Anyone skip cereals when introducing solids?

krisim

I started with veggies and dd seems to like most of them ok.  Our daycare wants us to introduce cereals by 8 months, so I'm wondering how/when I should do them at home?

Should I add them to a meal with her veggies or fruit? 

AutumnBride929

I skipped cereals.  I tried oatmeal once and he didn't love it and I just decided they weren't necessary anyway.  I think our daycare thinks we give him cereal in the morning at home.

Speaking of which though, I was trying to think of alternative "morning foods" that DS could eat at daycare.  I guess there are these "puff" things but I don't know much about them.  Maybe some yogurt, too...

juliane2004

We added rice cereal (no water or milk) straight to fruit / veggies. It makes them thicker and I think she actually likes them better this way: she eats 2-4 oz with cereal/fruit/veggies, whereas she used to eat just <1oz with no cereal.

PizzaBride

Why are you listening to what your daycare suggests with regards to feeding your child?  What does your doctor say?  I spoke with a nutritionist the weekend before last who suggested not to introduce grains to your child ideally until 18 months, but definitely not before 12 months.  I can't remember her reasoning, but I've got her book so if you want me to look it up for you let me know.  We won't be doing grains with DS until he is a bit older.  Right now we are just alternating fruits and veggies.

jbl126

We tried cereal but Lauryn would throw up from it so I just skipped it altogether with both girls.  They get fruit in the morning.  I tried yogurt but neither were fans.  Now sometimes I give them pancakes with a fruit.  You dont have to do cereal.  daycare should be able to feed your LO whatever you want.

SerenityMay

We skipped cereal because there is really no nutritional value to it except iron and DS gets his from formula. We alternate between fruits and veggies. Can I just ask why your daycare wants you to start cereal by 8 months? That seems a little odd to me...

smilelari

We skipped cereal.  I wouldn't add cereal because daycare requested

krisim

PizzaBride:

Why are you listening to what your daycare suggests with regards to feeding your child?  What does your doctor say?  I spoke with a nutritionist the weekend before last who suggested not to introduce grains to your child ideally until 18 months, but definitely not before 12 months.  I can't remember her reasoning, but I've got her book so if you want me to look it up for you let me know.  We won't be doing grains with DS until he is a bit older.  Right now we are just alternating fruits and veggies.

Our daycare participates in the food program so they get reimbursed by the state for the children they feed (as long as they comply with the program which mandates that infants 8  months and older have cereal each day).   I talked to my dr. and she was fine with us skipping cereals, so we haven't started them at home.     

Edit: It seemed to upset our main provider when I mentioned that dd wouldn't be starting with cereals since they would lose that funding.  Our daycare is a learning lab and they have very limited funding.  I don't love the idea of dd getting cereal when I don't think she needs it, but I guess it probably won't hurt.

meg1974

I skipped cereal at the beginning and started with bananas. I started cereal around 8 months only b/c I started giving her two meals a day at that time, and one of the meals is breakfast. It just made sense to give her cereal while I'm eating cereal. I mix it with fruit. Otherwise it tastes really bland. 

pregnantchica

We skipped cereal bc dd wasn't into it and she was already at the 90 percentile in weight.

JulesLuvsSean

Our pedi said we could start with whatever we wanted, but veggies were best (since fruit is more sweet, and DD would want that more than veggies)...so we started with carrots.  We now mix oatmeal with pears or apples in the morning.