Water, BM or FM?

[meiteoh]

Today is Eva's second day on solid food - we started a little earlier than the 6 mth mark because she was showing really keen signs of eating while we were in Bali.

For her first meal, I am giving her one heaped teaspoon of Heinz rice cereal mixed in with at least four to five tablespoons of water. It's very runny and she took it quite well. In fact, she finished the whole bowl today. I tasted it and it's like barley water which I must say that I like.

Anyway, one of my friends who is a nutritionist suggest that once she hits 6 mths, I should add in some formula or BM to her cereals/solids instead of just water. The trouble is here - being a SAHM, I don't express or pump so my body produces enough for Eva at every feed and she empties BOTH my boobs now and I mean they are empty. So adding BM is out of the question.

After talking to one of my mummy friends, she mentioned that if Eva is okay with water in her cereals, then there is no need to add in formula coz of the amount of additives plus possible weight gain and adjustment to formula too. She suggest that I continue BFing until Eva is one and then jump straight to fresh milk.

Note: Eva went for a lactose/gluten allergy test when she was young and the results were negative so she's not lactose/gluten intolerant.

So I'm kind of lost. Water or FM or just don't bother thinking about it? :tlaugh:

If FM, any recommendations? I read from the threads here that NAN2 and Similac are good; I am expecting a sample of Mamil Gold 2 from Dumex.

 

[apollo]

i've been using FM on ds's cereal.. i personally feel that adding BM or FM into cereal will be better than adding water. milk got nutrients byt water dun have...

as for the brand, i think most mummies use NAN, enfa, similac & also friso.. Eva has been on fully bf-ing right? then maybe u can try NAN? cos saw other threads, the mummies said NAN is closer to BM...

 

[uddermummy]

I just add water to dd's cereals. My rationale is that she can always get the nutrients from milk direct from me. . I also find it a hassle to have to express milk.

I plan to bf her till two years old. If need be, I'll just supplement with full cream milk when she's one.

 

[diymummy]

I'm using NAN. I've tried both NAN Pro and NAN HA. NAN HA is a bit bitter and Pro smells terrible, at least to me. The NAN series of milk, supposed to be the closest to breastmilk, don't taste or smells as nice as other brands like Similac or Mamil Gold.

I have a sample tin (400g) of NAN HA2. If you're interested, I could try to pass it to you.

I use FM in my boy's cereal. To me, extra nutrition is always better because my boy is small in size. Sometimes after his cereal, he doesn't take in much milk so I would add the milk into his cereal.

I try to mix the milk in the bottle before I add it into his cereal to ensure that I have the right proportion of water. I think incorrect proportion of water and FM could either cause constipation or diarrhea.

Also, mixing FM into the cereal enhances the taste and smell of it.

 

[Mummy to Baby V]

I agree with uddermummy.

I wish to introduce my boy to foods that are as close to nature as possible. In my opinion, formula milk is a chemical concoction, full of additives in an attempt to mimick breastmilk. Just read the ingredients label and decide for yourself if you would like your baby to take those ingredients on a daily basis.

My boy takes up all the breastmilk too. There is the option of giving half a feed, pump the rest to add to cereal. I tried this for a couple of weeks and stopped because of the hassle. I know a Mum who expresses milk manually into the cereal bowl, very convenient.

When I started introducing fruits and vegetables, I would add the stock from steaming the food to the cereal. This gives baby the vitamins from the stock. (Not for spinach and carrots due to nitrates problem.)

After 1-2 months, baby would have tried quite a number of vegetables. Then, you may use vegetable stock to cook porridge for baby as it is more nutritious and tastier than using water.

I plan to breastfeed baby until about two and go straight to whole milk, organic if possible. The reason for organic milk is that it is a common practice to inject animals with hormones to let them produce more milk to sell. If I'd the space, I'd raise a cow and let the family drink fresh raw milk!

Happy feeding!

 

[diymummy]

I agree with uddermummy.

I wish to introduce my boy to foods that are as close to nature as possible. In my opinion, formula milk is a chemical concoction, full of additives in an attempt to mimick breastmilk. Just read the ingredients label and decide for yourself if you would like your baby to take those ingredients on a daily basis.

My boy takes up all the breastmilk too. There is the option of giving half a feed, pump the rest to add to cereal. I tried this for a couple of weeks and stopped because of the hassle. I know a Mum who expresses milk manually into the cereal bowl, very convenient.

When I started introducing fruits and vegetables, I would add the stock from steaming the food to the cereal. This gives baby the vitamins from the stock. (Not for spinach and carrots due to nitrates problem.)

After 1-2 months, baby would have tried quite a number of vegetables. Then, you may use vegetable stock to cook porridge for baby as it is more nutritious and tastier than using water.

I plan to breastfeed baby until about two and go straight to whole milk, organic if possible. The reason for organic milk is that it is a common practice to inject animals with hormones to let them produce more milk to sell. If I'd the space, I'd raise a cow and let the family drink fresh raw milk!

Happy feeding!

This is a good idea!!!!

But I prepare my fruits and veges in batches... Can I freeze the stock?

Sometimes very envious of SAHM. Hehehehe. Can prepare nice stuff for your babies. Me don't have that luxury of time.

 

[Ting]

i add FM to pin's cereal..
but at times when im rushing for time, i'll just add water.
since u r still BF-ing eva, i think it shld be fine to just add water to her cereals since she is still getting the nutrients from u.
correct me if im wrong, but i think western countries dun really give FM but fresh milk instead, (after they stop BM).
cos pin has a classmate who is australian (i think) since 1 yo plus he has been on fresh milk daily. n now his younger bro also the same.

 

[Phoebii Cheng]

Ultimately it is still your choice, whether to add water, FM or BM to eva's cereal.....

We can all give u advise, just go with what ever you are comfortable ancing_wub: important thing is dun stress urself

 

[camom]

I went with bm cos I pump during the hours I work. My son refused all FM even in cereals, so FM is not an option for us. I've tried adding FM to his mashed pumpkin and potato before, but he still rejected.

We went straight to fresh milk after 1 year old.

 

[meiteoh]

Thanks for the advice ladies! I think I'll continue with water first to see how it goes although I'm getting samples from Dumex and Nestle. I plan to use the water from the steaming (fruits/veg) into the cereal/porridge like what MieVee is doing after she starts taking fruits and veg (this Saturday, it'll be peaches - her first fruit - how exciting!).

diymummy, maybe you can prepare the purees at night and freeze them. (I think this includes the stock as well.) What I'm doing now is preparing the purees when Eva is awake - so she sits in her car seat/Bumbo and watches me as I prep the fruit, and then when I blitz them. She got really excited watching the pieces of fruit turn into colourful liquid swirls and all. Then I pour them into 1 oz storage cups I got from Mothercare and pop them into the freezer. The Babycook we got is really great as in when I need to reheat/thaw the purees, I can just pop it in and steam it so no need to use the microwave!

 

[diymummy]

Hi Meiteoh,

Yeah I puree son's vege and freeze them into cubes. Just that I always pour the stock into the vege before pureeing because sometimes it's too dry, like potatoes. Otherwise, not much stock also.

Hahaha. I've not tried preparing my own stocks actually.

 

[Mummy to Baby V]

Now that my boy is on porridge, I prepare 3-4 days' worth of vegetables stock to freeze in separate Tupperware freezer-series containers. Thaw one container in the morning, then add to rice to cook into porridge.

You may also prepare small batches of vegetables stock to freeze, thaw and add to cereal.

There's quite a lot of stock when steaming fruits such as pears and apples, so I simply add the liquid into the cereal.