6 Month Old Will Not Eat Cereal

Don't force it - you could set your baby up for a lifetime of eating issues. Listen to your baby, not an arbitrary eating timetable that is not based on actually research or science. That gagging is your baby's body telling you he's not ready yet. Wait a few weeks and try again.

Skip the cereal as a first food - it can cause allergies to appear for some babies. First, mash up some banana or avocado. If he doesn't want either of those, don't push it. If you make an issue out of it, he is less likely to learn that eating is a social event for health. Not a contest of will powers.

Dr. Sears has great information on feeding babies. www.askdrsears.com. There is also a great book on making your own baby food (it's a lot easier than you think and less expensive) - The Super Babyfood Book by Ruth Yaron. It's in bookstores or online.

Best wishes!
J.

And don't bother asking your pediatrician. They spend pretty much zero time in med school on babyfood.

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A.,
I don't feel you have anything to worry about. I am 26 with three children 2,4,and 6. My children were never into cereal. Once in a while I could trick them by putting fruits or veges in it but even at that they didn't like it. I don't think that it is necessary for a child to eat cereal. Just start exploring with your fruits and veges.

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Hi A.! I wouldn't stress about your baby's desire to not eat. Breast milk or formula is enough to sustain a baby for the first year of his life. I would let it be for now, and reintroduce in a week or so. Good luck!

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My daughter (who is now a very healthy nine year old) absolutely refused to eat cereal or any baby food for that matter. She got teeth really early, so I started her on soft foods at about five months. She essentially went from formula to table food. She would eat some of the Gerber Graduate meals, but nothing else in the way of baby food. I would guess that your son is old enough now to begin giving him stuff like that.

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My advice is to NOT push it. Believe it or not, 6 months is still relatively young for "solid" foods. We started my daughter right at 6 months, but it took a couple weeks before we even got her on a regular schedule with it. At 10 months, she was still gagging on anything that was chunky/lumpy (stage 3 foods).

Your baby will learn to eat the ceral, and probably even like it :-), in time. There's no need to rush the solids. He'll eat it when he's ready.

Good luck!

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Cereal has little nutritional value and I wouldn't waste my time!

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hello. don't try to force it. he wont be hurt or lack any vitamins without the cereal. It's basically a tool to teach him how to eat. Try oatmeal, and a little bit of sugar or fruit juice in the cereal for taste.

I agree with the previous poster that said that the nutritional value of cereal is negligible and I wouldn't worry about it. Cereals have the tendency to cause constipation. The main reasons doctors want you to offer it as a first food are because it contains a lot of iron (if your son doesn't have any issues with anemia, I wouldn't worry about that), and it's a simple food with only one grain. You can achieve the same results with iron-rich veggies. My daughter wouldn't take it, either, nor would she take baby foods at any regularity. I started steaming vegetables until they were really soft and mushy and offering them as finger foods. She didn't really start taking even those until 9 months, either.

A.,

If you don't want to put in fruit then put a green veggie in it. Put the same one in it the whole week. That's what I always have done. I hope this helps.

What do you mix the cereal with? Both of my children refused to eat cereal when mixed with formula, which is what they recommend on the box. I tried mixing it with water instead, and that was sucessful for both kids.

my daughter did the same thing. it's simple, he doesn't like it. seems crazy huh?! go ahead and try the fruit with it. she really liked it when I had a whole jar of fruit and just a little cereal. it also might be the texture. some babies can't handle certain textures. my daughter always threw up and gaged on mashed potatoes. it turned out she couldn't handle the texture. good luck!!

Hi Ahsley,
I was not able to read all of the responses you recieved, I am sure they are all great but I still thought I would provide my input and experience. 1) I mixed my sons cereal with breast milk in the beginning once he was used to it I then began to mix it with room tempature bottled water. Also I know many people will disagree with this but it is okay to mix the cereal with some fruit. It is believed that if you introduce fruit first your child will not eat his veggies, however, that is an old wives tale and may be true for some babies maybe even yours but we do not know that. My son eats his vegtables just fine he is nine months old now and thriving. 2) I did start my son on cereal at four months and we did not really commit to it until six but six months is still young, my peditrician told me if he does not like it one day wait days to a week and then try again and try mixing it with some fruit I promise this will not ruin his veggie eating habits for life. Also as stated in some other responses your milk is the best thing for your son so dont feel bad if he is not eating the cereal. Good luck and let me know if you have any other questions!!

Hi A.,
If you don't want to put fruit in his cereal, or even some veggies, I would just wait to talk to his pediatrician. My son turned 6 months old last week and he has been on veggies and fruit for 2 months so I'm not sure why your son's doctor hasn't started him on those yet. However, he does like his cereal plain. I would say to try some cream of wheat but again, I would talk to your pediatrician first.

Try to put just a little cereal in a bottle with the formula (or breast milk) and see if he will eat it that way. Baby food companies also make many different flavors of cereal like banana, maybe try that. But put it in the bottle for now until he gets used to it. Just make the nipple hole a little bigger. good luck

A.,
Stop trying to rush things! If he is fussy and gagging, he is just not ready. I nursed exclusively and my boys never got any solid food of any sort until they were 10 months old. It is recommended that babies not be given solids until 9 months, and this has shown a significant reduction in babies developing food allergies.
Best wishes,
K.

Does he drink juice yet? Maybe a little of that mixed in will help.
I would even try mixing in some veggies...my youngest hated the cereal, so I'd mix sweeter veggies like sweet potatoes or carrots. The cereal doesn't have much flavor, so it probably wouldn't matter if you mixed in green veggies.
If he's gagging on it, have you tried making it thinner, more runny?
Otherwise, all I can advise is don't push it. As long as he's normally healthy otherwise, it may just take some time and there's nothing to worry about.

hi! I would try not to stress about it. Keep offering it to him and when he's ready, he'll eat it. My son is 17m/o and he still won't eat real veggies. We continue to offer them to him, but he gets the majority of his veggies from baby food. I've talked to my pedi about it and when he's ready for more texture, he'll eat them. It's so hard being a Mom because you want to follow what the recommendations are, but sometimes our little ones have other ideas. He'll eat one of these days!

Trying mixing with juice. That is how my daughter will eat it. But, we mastered fruits before cereal. The whole process took about 7 days.

my daughter only ate cereal for about a month. i tried different types. she would get to where she would actually take a breath in and sniff what was on her spoon and if it was cereal, she refused to open her mouth.

dont sweat it, start him on veggies if you are ready. i was bottle feeding my daughter and her formula had iron in it, and apparently thats one of the reasons doctors suggest the cereal. ask your doctor about alternative things and looks like there were lots of good responses on here.

my daughter is 2 1/2 almost and the pickest eater in the world. i used to get so upset about it, but i've decided just to let it go. i still offer her new things and if she doesnt eat a lot at a meal, i dont sweat it. what she does eat she gets a good amount of nutrients from so i've learned to not let it stress me out.
good luck

I used fruit with my daughter first she loved it then went to veggies. I think u should wait to ask his doctor but i don't see a problem with trying the fruit first. good luck

Don't feel too worried about the whole cereal thing, my six month old who was born in october also, does the exact same thing, if i try to continue to feed more she starts gagging on it. I actually went and asked my pharmicist and he told me that it was okay beacuse she is getting all the vitamins she needs in her formula and that cereal is just basically made up of carbs, just tryin to fattin them up, so really they dont need it. He also told me since she wont eat the cereal that after she is weened from formula to start her on a multivitamin. hope that helps, good luck!

Hi A.,

I have a daughter who is 11 months old today, and when I first introduced cereal at about 6 months, she threw up every time. I had been using the powdered cereal, and after trying rice first, we switched to oatmeal and the same thing happened. I ended up trying the jarred cereal by Gerber and Delmonte and she has done fine with those. It's definitely more expensive that way, but the vitamins and nutrients in cereal are so important ... and well worth every penny to make sure she gets them. If you haven't already tried the prepared cereal in the jars, I would suggest that.

Good luck!

I wouldn't worry about it. My daughter now grown up - refused to eat cereal - or any baby food. To this day she doesn't like to eat anything mushy. She is fine - even though she had formula for almost a year and a half, then went straight to solid food.

My son liked to have a little bit of applesauce or mushed up banana mixed in to his cereal.

I know that alot of people are against them, but they make bottles with "plungers" that you can mix the cereal in with formula, and he can suck it up. I used one for my son. Actually, we ended up using it for fruits and veggies, too. They work fine. There really isn't anything wrong with using them. Your little guy might not want to eat off of a spoon yet. My son is 11 now, and my daughter is 4. I hope this helps you!
Kim

I wouldn't worry to much about it, he's only 6 months old. My kids wouldn't eat cereal either, if you tasted it you probably wouldn't want to eat it either. Try mashed bananas it's a great first food for a baby. If he eats that then try mixing in a little cereal with the mashed banana.

My daughter is 7 months old and doesn't eat cereal. She loves her fruit and refuses veggies. They suggest starting with Fruit b/c it is easier for babies to digest. So now I mix veggies with her fruit. I say try giving him regular fruit or veggies, he might not like the cereal, the taste or textures. Best of luck.