When did you introduce rice cereal
Just curious at what point you introduced rice cereal? I've heard you can start as early as 4 months, but the World Health Organization says 6 months is better. Any insight on when and why you introduced rice cereal would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks!
6 Answers
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Rice cereal is often recommended as the first solid food. We waited until 6 months before giving her rice cereal mixed with breastmilk. I think the reason we chose rice cereal was that it was mentioned in handouts and prevalent at the baby food section and it did not occur to me to go against the grain (ha ha). We soon introduced also banana, sweet potato, winter squash, blueberries, pear and oatmeal.
But I have since learned that there are other foods you can try as first foods as well, like fresh avocado (ideal baby food with lots of good fats, very nutrition dense), it doesn't have to be the rice cereal. Avocados seem to be in season now - at least they have come down in price a lot in the past few weeks! Our kid loves avocado.Yum!
Finally - rather than looking at books, look at your baby to see if she or he is ready for solid foods. Budding interest in what you eat, head control, lack of tongue-stick-out reflex - all those have to be in place before solids can be introduced.
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I think our girl had all the signs in place for trying food at that age, too. And we just ignored them, deciding we would do just milk until 6 months. With some allergies in the family, waiting a few more weeks seemed reasonable to us.
The world health organization is concerned with many things that might not apply to you at all: such as do you mix the rice cereal into filthy water and make your baby sick, or make the cereal too dilute because of cost. I always mixed the rice cereal into milk, figuring that that way I was not shorting her on nutrition. Yeah, I have this must get milk into baby obsession, I realise. :)
Have fun with the feeding, don't forget to take photos of those first funny faces!
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I never did. I just breast fed my kids till they were in kindergarten.
Just kidding. I started giving them cerial when they started having trouble going a couple hours between nursing. Especially in the evening when it was almost bed time. It helped with sleeping longer. With my first son it was at about 9 months. With the second, I think about 6. But you can decide if your child is ready, and if it doesn't go well, you can always hold off and try again later. Each childs needs are different, and any Doctor or health organization can only offer you guide lines.
good luck!
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Thanks for all the great info! I personally think she is ready, as does her pediatrician, so I think we might give it a try today. I know it's a bit earlier at a little over 4 months, but the doc thinks she's ready to give it a go!
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I believe 4 to 6 months is the recommended start time according to the American Acadamy of Pediatrics, with later being better if there's any concern about allergies. Of course, as a second time mom, my philosophy morphed to - if there's no serious risk and little scientific data one way or another - exception being things like honey before 12 mos - do what you feel like when you feel like it rather than worry over every little thing. You'll have more fun that way :)
In our case, we were lazy with the second kid, knew all the nutrition she needed was coming from the milk and didn't want to deal with 2 kids creating a mess at the table - that was, until our daughter started showing an interest in the food on the table. So we started at about 5 1/2 months.
FWIW, our kids loved applesauce most of the early food choices, and we took to mixing it with oatmeal (with less and less and eventually no mother's milk or formula because the water in the applesauce was plenty). Our kid liked it thicker and thicker as she grew older, so we would tend to add oatmeal to the veggie purees as well - with some applesauce for sweetness sometimes for, say, green beans.
One of the other early favorites in our house was Cheerios - easy to gum and dissolve before there are any teeth, good for practicing "pincer grip", and keeps baby occupied and entertained while the rest of the family is eating.
Don't be discouraged if your baby doesn't eat much or any at first, or if she sticks her tongue out and forces it out. It's the norm - imagine what solid food feels like if you've only had liquid! She doesn't need solids for nutrition or calories until she's much older. As with any new skill, just try it as long as everyone's having a good time, and pull back and wait a few days or a week or two before trying again. She'll eat when she's ready. Good luck!
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Oh, one more thing that you didn't ask ;) If you're baby is the opposite and takes to solid foods really quickly (as our baby did), there is a concern about ramping up solids too quickly because they may cause constipation (as we can attest ;)
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We started at 5 months with our son. Added some breast milk. Eventually, just added mashed and pureed food to the rice and oatmeal instead of milk. Seemed to fill him up and satisfy him more. Started cheerios and puffs at 8 months and he is now hooked on them!
We started on the earlier side, around 4.5 months because, like katja said, he showed signs of readiness. He was clearly interested in the food we were eating. (not so much anymore... hah.)
- sweethi, Feb 7, 2010