breastmilk - add to rice cereal

[fennho]

I've started solids (rice cereal) for about 3wks now. All the while, I've been adding BM to the rice cereal as recommended. My question is are we supposed to add BM to the rice cereal all the time or can we add boiled water? Cos I'm finding it tough juggling with still nursing her and finding extra time (and more milk supply) to pump. Can I also add in those Gerber apple prune juice in as she has not been poo-ing regularly since she started solids. Is this even recommended at all? If it is, shud I dilute it before mixing with the cereal? How much?

Pls advise...thanks!

 

[Sage]

I've always add water to rice cereal as my bub would not eat it with milk (breast or otherwise). When I use juice (straight up, for cooking, mixing it with rice cereal, etc.), I always dilute it (ratio 1:1) unless it's already diluted.

 

[mummymoo]

Fennho, I would definitely dilute the prune juice as it is almost always too sweet for the baby (have a taste!) and I agree with sage that 1:1 is a good ratio but there is no science this suggestion. I find that 10-20 mls works a treat for my baby once a day. With regards to the rice cereal, I think they tell you to mix it with BM or formula at the start to get the baby used to the new taste/texture but after a while you can mix it with water and other foods you wish to introduce. I would though suggest a rice cereal fortified with iron as babies need more iron for growth after 6 months (hence the change in formulation of formula at this age) and their diet may not meet their needs (unlikely if breatsfeeding is the main source of calories though).

 

[noc]

I also started my baby on cereals mixed with breast milk. For the first few weeks, I didn’t add water because I was worried my baby wouldn’t get enough nutrition if I diluted it too much. So, like you, I had to pump extra breast milk to prepare her cereal in addition to the expressed breast milk that she would take in a bottle. Those days were exhausting since she did not take less breast milk even though she was taking solids. After a few weeks of just breast milk and increasing amounts of cereal, my baby became quite constipated too, so I added water to the cereal. You can also consider giving her mellow fruits like pears to her diet, and when she gets used to that, you can use juice to mix cereal too. My baby hated juice at first, but now she is fine with Heinz juice – this is not as sweet as Gerber.

 

[vitasoy_125ml]

With the rice cereal, it depends on the rice cereal you bought. You can look at the top of the box, some cereal will say you can just add milk as it already has milk product inside, some will tell you that you need to add milk/breastmilk as it has no milk content inside. So depends on what you got....

I've started solids (rice cereal) for about 3wks now. All the while, I've been adding BM to the rice cereal as recommended. My question is are we supposed to add BM to the rice cereal all the time or can we add boiled water? Cos I'm finding it tough juggling with still nursing her and finding extra time (and more milk supply) to pump. Can I also add in those Gerber apple prune juice in as she has not been poo-ing regularly since she started solids. Is this even recommended at all? If it is, shud I dilute it before mixing with the cereal? How much?

Pls advise...thanks!