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VABride2008
member
Do you give rice cereal?
VABride2008
member
Or do you just go straight into solids after 6 months? From what I've read, there's not much nutritional value in rice cereal. Our pedi said she would assess the need for rice cereal at 4 months (which still seems too early for me).
Just wanted some input on this topic, thanks!
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Re: Do you give rice cereal?
No - our pedi said that rice cereal was pretty worthless (other than iron, and there's better, more nutritious way to get that anyway). We didn't give any kind of cereal at all, until DS started oatmeal later. We started with avocado and then banana and sweet potato purees (I believe). 4 months seems early for solids - the current recommendation, the last time I checked, was to start solids at 6 months.
Link to a blog baby rabies did recently with info on rice cereal.
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Everyone is pushing for me to start solids and it's really plucking my last nerve. I'm scared to death that my MIL or FIL is going to sneak her food. Over Thanksgiving everyone kept trying to get me to give her mashed potatoes or sweet potatoes and I kept saying no, no, no! Our pedi says 4 months at the earliest but I still think that's too early, but my MIL thinks she knows it all. I feel pretty confident in the research I've done but MIL likes to buck EVERY decision I've made, including cloth diapering, labor without pain medication, breast feeding, etc. I feel like I have to explain my every move to these people and it drives me insane. If they would do the slightest bit of research they would find that what they did 25 years ago isn't the standard today.
Whew, totally getting off my soap box now.
That's the beautiful thing - you don't need to!
I'm fairly lucky in that sense - both my family and IL's are 8+ hours away, so (while they probably wouldn't be too judgemental - they're pretty good like that) I rarely have to explain our choices. When I do I just say that the current recommendations state XYZ, and I'm following that. It helps that my mom had 3 different recommendations for her kids of how to let them sleep to prevent SIDS.
Actually - it's funny. The person who makes the most comments on what we do (generally around TV watching, which we still don't do with DS, mostly out of habit at this point) is our neighbor & her good friend. Was actually told we should get him video games so he could get engrossed and become a game developer since he's so smart. Um, nope. Ever thought that he's perhaps smart because we haven't let him zone out to a TV show or electronic toy? /vent.
3 months is WAY too early! Honestly, I'd tell MIL that you are firm in your decision and that if she wants to raise a baby her way she should go ahead and pop another one out. Until then, she should politely keep her trap shut. But I'm kind of a beeotch.
But really I'd stop explaining all of the details and just say "We're not feeding solids until 6 months". End of story.
Unfortunately, you don't know my MIL. It's just not that easy to leave it at that. My husband's cousin goes to the same pedi as us and she started rice cereal and other solids on her baby at 4 months (if not sooner). My MIL says to me "well, her pedi is letting her give her baby solids at 4 months." I said "I know, we go to the same pedi but I want to wait until 6 months because even at 4 months they can have problems with solids." So she just keeps pushing and pushing. I asked my husband if he thought they would sneak her food and he said "if they do, it'll be the last time, that's for damn sure!" Thank God my husband supports me 100%.
My husband's cousins baby was constipated and broke out in some sort of rash after they started rice cereal and solids. Maybe it wasn't related to solids or the rice cereal, but I have a hard time not connecting the two.
I understand it not being easy to leave it at that. I'd force her to (but again, I'm a beeotch). I'd say "We're doing XYZ as that is the medical recommendation. I'm sorry you disagree but this is not up for discussion." If she continues to talk about it walk away. If she follows you, let her know you are not going to discuss it but if she insists upon it then you will leave until such time that she can respect you as parents.
Of course, that is so much easier said than done.
You could also just straight up ask her why she doesn't have any confidence in you as a parent and hash it out right then and there.
Oh yeaaahhh! I would love to have this discussion with her. There have been several occassions where I've had to bite my tongue. It gets to the point where I feel she is insulting my parenting abilities (and I like to consider myself a great mother). Unfortunately, I'm a bit of a push over and I'm not much on confrontation, though I have grown a little bit of a back bone since becoming a mother...I probably still have a long ways to go though!
He has with other issues, like the whole cloth diapering debacle. He put her in her place and basically told her it's not that big of a deal and he didn't understand why she was making such a stink over it. His mom usually waits until my husband isn't around to make such comments though, she knows he will speak up and she takes full advantage of that.
You could always play the guilt card.
For example, if she makes comments about feeding solids you could say "I'm doing what the American Academy of Pediatrics recommends. I understand they did things differently when your children were infants but the recommendations have changed. It really hurts my feelings when you question my parenting skills like this. Why do you say things like this when you know how hurtful they are to me?"
Then she's stuck between either apologizing or being straight up insulting which is easier to address.