Baby Food Questions

Ok, DS is doing amazing with cereal and we will be starting fruits/veggies next week. (no flames please, PED said we could at 4 mos which is next friday).

Here are some questions:
-one jar of baby food, is that 1 serving or 2?
-DS gets cereal twice a day. Would I give the food twice a day?
-Is it neccessary to give food with cereal being some girls on here have refered to cereal as "empty" calories?
-Did introducing baby food elimiate or spread out bottles more? (again no flames, DS is getting plenty of nutrients still from formula, he's a big eater).

Thanks!

Re: Baby Food Questions

bumping, any helpers? Thanks!

Re: Baby Food Questions

I'm not sure, about all your specific questions, Kerry.
Jonah and Mady got the go-ahead for solids at their 4 month visit this week. The ped said to mix the cereal with the fruit, so that is what we have been doing. They each eat one 2.5oz jar of food with 2tsp of rice cereal mixed in. So far I've been feeding them apples, which they love. I am going back to the ped for JOnah's weight check in a bit and I'm going to ask about veggies because he had only said fruits on monday.

I pretty much feed on demand, so I'm not really sure how its spreading out their feedings. This morning I nursed them at 8, then gave them apples at 9, then they went down for a nap. Its pretty much still every 3hrs, but that would probably be different with formula.

I feed them formula at night - this is how last night worked - 5pm they nursed, 6 they got solids, and then 7 they got formula... but thats cluster feeding at night, so probably not a good guage either.

Re: Baby Food Questions

Thanks Lauren.

I guess what I'm asking (and more for big eater babies).

-1 jar is 1 serving, correct?
-is it neccessary to mix or serve with cereal?
-is it neccessary to still have cereal?

Re: Baby Food Questions

Re: Baby Food Questions

Re: Baby Food Questions

so this is what my ped told me, cereal is important because it has iron in it (make sure you feed iron fortified), i think i started a little later when anthony was 5 months with fruits, i started with apples and pears, and prunes soon followed as he was constipated. i would start with half a jar and then quickly moved to full, i would do this 2x a day and would mix it with cereal. I kind of fed him what he wanted, sometimes he would have a full jar and sometimes he would only take half. at 6 months i think i did solids 3x a day.

HTH

Re: Baby Food Questions

-one jar of baby food, is that 1 serving or 2?

for us, at 4 months, one 4 oz. jar was 2 servings. now at 8 months one jar is one serving.

-DS gets cereal twice a day. Would I give the food twice a day?

DS got cereal mixed with fruit in the morning, the same at night. but i never mixed the cereal with formula, it went right into his fruit.

i would add fruit once a day and see how he does at first.


-Is it neccessary to give food with cereal being some girls on here have refered to cereal as "empty" calories?


as per my ped, cereal is not "empty" calories because it has iron in it that is good for the baby.


-Did introducing baby food elimiate or spread out bottles more?


we made sure to give him his bottles before his food so he got at least the minimum recommended number of ounces. once we had that down, we found that he would not eat his food because the formula filled him up. we just spaced his feedings out more.

i would double check with your ped the minimum # of ounces of formula your DS should be getting. it went down a lot for us at 4 months, from 30 oz. minimum to 24. (he was getting pumped BM at that point but still the same idea).

Re: Baby Food Questions

thanks everyone. This is what I was looking for.

DS was eating 42-49 ounces before we started cereal at 3 months. Since giving cereal twice a day, DS now has between 32-36 ounces of formula a day. At 3 Mos, my PED told me to try and get him down to about 32ozs. I'm hoping adding fruit will do the trip. We go to the PED next Friday, but I'm gonna try fruit this weekend (DS LOVES cereal). We also mix the cereal with water (PED said DS didn't need extra formula).

Thanks!!

Message edited 5/8/2009 10:55:48 AM.

Re: Baby Food Questions

In the beginning, 1 jar was 2 servings. But let Liam dictate that (more or less). Start with a half a jar/container and see how he does. He needs to have more bottle than food - so don't let him fill up on food and not take his bottle. (that is the battle I am having with RJ right now )

Yes, I would give him the fruit or veggie with each cereal feeding. I usually did fruit for breakfast and veggies with dinner. My Mom and MIL keep saying that I should do fruits at least 2x a day also (to each his own, just wanted to throw that in there )

As far as I have "heard" the cereal is just to help them start learning how to eat and they don't really get anything from it. So, if you can wean him more into foods, I think he could benefit more from it.

Not to mention, we stopped cereal with RJ and he is just on jarred food now and it is 10x easier for us to feed him. He likes it more and it is less prep time.

For RJ, it did not eliminate or change his schedule. We stuck to his schedule but added the food to it.

HTH

Re: Baby Food Questions

Here are some questions:
-one jar of baby food, is that 1 serving or 2? Stage 1 is a serving - but in the beginning DS would only eat 1/2 a jar


-DS gets cereal twice a day. Would I give the food twice a day? - you can introduce fruit/veggie once a day to start then build up from there

-Is it neccessary to give food with cereal being some girls on here have refered to cereal as "empty" calories?
Not necessary, but since you are giving cereal anyway, I would continue w/ that

-Did introducing baby food elimiate or spread out bottles more? (again no flames, DS is getting plenty of nutrients still from formula, he's a big eater).
It's not eliminating any bottles yet, he won't be getting enough food to do that.
It's just to get them used to eating


Enjoy - food is fun

Re: Baby Food Questions

p.s. according to the Similac chart I have on my fridge, 3-4 months says:

Average # of feedings: 4-5
Average amount per feeding: 6-7 oz
Average amount per day: 24-35 oz

So you are doing fine

Message edited 5/8/2009 10:59:46 AM.