Rice Cereal What Next?

Hi M.,

First of all, I can't imagine why anyone should criticize you for giving your baby cereal. She is 5 months old and old enough to begin tasting solids. If she was 5 weeks old, then even I would have something to say about it, but 5 months old is old enough for cereal. This is such a fun time so don't rush it. Your baby is getting used to new tastes, new textures and if you "switch" it up too quickly, you run the risk of her not liking many things all at once. Keep with the cereal, morning and a little cereal at night. In a month or so, introduce a vegetable. Are you planning to buy jar foods or are you willing to put forth the effort (and a little bit of time) to steaming vegetables, mashing them, and freezing? Most babies love sweet potatoes, carrots are good, butternut squash, and acorn squash. What I did was steam the veggies, mash them, and freeze in ice cube trays. Once frozen, I stored the "cubes" in freezer storage bags and defrosting one cube at at time, adding broth or water if the consistency was too thick. How about getting a food mill, they are inexpensive, and milling the food right off of your plate? If you eat healthy and incorporate veggies into your own meals, then pluck the veggies off your plate, mill them and feed them to your baby. It's exactly what I did. I steamed veggies and froze them for the times when I made something too spicy for my baby to eat. I'd hold off on meats until she's 6 months and even then, you can get away with waiting even longer if you desire. My ped suggested introducing veggies first (after cereal, of course) and allowing my baby to acquire the taste for vegetables before introducing fruits because most babies will prefer the fruits over vegetables and refuse the veggies altogether. I say you are doing fine! Don't rush into getting into new foods yet. Food allergies can and do happen so once you decide to begin tasting new foods, stick with that same food for a minimum of 3 days in a row. If a rash develops anywhere on her body after the introduction of a new food, you know to stay away from it for a while. Good luck, and DO enjoy this time. It's special for both of you.

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I love the book Super Baby Food. It was so helpful to me for all of these types of questions. It walks you through what to feed your baby when and is very healthy and easy to read.

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Hi M.,

Some good tips here on baby's first solid foods by holistic pediatrician Dr. Eric Rydland http://www.atlantisnatural.com/content/Babys_First_Solid_...

Enjoy your little princess, these times pass in a flash!

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When she turns 6 months I would introduce bananas, avacados, and sweet potatos for the first foods. Please make sure you wait 4 days between foods to watch for allergic reactions. The book Super Baby Foods is a great guide for when to introduce foods at certain ages. Good Luck!

I started my boys on cereal at about the same time. We did rice cereal, then oatmeal, then the multigrain cereal. Then we moved to fruits and veggies. I never really did the pureed meats, although I did some of the meat/veggie combos. You can even make your own food and it's super simple. Just steam or boil veggies and then puree them. Or like with a banana, you can just mash it up with a little bit of milk or water and my boys LOVED that. Realistically, as long as you make sure to feed her only one new food at a time, there's no right or wrong thing to feed her.

Good luck. :)

HI M.,

Next is introducing other cereals. Also it is advised that you start vegetables before fruit because once you start the sweet stuff they will not want the veggies. You can start introducing veggies and fruit now. Make sure you give about 3-5 days between each new food so that way if she has an allergic reaction to something you will know what it is. If you stay with stage one foods she should do well. I also stayed away from citrusy fruits until my kids got a little older and I think the meats should be until around 6-7 months. I wouldnt dream of criticizing you for starting solids. It is wonderful that you are still breastfeeding and most peds start the babies on solids at 4 months. Not only does solids enhance the nutrition but learning to eat with a spoon and moving food around in their mouths is a key skill for language development. So feed away and enjoy it.

C.

Veggies should be next, greens and yellows.If you started with rice cereal, try others too, like oatmeal and barley. One at a time so you can notice any ell effects, runny stools or rashes. Expect a lot of funny faces :) Whenever in doubt, consult the ped.

Hello, I am a mother of 3 daughters and 4 grandsons. I would suggest to give your daughter the Gerber Oatmeal cereal. I fed my girl's cereal at 2 weeks in their milk and thickened it gradually. I did the same for the grandson's when I kept them and ALL have been completely satisfied and very healthy. When my little ones were your daughters age we gave them very fine table food items such as mashed potatoes, smashed green peas etc. Just watch and be careful not to give your baby something that will upset the stomach.

I think you are doing just fine :)

We mixed in a little veggies like green beans or sweet peas with the rice cereal. Don't do anything to sweet because she will reject the others that are not sweet.

Don't forget to do this slowly...

Oh and be in a great mood when you give her food... I learned the hard way. I was stressed with my son and it took him longer to eat. I did a better job the second time with my daughter.

I think it was Tina that advised about mashing up your food... I think that is a wonderful idea! Make a bit extra veggies and mill them up! I'm going to tell more friends about that.

HTH,
T.

I gave my daughter fresh mashed banana first and mixed it with cereal at first. I also made applesauce, avocado, butternut squash, green beans and sweet potatoes. Even though I started with fruit she loves veggies. I just made sure I always gave her a variety of veggies and fruits. And I still do (she's 15 months now). The key is to keep trying even if they don't like the taste at first if you keep trying they most likely will grow to love it. I bought First Meals by Annabel Karmel and it has tons of great recipes. Good luck and have fun!

Good morning,

Our daughter is 5 months also and has been having cereal for about three weeks. This last week we started mixing baby applesauce, peaches or other fruit in with the cereal. In another week or two we plan on starting vegetables. She absolutely loves it. Good luck.

Technically she is not ready for anything but mama's milk/ formula til 6 months, but here are some easy first foods: banana, avocado (super nutritious with fatty acids for brain development!), steamed zuccini.

hi, M.! After 2 w of rice cereal, I started with other solids such as sweet potato, apple, pear, etc. Steam them and mix them with nursing water/bottle of water or your milk (or formula) and give to her a little 2 spoons until she can eat more. Use the rule of 4-5 days for every new food introduze to make sure she is not allergic. There are some sites and books available that helps a lot..don't introduze berries or citrics fruits yet.good luck!

I think Oatmeal is usually great for the next cereal. My son's pediatrician, if I recall correctly, suggested veggies before fruits to prevent an early "sweet tooth", but I don't recall any specific advice beyond that.

i started with rice cereal and then moved to stage 1 vegetables (all of them, i think i started with the green ones). my cousin highly recommended doing veggies first instead of fruit because once her baby tasted the sweet fruit, he wouldn't have anything to do with the veggies. i followed her recommendation and my baby will now eat anything put in front of her. good luck!!

Hi M. - At 4 months my daughter was eating 32 oz of formula a day and our Dr wanted us to start feeding her cereal from a spoon. He said that when babies are drinking so much they are ready for solids. After rice cereal we did oatmeal for 2 weeks then barley for 2 weeks. At our 6 month visit we got the ok for stage 1 fruits and veggies. Enjoy the feedings with your daughter!

I started feeding both my kids soft table food at 4 months, so no criticism here. Neither of them had any problems with allergies, stomache issues, etc. Both eat everything they are given and are good healthy eaters. Use your gut and own judgement, but you may want to start the stage 1 baby food. Good luck

I was always told to switch around rice and oatmeal. My 2 kids only had oatmeal because they have always been very constipated and the rice makes it worst. In the grocery store there are more options like cereal with bananas.

Usually the order is rice cereal then barley cereal and then the oatmeal I did about 2 weeks of each and now my daughter is only on the oatmeal

are you giving it to her in a bowl or in her bottle? I recommend giving it to her in a bowl so she can learn to chew and get the hang of that. Over the next month slowly make it thicker and see how she does. By the time she's six months old she'll be ready for baby food and oatmeal.

You can go to Oatmeal next. I used the Beechnut one with fruit so it has a nice taste to it - I tried it so I know :) and that is what I still give my daughter when she wants that along with other foods now that she's a toddler. You can then start giving her fruits and veggies. I would make my own, and steam them and blend/puree them up and I bought the 2 oz cubes and stored them in the freezer and each morning would just grab what I needed. 2 oz at first is enough for them but after a while she'll need to take 4-6 oz of each - I gave my daughter one fruit and one veggie and that worked great. Try a new one 1 at a time just in case she has a reaction or is allergic you'll know exactly what it was that set her off. After a week then you can introduce a new one to her and slowly add to your collection. Good luck to you - I know what you're going through; it's all so confusing and overwhelming but you're doing great!

mash up some ripe avocado w/ a fork and mix w/ some formula or breastmilk. play with consistancies...

same for ripe banana

same for baked or steamed sweet potato

same for baked or steamed squash

same for baked or steamed apple (this you'll need to put in a blender)

ps: you can go in any order you want- for the poster who put that fruits are sweeter so save them for later: breastmilk is VERY sweet so her baby is already used to & 'eating' sweet foods :)

also: no one will bash you, as you've spoken to your ped, but I just want to encourage you that YOU are the mama! YOU have the power to research and be the best advocate you can be for your baby/babies! so if you research at www.askdrsears.com or www.kellymom.com and you find info that contradicts with what the ped tells you, then by all means DISCUSS your findings with the ped! YOU are the mama!

That's great that you take the opinion of your pediatrician into consideration. But, like already mentioned pediatricians are in such a rush to give these kids food. Babies get every possible nutrient from your breast milk. You can breast feed exclusively for a year and your child will be in optimum health. For some reason I find that people get a kick out of feeding food to their little babies because it's like a step in 'growing up'. Children have the rest of their lives to eat food. There is so little time to feed from their mother and it's natural and healthy and bonding and really the best way to go.
Pediatricians often suggest solids because it puts on weight but you are nursing, I'm sure your baby has the perfect weight. Our society has the highest percentage of overweight children and that's from pushing food.

You should also remember that you are her mother, not the pediatrician. Yes, respect the dr (if you'd like) but you are there all the time and know your daughter best.

Bravo for nursing!!! Keep up the good work.