starting cereal?

[Bailliejo]

I had a question about starting my son on cereal. He still has his cleft palate and I was not sure on how he would react. We put a little of it in his bottle and he does fine. Just not sure if babies with clefts can eat solid foods?

[Z-Pup]

Zach had his palate repair when he was 9 months old.

He wasn't ready for solids until about 7 months old. We tried earlier (5-6 months) and he just wasn't ready. But if your lil one is ready then there is no reason to not try and see what happens. The WORST thing that will happen is that it comes out of his nose. Zach really didn't have a problems with this, we just kept a wash clothe near by and kept him wiped up.

But regular baby food was just too thin...he needed it thicker to be able to move it to the back of his mouth. A non cleft affected child uses their tongue to move the food along the roof of their mouth until it gets to the back where they can swallow it. A cleft palate child has problems with this! We would put oatmeal cereal in the store bought baby food to make it thicker for him. This in turn constipated him LOL. SO then I started making his baby food. But soon after that he refused a spoon and went directly to finger foods. He was self feeding before palate repair.....for example he'd eat....banana's, grilled cheese, peaches, ANYthing he could pick up and put in his mouth!!!

After palate repair he had to go back to baby food for a week or so....Doc said two weeks, but Zach wasn't having that! LOL

But I say if your lil one is showing signs that he is ready for solid food I would so give it a shot! The VERY DAY I started solids 3 times a day at 7 months old he slept thru the night!!!!! OMG how wonderful that was!!

[samjune79]

My son wouldn't eat it until after his palate repair. He would get so fussy when it came out of his nose. Since his palate repair was at 6 months old, I just held off. Then when he was 7 months old (1 month after repair) He ate just fine. He still has a small hole but it doesn't seem to bother him. My son is now 10 months old and is starting to eat bites of my food. He has 4 teeth, 2 on the top and 2 on the bottom.

[heather]

Eyson was eating cereal off of a spoon by 4 months of age. All babies are different. I knew that he was just being a brat when he would scream because he had to use a spoon instead of just biting his pigeon nipple and it shoot down his throat. He figured out real quick that he was going to eat his cereal or he was going to be hungry. Just formula didn't cut it with him. He was hungry all the time. He needed something more. Once he got going on cereal he took to baby food almost immediately. And the food will come out their nose, but don't worry because they sneeze to clear it out. Eyson likes to blow it out of his nose on purpose. He has figured out that if he does something in particular he can take a whole bite of food and shoot it everywhere. It's so gross but he thinks it's absolutely hilarious.

[mia's mom]

I've tried feeding Mia cereal three times now. She's had a cold so I stopped. I can't remember who gave me this advice- I think it was Jacksmom, but it has helped. I turn the spoon upside down so that it kind of gives her a hard roof. She kind of licks the spoon. I have to be more consistent with feeding her but it makes me so nervous that I do it when I get the nerve to.

[heather]

You do need to be very consistent with feeding. If not then your baby will more apt to reject the spoon. Once they see that it's coming everytime and it's going to stop they decide that maybe eating off of a spoon isn't so bad.

[pkett2]

Dino didn't have a cleft palate, so I was lucky to nurse. He didn't have solid foods until after his lip surgery at 6 months. He did just fine without solid foods & only breast milk. I have heard that starting solids later is better for them because of allergies. I'm not sure if that is true or not. My oldest son was started on solids at 3 months & he is fine.