Water & baby cereal/food

My 4 month, almost 5month, just had his checkup & doctor gave us the okay to introduce first foods. I’ve been giving him cereal for couple weeks already. It’s so hard for me to pump because I never have time & I feel like he’s constantly wanting to nurse anyways. So I’ve been mixing cereal with water when I don’t have breast milk but it seems like he’s spitting up much more after that? He spits up a lot in general but could the water make it worse? I also plan to make homemade baby food & will do the same thing with water if I don’t have breast milk. Water okay for babies like that?