https://boards.hellobee.com/ Pregnancy, Baby and Parenting blog, by Hellobee en Mon, 27 Jul 2026 22:43:14 +0000 https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/babys-first-food-rice-cereal-vs-veggie#post-396234 Tue, 13 Nov 2012 23:53:21 +0000 Arden 396234@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p><a href="http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2010/12/20/get-the-white-out-of-babys-first-foods.aspx" rel="nofollow">http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2010/12/20/get-the-white-out-of-babys-first-foods.aspx</a> </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/babys-first-food-rice-cereal-vs-veggie#post-384418 Wed, 07 Nov 2012 15:55:25 +0000 JerricaBenton 384418@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>The only reason I can imagine that they still recommend rice cereal is that brown rice is hypoallergenic, but I don't plan on doing rice cereal at all. I'd rather introduce foods that have nutritional value and that I'll want to continue feeding her going forward. I don't think you need ped's permission to start with something else. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/babys-first-food-rice-cereal-vs-veggie#post-384343 Wed, 07 Nov 2012 15:42:59 +0000 KT326 384343@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>We started with oatmeal at 4 months for the iron. Our ped said that rice cereal can constipate a breastfed baby. When we started purees I added some oatmeal to them to give a little consistency. We just started with whatever I bought. I think sweet potatoes was his first food. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/babys-first-food-rice-cereal-vs-veggie#post-384299 Wed, 07 Nov 2012 15:34:35 +0000 Weagle 384299@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Our ped said we could just skip cereal and go with veggies. We tried to wait until 6 months, but she all of a sudden was starving. We started a little after 5 months with sweet potatoes.</p> <p>ETA: We do use oatmeal to give some of the store-bought purees a little more substance. They're quite runny, and we're hoping a thicker texture will help us transition to finger foods more quickly. If you make your own you can make them whatever texture you would like. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/babys-first-food-rice-cereal-vs-veggie#post-384282 Wed, 07 Nov 2012 15:29:55 +0000 yoursilverlining 384282@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@mrsjazz: Interesting! I thought she would love them, as they were the only real "sweet" item, but nope! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/babys-first-food-rice-cereal-vs-veggie#post-384237 Wed, 07 Nov 2012 15:16:28 +0000 Baby Boy Mom 384237@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I don't think you need permission to do anything. I would go with your original plan of 6 months and veggies, as there's really not much nutritional benefit to rice cereal. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/babys-first-food-rice-cereal-vs-veggie#post-384236 Wed, 07 Nov 2012 15:15:50 +0000 mrsjazz 384236@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@yoursilverlining: My LO didn't like bananas either. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/babys-first-food-rice-cereal-vs-veggie#post-384233 Wed, 07 Nov 2012 15:14:03 +0000 yoursilverlining 384233@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>We started at about 4.5 months and give LO something new to try every few days (well, more like once a week, just due to busy schedules for the past few weeks). We are not doing rice cereal, I don’t see the point and neither did my ped. </p> <p>So far LO has tried: avocado, peas, bananas, sweet potato and carrots. LO liked all but the bananas. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/babys-first-food-rice-cereal-vs-veggie#post-384189 Wed, 07 Nov 2012 14:57:58 +0000 Bao 384189@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>So squash, carrots, sweet potatoes are all good ones to start with? </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/babys-first-food-rice-cereal-vs-veggie#post-384186 Wed, 07 Nov 2012 14:57:07 +0000 Bao 384186@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@duckduckkristen: I'll look into that, thank you :) </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/babys-first-food-rice-cereal-vs-veggie#post-384178 Wed, 07 Nov 2012 14:55:34 +0000 duckduckkristen 384178@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I started solids at 5.5 months - butternut, banana, apple, avocado, then sweet potato. I think they just recommend the rice cereal for the iron, but if you give LO some meat they should be ok. I would suggest reading Real Food for Mother and Baby. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/babys-first-food-rice-cereal-vs-veggie#post-384163 Wed, 07 Nov 2012 14:49:54 +0000 littlecasita1122 384163@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Our pediatrician said it's not necessary to do rice cereal first, the most important things are to know which foods can cause constipation and also to not introduce a new food for 3-4 days so you can watch for allergies.. We have started with pureed pears and now we're onto unsweetened applesauce. I may consider doing the rice cereal with bananas mixed in since the cereal by itself seems like it would be bland. My LO will be 5 months next week, we just started with these foods this past weekend. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/babys-first-food-rice-cereal-vs-veggie#post-383883 Wed, 07 Nov 2012 13:56:17 +0000 Freckles 383883@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I started around the 5 month mark with cereals (brown rice, oats and barley) because i was a bit paranoid. But once i got into veggies and fruit i went into with full force. I started with yams, green peas, avocado, pear, apple, banana. Just remember which foods are constipating...i had introduced banana with pears because it backed her up for a couple of days. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/babys-first-food-rice-cereal-vs-veggie#post-383834 Wed, 07 Nov 2012 13:47:32 +0000 Arden 383834@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>No, pediatricians are just in the habit of recommending rice cereal as a first food, since it was in the books for many years.<br /> There isn't really good reasoning behind it, if you research it. </p> <p>You don't need permission from your pediatrician to do anything, it's your child - if you've done the research and found that veggies are better, then by all means, feed those! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/babys-first-food-rice-cereal-vs-veggie#post-383825 Wed, 07 Nov 2012 13:45:45 +0000 mrsjazz 383825@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>My pediatrician didn't even mention rice cereal. She said, "Blend what you're having!" That was not the answer I was looking for. I started with avocado, sweet potato, banana, apple sauce. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/babys-first-food-rice-cereal-vs-veggie#post-383812 Wed, 07 Nov 2012 13:44:10 +0000 Mrsbells 383812@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I made my own baby food. I started at 6 months with green beans , and then squash, oatmeal and now we are on carrots. You dont have to do rice cereal. Just start with something simple thats a good first food like avocado, squash, carrots, sweet potato, green beans or you can do fruit like banana </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/babys-first-food-rice-cereal-vs-veggie#post-383810 Wed, 07 Nov 2012 13:44:01 +0000 BelugaBean 383810@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I don't have a definitive answer but we're going to ask at her four month appointment in a couple of weeks. We're hoping to start with sweet potatoes since it's right before Thanksgiving. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/babys-first-food-rice-cereal-vs-veggie#post-383797 Wed, 07 Nov 2012 13:40:03 +0000 Bao 383797@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>At the pediatrician today, she mentioned we could start rice cereal in the next month or so, but my original plan was to start with a veggie instead. I'm pretty confused on whether its better to start with rice cereal or a veggie, when to start it, and do I need permission from my pediatrician to start a veggie first rather than rice cereal? I was thinking of just waiting until about 6 months and then doing a veggie. When did you start your baby on solids? Any advice would be much appreciated :) </p>