Adventures in oatmeal. HELP!

So we had baby's 4mo ped check today, and he's doing great, got 4 shots, etc etc. Then dr. says we can start cereals and move on the fruits then veggies introducing one thing at a time yaddayadda. To be honest he kind of lost me with the very first part as I was trying to dress a crying wriggling baby so I know I heard "one tablespoon" of oatmeal 2x a day, but that's about all I got!!! Well I tried it when we got home, and that was a big FAIL. Baby doesn't really know what to do with it in his mouth and just looked at me so SAAAAD and pushed it out onto his bib. THen I gave him a bottle and he latched onto that sucker for dear life.
Soooo is it better to give him 6oz formula first, then give him the oatmeal afterwards? If he won't swallow it is there anything I should do to get it down?
Thoroughly confused right now....

Re: Adventures in oatmeal. HELP!

AWWWWWW, he just needs to get used to the consistency. He will figure it out. But what I remember from a very long 17 months ago is that you should never try to introduce something new when you know they are famished. So, maybe give him a few ounces and then try the oatmeal... I think that's what I did when we first started introducing solids. Maybe some other mommies on the board can offer better advice if they are currently at thsi stage, but that's all I remember.

Re: Adventures in oatmeal. HELP!

You're doing fine.

DS took maybe 2-3 weeks of me offering oatmeal to him every day before he figured out what to do with it. Now he opens his mouth and eats like a champ and gets excited when he sees me preparing it.

Just remember that this is a brand new experience for him and it will take him some time to get used to it.

As for when to feed him, my dr. said not when he is too hungry, so I give him cereal an hour after his morning bottle.

Also, play with the consistency. make it thicker, make it thinner until you find one that he likes. My DS liked his much, much thicker than they recommend for first feedings. It is soooo runny the way they tell you to make it.

He'll get there. Just give him some time!

Re: Adventures in oatmeal. HELP!

Ooo thanks Shannon! That makes total sense actually I'm sure he WAS starving, we had a long morning; plus I'm sure getting 4 jabs in his chubby limbs did not help how he was feeling this am. I'll try again tonight though and see if it's any better!!!

Re: Adventures in oatmeal. HELP!

Posted by jambalady

You're doing fine.

DS took maybe 2-3 weeks of me offering oatmeal to him every day before he figured out what to do with it. Now he opens his mouth and eats like a champ and gets excited when he sees me preparing it.

Just remember that this is a brand new experience for him and it will take him some time to get used to it.

As for when to feed him, my dr. said not when he is too hungry, so I give him cereal an hour after his morning bottle.

Also, play with the consistency. make it thicker, make it thinner until you find one that he likes. My DS liked his much, much thicker than they recommend for first feedings. It is soooo runny the way they tell you to make it.

He'll get there. Just give him some time!

Re: Adventures in oatmeal. HELP!

I am just going through this so maybe I can help. DS just started cereal (rice) a week and a half ago. We only started it one meal a day until today when I started 2 meals a day. Originally my doctor told me to make it very thin, like soup. DS did not like it that way at all. He only eats it thick with maybe a 1/2 oz -3/4 oz of formula in it. It took a whole week for him to really open his mouth and eat it and after he was doing it semi consistently, then (today) we started breakfast and dinner. Sometimes he eats the whole bowl. Some times he takes 2 or three bites. But it did take a good whole week to get more than a couple bites in him. If you have any other questions, feel free to fm me!

Re: Adventures in oatmeal. HELP!

I give DS his whole bottle first, then I give him his oatmeal and fruit or veggie. I don't care too much if he is too full from his bottle to eat, but he has to finish his bottle. so far so good, he has the whole bottle and eats every morsel of oatmeal and fruits

Re: Adventures in oatmeal. HELP!

Baby must be somewhat hungry and in a good mood! This took me a week to figure out! I usually feed her about 1 1/2 hours after a bottle. Cereal first then she gets to wash it down. I don;t even let her SEE the bottle at first.

Re: Adventures in oatmeal. HELP!

our ped told us to try the food an hour after the first bottle in the morning so thats what we did....it didnt work at that time for us bc kaylie likes to take a nap right after her first bottle of the morning so we just did it for the second....and hr after her second bottle we gave her some food....it works very well bc they have started to digest the bottle at that point and so they can "fit" some extra food in their tummy