I know starting with rice cereal, etc. is the traditional approach, but I'm not really sure what the benefit of it is. I know baby led weaning is really popular here, and we may do that or a combination. But, if we start/do purees, is there any benefit to starting with cereals over a veggie or fruit purée.
If you starts with cereal, what were the pros and would you do it again if you had another child?
GOLD / pomelo / 5737 posts
Reduced allergy risk + iron. At least that's what the pedi said... And I tend to listen to her!
pomegranate / 3452 posts
I haven't done it since A is still too young, but my guess is that's it "easy" and fairly mess free. I don't really know of any health benefits though.
grapefruit / 4903 posts
Our ped suggested it as a staple because it was fortified with all her vitamins and such. We did banana as her first food, and I'm not too worried about the vitamins while breastfeeding, but that was his reasoning.
cantaloupe / 6630 posts
We didn't do it but the reasoning our doctor gave for starting with it is that the texture is similar to breast milk so it makes the transition easier.
pomegranate / 3768 posts
My doc straight out said its a BAD idea to not start with rice or oatmeal cereal for the reasons the other moms stated above. I didn't listen though. I felt like I did enough research on my own that I felt comfortable starting with fruits and veggies.
@rattles: we did bananas as first food too! She was not a fan. Haha!
GOLD / pomelo / 5737 posts
@aprk: actually you dilute it so much it's more messy than the other purées IMO!
GOLD / grapefruit / 4007 posts
My ped was very laid back about starting solids and said we could start with whatever we wanted ! So - we started with purées simply because rice cereal seems like it would taste so yucky !
GOLD / pomelo / 5737 posts
@aprk: lol don't worry I was expecting a mess but was caught off guard with how messy the first feedings were! I hate mixing cereal up but my pedi still wants us to give it to her til she's ONE. This is the only questionable thing about her but that's for another thread...
@coacheswife123: our pedi said she tried all the baby formulas, cereals, etc and it does taste bitter/gross. But they don't know anything else and they eat it. Dd didnt like the rice so much but she's ok w oatmeal. I mix it with fruit now though!
persimmon / 1420 posts
Ditto to everyone who said things about the vitamins. We just mixed it with other foods, but the kiddos still get some every day.
coconut / 8498 posts
We didn't start with cereal, but really your kiddos will be fine whether you do that or fruit/veggie purées first. Food before one is just for fun.
GOLD / nectarine / 2884 posts
Proud to be cereal free! Formula has plenty o iron, and BF does also (my doc told me I might become anemic if I didn't watch my intake, but I would pass all my available iron to my BM). I know too many carboholic kids so I decided to opt out of the whole cereal thing.
grape / 99 posts
What I've been told is that baby's primary nutrition for the first year is going to be breast milk/formula. Starting with solids is about experiencing their food and just introducing them to different tastes and textures.
Rice cereal on it's own doesn't provide much nutritional value, oatmeal or other whole grain is better. Also if you choose an iron fortified cereal can help provide an additional source of iron, especially since their iron reserve from in utero is starting to be depleted.
Our plan is to stay primarily on milk. When DS hits six months we will probably start with a small amount of cereal. As for other solids, we plan to let him try them out (less than a table spoon) since he's not really getting nourishment from it. We will work our way up from there.
pineapple / 12053 posts
Gah, my whole reply got eaten but we started with avocado and puréed zucchini. Here's some sites to research: http://www.westonaprice.org/childrens-health/nourishing-a-growing-baby
blogger / nectarine / 2010 posts
I was super against cereal. He hasn't had any from a spoon but I did start it in his bottle at the recommendation of his pedi for reflux. I started with oatmeal. I was more interested in BLW, but I'm also interested in not having spit up.
GOLD / wonderful pomegranate / 28905 posts
Iron is a moot point if your baby is on formula.
My ped never reco to start with cereal. The only argument I might see some validity to is reduced allergy risk but the who's to say your baby won't be allergic to that grain?
Personally I see no nutritional benefits to starting with cereal especially boxed cereal. If you must I reco grinding your own brown rice and doing that in lieu of buying boxed cereal.
Food before one is just for fun and their nutrition should still be coming primarily from formula or breast milk!
I started with homemade purées then slowly transitioned to chunkier purées then primarily BLW by 7 months.
grapefruit / 4923 posts
we do BLW at home and at daycare he gets a mixture of fortified oatmeal cereal, puree, tahini (random, i know) and formula. LO is almost 6 months. i wanted the cereal to give a little bulk to his diet because his appetite was really ratcheting up at the time. not sure when to drop it though and just do purees...i haven't thought about it too carefully and will ask our pediatrician at his 6-month appointment.
grapefruit / 4903 posts
@regberadaisy: what's the nutritional benefit of self-ground brown rice as opposed to boxed in your mind? I make all of LO's food and had considered doing the same with rice, but if the only reason my ped suggested it at all was the supplemental vitamins, I'm not sure it's worth bothering with making it.
pomelo / 5093 posts
I am seriously opposed to feeding cereal for any reason beyond thickening for reflux. So, I'm trying to play the devil's advocate here and come up with a good reason in spite of that - but I'm coming up short. The allergy stuff has been disproved. Plenty of things have an easy texture for a baby. I just can't think of a single reason beyond 'it has always been done that way, so we just keep doing it'.
GOLD / wonderful pomegranate / 28905 posts
@rattles: I'm just afraid of the recent findings of arsenic in some boxed rice cereals? And it's so easy to grind my own since brown rice is something I keep in bulk at home anyway. Another thing is we try to eliminate as much "processed" foods as possible. 
wonderful pear / 26210 posts
My son was formula fed and on a special formula specific to age, so for example, there was one for babies under 6 months. I noticed he wasn't satisfied with the amount of formula he was getting and it isn't recommended to switch to the 6-12 month until babies reach 6 months, so our choice was really only to supplement. I started with carrots, which my MIL recommended, but my son just didn't take to them. So I moved to fruit, but my son still wasn't satisfied. I tried oatmeal with fruit and we had a winning combination. He was 5 months of age.
honeydew / 7811 posts
I had never heard "food before one is just for fun" before this thread, and I love it! That makes me feel more relaxed.
I want to start my LO with banana or avocado probably. I told my sister I might skip cereal and jarred baby food and she looked at me like I was insane.
blogger / pomelo / 5361 posts
Thanks for all the input! I can see the argument for additional iron and vitamins, but our boys are exclusively on formula now, which is already fortified with iron, etc. I'm going to ask my ped his opinion and I"m willing to hear him out, but DH and I are pretty sure we are just going to skip this entirely when it comes time for solids.
@cmomma17: I had never heard that either until Hellobee, but it makes me feel way more excited about introducing solids. I've seen too many families struggle and struggle to get their infants to eat a certain amount. It made me way more relaxed to be able to know that their main source of nutrition will be their bottles and whatever solids they eat are just (1) bonus nutrition and (2) an opportunity to learn and explore the world of "real" food. 
Also, I am DREADING our families reactions to our refusal to start with cereal since they've been asking literally since they were 3-weeks old when we are going to start them on cereal.
GOLD / nectarine / 2884 posts
@Mrs. Blue: lol you live in the south like me! Everyone was so into us doing cereal. They were aghast when we waited until six months and introduced veggies first. Lol! But their southern politeness forced them to hold their tongue....!
blogger / pomelo / 5361 posts
@Mrs. Sketchbook: haha! I can only hope everyone will remember their southern manners when they find out we've decided to skip it! Right now, they all just think we're waiting until their older.
hostess / wonderful persimmon / 25556 posts
I would think it's easy?
I didn't start with it, I started with mashed up banana and avocado. We did some homemade purees and some jar. Honestly, my baby didn't care what she ate, as long as we fed her. She was like a baby bird, mouth wide open, "feed me! Feed me!"
wonderful grape / 20453 posts
What'd your ped say, mrs. blue? I'm also not keen on starting cereal (although people have asked me if she's had it yet...um, no, she's 3 months old) and the vitamin argument seemed moot with formula (plus cereal is notorious for constipating babies...). I'm thinking we'll just go straight to veggies or meat.
squash / 13199 posts
We didnt start with cereal either. My ped said starting with cereal was the norm when babies started solids earlier around 4 months and was just for practice. These days that the recommendation to start solids is around 6 months most babies are ready to eat veggies and fruits
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