Pumping Milk for your Baby

Dr. Ruth Lawrence, professor, author and researcher, serves on Breastfeeding.com's medical advisory board.  Dr. Lawrence is a professor of pediatrics, obstetrics and gynecology at the University of Rochester.  She is also director of the university's Breastfeeding and Human Lactation Study Center.  Dr. Lawrence has answered many of your questions on pumping and storing breastmilk.  Look for more of Dr. Lawrence's answers to your questions next week!

Dr. Lawrence is the author of "Breastfeeding: A Guide for the Medical Profession," the standard medical reference book for breastfeeding.  She was one of eight doctors who helped the American Academy of Pediatrics draft its 1997 policy statement supporting breastfeeding.

Should I add cereal to my daughter's bottles?

My darling daughter is drinking 4, 3 oz bottles from 7:30 a.m.-6:30 p.m. (hours at the sitters).  My question is: is that enough for her, or should I try cereal in those 4 bottles?





I would think that she might be a little hungry on this amount.  We like babies to be exclusively breastfed for about six months, but five months should be fine to start cereal. I wouldn't put it in a bottle, though. This should be an eating, social experience.  Eating is a social experience throughout our lives, so you should let the sitter give her cereal once when you are away, then work up to 2-3 solid feeding each day during this time. Eventually, you will introduced other foods.  You should breastfeed the baby right before you leave, and when you return.

The ideal for cereal is to mix it with a bit of breastmilk and let your daughter try feeding it with a spoon, so that she learns to take solids.  Putting it in the bottle at this age is not the best way to go.  The first feeding a baby takes from a spoon is not going to be the best feeding ever. So, the sitter should begin with about a teaspoon of cereal mixed with milk. this is a learning event and developmental step for your daughter.  She may not know what to do with the cereal right away, but she will learn over time.




 

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