I heard a lot of people are skipping cereal all together because there is no nutritional value. What about whole grain rice cereal, whole grain oatmeal cereal or whole grain multigrain cereal? I would think that's a bit better, right?
Babies are still formula fed at almost 6 months. I would hope at their 6 month appt, our ped would give us the okay to start feeding them other things than just formula.
blogger / wonderful cherry / 21628 posts
If I was going to do rice cereal I would do whole grain. I think I'm going to skip it though and introduce grains later. I'm curious what my pediatrician will recommend at DD's 6 month appointment. It's crazy that we're almost at the point of starting solids!
pomegranate / 3113 posts
Do you mean brown rice? Or whole grain baby cereal? We didn't do rice cereal (white or brown) because I'm wary of the arsenic issue. We used this one: http://www.earthsbest.com/products/product/2392390002 and DD liked it.
hostess / wonderful apple seed / 16729 posts
@Mrs. Pickle: I know! It's crazy! Growing up too fast!
grapefruit / 4717 posts
@bluestriped bee: We did the whole grain oatmeal cereal with the green label 
Skipped rice.
pomegranate / 3595 posts
We just gave oatmeal, the kind we make for ourselves (old fashioned oats) starting at six months and never did rice cereal. Pats are a good source of iron.
pomegranate / 3113 posts
@bluestriped bee: one concern. It also doesn't have a ton of nutritional value. I felt better about the non-rice options, but we also didn't feed her a lot of cereal -- we used it more as a supplement to fruit/veggie purées.
kiwi / 696 posts
Every parent gets to make their own choice, but mine follows the above info graphic
nectarine / 2148 posts
I find cereals to be nearly completely unnecessary. We used it to mix in bottles because it helped with his severe reflux but think it's unnecessary to use as a general food item.
pear / 1697 posts
We hadn't planned to use any cereal because it has limited nutritional value, because we were worried about arsenic amounts given that we already eat a lot of rice-based things due to Sweetie's celiac disease, and because we wanted to focus on "real" foods.
However, despite lots of interest in grabbing and tasting other people's food, baby was not at all interested in eating anything that didn't taste like breastmilk.
Quinoa cereal ended up being the thing that bridged breastmilk and other food for him. Once he'd had some of that he was willing to consider that other foods were also for swallowing. We still use quinoa cereal to thicken fruit and veg purees. It is much more calorie and nutrient dense than rice or oatmeal cereals.
grapefruit / 4418 posts
I Kaity don't see the point in giving them cereal or oatmeal or whatever processed grain when you can give them fruits and veggies and meat. We did BLW though so I have a different perspective I guess:
pomelo / 5607 posts
We skipped cereals. Nothing against them, just no benefits. And there's a lot of celiac in DH's family (twin sister and both brothers and a cousin), so why risk giving her more grains than she actually needs?
clementine / 935 posts
We did just fruits and veggies from 5.5-7 months, then added oatmeal. She really likes it and I worried that she wasn't getting enough iron otherwise since so far she refuses all meat. She was born a month premature and the pediatrician said she'd be at higher risk of anemia since iron stores are built in the last part of gestation. She gets a few tablespoons a day, but still eats mostly fruits and veggies.
We haven't given her rice because of the arsenic concerns and because it's supposed to be constipating and she had enough trouble with the transition to solids!
clementine / 935 posts
Oh yeah, and we did the whole grain oatmeal with the green label in your picture.
grapefruit / 4455 posts
My pediatrician starts with the cereals not for nutrition, because when you start they're barely eating anyway, but to check for allergies one by one. We then move to veggies and finally fruits. I see why people think it's unnecessary but really all "food before one is just for fun," for the most part. I don't mind doing the allergy checks.
pomegranate / 3393 posts
I did mostly blw, but included fortified oat and multi grain cereal, because we're vegetarian and I wanted to be sure LO got iron. It was only a few spoonfuls a day and his iron levels were great, so I think cereals have a place.
persimmon / 1281 posts
Another one for BLW. LOs first food was avocado. Our ped told us that if we are worried about any certain food allergies, to take a little bit of that food and put it in the back of his neck or back to see if he has a reaction. So far he hasn't had any issues. I had a friend try that and her DD turned out to have a reaction to eggs. It's a cool & quick little test to ease your mind!
pomelo / 5093 posts
No reason to, in my opinion. My 7 month old already eats three meals a day of fruit/veggie purees, yogurts, and soft foods like pasta and beans. I see upthread that some people used them to transition between milk and food, which makes sense. But as a food, I can't really see the point.
grapefruit / 4770 posts
We are one of the rarity with rice cereal I guess! My ped had us do rice cereal. When I asked her about the whole "no nutritional value," she said, "well, it does have iron in it to start. So, there's that." So, it has some nutritional value, and it's easy on baby's stomach. DD was on Zantac for months for her reflux, and the cereal worked for us. We used single grain. DDis just now taking to solids at 8.5-9months, doesn't like any purées, and gets about a bowl of cereal a day. Good luck!
wonderful clementine / 24134 posts
we used some oatmeal but mostly started on realt fruits and veggies.
apricot / 287 posts
I started with fruits/veggies but ended up doing oatmeal cereal pretty regularly for some iron. By 10 months or so I switched to normal oatmeal, which DS still has for breakfast almost everyday.
pear / 1622 posts
We gave LO the Earth's Best Whole Grain rice cereal, oatmeal, and multi-grain cereals for breakfast - it worked well for us.
coconut / 8472 posts
We did a little bit of baby oatmeal for a while because our ped said it would help with his horrible constipation. I'd mix it with baby prunes and breastmilk.
I tend to think rice cereal is pretty useless though.
hostess / wonderful watermelon / 39513 posts
I bought some recently to thicken up my runny homemade purées! I think it was happy baby brand from target.
blogger / honeydew / 7081 posts
Rice cereal caused big constipation issues for my kids, so we stopped quickly and avoided grains for K. We give M oatmeal sometimes because it seems to be the only thing that really helps when he is constipated. I've heard that whole grains are better and that white rice cereal is the worst, but then again...I'm sure the advice is constantly changing and grains might be off the table all together.
pear / 1703 posts
@bluestriped bee: There's a lot of cereal hate on this thread! I'd say go for it 
Its a fun transition food from milk to solids and theres no reason you can't BLW or something other approach after the cereal.
nectarine / 2173 posts
@Torchwood: I think it's bit of a stretch to say there are no benefits to cereals. Understandly, there are concerns, such as the arsenic issue. But for one thing, they are strongly iron fortified. It's esp important for breast fed babies to get extra iron by 6 months since the iron stores they were born with are waning at this point. It can be hard to get enough iron through complementary foods for the beginning eater, so the cereals work really well for some babies.
pomegranate / 3272 posts
With DS1, we skipped cereal of any kind and went to veggies. However, DS2 has been a lot more difficult in regards to solids so I had to change my mindset to figuring out what worked for him. I was also worried about iron levels so we started with oatmeal. We worked up to being able to add it to puree and now he likes it with his greek yogurt and puree mix that he gets in the morning. We also use it to thicken up some purees. We used the Earth's Best brand
coconut / 8854 posts
We did Oatmeal cereal first! Our Ped suggested we stay away from rice cereal because it may cause constipation. But still strongly encouraged us to start with cereal, because it's an easy transition food from breastmilk, and is easy for their tiny tummys to digest. Plus you can add a lot of breast milk or formula to the cereal so it's a similar flavor for your baby to get used to. I am pro-cereal!
pear / 1648 posts
We started with vegetables and primarily did baby-led weaning, but we did give oatmeal at times as a breakfast food. I just ground up regular rolled oats in the food processor (blender works too) and cooked them as usual. No need to buy specialty products unless you just want to.
honeydew / 7235 posts
@Torchwood: there are theories out there that suggest introducing gluten while still breastfeeding is beneficial if celiac runs in the family..... Pediatricians seem to have differing opinions on it. Nothing definitive in the research I've done, but there seem to be two camps: Start the gluten early; or wait. Also, gluten free oats are safe for celiacs.
pineapple / 12053 posts
We did mostly whole food purées and BLW kinda but also ground oatmeal mixed with breastmilk.
pomelo / 5866 posts
We did cereal the very first time...after that a bunch of veggie purees.
nectarine / 2951 posts
Our pediatrician recommended we start with green veggies, then orange veggies, then eventually fruit. We also introduced egg yolks early. I think we gave him oatmeal eventually! We never fed him rice cereal.
hostess / papaya / 10540 posts
@bluestriped bee: My oldest had a horrible reaction to that one, instantly started making him vomit. So we tossed it and went with BLW and didn't bother to even try with LO2 and went straight to BLW.
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