My Daughter Refuses to Eat Her Rice Cereal.....???

Dear S.,

First, let me say that you are doing a wonderful job as a mom! Keep it up. The one thing that stuck out of your note was that you say she needs her grains. At five months old, this is not really true. Lots of babies thrive on mom's milk or formula later into their first year. My suggestion is to stop offering it for a while. Try again in a month or two. If she still doesn't like it, that's okay too. Some babies are just picky at times and some babies don't like to eat so much in the morning. Your doctor will continue to monitor her growth and development and will advise you if there is a concern for her nutition. Keep the fruit and vegies going and don't stress so much. You were right that there really is no point in fighting her. Being a newly married woman and a mom can be exhausting. I hope you have a women's support group, play group or Bible study group you can go to for support. Hang in there.

Theresa

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Hi there, when our pediatrician told us to start feeding our baby (at 6 months old), he told us not to expect him to eat more than a couple of teaspoons or so a couple of times a day. They still should be getting the majority of their nutrition from breastmilk or formula, so perhaps it's too early for 3 meals a day (some toddlers won't even follow that schedule, simply eating snacks throughout the day). However, if doing the 3 meal a day thing works for you and your baby, you could just try to substitute different types of food instead of the rice cereal- like mashed banana, or mashed papaya or mashed avacado. Mix it up a little. You're just trying to get their palates to adapt to different tastes at this point anyhow, so maybe she's just getting bored of the same thing?!

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It seems your daughter is a little young to be eating solids 3 meals a day. The AAP now recommends waiting until 6 months to introduce solids. Also, you don't have to feed her rice cereal at all. At this point in a baby's development they are only eating solids to acquire new tastes. They should not be eating for nutrition at this point.

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Have you tried spicing it up a little? My daughter absolutely LOVED it when I put a dash of cinnamon in her cereal. I also used some pumpkin spice, and she really liked that too. I used to spice up all her baby food. Onion powder, garlic powder, curry, etc. It helps them get a taste for different flavors, and I think it really helped her transition to table food.

You might also want to try switching to baby oatmeal or barley cereal. Before you do that though, you might want to ask your pediatrician... she is a little young to be eating solids.

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My daughter absolutely refused to eat the rice cereal but LOVED oatmeal...you may just wanna try something new.

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Aside from the fact, that at her age, she really doesn't need it. Have you tasted it? Try it, and come back and tell me you'd want to eat it.

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My daughter hated rice cereal too. In fact she really didn't eat any solid food until around 8 months (coincidentally around the same time as her first tooth). At 5 months, I would say that it is a bit early to introduce solids. You just might want to try holding off for a while and introducing them later. Once we started on breakfast foods, her favorite thing was eggs. (I typically would fry an egg and feed her the yolk, and I would eat the whites.) You can safely do this until your dr. says that the whole egg is fine, since egg-whites can be an allergen. Once the whites became safe for her, we started eating scrambled eggs, and it is still her favorite food! As far as grains, when your daughter gets teeth, try the soft part of wheat toast with a little butter. Or Cheerios are always good. Until she is ready for certain foods, I learned that it is a battle that isn't worth fighting. I think the best thing you can do is try to avoid a battle around food, and hopefully she will eventually see that mealtime is fun and interesting, and not a source of anxiety. Good luck to you!

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wow, lots of responses! My immediate thought (after reading the posts)...do what seems best for you & your child. Don't pay any attention to the responses knocking you for feeding your child foods! As long as there is no concern over allergies or digestive issues, then keep going....you'll know if your daughter is not ready. Guidelines are meant to be guidelines, not "written in stone" & every child is different. Both of my sons were put on cereal B4 1 month at their pediatrician's request. They both thrived & loved it. Good luck trying new options!

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