When, if at all, did you start your baby on cereal?

[JamiMac]

My DD is 4.5 months old. She is EFB with an occasional bottle, around once a week. I am planning on not weaning her until after a year, at least. When I took her to her 4 month appointment she was in the 25% in weight and 85% in height, so I think pretty normal. The Dr. told me (before he checked her weight or did the percentiles) to go ahead and start cereal. He said do that for a month and then at 5 months introduce a veggie, and so forth. He even told me that I could feed her cereal 3 times a day if I wanted to. He said that she would do this in addition to all the breastfeeding, not cut back at all on that.

I was very unsure about the cereal starting at 4 months so I held off. My first DD I didn't give anything but bottles (she was ff after 3 months) until she was 6 months.

Anyway, I broke down and tried the cereal mixed with some breastmilk yesterday and she LOVED it! She would bend her head towards the spoon and open her mouth for it. She didn't seem to push any back out with her tongue.

So my question is, is this too early to introduce solids? How many times a day would you give them? It's not that I don't trust my Dr., I was just not sure about doing it so early from things I've read--but they never say why not to. My doctor is a younger Dr. in a very progressive clinic, that fully supports breastfeeding, definently not in the back woods! LOL

I would really appreciate opinions or personal experiences anyone has!
Thanks!

[jmct]

I could have written this same post a couple months ago. I took EBF and wanted to hold out on solids until 6 months. At my 4 month appt. my PED suggested starting cereal, but I just thought I'd do my own thing and start at 6 months per the AAP recommendations. However, around 4.5 months, dd became obsessed with whatever food I was eating, so I tried the cereal. She took to it like a champ, so I started 1x a day and about a month later started adding some fruits and veggies. Recently at my 6 month appointment my PED (who also supposedly is BF friendly) got on me a little bit for only feeding 1x a day. So I somewhat reluctantly addded a second feeding (I also plan to BF for at least a year and don't want to do anything to cause premature weaning), but dd hasn't seemed to drop any feedings. I'm still not sure whether I'm doing the right thing in terms of balancing the breastfeeding, which I love, and introducing new foods, textures, etc. But I have to say that dd eats everything and we've had no problems yet with her rejecting nursing.

Jen

[ladybugsea]

I recently learned from La Leche that you don't actually need to give cereal at all. It's a very processed food, compared to something like sweet potato or other nutritious whole foods. I am waiting until 6mos (2 more days, I'm getting excited!) because nothing compares nutritionally to BM, and my baby is only just now showing interest. I may do a little oatmeal cereal, though, for variety.

[jmct]

That's very interesting. Do you happen to know what whole foods are highest in iron. I was wondering when/if I could start phasing cereal out. I just assumed I'd have to keep up with the cereal until dd was onto finger foods. If there's a better source of iron than cereal that is also more nutrious, I'd be all for dumping the cereal.

[Rachels]

True. I won't give cereal at all with my next baby. Grains are also not so easy to digest, and many babies get constipated with rice especially. Also, rice has nowhere near the nutrients of fresh fruit or veggies, especially something like avocado, etc.

As for when to start solids, it's worth making sure your baby has EVERY sign of developmental readiness, including sitting unassisted. I didn't, and we paid for it dearly. While it seemed fine at first and I was certainly responding to her high level of interest, the fact is that giving her solids before she was fully ready led us to MONTHS of tummy troubles, sleep troubles, etc. It was awful, and completely preventable. If you really feel like you need to indulge your baby's interest of trying out solids before she honestly, truly meets all those developmental signs, you can offer things like powdery crushed ice or partially-frozen breastmilk slush.

Signs of developmental readiness (from Kellymom, but widely available)are:

* Baby can sit up well without support.
* Baby has lost the tongue-thrust reflex and does not automatically push solids out of his mouth with his tongue.
* Baby is ready and willing to chew.
* Baby is developing a “pincer” grasp, where he picks up food or other objects between thumb and forefinger. Using the fingers and scraping the food into the palm of the hand (palmar grasp) does not substitute for pincer grasp development.
* Baby is eager to participate in mealtime and may try to grab food and put it in his mouth.

http://www.kellymom.com/nutrition/so...#developmental


There are also lots of reasons to delay solids, including giving babies greater protection from illness, protecting babies from anemia, and reducing the risk of food allergies. For more on that, look here:

http://www.kellymom.com/nutrition/so...ay-solids.html

Also, every major medical group, including the AAP and the WHO, recommends that all babies be exclusively breastfed for six full months.

HTH!


-Rachel
Mom to Abigail Rose
5/18/02


"When you know better, you do better."
Maya Angelou

http://www.gynosaur.com/assets/ribbo...pphire_24m.gif Two years and counting!

[ladybugsea]

Jen -- From a La Leche Handout: since human milk is low in iron, there is a common misconception that BFed babies need iron supps or food fortified at an early age. Dr Sears says although BM does contain a smaller quantity of iron than other foods, it is biologically more active and more completely absorbed, and that 50%+ of the iron in BM is absorbed whereas only 4-10% of the iron in cereals is. Doctors usually recommend cereal as the first food because many of them don't understand how well the iron in BM is assimilated by the baby, but the main reason is probably because that's what has been traditionally recommended for decades.

So, really there is no need for anything else. You could just wait and give a better cereal, like Cheerios or real oatmeal instead of highly processed rice cereal.

Rachel -- WOW. And I feel radical about waiting until 6mos. :) MIL sure thinks I am. That's interesting. My baby is far from sitting unsupported, but she does well in the high chair. I thought the pincer grasp didn't develop until around 9mos? Nora has been trying to grab our food and drinks lately, so I think I'm going to try a bit of solids anyway (she's six months tomorrow). She chews on everything and I think she will really enjoy the 'Baby Safe Feeder.'

Thsi all makes a lot of sense. What did people do hundreds of years ago? Were babies BFed until they could self feed and eat what the family ate? There were no Cheerios nevermind jarred baby food!

[Rachels]

Monique-- exactly. All those signs of readiness, not so coincidentally, tend to develop at about the same rate as teeth. The GI tract also matures at about the same rate as teeth. We're not meant to eat solids as little babies. I will do things very differently with my next child, and wish somebody had told me all of this the last time when I didn't know to go looking.

-Rachel
Mom to Abigail Rose
5/18/02


"When you know better, you do better."
Maya Angelou

http://www.gynosaur.com/assets/ribbo...pphire_24m.gif Two years and counting!

[ladybugsea]

Rachel --

I don't think Nora is even teething yet. Of course she has the drool and the constant chewing, but I think it's just exploration. I didn't get my first tooth until 8mos and she's not showing any crankiness or swollen gums. For the past month she's been getting up at night for feedings (had been sleeping though the night from 9 weeks until 5 mos), so of course MIL keeps telling DH we need to give her rice cereal. She's just hungry, right? I don't think giving her solids will stop the night waking if she's hungry. I was only planning on introducing because she seems interested, not giving her three meals of solids. And what to do about the pediatrician? They told us at her 4mo that we could start solids and of course I didn't. I suppose is I just start with a taste she has 'started solids' and that's all they need to know, right? ;-) She's long and very lean (just passed 13lbs this month, was 7lbs5 at birth) and I'm concerned they will give me a hard time. She's perfectly happy and healthy and I feed her whenever she wants.

So how long would you wait now?

[brittone2]

Monique...
Rachel and some of the other mamas probably know more and I'm nursing a sleeping baby right now and don't have two arms to search much, but I wanted to add that breastmilk is way more calorie dense than solids particularly because it is so fatty. Which is why studies have indicated starting solids does not actually help the baby sleep better.

Personally, I'd tell my ped that I'd prefer to stick with the AAP recommendation to wait until your baby is 6 months and that's why you didn't start solids sooner. It would be tough for him to argue with that, and if he does, I'd tell him/her to do some reading and get updated on the new recommendations.

I'm sure someone else will know more but I wanted to chime in that breastmilk is plenty calorie rich and solids aren't likely to make your baby gain any faster.

[stillplayswithbarbies]

> If there's a
>better source of iron than cereal that is also more nutrious,
>I'd be all for dumping the cereal.

Breastmilk is a better source of iron than cereal.

I started solids around 9 months and did not give cereal until 12 months. Even then we only used it to thicken yogurt and other baby foods when she wanted to start using a spoon herself. We started with bananas and then sweet potatoes.