Introducing Rice or Cereal to an Infant

6 weeks for my first 2 daughters, 6 mos with my last. They don't eat it well early but I kept it up. My daughters are all adults now but this is what I did. Non of them have much allergys to food now.

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The latest recommendations are to delay solids until at least 6 months unless there is a significant medical issue ( like severe reflux). The reason for this recommendation is that baby has an "open gut" meaning what goes into their tummies winds up in their blood stream. This article clearly explains:

http://www.wholesomebabyfood.com/early-solid-food-feeding...

And keep in mind that every baby is different. My son ( a preemie) wouldn't accept solids till he was 7 months and my full-term daughter was over 9 months old. But I believe that babies know what they need and what they don't.

I feel very strongly that is it our job as parents to keep up with the latest research, medical findings, etc for our little ones. My biggest pet peeve is to hear someone say "oh our parents did x and we turned out just fine". Sure, but now we know better. Sorry just venting a little lol!

I know you were asking the other day about your 6 week old choking. Using rice cereal with an infant as young as yours should only be done under the pediatrician's supervision and then I would only do it after exploring the options with the pediatrician and after having my baby checked by a pediatric GI specialist.

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My ped told me to introduce it to my son at 4 months. My son loved it.

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It's best not to start cereal until about 6 months.
Unless you've been advised to start earlier than that
by your pediatrician for a medical reason.

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I first introduced it to DD when she was 4 months old but she wasn't really eating it on a regular basis until she was closer to 5 1/2 to 6 months old.

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my grand started at 2 months. she was going through 6 oz of milk like it was nothing. so we started adding about a teaspoon of rice cereal to her formula. we started with a teaspoon, some ppl have started with a tablespoon, but we felt that was maybe a little bit toooo much for our little one........LOL

With both of my kids:
In the bottle with formula? 6 weeks.
On a spoon, sitting in the Bumbo chair? 10 weeks *(that one is a little messy until they get the hang of eating and lose the tongue thrust reflex. :) )

Are you talking about feeding them with a spoon or just adding it to a bottle? I think the norm that I've always read and been told by the doctors was 4 months. Neither of my boys really ate cereal. Both my boys however had cereal in their bottles at like 2 weeks to a month old. They both spit up a lot and this helped to keep the formula down. Hope this helps!

my son was about two weeks, he had colic and was never satisfied and would engorge himself until he threw everything up. so dr recommended addind small amounts of rice to his cereal, it worked!!

When a child is breastfed, you should hold off on solids of any kind until about 9 months. That will allow the baby's immature gastrointestinal tract to mature and close. Breastmilk is not a foreign material, so it does not cause intestinal inflammation or introduce foreign bacteria and flora to the baby.

If you formula feed - you've already invaded the newborn's immature gut with foreign flora and bacteria and can give your baby solids whenever you feel like it. I should warn you tho - you MUST ensure they have a gag reflex and their tongue no longer pushes outward when something is put on it - if you do not wait for this milestone development, you are putting your baby at risk for aspiration.

depends on you and your kid. I did both of mine at 2 months. there was reasons for it. first was allergic to his formula and it hadnt been diagnosed yet. and the second was just growing to fast for his own good. he was starving litterally. he was in 12 month clothes at 3 months. and 5t by 16 months. I couldnt keep up with him. even with cereal he was eating every hour and 4 oz of cereal per bottle. depends on the kid and your reasoning why. some dont feed their kids cereal till atleast 12 months. if you think she is ready and you have a reason for it do it.

I started feeding putting rice cereal in his milk around 3 months, and then from a spoon at 4 months. The only food he really has problems with is peanut butter (15 months). I don't generally feed it to him. When he is at relatives' houses, they feed it to him even though I'm pretty sure I've told them all not to feed it to him. He always seems to have bad poopy diapers with some diaper rash afterwards. I try every so often to reintroduce it and see if he does any better, but so far no luck. Oh well, we'll get there.

It really depends on your child. My son was never content with just formula. He was eating every two hours and so I put him on cereal at about 2 months. I know the mom's are going to say noway but I did and my kids were both fine. Most doc recommend not giving solids until 6 months. If your baby is content then fine if not then ask your doc first. I never really did rice it can be very constipating, I did oatmeal. Good luck!!

My daughter never ate rice cereal. She was solely on breastmilk until 7 months or so and would never eat rice cereal or oatmeal. Her favorite meal when she really started eating solids at 10 months was pot roast purreed with brown rice and vegetables...lol.

I've always heard 4-6 months, maybe ask your ped if you want to do sooner but mine said there are studies that show it doesn't improve sleep if that what you are looking for. Good luck!

My daughter was on solids at 2 days old. Her great grandmother gave her mashed potatoes with gravy. I about had a heart attack. But she loved them, and never had a problem. So I continued to give her small amounts of pureed foods. She has never had a problem, and she is now a perfectly healthy 14 year old. As far as what peds recommend, keep in mind that many of them are being paid by pharmaceutical companies to push their products, and yes it's the pharmaceuticals that make formula. Breast milk is best, but some kids just need more substance. Women have been having babies, and feeding them what they could for thousands of years, and in many other cultures they still do. It is only in our profit based materialistic society that there is this push for only formula.

With all three of my kids and soon to be four I have introduced rice cereal at 4 months starting with once per day for a week. After the week I would increase the rice cereal to twice per day. If all goes well and they seemed to handle it just fine, I moved to the oat cereal then on to fruits, then veggies and so on. The key is to just give the baby time to adjust to foods and make sure they are not allergic to any of them before you move to the next food. I usually take one to two weeks for each food until I get through them all, then we are good to go.

Good luck and happy eating!