The Age Old Question, When to Start Cereal?

I started both of my boys on cereal at 2 weeks old. My pediatrician suggested starting my baby on cereal at 4 months. Mix a little in the bottle with the formula. It should help put something of substance in his stomach and allow you to keep the ounces down.

I started my boys on cereal at 3 months & they are both healthy & happy & good eaters. My husband was started on cereal when he was 1 week old (my MIL had that written down). He is happy healthy & a good eater.

I'm a new mom and am interested to see everyone's responses, but wanted to share something I recently read that made sense to me. In an article about this topic, a doctor said that he recommended around 6 mnonths, but he asked a mom of 6 how she knew to start feeding solid foods and she said when they started paying attention to she and her husband while they were eating - when the baby really paid attention to the food and seemed interested. That makes sense to me.

On a sidenote, my mom started me and my brothers on rice cereal at a few weeks (back when they recommended that!) and we were all thin, healthy children and are now thin, healthy adults. I'm not going to start my baby that early by any means, but it goes to show that it's not necessarily going to create obese children. Healthy eating needs to be a priority throughout childhood regardless. Good luck!

We started both kids at 4 months based upon the pediatrician's recommendation. Both of our kids were solidly above the 75th percentile (I had chunky babies). Initially, they only eat a few spoonfuls.

Their recommendation will likely be based upon your individual baby's development and how they're doing with certain milestones.

I have never heard of giving infants water between feedings, though. You might want to check on that. The recommendations on many things from the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) have changed in the past few years.

Here's a link to the AAP's most recent policy on introducing solids (your pediatrician should be following their guidance and recommendations):
http://www.healthychildren.org/english/ages-stages/baby/f...

I started by son on cereal at 4 1/2 month and regret it! He has been gaining weight by leaps and bounds for the first three months of his life jumping from 20% to 70% percentile. He just stopped any weight gain between 4 and 6 months (hardly a half-pound) and I blame cereal. Remember your milk / formula is the highest calory food your child can get at this age! Your son seems pretty big for his age, so you may not be as worried, but just be aware that solids effectively replace certain amounts of milk / formula in his diet. Also see if his oral skills are at the level required for taking solids. My son was actually ready; he ate from spoon like a pro from the on-start. So lot's to consider. I just think that with my second child I'd wait till 6 months.

wait the 6 months. It is worth it. Their bodies aren't developed yet to take regular food.

Hi G.,

I started my daughter a little bit after....6 weeks. I gave her a very small amount of the single grain rice cereal mixed with breastmilk. She loved it! My mother-in-law said she started all her kids that young. She told me it was fine. I was so excited to introduce it to her, being a new mom and all. I never had a problem. My step-son was started around 6 weeks with cereal and my nephew was started around 6 weeks. My daughter, husband, step-son and nephew are all happy and doing just fine. In my opinion, 4 months is fine to start him on cereal. Your the mom. You make the decisions. If you feel like it is the right thing to, do then do it. Good Luck!

T.

Cereal really is empty calories, and turns to cement in the baby's belly. It is reccomended to wait to introduce solds till 6 months because it gives the baby's intestines more time to develop, but ultimatly it is up to you. Some babies do exhibit rediness sooner. I would reccomend starting with Avaccodo or banana instead of cereal. They have more nutritional value to them, and are healthier.

Formula does have more calories in it then cereal or even most 'first' solids, so starting solids really doesn't mean that he will necessarly 'fill up' better.

Before starting any solids you should read up on the best first foods, and not just on baby food websites. They are the ones trying to get you to buy the foods so that they can make a profit, they don't necessarly have your and your baby's best interests in mind. Google 'first foods for babies'. See what comes up. Cereal isn't the best choice regardless of when you start.

Someone here must have gotten this question mixed up with another one; water between meals is for ADULTS to LOSE weight...must have been a mistake, as telling someone to give a 4 month old baby could be deadly advice, especially since it can overload tiny kidneys.....huh.

Any-hoo, check to see if he has lost his tongue-thrust reflex (an evolutionary necessity, one created exactly for that purpose; to keep anything other than liquids out of their mouths).

Then, eat a chicken wing while he is sitting on your lap. If he tries to wrestle it away from you, it's time. :)

My ped said to start between four and six months, and I actually wanted to wait longer! But around 4 months my son became really interested in my morning oatmeal, so much so that if I talked to him while he was watching my mouth he would startle! By 4 and a half months he would cry for my bowl and spoon in the morning... One morning, not a single favorite toy would distract him so I just decided that I was being silly and I'd try out some baby cereal. He took to it right away, closing his lips around the spoon and swallowing like a pro! It was such a relief to have one easy method of feeding coming from a kid who had trouble latching on until almost five months!
The only bad thing about the rice cereal was that it did cause constipation which was easily resolved as long as he ate it with some carrots or whatever. I started very slowly, just one real meal a day for the first few weeks. I have heard that you should always offer breastmilk/formula first, then wait a bit before offering the solids.

I started cereal, as my mom did with us, at 4 weeks old. My daughter is now 14, has no food allergies and slept 11p.m. to 7 a.m. straight through from the time she was about 6 wks old to about a 3 mos, then she would go down by 9 and sleep until 7 during the week and about 9 on the weekends. I truly believe that they need their bellies to be full in order to sleep. Our pediatrician believed that we were her parents and if we felt that giving her cereal at an early age worked for her and us, then that's what we should do....

I agree with your pediatrician wait until your child is 6 months old to start cereal.

I think as long as you are not skimping on bottles or nursing then I think you could start supplementing now. Your son will let you know if he is not ready by not responding to the food. You can always give it a try and see what happens. I have started both my kids on cereal around 4 months. Very slowly but we at least get started.

I breastfed all three of my kids. The first two I waited until 6 months to start cereal. My last one I started at 4 months and I have had no issues either way. His weight gain hasn't been drastically affected like one of the other posts implied. I say go ahead and start. My pediatrician says between 4 and 6 months.

my doctor said that giving them cereal at 4 months was not necessary and to wait until 6 months. I was going to do what the doctor said, but my daughter seemed that she needed more than just breast milk, so I started giving her cereal when she was 4 1/2 months. She was fine with it. I would say go with what your child is telling you. They will let you know when they are ready for more than what they are getting.

6 mos. More ounces more frequently?

G.,

If you have not done so already, please google "open gut" and read up on why the reccomendations have changed from 4 months (and earlier decades ago) to 6 months or later.

Size alone is not a good indicator of who is or isn't ready to start solids. What signs does yor son show that indicate he is not satisfied?

Some signs of being ready to start solids include:

1. being at least 6 months of age
2. loss of the tongue thrust reflex
3. development of the pincer grasp NOT palmar grasp
4. able to sit on his own
5. an ACTIVE interest in solids.

As far as the last sign, an active interest doesn't just mean he looks your way or his eyes follow the food on the fork to your mouth. Active means he is actively trying to grab food from you and cram it in his mouth.

We started solids at 6 months and followed the Baby led weaning school of thought, Dd was allowed to self feed chunks of whateer we were having for dinner that night. We started with sweet potatoes, avocado, and banana, spaced appropriately.

There really isn't a lot of nutritional value in cereals, so that's something to consider too.

S.

Check with your dr. about giving your child water. It can interfere with his/her ability to absorb nutrients from formula or milk. I saw that as a suggestion, and just wanted to give you this info.

You're going to get varying opinions from moms and doctors. As large as your child is, there's absolutely no reason why he can't start spoon feeding cereal. My first two were large as well and we started earlier as well.

Start with rice cereal first, mixed with formula or breast milk. Start with a few spoon fulls and work your way up to a good amount for him. Just remember that he still needs to take in 18-24 ounces of formula in a 24 hour period. So if he's eating too much where it's lower his formula intake, cut back on the cereal, because an infant main nutrition source will be formula with the iron and all that. Consider the first year a test and trial period to get used to solids.

Once he's doing well with cereal, you can add a second feeding with cereal, but try oatmeal, as it's more filling and does have a better flavor for him. Then as he does well, start adding in fruits, then veggies. Stick to applesauce and pears for fruits for starters, bananas too. For veggies start out with sweat potatoes and even instant potatoes, and squash. Carrots come last as IF a child will have a reaction it tends to be carrots. Eventually, before long, you'll be feeding oatmeal for breakfast followed by formula, fruit for lunch followed by formula, and veggie for dinner (it's heavier) with formula to follow. You can later start adding in a morning and afternoon snack with Gerber dissolving treats (veggie based).

Whenever you try a new food, wait at least 3 days before you introduce another one to see if there's a reaction. If you has passed the test you can keep offering that while you try a new one.

FYI - my triplets were 2 months premature and were started on cereal at 4 months old with no problems. Doc was fine with it.

K. B
mom to 5 including triplets

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Our pediatrician said between 4 - 6 months, we started at 4 1/2 mos. I breast fed our daughter, and I was worried about replacing a "perfect" food with an "imperfect" (cereal) food. But a wise friend of mine reminded me that the first few months of solids are really more for acclimating them to solids and different flavors. They are still getting most of their nutrition from formula or breast milk. Our daughter loved to eat everything and we didn't see any increase or decrease in her weight.

I normally try to go with what the pediatrician advises... but since there are MANY who advise between 4 - 6 mos. I think you should be fine. After all, if you had my pediatrician, you'd be advised 4 - 6mos.

Otherwise... I have NEVER heard anyone say give a baby water and I really wouldn't do that.

It is fine to start now. My four girls started early and they are all perfectly healthy. I really don't think it has any negative side effects. When you start keep it pretty diluted. By 6 months he will be an eating pro :)

Hi, G.:

Wait. Give water between meals.
Good luck. D.

My ped said between 4 and 6 months.

Honestly, cereal is just filler. It is also incredibly processed. Do you really want your child's first food ever to be highly processed with no nutritional content? I never gave my son cereal. I suggest waiting and starting with things like mashed banana, avocado, mashed carrots. My mom was a fan of mashed sweet potato.

I recommend:
http://www.kellymom.com/nutrition/solids/first-foods.html

http://www.askdrsears.com/html/3/T032000.asp

Good luck with this one. We started cereal in bottles of formula or pumped milk at 3.5 months at the lactation consultant/pediatrician's recommendation because my son had horrible reflux. I then started him on veggies at 4 months. He showed all the signs of readiness, so I went with it. Truth is we don't KNOW for sure what the right thing is to do, partly because kids are so different. If he's continuing to gain weight appropriately, I don't think it hurts to wait until 6 months (though God only knows... we may find out that that is wrong too...) if you can stand it. BUT, I'm not sure that feeding a kid that shows all the signs of readiness at 4 month is bad either. However, I do think that veggies are a better way to start than the cereals. They are pretty nutritionally void, unless you need them for bulk to keep the milk down...