We had our 4 month appointment today and the P.A. (our pediatrician wasn't there) gave the go-ahead for rice cereal. I've read some stuff on here against rice cereal/allergies, etc and have such mixed feelings on it and I can't decide. I've heard it is a terrible first food. I also had a friend tell me tonight her LO seems to be MORE hungry at night as a result of the cereal. That would just kill me since my supply is dropping and I'm only semi-transitioning to formula right now. Why do you think pediatricians recommend rice cereal if it isn't beneficial to babies? How did you decide to go with rice cereal or not?
-
Our pediatrician said rice cereal is usually recommended because the risk of an allergic reaction is very low. He also said that we could give her any kinds of cereals as well as any fruit or vegetable purees. He told us that as adults, it's not great to have a diet heavy in rice and that fruits and vegetables are more nutritious so he doesn't see why it should be different for babies. He also said that we should try to give her foods we typically eat.
She's had some fruits and vegetables and we've also let her try rice cereal and oatmeal. She prefers the oatmeal, fruits, and vegetables anyway and I feel better about giving those to her although I will mix in rice cereal with vegetables every now and then.
-
Pediatricians recommend it because it's supposed to be a good starter food. It's supposed to be easy on the tummy and a very low risk for allergies. Supposedly it's also good texture-wise as an intro to solids. But the flip side is that is has pretty much no nutritional value, and is just a starch.
-
From the reading I've done on the subject (and I apologize I don't have any links to back myself up right now) cereal became the norm for babies to start on when it was decided in the medical community (like 75 years ago or something like that!) that mothers milk wasn't enough nutrition and supplementation was necessary. Babies that young can't eat solid food so rice cereal being a low allergen and easy to digest became the go-to. Now that we know that formula and milk is more than whole nutrition for as long as a full year, the case for needing solids before the baby shows all the signs of readiness (sitting up, interest in food etc) is dropping. On top of that, the AAP has changed their guidelines to state that starting with protein is a better choice. Some moms aren't comfortable starting with pieces of meat, but will choose things like lentils or even a quinoa porridge of sorts that is a more complete protein and densly nutrient packed. Hope that helps.
-
I think the main reason is for the iron it is fortified with. Around 6 months babies start to lose their stores of iron so they need to start getting it through food. I skipped rice cereal and give LO meat occasionally to make sure he gets iron.
-
Our pediatrician was ok with rice cereal and still recommends it, as well as other single grain cereals (barley, oatmeal) as a first food. We spoke about the arsenic thing, and the fact that it occurs naturally, and I was comfortable enough with it. That being said, I started with oatmeal because I was afraid that the LO would get constipated from the rice.
We've moved onto sweet potato, butternut squash, carrots, and zucchini. I typically mix some cereal into the food and then add some formula to thin it out. Sometimes I skip the cereal, and if we're in a pinch we'll just feed her the oatmeal by itself. Once we start fruit I'll probably add in rice cereal since the fruit will hopefully counteract the constipation.
We had zero issues with LO seeming more hungry, but we started slow with increasing how much she was eating. Honestly, go with your gut and listen to your doctor. I know there are lots of theories so do your research and decide what works best for you and your LO.
-
I've heard it's more of just a filler. We plan on starting with a veggie first, or possibly oatmeal but we will skip the rice cereal. My pedi still recommended the rice cereal but I think it's kind of "old school"...just go with what you feel is right, if you want to start with rice cereal, go for it...if not then start with what you want to start with! "Food before one is just for fun"
We will probably start solids around 5.5-6 months old.
-
We did not start with rice cereal. The main reason is that it is not the way that we eat or how we want to eat in the future. We are moving to a paleo diet and that means no grains in our diet. So I didn't (and still don't) want to start my child on something he won't be able to have for the future. So, the Baby Led Weaning philosophy fit with that and we started with fruits, veggies and meats. I want him to eat like we eat so that we aren't changing the rules on him. My pediatrician had no say in how we were feeding him.
-
@brownie: What age did you start the BLW at? How do you do that with meats?
-
@brownie: We did BLW too, I never brought it up with my Dr and she never asked or said anything about it so I'm just going with it. LO is 9 months old now and a super duper good eater.
-
What ages did you at start with purées? I'm also so interested in BLW and have enjoyed reading about it on the boards and blog!
-
@matador84: I started this thread yesterday, got a few responses:
http://boards.hellobee.com/topic/when-did-your-lo-start-solids -
@matador84: We were about 4 1/2 months or so when we started purees - closer to 5 months.
-
@prettylizy: @Bao: Instead of taking over this thread, I have gone ahead and posted to Bao's thread she started yesterday. http://boards.hellobee.com/topic/when-did-your-lo-start-solids
-
Our pediatrician does not recommend rice cereal. Especially if you are breastfeeding as it can cause constipation. She gave us the okay for oatmeal and we started that around 4.5 months. We used the Earths Best Organic.
-
@sweetkate where did you buy that brand of oatmeal from?
-
I started with other foods (is it bad that I can't remember what was first?) but at 6 months we got 'serious' about eating, and I started the rice cereal (from the health food store) (in addition to mashed veggies such as squash, and after 5 days, alternated it with barley cereal (same brand), and after 5 more days went on a rotation adding oatmeal cereal (same brand). I breastfed and was not satisfied with the amount of iron-rich foods that baby was able to ingest with BLW, so that's why I went for the cereals, since they have iron. By 7 months, he was eating a mixture of finger foods, but I still spoon-feed him when I don't think he's eaten enough or if I need our meal time to be fast, and I do mix the iron-fortified baby cereal into what I spoon-feed.
-
@matador84: I've gotten it at Target, Safeway, Walmart, Raley's and Babies R Us.
We will probably start solids around 5.5-6 months old.
Reply
Subscribe to our newsletter
- Google Plus
- Stumbleupon
- Twitter
- Facebook
- Pinterest
- Favorite0
17 comments