Feeding baby question

chrissy2

Registered User
Hello ladies, I have just stared about 2 weeks ago to feed my little one rice cereal he loves it!!..started off with just one feeding a day....and since last week I feed him a feeding in the morning then his bottle and then for dinner around 6pm then his bottle. Normally he will eat 6-7oz of formula every 4 hours and I give him one tablespoon for cereal mixed with formula......with him eating the cereal now I thought that hes not suppose to have as many bottles, but every 4 hours he is crying looking for his bottle.....and when I feed him his cereal right after he has to have his bottle because he's still hungry he will eat most of it but not all. Is this normal? Should I be giving him his bottle right after I feed him, is that right? Or should I be feeding his breakfast and dinner cereal at a set time everyday and then follow the formula routine every 4 hrs? If I do that will he gradually start to cut out a feeding? oR do I just keep feeding him his cereal at the time with his bottle? And last question when will he start to sleep through the night without waking for his bottle, he usually wakes at around 12aM/1am and then 5:30M/6am for the next bottle. Oh and my baby is 5 months old....I know early for solids but he was ready showing all the signs and doctor recomended it to us that he was ready to start.

Thanks Ladies...
 
Hi Chrissy

What you describe sounds normal. Babies go through a growth spurt around 6 months so he is looking for more food and also finishing his bottles. Your son is still taking most of his nutrition from the formula and the rice cereal is only a taster, until he is on 3 solid meals a day he will most likely still finish all his bottles. I started solids at 5 1/2 months and stuck with the formula feeds at 3-4 hours, my sons routine was like this:

6-6.30am - Formula
7-7.30am - Rice Cereal
11am - Formula
12pm - Fruit puree
2-3pm - Formula
5pm - Vegetable Puree
6pm - Formula
Midnight-2am - Formula

My son soon cut out the midnight/2am formula feed about a month after starting solids and at around 8-9 months he dropped his formula feeds to 3 a day as I noticed he was only drinking half the 11am and 2pm feeds.

Now at 10 months his routine is like this:

6.30am - Formula from a sippy cup
7-7.30am - Rice Cereal or baby porridge mixed with fruit (3-4 tablespoons)
11-12pm - lunch of vegetables and protein (3-4 tablespoons) followed by yoghurt mixed with fruit (3 tablespoons), offer water in a sippy cup.
1-2pm - Formula in a sippy cup (200ml)
5pm - Dinner is the same as lunch
6pm - Formula in a bottle 200ml

He may have an afternoon snack such as some fruit, celery, rice cakes or toast and I always offer water in a sippy cup. Oh and as for sleeping through the night it may be a few more months yet and then they start waking when they teeth :(

Hope this helps.
 
Last edited:
a baby is NOT supposed to get his sustenance from the solids. it still comes from milk, until around a year old, when this gradually shifts. the older he gets, the more solids/less milk he will drink.

now, he's only having one spoon of solids, he's still hungry. so, please do give him the milk. you can also gradually start increasing the amount of solids he's getting and start mixing in some other things, like a little fruit or some veg.
 
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