Rice Cereal

Cyndel - posted on 12/18/2011

I've done research lately and from what I've found I now refuse to give my child starches and cereals until he is older, as of right now he is exclusively breast fed no solids of any kind, but Babies intestines don't make the right enzimes to digest sugar (except lactose) or carbohydrates until they are almost a year old. They can digest protein and vegitables and some fruits but not white potatoes, grains, sugars, until they are about 1 year. I'm going to start with chicken (including a little organ meat as it has the most digestible form of Iron in it), sweet potato, garbanzo beans, and avocado's.
Here is the article I read on using meats as one of the first foods.
http://www.westonaprice.org/childrens-he...

Shauna - posted on 12/18/2011

I've heard not to put it in the bottle. Also, the new recommendations are to wait until 6 months to start rice cereal, although in reality it is extremely unlikely to cause harm. Just don't stress about it, because eventually the eating will come. It took a while to convince my son eating was a good thing, hehe. Just try a few bites and be calm whether or not she eats it. It's a new experience. It's also possible that she's not ready to eat yet---if it's a reflexive tongue push rather than an ewwww tongue push, she is likely not physically ready yet.

Tracey - posted on 12/17/2011

Your daughter's pediatrician is not reading the research at all if this was her recommendation. It's now been found that babies do not develop the enzymes to digest grains until at least age one, and to be safe age two. Your daughter is wise if she's spitting it out! Babies do, however, have the enzymes to digest meat and milk at this age. Traditionally, before Kellogg and Post developed cereals, babies got mashed liver and egg yolks as first foods. This replenishes iron stores, and the egg yolks, if from pastured birds (not confinement/factory farmed) will be packed with vitamins. Only egg *whites* should be avoided.

I started my first two on rice cereal, but they hated it, too, and spat it out. I later found out all this about enzymes, and went straight to meat with my third. My nearly-mother-in-law (I didn't marry her son after all but I love her to death) taught me to help avoid allergies and avoid pickiness and avoid diabetes and overweight risk, to do meats first, one at a time, then green vegetables, then yellow, then red, then orange; then fibrous fruits, then sweeter fruits; and by that time the baby should be over a year and you can do cheese, citrus, etc. that you're supposed to wait on for over a year. Last thing should be grains.

I did this with all three, and have three healthy, THIN kids who I can take to adult restaurants and expect them to eat the artichoke dip and calamari and smoked sausage, instead of the chicken fingers and cheese pizza.

Liza - posted on 06/01/2009

I tried it on a spoon and in a bottle & my son hated it both ways. The only way he will eat it now is if I mix in some fruit with it.

Mel - posted on 06/01/2009

my daughter hated it to there is no need to start with rice cereal. we started ours at 3 months with pureed sweet potato. just do the fruits , vegies and rusks but avoid rice cereal. really taste it and see what you think its horrible. good luck

Kristin - posted on 05/31/2009

I would spoon feed him the cereal and then while it was in his mouth let him drink from his bottle, helps make it less thick but also got him use to the idea of spoon feeding. Now he doesn't need the bottle while eating it. that's what worked for my little one, hope it helps a little.

Simone - posted on 05/31/2009

I just put a bit of pureed fruit with the cereal to give it a bit of flavour, Lachlan loves his food, he is 4.5 mo. i used to make it just a bit thicker than milk so he got used to the spoon, now i am starting to mke it a bit thicker for him gradually. if she is not ready wait a week and try again.

Meredith - posted on 05/31/2009

our pediatrician said to not put the cereal in the bottle because it leads to overeating and the baby is getting way more calories with the same amount of work... leading to an overweight baby! he said feeding rice cereal is mostly just to get the baby used to using a spoon, not necessarily for nutrition. your daughter gets everything she needs from the formula, the rice cereal is just a little something new. don't fret if she doesn't take to it right away. our son (now 7mo) started rice cereal at 4 1/2 mo, he seemed so excited to eat like mommy and daddy and he ended up crying out of frustration after 3 bites!! we just kept trying and making sure he still got his bottles, he got the hang of it after about a week, now he practically enhales anything we put in front of him! it will be frustrating and any baby will "hate" it at first because it is totally new and they are hungry and can't eat efficiently! just be patient, and take pictures of the cute mess and in a few months when she's a pro eater, you can look back and smile at the pictures of her frowning at her cereal :) we also tried "mixed grains" and "oatmeal" cereal as well, they are slightly sweet so maybe she will take to them a bit better?

Victoria - posted on 05/31/2009

I've never heard of putting it in a bottle, but it doesn't sound like a good idea to me. If she isn't interested, try again in a couple of weeks. I wouldn't be pushing her to start solids at this age anyway - the recommendation these days is to start around 6 months. When you do manage to get her eating the rice cereal, just beware. My daughter got terrible constipation. Her paediatrician made me give her prune juice, loads of water & laxatives to combat it. In the end none of that worked & within days of me taking her off rice cereal, she starting going again. Try something with a bit more fibre in it, weetbix or vitabrits mushed up with milk.

Mandie - posted on 05/31/2009

I put it in my son's bottle, but he hated it too. I desided to buy baby pear juice (it's easier on their tummies) and he couldn't get enough of it.

Lori - posted on 05/31/2009

HI Brittany! I started my daughter on rice cereal when she was 6 months (she was sleeping through the night so her pediatrician wanted to wait) and she didn't like it at first either. It's not a good idea to put it in the bottle because it defeats the purpose of feeding her with a spoon. You could try making it really runny (mixing it with a lot of formula) and see how that goes. It may be that she doesn't like eating with a spoon so she might have to get used to that. I tried to be encouraging as possible when I fed Isabelle, as if I could make her enjoy it by just being excited as she was eating! Good luck!!

Cheryl - posted on 05/31/2009

My pediatrician told me to absolutely never put the cereal in the bottle because it leads to over feeding. Also, if she's not ready then don't push it. The newest research suggests that starting kids on solids before 6 months increases their likelihood of developing food allergies. My son started on cereal at 3 1/2 months despite this because I couldn't keep him away from it but she will be ready eventually so I wouldn't stress out about it. As long as she is gaining weight from breastmilk or formula there is nothing to worry about