Getting Started

• Always wash your hands thoroughly before preparing or offering food, and wash your baby’s hands before feeds.
• Always use breast milk or baby’s usual formula for mixing cereals.
• The consistency of the cereal should be that of runny yoghurt.
• Use a well washed bowl and a plastic/baby spoon as they have rounded edges which are kinder to a baby’s tender gums.

Rice Cereal

This is an ideal first cereal as it has a fine texture and is fortified with minerals and iron. It has a bland taste and texture and is the least likely to cause any allergies or reactions.

Mix 2 teaspoons of rice cereal with enough expressed breast milk or baby’s formula to form a consistency of runny yoghurt.

This is given at about 7:30 in the morning (1 to 1 ½ hours after first milk feed) for at least 3 mornings and if your baby has tolerated it well i.e. has not developed an unhappy tummy or a rash, this cereal may be given in the afternoon as well.

Increase the amount of cereal by 1 teaspoon every two days and stop at 10 to 12 teaspoons, or when your baby is happy. The afternoon cereal is usually given between 5 and 6pm before bath time. After bath time, when baby is nice and relaxed offer your baby a last breast or bottle feed as this is a nice ‘winding-down’ time before bed time.

It is also important not to use this last feed to put your baby to sleep but rather to put him/her down drowsy. This is so s/he doesn’t become dependant on you holding him/her to go to sleep. This Rice Cereal is given for about 10 days and then you can move on to the next cereal.

Maize Cereal, Nestum or Cerelac

These are the follow on cereals. The Maize Cereal and the Nestum are cereals that need to be mixed with either expressed breast milk or baby’s formula. The Cerelac is cereal that is mixed with cooled boiled water. Cerelac is to be avoided if your baby is lactose intolerant as it contains milk solids.

It is advised to give your baby cereal mornings and evenings for the first year as the cereal is more easily digestible and babies seem to sleep better.

About the author:

Sr Lyn Wade (R/N, R/M) qualified as a Professional Nurse and Midwife at Greys Hospital in Pietermaritzburg in 1989. Having a special interest in babies and children she worked for many years in a Paediatrician's Practice running their Well Baby Clinic.

Here she gained invaluable experience and insight into babies and their mothers. She now runs her own successful Peri-Natal clinic, looking after the needs of moms and babies.

Lyn is married with a daughter (born in 1990) and a son (born in 1992) and is well acquainted with the trials and tribulations of motherhood.

Posted: 20 June 2007

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