before turning 4 months...for the past 2 weeks, I have been adding fruits. It is recommended to not begin with veggies, etc until 6 months of age.
I get WIC and get lots of great advice from them. I feed my girl cereal 2 x per day with a spoon. Any more questions, feel free to ask me...it is nice that we have babies so close in age. She was 11 lbs., 15 oz. at her 4 month check up, and over 24" (she had been 8 lbs. 0 oz. and over 20" at birth.)~M.~

Hi J.,

Sorry to hear about the difficulties you are having...I started my son on rice cereal probably around 3 months. He didn't get a lot of it at first. Just a couple spoonfuls followed by formula. We introduced when he was hungry, but not starving and then just kept up with it at the same time everyday. We didn't introduce veggies until 5 months. We mixed it in with his cereal. Gradually we started inserting veggies and fruits more and more. (He's a big fan of fruit!!!) But we kept giving the bottle just so he was getting all the nutrition he needed. I breast fed until about 9 months and at that point he was eating fruits / veggies pretty regularly. Honestly we didn't use the rice cereal that much, he preferred oatmeal. It's a long process, but I hope that helps. : )

Hi J....

I am new to this site and you are my first response! I have a 6 month old who also suffers from acid reflux...our pediatrician started her on Prevacid when she was 3 months old and it certainly helped. In terms of the cereal..we started her on rice mixed with formula and water to a pancake batter consistency..not too thick. Of course, more of the rice made it on her bib than in her mouth, but we wanted to get her used to the spoon. We switched over to oatmeal only in the morning at 5 months and with practice and consistency she is taking the spoon and pretty much gets the concept. Our doctor advised us to start her on only yellow and orange veggies 2x day (squash, sweet potatoes and carrots). The next stage we started her on green veggies at about 6 months and then we will start her on fruits by the next pediatrician visit.
Our doctor advised us not to start her on fruits first because she will obviously like the fruits over the veggies...

I never put the cereal in her bottle, because I wanted to get her used to the concept of me feeding her with a spoon. So far it has worked. I give her the veggies for lunch and dinner and I will start her on fruits soon.

I am a first time mom too and it has been so exasperating...you want to make sure she gets enought to eat! I am sure you will receive lots of different advice....you will find what works best for you and your child. Take care!!