Let's Talk Rice Cereal

crystalknpp · January 2013

DH and I both agree we will not be giving B any cereal in his bottle even though several family members keep pushing us to. We're also leaning towards just skipping it all together because I just don't see the point in it for him. He is getting his iron from the formula and is gaining weight just fine so he doesn't need the extra calories. His pediatrician said it's our call and he's fine with whatever we decide. What are you girls doing? If your doing cereal with your LO what made you decide to? If your choosing not to give your LO cereal then why not? I'm just trying to weigh the pros and cons before I make my final decision and I would love some input!

hopefulmom81 · January 2013

We skipped rice and went straight to Baby Oatmeal around 5 months. We decided to just because it seemed like a good/bland first food. She loves it!

leneae10 · January 2013

We tried it but it was a fail. It's gross and there's really no health benefit in it. He did like the oatmeal mixed with fruit a little later on.

We are skipping rice cereal with the twins and will likely not start even the oatmeal until 6m. It's a lot of work with little reward. LOL.

Sonadora · January 2013

Skipped it and went with BLW around 6 months. Child had no interest in being fed, ever, so we were sort of forced into BLW. She's been fully feeding herself since we started solids. It's rather awesome.

adoxyinherear · January 2013

We're not going to do cereal at all. At this point I'm considering baby-led weaning/feeding, in which case, we won't even do purees (though I may still make some for when we go out, as babies are messy, messy eaters and no one should have to deal with that). Even if we decide against BLW, I won't introduce solids before 6 months unless DD shows a serious interest, and we'll start with veggies.

adoxyinherear · January 2013

Sonadora:
Skipped it and went with BLW around 6 months. Child had no interest in being fed, ever, so we were sort of forced into BLW. She's been fully feeding herself since we started solids. It's rather awesome.

This is heartening! We really want to try BLW.

D&D4Ever7 · January 2013

We started with purees and have read a lot of literature on skipping cereal and going straight to purees. Veggies and Fruits are much better than cereal. We try cereal, but DS wouldn't keep it down, so we stopped and started it again at 6 months. We started solids at 5months and started with carrots, than apples, etc. It worked out well for us. GL

Sonadora · January 2013

RusalkaSings:

Sonadora:
Skipped it and went with BLW around 6 months. Child had no interest in being fed, ever, so we were sort of forced into BLW. She's been fully feeding herself since we started solids. It's rather awesome.

This is heartening! We really want to try BLW.

It's been fun. We had to hold off on things that needed spoons (yogurt and such) until she had the motor skills to manuever a spoon to her mouth, but otherwise, she just went to town. She initially grabbed mashed potatoes off of H's plate at dinner one night right before 6 months, so we thought it might be time to try some purees or something, but she refused. Put a piece of avacado in front of her and she went right for it. We brought our own food to restaurants until she was about 18 months or so, but still not purees. Sure, she made a mess under her chair, but I picked up the big bits and left a bigger tip to make up for the mess.

My mother tried valiantly to get her to eat off a spoon purees and such since she kept her after I went back to work at 6 months, but she had no success either and had to declare defeat after only a week. She was really wary of BLW.

crystalknpp · January 2013

I'm thinking of doing a combo of BLW and homemade purees for when we go out in public but we'll see. I just really don't see the benefit of cereal for DS but I know some people swear by it. The pediatrician jokingly told me the earlier I introduce solids the sooner I make more work for myself. B is always watching DH and I when we eat so I think maybe around 5- 5&1/2 months I may start with something really soft like Avocado or Banana and take it slowly from there. Right now he's getting everything from Formula so I'm not in a huge hurry.

KJsbabe · January 2013

DD started solids at 5 months. We skipped cereals at first and went right to fruits and veggies. I EBF her so she was already used to all sorts of flavors from what I was eating. Going to a bland cereal kind of seemed like back tracking to me. Recently she's been having some constipation issues, though, so I did end up introducing oatmeal as a fiber sorce. I mix it with fruit and she gobbles it right up!

spincat9 · January 2013

We didn't do bottles, but our dr. told us not to do cereal in them anyway. Every dr. is different.... Our first food was butternut squash. We didn't do cereal until maybe the 6th or 8th food, and it was oatmeal not rice. We waited until DD was 6 months old and went straight to the squash, peas, sweet pot's, etc, introducing a new one every 4 days or so. She loved all of them. We didn't want to start with such a bland thing because we wanted her to like the taste to help overcome any texture objection. Worked like a charm, but every LO is different! Good luck!

JulyMomma2U2 · January 2013

DS has gotten Oatmeal mixed with formula and a splash of apple juice since ~3ish months.. but, we started very early because he was colicky and had terrible reflux.. initially Ped wanted us to put it in his bottle, and I tried doing that with rice (to help with spit up and reflux), but it got annoying fast. We had to slice his nipples to get it to flow and then when he didn't get it in the bottle, we had to be careful which nipples we used, and even still sometimes he'd choke/gag because he sucked a lot harder with the rice bottles, etc. It was a disaster. He hated how it tasted and it constipated him like crazy. Switched to oatmeal, but that would NOT come through a bottle, so we started spoon feeding him.. it was just a small amount at first.. 1ish tbsp 1/day.. by the time he was 4 months he was a pro at eating and we increased it to 2tbsp 1/day. I introduced purees around 5mo, but have only been able to do a few things because he has a really sensitive tummy.. we still do oatmeal every morning as breakfast.. now he gets 2-3tbsp of oatmeal mixed primarily with a bit of apple juice and water. We were doing the juice to help keep him regular.. I didn't like putting juice in a bottle (as ped suggested).

luvmyducks · January 2013

We tried rice a couple times more just for practice (and she was BF so it was good for the iron) but she hated it. She loved oatmeal though so we fed her that quite a bit until she pretty much refused to eat from a spoon and wanted to feed herself.

tetiananina · January 2013

I had this same dilemma. Thank you for asking. I couldn't understand the purpose and didn't see a reason too. I've contemplated oatmeal and I'm making his baby food. I know I have awhile but I still think in advance.

melly918 · January 2013

DS could never keep down rice cereal fed to him via spoon. He would throw it up later. He was not a puker at all. We switched to the oatmeal and banana one and it worked fine.

bmv1980 · January 2013

We're also going to give BLW a try. It really seems like the easiest route. Hopefully G agrees to go along with it. With DS, 14 years ago, we started with cereal because that's what the pedi recommended.

cmumama · January 2013

I just discussed this with my pedi this morning at LO's 4 month appt. I will be skipping rice and oatmeal (b/c there is no nutritional value) and she completely supported that decision. We will be going right to fruit purees and will be incorporating BLW. She is a big proponent of BLW, so that was encouraging. She said we could start solids now, but I think I'm going to hold off for another month or so.

charmedgrl517 · January 2013

We are probably skipping rice cereal cause DD is having constipation issues and that just adds to it. So her Ped wants us to try fruits and vegetables first since she is showing interest in us eating etc. we just started trying this week and so far so good! Not sure if we will try cereal eventually or not but for now fruits and vegetables!

damabo80 · January 2013

With DD, we did mostly BLW. I did give her oatmeal in a bottle once a day because she had anemia related to her prematurity. But if it wasn't for the iron thing, I wouldn't have done cereals. Not needed, more work, stinker diaper.

Google "open gut". That may help you decide as well.

For DS, I plan to do mostly BLW as well. I'm in no rush to start food. I already have one kid in a high chair. I don't need two in high chairs right now.

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