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starting solids
Added: 977 days ago.
Added by: tylersmommy54
Section: General.
Status: This question is Closed. (Questions will be closed after 10 days.)


my home visit nurse thinks my son should start cereal in his formula(which sounds fishy to begin with) right when he hits 4 months. i had wanted to wait till 51/2 6 months. plus he has GERD and his former doc said starting too early with GERD babies is a bad idea. in all honesty i would like for my son to let me know when HE is ready afterall only he knows his body. help.....advice please he`s my first so im kinda unsure here.

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dawnispregz - 976 days ago Rating: 0 (0 votes) my lil one had really bad gastric reflux whilst he was on the milk, but when he started solids he did begin to slow down on the throwing up not a lot to begin with but now hes 8mth old and we can feed him, get a burp and no spit up at all. Its ace! Lol. Let your baby tell you when hes ready for solids, my lil one was getting hungry earlier and on 9oz so i decided to put him on cereals and baby rice as they are the first weaning foods, to get him used to spoons. and he loved it, also if hes watching you eat thats a clear indicator. not every child is text book and waits till 4 mth as the weaning food indicated, some start earlier and some start later. I have a fab health visitor that knows me and joseph and was happy i started at 3 1/2 mth, i went to baby clinic and saw another health visitor cos mine was in a meeting and she chastised me in front of everyone for ' starting so unbelievably early' s 2 diff opinions from the same clinic. Needless to say, the textbook health vistior doesnt have children, all she has are books about children. You know youre baby, try him with a few spoons of rice and cereals to sloopy consistency cos initially its getting used to the spoon,give him a spoon to play with too though the day so he figure out what hes meant to do with it. dont put rice and whatnot in the bottle, thats not what is there for. my health visitor hates the idea, and so do i. i assume its easier cos some babies dont like spoon feeding cos they arent used to it. but thats just creating bad habits. We dont stick our food in a pint pot do we ? lol

LizetteCheree - 976 days ago Rating: 0 (0 votes) Gerd is gastric esophagul reflux disease ymmstartingover.

♥mommi - 976 days ago Rating: 0 (0 votes) i started my daughter(and my mom started my little brother) cereal in bottles at 5weeks. my brother now eats baby foods (level 1, applesauces, bananas etc.) and he's been doing that since 2.5months old. that's when he started teething. so... not so crazy

newyearsbb - 976 days ago Rating: 0 (0 votes) i have heard from a lot of mommies on my other questions that they put a little bit of cereal in with the bottle/milk at 6 weeks and it helps baby sleep through the night, so i dont think its too crazy

ymmstartingover - 976 days ago Rating: 0 (0 votes) Go with what you think is best for your son. Nurses and doctors don't know everything. I don't know what GERD is, but good luck.

krystiannoah - 976 days ago Rating: 0 (0 votes) Well, not all babies are even ready to eat off of a spoon at 4 months...my son will be 5 months tomorrow and still has no interest in spoon feeding....we do however put a little bit of rice cereal in with his bottle because it helps with reflux....so i dont get why people are saying it makes no sense...not that im trying to be mean to other people but it is common that babies arent ready for spoon feeding at 4 months. My doc has already given me the go ahead to start jarred foods and rice/oatmeal...we try every now and then to spoon feed him, but he doesnt seem to understand the concept of opening his mouth, he just pushes the food back out. hope this helps...

Bangel - 976 days ago Rating: 0 (0 votes) I'm in the US and the cereal in a bottle makes no sense to me either. I did start my LO on it at 4 months (well, I did oatmeal cause the cereal constipated him), but I fed him by spoon. It did help his reflux a bit. The jar foods are what made his reflux worse when i tried them a month later. At 6 months, he grew out of the reflux and started gobbling down jar food. :)

mother649808 - 977 days ago Rating: 0 (0 votes) My twins have reflux and their doc had us start with cereal in the bottles b4 they were 2 months old! Its very common for babies that have reflux to do this. However it may not "fix" the reflux. One of my boys was just fine with the cereal the other had to be put on enfamil AR and prevacid to control his. You can always call another pediatrician and get a second opinion! Good luck!

RobinG - 977 days ago Rating: 0 (0 votes) Actually your doc had it backwords, my son had bad reflux (which is what gerd is) The weight of the cereal added to formula is helpful with babies who have it. Adding it to a bottle is often recommended when a baby is younger then 4 months IF they have refulx but not just cause. Adding it to a bottle is only done because when a baby is younger then 4 months they arent able to eat off a spoon. It makes no sense to add it after 4 months unless the child is unable to spoon feed. Many docs dont suggest feeding cereal at all til 6 months but many start around 4.5-5ish months. My son ate a formula know as Infamil AR. It is formula with added rice starch to help with reflux (Gerd) and is recommended from newborn and up. Again there is no reason for it unless there is reflux. Thing is, many moms get advice from the doc and think it is what "must" be done and that just isnt the case. Docs are not always right so if you dont agree just dont do it. You are not required to follow the docs advice, or the nurse for that matter if you dont agree. If you do want to try cereal to see if it helps with the reflux some I'd spoon feed it, not add it to a bottle. And yes it is fairly common in the US.

tylersmommy54 - 977 days ago wow i never thought of that.

pooka - 977 days ago Rating: 0 (0 votes) The whole cereal in the bottle thing makes no sense to me and it def seems like an american thing as no one I know in Canada has ever heard of it. What makes no sense to me is formula is suppose to be 100% nutritionally sound as a substitute for breast milk. Cereal is just carbs which is essentially just a complex sugar and extra calories. So why pour extra calories into formula when its suppose to be complete??

tylersmommy54 - 977 days ago that's what i thought. his current doc said to wait that there is no need to rush him. but i thought that cereal in formula did not sound right at all. his acid reflux is a lil better.

happyforest - 977 days ago Rating: 0 (0 votes) by the time a baby is 4 months they should be perfectly capable of eating off of a spoon.... i would NOT put cereal in a bottle EVER unless it was for reflux, but especially not at 4 months!