Introducing solid food is a big milestone in your baby’s life. Most of the time this can happen with single-grain cereal mixed with breast milk or formula. Same as can you mix baby cereal with water instead of formula? Yes, absolutely. You can give a really runny cereal mixture for your baby first time. Also, you can add stir in pureed fruits and vegetables additionally with the cereal mixture. In this way, you can maximize the nutrients and flavors for your baby additionally.
Most present-day moms ask that, can you mix baby cereal with water instead of formula? Because most parents suspect that their babies get stomach problems with formula types mixing with the cereal products.
So most manufacturers state in their product packaging that you can add water into the cereal powder and make a runny cereal semi-liquid fluid for your baby’s first solid food variety. But here you can not expect additional nutrients and flavors same as with the formula and breast milk by adding water this way.
We can mix baby cereal with water same as breast milk or water simply without any difficulty. Here you can’t expect any added nutrients or flavors to the cereal mixture. So start with a runny cereal mixture with water
Most moms are mixing water with baby cereal. How is their experience in brief?
Most of the moms are doing this mixing thing at the beginning with the five-month-old baby. Most of them found it easier with mixing water with cereal. Most of the time moms have to feed their babies away from their homes. So they just boil the water and add it to the cereal with water. They use 4-5 tablespoons with less water. Sometimes they use the pureed type of fruit in the prepared cereal product.
If you have experience of constipation with young babies, you better avoid adding bananas to the cereal preparation. So these pureed fruits help the baby to soften their stools as well. That is the same as the usual soft stools with breastfeeding times.
What happens when you add milk to the “add water cereal “ varieties
The manufacturers are not strongly recommending adding breast milk or the formula to the “add water cereal” varieties. Because this variety already contains the added milk in it. So additional nutrients are also included there. No harm for your baby as you put breast milk or the formula to the “added water cereal” varieties
Always make sure to prepare the cereal diet according to the label of the product. Any feeding changes should be guided by your doctor.
What happens when you add water to the “add milk cereal” varieties
Here you need to have a doubt about the nutritional completeness of the cereal variety. Unlike breast milk or formula, you can have nutrition such as fat and protein which are directly improving the nutritional value of the prepared cereal product.
To add milk cereal varieties, you can add breast milk or the formula easily. Also, you can add pure water to the add milk cereal varieties. But you need to expect some difference when you add the water to the add milk cereal varieties.
Methodology of mixing cereal with water.
1. First you need to select a type of baby cereal. It may be rice cereal or another kind of cereal type. Start with 1 tablespoon ( 2.5 g ) of cereal into the bowl. Always concerned that start with a small amount of cereal. Never try to store or reuse the prepared cereal again and again as it may have a high risk of having bacteria growth over time.
2. Add little water into the cereal
You need to pour 60-70 ml ( 4-5 tablespoons ) of water into the bowl. The water must be clean and fresh and then you can use water instead of breast milk or formula. It is a good idea to talk to your pediatrician about how to make this specific cereal type for your baby.
3. You need to mix the cereal and the water thoroughly. You need to stir the water into the cereal until you make a runny cereal like melted ice cream. Make sure to make a thing liquid cereal preparation as baby’s reflexes always make them gag anything that is too thick.
Don’t hesitate to add another tablespoon of water as you don’t have a runny cereal mixture.
4. Never try to heat or sweeten the serial type before you offer it to your baby. If your baby refuses the cereal if it is very cold, you can microwave it at half power for about 15 seconds. Finally check the temperature of the cereal mixture before offering it to your baby.
Never microwave the cereal mixture made with breast milk as it breaks down the nutritional component of breast milk.
The method of warming the breast milk
Place the breast milk in a bag and set it under warm, running water for a few minutes. After you can stir them into the baby cereal.
5. Thicken the cereal mixture over the time
After passing a couple of weeks, you can cut back the amount of liquid you use. Here you should be able to determine that the baby’s capability of swallowing has improved. Now you can reduce the number of tablespoons by 1 tablespoon until you are using equal parts liquid and cereal.
6. By six to eight weeks your baby has the capacity to eat 3 to 9 tablespoons of cereal ( 7.5 to 22.5g ) throughout the day. This amount can be stretched between two to three feedings. But always think that f you need to add additional nutrients you need to mix with breast milk or the formula
In the beginning, your baby doesn’t eat too much. They need little time to get used to the new food.
Does boiling water damage formula or nutrients in the baby cereal
A lot of bacteria can be found in the water as well as formula. Also formula tin is not sterile. So your baby needs to protect from germs. so you need to boil water and then cool to drinking temperature. This water can be used to make cereal types.
The World Health Organization guidelines recommend that water used to make formula should be at least 70 degrees Celcius.
How much baby rice do you start to mix with water, formula, or breast milk
The recommended amount you can mix is 1 to 2 tablespoons of iron-fortified rice cereal with 4 to 6 tablespoons of formula, breast milk, or water. According to the baby’s interest, you can use fruit juice too. Here you can mesh banana into a small bowl and then add it to the runny cereal preparation. That will enhance the appetite of your baby.
You are totally allowed to add baby food with real types you are supposed to give your baby. Around 4 to 6 months babies are totally ready for solid foods.
Best Water For Baby Formula and cereal preparations
- Arbor Springs.
- Aquafina Water.
- Aqua-Pure.
- BlackBerry Farms.
- Blue Ice Natural Mineral Water.
- Cascade.
- Century Springs.
- Clear Mountain Spring Water.
Final thoughts
Preparation of baby cereal is a very important thing in your baby’s growth milestone thread. Some times the breast milk is very limited for some categories of moms and they are trying to add water to make baby cereal as some times baby doesn’t want baby cereal then they have to waste the liquid gold in the wasted cereal.
In this article, I suggest it is totally ok for adding water to the cereal mixture for your baby but you can’t expect additional nutrients and flavors which you can add when you use the formula or breast milk to your baby’s cereal preparation.
Always try to follow the instructions of your pediatrician for the new cereal preparation for your baby. They can recommend the relevant amounts suitable for your baby.