Talk to me about Rice Cereal...

LPQueenie99 · June 2012

Since we are nearing our 4 month appt and A's pedi spoke to use about introducing rice when A is 4ish months at our last appt I was just wondering what you all did with your LO's when it came time. Some girls on my birth month board were talking about skipping the rice cereal and waiting until 6months and introducing purees instead.

TIA

lisa5ny · June 2012

People sometimes skip rice cereal because it can cause constipation issues, but it doesn't cause issues in all babies. There's nothing wrong with skipping it if you want. You can always stop giving to her if it creates a problem. A never had any issues with it. You can go right to oatmeal or barley instead though I think.

Melanie2003 · June 2012

for both girls, we started at 6 mos with "food" -

for Ava, she got rice cereal then baby oatmeal and i think there was a barley one too. it's mixed with formula or breast milk or even just water. start soupy then thicker as they get used to eating and are having no reactions. we did probably a week on each, then started purees and then mixed purees and cereals together sometimes....

for Sam - she had no interest in the cereals so we went right to purees. We saw no reason to force it and she was able to tolerate fruits and veggies in purees easily.

white rice cereals have little nutritional value. it's very easy for baby to digest because it is gluten free/allergy free and a good first practice type food.but it is very much a processed food and not necessary for the baby either. i think they make a brown rice one too though, that i would assume is better nutrition wise.

talk to your pedi about why they suggest starting at 4 mos - if it's because your baby is consuming a large quantity of formula/breast milk then you could probably start purees at 4 mos. and not wait until 6 mos. i think i don't understand why those other woman think skipping cereal at 4 mos means they have to wait until 6 mos to start purees. i generally thought that you start feeding "foods" - cereals and/or purees - when you are ready, not necessarily at a particular month (ie - cereal 4-6mos, puree after 6 mos)

LPQueenie99 · June 2012

Melanie2003:
i think i don't understand why those other woman think skipping cereal at 4 mos means they have to wait until 6 mos to start purees. i generally thought that you start feeding "foods" - cereals and/or purees - when you are ready, not necessarily at a particular month (ie - cereal 4-6mos, puree after 6 mos)

I think that's why I was confused too. I know they like waiting a little while because babies have immature digestive systems, but I didn't really understand why one not the other if your child is ready for "food". A has been eating like a beast the past week, so I'm not sure if she's going through a growth spurt or if it's because she's just so much more active lately - she's a wiggle worm. I am struggling to keep up with her needs, thankfully I have a decent freezer stash that I can dip into.

Melanie2003 · June 2012

well, we waited until 6 mos with both girls; my sister's pedi had her start with her twins at 4 mos.

Jezzabella08 · June 2012

M started solids just before 5 months. I did the 4 day rule. I skipped rice cereal all together and started with oatmeal. She also gets the fruits and vegetables listed in the 4-6 month section of the baby bullet book. Once she's six months I can introduce a lot more foods to her. Overall, she's been doing great with it. She has oatmeal in the morning and either a vegetable or fruit in the evening.

JennyNel · June 2012

Melanie2003:

for both girls, we started at 6 mos with "food" -

for Ava, she got rice cereal then baby oatmeal and i think there was a barley one too. it's mixed with formula or breast milk or even just water. start soupy then thicker as they get used to eating and are having no reactions. we did probably a week on each, then started purees and then mixed purees and cereals together sometimes....

for Sam - she had no interest in the cereals so we went right to purees. We saw no reason to force it and she was able to tolerate fruits and veggies in purees easily.

white rice cereals have little nutritional value. it's very easy for baby to digest because it is gluten free/allergy free and a good first practice type food.but it is very much a processed food and not necessary for the baby either. i think they make a brown rice one too though, that i would assume is better nutrition wise.

talk to your pedi about why they suggest starting at 4 mos - if it's because your baby is consuming a large quantity of formula/breast milk then you could probably start purees at 4 mos. and not wait until 6 mos. i think i don't understand why those other woman think skipping cereal at 4 mos means they have to wait until 6 mos to start purees. i generally thought that you start feeding "foods" - cereals and/or purees - when you are ready, not necessarily at a particular month (ie - cereal 4-6mos, puree after 6 mos)

ditto this exactly. I didn't start until 6 months with A. We tried cereal & oatmeal for maybe a week before chucking it and going straight to home made purees. He had no interest before 6 months and I saw no reason to start him earlier.

LPQueenie99 · June 2012

Thank you girls. So many things are out there and it's totally overwhelming, I know it's up to me, but I like to hear what others have done and be well prepared for what's coming.

kendra316 · June 2012

I started at 4 months but only bc we needed to do something to help D gain weight. He was bordering "failure to thrive" at that point bc of his allergies and refusal to drink the hypoallergenic formula. Anyway, I skipped the rice cereal and did oatmeal (baby oatmeal. Same consistency as rice cereal). It had more nutritional value.

If I had a choice, I would have waited until 6 months. That was my plan.

cloey615 · June 2012

We started Kevin at about 5 months. We started with rice cereal but that constipated him, so we moved to oatmeal which he loved. The one mistake I did make was I tried to give him his oatmeal in the morning and that just did not go well. He was way too famished in the morning to sit and be fed oatmeal, he wanted a bottle instead. Because of how frustrated he got with this, I took 2 weeks off and let him settle back into it. Once we established a good routine with oatmeal, we moved onto purses probably around 6.5 months. We started with veggies first and then fruits. He would get oatmeal, a fruit and a veggie for lunch, then we moved onto giving it to him at dinner and eventually gave it to him in the morning. During this time he still got bottles but they were always less. Eventually we cut out those bottles around 9 month or so.

billyandsara · June 2012

We started cereal at around 4 months and Teaghan loved it, right before 5 months we started basic purees and she took to them right away. Then at 6 months we introduced basic finger food like puffs and more purees.

appletinibella · June 2012

billyandsara:
We started cereal at around 4 months and Teaghan loved it, right before 5 months we started basic purees and she took to them right away. Then at 6 months we introduced basic finger food like puffs and more purees.

this... at 8 1/2 months we introduced him to the gerber toddler foods and more finger foods (chicken nuggets, sweet potato fries) because he was always hungry and waking up every 3 hours at night for a bottle. anthony is a big boy. all babies are different

ali26 · June 2012

I started with rice cereal (brown rice) right after 4 months. We also did oatmeal early on. Then by 5 months she was having some purees as well. But really up until closer to 9 months she never had a ton of food. We always just did a couple tbsps cereal in the am and a couple tbsp pur?e at night. We started doing three food meals a day betwn 8 to 9 months but her food intake didn't increase too dramatically until after she hit one. I kept nursing her first before food until she was almost one. Then I started to gradually wean and she started getting more interest in food.

LPQueenie99 · July 2012

Thank you girls SO much, I really appreciate all of your input and stories.

jesspacatc · July 2012

I'm pretty sure with K we didn't start anything until she was 6 months, and even then we only did rice cereal for a week or so because she was so constipated, we ended up having to use prune puree anyway. I'm probably going to try a little sooner with Scott and use oatmeal (as we use formula with rice starch in it already) as he eats me out of house and home as it is.

My daycare center was really helpful in letting me know from their view when they thought she was ready to advance to things (ie. purees to cheerios, etc). I found them a really helpful resource as well!

LPQueenie99 · July 2012

jesspacatc:

My daycare center was really helpful in letting me know from their view when they thought she was ready to advance to things (ie. purees to cheerios, etc). I found them a really helpful resource as well!

Thanks Jess. Just the other day the DC lady asked if we started her on rice yet because she's been eating 6oz every 2.5ish hours. I'm really struggling to keep up with her and it's stressing me out (which I'm sure isn't helping any).

jesspacatc · July 2012

LPQueenie99:
jesspacatc:

My daycare center was really helpful in letting me know from their view when they thought she was ready to advance to things (ie. purees to cheerios, etc). I found them a really helpful resource as well!

Thanks Jess. Just the other day the DC lady asked if we started her on rice yet because she's been eating 6oz every 2.5ish hours. I'm really struggling to keep up with her and it's stressing me out (which I'm sure isn't helping any).

Yeah, since starting DC 3 weeks ago S is eating 7oz every 2.5-3 hours. He's already eating me out of house and home and weighs now at 3 months what K did at 9. I ended up mixing the purees with the oatmeal a lot as well (and ill be honest, I can't get Kay to eat any adult veggies at all, but throw a puree in front of her - especially a pouch one - and she inhales it!) My doc is kind of homeopathic but also very research based....so my guess is she'll still recommend 6 months.

Jen&Louie · July 2012

Rice ceral is unnecessary, can cause consitpation ond offers no nutritional value.

The AAP and WHO recommendations are to wait until 6 months for solids. Cereal is never necessary. You can start right in with fruits and veggies, adding one at a time to make sure there are no reactions. If you really want to use a cereal, oatmeal is a far better choice than rice.

Talk to me about Rice Cereal...

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