Pros and cons of starting cereal?

Karma1969

My DS is going for his 4 month shots tomorrow, and the Dr. mentioned last time that after this apt. we will probably start cereal.

It seems soon to me, although I have a feeling my DS will love to eat since he always enjoys his bottles and has started paying attention when we eat.  I had thought that I heard something about waiting longer to prevent future allergies or something though?

Any info or experiences you can share with me would be appreciated.

SammyluvsJ

We were going to wait till 6 months but my son actually yells at us when we eat in front of him. He loves his cereal! We haven't tried anything else yet except for those little puff cereal things. The only con I've seen so far is his poo...totally backed him up for weeks...it was sad. He's now getting the hang out it though.

Heidi Lanigan-Potter

We waited until 6 months, this article was a big help...

https://www.kellymom.com/nutrition/solids/delay-solids.html

citygirl_

We never did cereal, but we started with bananas around 5.5 months and I can tell you that it was ROUGH at first.  He was up all night with gas!  And the whole process of solids is suuuuuch a PITA (the mess, the solid poops, etc) that I'd hold off for that reason alone.

ANd yes, waiting does decrease the risk of allergies.

RockstarGF

The American Academy of Pediatrics recommend breastmilk or formula only for the first 6 months.  But, I have known people who give cereal as early as 2 weeks old.  Not me though.  I would rather she get filled up on nutritious breastmilk than cereal.  Cereal has less nutritional value than breastmilk or formula.

 Here are a few helpful links:

https://www.wholesomebabyfood.com/readyforsolids.htm - here's a good excerpt:

The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) acknowledges that there are no "strict" age guidelines on introducing solid foods to your baby.  However, the AAP, along with the CDC and the WHO do recommend that you offer nothing but breast milk and/or formula until you baby is at least 6 months old. 

This ensures optimal nutritional exposure and may stave off food allergies amongst other issues.  Further studies have shown that an infant's gastrointestinal tract has not or may not have matured enough to properly digest/utilize solid foods until around 6-8 months old! (See page end for reference links)

 https://www.kellymom.com/nutrition/solids/delay-solids.html - says delaying solids gives baby greater protection from illness, gives baby's digestive system time to mature, decreases the risk of food allergies, helps protect from future obesity, etc.

mikaza

I've done alot of reading on this because I think our ped is going to recommend we start solids at our next appt.

 The American Academy of Pediatrics does NOT recommend waiting until after 6 months to start solids, and has NOT associated early introduction of solids with any allergies (with the exception of a possible link to exczema-even that hasnt been proven).

The actual recommendation is 4-6 months, depending on where your baby is developmentally. If he can hold his head steady, has lost his tongue thrusting reflex, and seems interested in food (among other things) there is nothing wrong with starting solids at 4 months. There is also nothing wrong with waiting, if you have reasons to wait.

Go to their website https://www.aap.org/ and type in 'solid foods' into the little search box, and you can read the most up to date information.