[TAC]

Our 6 mos 15.5 lb foster child is just beginning to accept cereal mixed with her formula and a hint of her stage 2 baby food...she was born 2 mos premature and still waiting on those records...

Questions: How much and how often do I give her this cereal? Do I drop her 2 fruit and 1 veg. feedings or limit the amount...also, I read that ounces in formula increase up to 6 mos then decrease..any input on reasoning for this

Currently she is at 32-40 oz of formula daily...

Thanks for any assistance

pat

[NCnewMom]

I don't have any little ones of my own yet - but keep infants in my home daycare.. My experience is this -- as long as they are getting at least 35oz of formula day then they can have as much cereal/fruit/vegetables as they want. the fruit and vegetables are more important than cereal - because of the vitamins that are in them. They get carbohydrates (cereal) in their formula, so don't cut out vegetables or fruits to get them to eat cereal. I like to mix fruit and cereal together - the babies seemed to like it better than the plain cereal.
The best book ive seen is called Super Baby Food. It talks alot about making your own foods, but has good nutritional ideas and ideas about when to introduce what foods.
I hope this helps.

[shycar]

If she is barely starting cereal then I would hold off the fruit and veggie. Start out with 1 teaspoon of rice cereal and 4 to 5 teaspoon of formula. Then slowly increase amount on cereal and less formula in the cereal. Start out once a day then to twice a day. Then you can do other cereals.

Once she is doing well on this then you should start with fruits and veggie. By then you should be giving her about 3-6 teaspoon of cereal twice or three times a day and one teaspoon of fruite and veggie two or three times a day. Slowly increase till you get to half a cup of fruit and vegtable. Make sure you try one fruite and vegtable at a time to make sure there is no allergy.

The reason the ounces decrease is that she is getting full on solid foods. So she is drinking milk (formula) less and eating more solids.

This is what I took out of a booklet that the pediatrician gave me.

[TAC]

Thanks for input...shycare and ncnewmom...glad you pointed out the significance of fruit and veggies baby food vs. cereal, ncnewmom...

Thanks again

Pat