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Rice Cereal

caeraRosecaeraRose member
in Breastfeeding

My DD just had her 2 month appointment on Monday. I've been on the same page with our pediatrician for everything so far... but she said at the appointment that we should start giving DD a bit of rice cereal once a day by 4 months so that she starts learning how to swallow food, just for "practice". I had always heard to wait until 6 months... is there any merit to this? DH and I discussed it, and we're kind of thinking about waiting until 6 months anyway, and at the 4 month appointment just saying "Woops! We haven't started that yet!"

Any experience or advice? 

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Re: Rice Cereal

  • jlsimon56jlsimon56 member

    My advice is look for a new pedi.  :-)

    No seriously.  I'd consider a new pedi.  AAP recommends waiting until 6 months to start solids.  We did BLW so we actually skipped cereal (and purees!) altogether.  There's very little nutritional value in those cereals and I didn't want LO filling up on that instead of BM. 

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  • moriaspencermoriaspencer member

    I wouldn't start it before 4 months. That's just too early. My pedi said to start between 4 and 6 months when DD seemed ready. I tried solids a little after 4 months as I thought she was ready. It turns out she wasn't, so we took a break from solids for a couple weeks. She seemed like she was ready a little before 5 months. So we tried again and she did great.

    You don't have to start with rice cereal, or give it at all for that matter. My pedi actually recommended NOT to start with rice cereal as it can be constipating. She said she does like cereals as you get a lot for your money and once opened, they last longer than jars of food. But, she did say we didn't have to give cereals if we didn't want to. If we wanted to start cereals she recommended oatmeal or barley first.

    FWIW, I wasn't going to start solids until 6 months either. Then at DD's 4 month apt the pedi said we could between 4 and 6 months and the fact that she seemed so interested in our food is why we decided to earlier. Do what you and your DH feel comfortable with, and I'm sure your DD will let you know when she's ready. If you start when she's not, you can always take a break from it like we did. Some babies are ready earlier than others.

    When you do start solids, make she she gets BM first. Wait about an hour after, then offer the solids.

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  • ncbellencbelle member

    I would definitely be running from any pedi who advised me to start solids before 4 months - that's outdated advice for sure!

    We skipped cereals altogether (rice cereal has little nutritional value) and started finger foods (baby led weaning style) at 6 months. 



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  • kgaunttkgauntt member
    Ditch that pedi. Sounds like they are living in the past.
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  • caeraRosecaeraRose member
    Thanks, everybody. I'll give it some thought and discuss it with DH. I'm glad to hear that we were on track, about waiting until 6 months.
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  • lesalia217lesalia217
    imagejlsimon56:

    My advice is look for a new pedi.  :-)

    No seriously.  I'd consider a new pedi.  AAP recommends waiting until 6 months to start solids.  We did BLW so we actually skipped cereal (and purees!) altogether.  There's very little nutritional value in those cereals and I didn't want LO filling up on that instead of BM. 

     

    YES YES YES YES!!!  Your pedi has no education on BFing.  Feeding any form of solid food before 6 months is not good.  Your baby's intenstines have not finished developing should not be subjected to anything other than BM before that. 

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