Infant Refusing to Eat Rice Cereal but Loves Baby Food...

My daughter hated plain rice cereal even when mixed with food or formula. Eventually we settled on a banana flavored rice cereal mixed with applesauce. Funny because she absolutly refuses bananas anyother way. I know doctors have this strict schedule for when baby should be introduced to certain foods, but not all babies are ready for the same thing at the same time. GOLDEN RULE: Give it to baby...if it comes out the other end looking exactly like it did going in then babys tummy is not ready for it...if not then babys body is using it and wants it... go for it. Babys body knows what is best as far as what it is ready for. My daughter was on fruits, vegetables, meats and cereals all by five months and sleeping through the night. All babies are different.

My daughter never did like rice cereal...well I guess when it was mixed with breast milk she did. But, then she flew right onto fruits and veggies. I just gave her what she liked. She is doing great! Good luck.

The nice thing about rice cereal is that it blends in so easily with other foods. You can mix it with almost anything and, hopefully, she won't be able to tell the difference.

When my kids were little, I added a little breast milk to make the cereal more palatable. You could also add apple juice or pear juice for the same effect.

ok im gonna break your questions down one at a time lol.
first off most babies ive seen dont like the rice cereal either however you can try mixing it with a little apple juice (this helped alot of kids in day care eat it) but honestly niether one of my girls would eat it and they turned out fine.....
after trying each veggie for 3 days then you can switch to fruit. but only do one fruit,veggie for 3 days to make sure their are no allergies.
about the meats, we tried our daughter on it after she went through all the veggies and fruits she ate thoes for about a week and was ready for table food.
there is no set age to start any of the foods just read your babys signs you know her better than anyone. you didnt mention how old she was in your post so im just kind of giving general answers here... good luck!

People may think I am crazy for saying this but I just fed my child everything. She hated cereal so I would mash up sweet potatoes or bannanas in it and she didn't like baby food so I put a dash of salt in it. I didn't follow any of those crazy food rules. (Except the honey thing). I used seasoning and let her eat fruit and veggies at the same time. I remember once even blending up pizza. Have you tasted cereal? YUCK!! We have no food allergies in my family so it just didn't concern me. And you know what my kid eats everything. Soemtimes I have to play up the veggies but she eats them. I should add we are very healthy eaters so she was never getting a box of Ding Dongs or anything.

I also want to add I didn't give her baby food after a couple of weeks I just would blend up what we were eating.

My daughter refused rice cereal after starting baby food. I mixed it in her baby food and would thin it with milk if it needed that and she took it fine. It might be worth a try.

Hi S.! Being a first time mom is so nerve-wracking! I became a google maniac when my son was little, and I found a website for you. Gerber's website was down, so I tried Beech-nut and their website looks really good for giving you information on what to feed your baby at what stage, and even offers sample menus. The website is www.beechnut.com. You can click on the tab at the top of the page "feeding by age" and it gives you a lot of information.

I also found our pediatrician and her nurses to be an invaluable source for questions about everything. If you cannot call him/her for stuff like that, I would change doctors. Also, if you are worried about her getting the iron she needs, after talking with your doctor, you might consider a multivitamin. Our son had to take a liquid multivitamin when he was an infant because his iron was low (shame on me, I breastfed and didn't take my vitamins, so then I had to give them to him) Anyway, you just put the vitamins in some food or a bottle and feed it to them. I would check with the doctor before doing that, though, because you can get too much iron. I hope that helps! Good luck!!

My son stopped liking just the plain rice cereal as well. Not to mention he is a hungry baby and just the plain little stage 1 foods weren't filling him up either. Once the dr. said we could switch him to the stage 2's I found that Gerber has many organics with the cereal, oatmeal, or whole grain mixed in already for fruits, vegetables, and meats. He loves those. Al that said, I don't think there is any reason kids HAVE to eat that rice cereal. A former co-worker told me it used to constipate her son. I thinks it's really all about the individual child and what works best for you - of course through trial and error.

Good luck!!

Heya girlie, try www.gerber.com. Not only can they help you figure out when to start foods and for how long, if you make an account on the website they'll send you coupons. I think it's okay for babies to have the meat puree or something mixed with broth, but not until they can chew somewhat should they have the thicker stuff. Those are usually the second and third foods. Have you tried mixing a little of the cereal and some formula with the baby foods? I think Gerber suggests only a tablespoon or two of each at a time. When I first introduced my baby to solids I started with rice, then did oatmeal, then barley, the mixed grains. If she doesn't like the rice, then try the oatmeal. Sometimes when I introduced a new fruit or vegetable it would tear my baby's tummy up so bad I either had to stop giving it to him or give it to him with oatmeal so his stool wouldn't be so loose. I hope this helps! I would defintely contact Gerber, I think they also have an 800 number you can call to talk to a nutritionist.

Hi S.!
My son hated rice cereal also so I gave up trying to give it to him and just fed him the other types of baby cereals. I would mix it in with applesauce or any other baby food and he loved it. I never gave him the cereal just by itself because it was such a battle. I think you can give your baby any type of fruits and vegetables if it is the right consistency as long as you are introducing new ones about every 3 days so you can watch for allergic reactions. I believe the later stage foods are just less runny and smooth. You should be able to call your pediatrician and ask your questions over the phone without having to make an office visit (if you can't, then I would find a new pediatrician!) Also, something that I gave my son - I think it was starting at about 1 year old - was polyvisol with iron (you can find it in the vitamin section at walmart or target or walgreens or any place like that). It is a liquid vitamin that you can just mix into baby food. But again, ask your pediatrician before giving it to your baby!
Cyndi

I would skip the rice and go to the oatmeal, if any cereal at all. My two girls wouldn't eat rice or oatmeal and neither were anemic. My son eats anything, but I went straight to oatmeal for him. Also, mixing the rice cereal and bananas may present a constipation problem! I don't think that the rice has much food value and it is great that she loves the veggies. Maybe start with peaches for the fruit as they have the least amount of sugar.

I'm not 100% sure how long you should keep your baby on the rice cereal. I do know that my doctor advised me to do the 1st foods veggies first also and that made my daughter very constipated. This forced us to start the 1st foods fruits which straightened her out. My doctor has said that once we get through every type of 1st foods we can immediatly start on the 2nd foods. The only difference is that they are thicker and the foods start being mixed (like bannana and applesauce in one). I'm sure mixing a fruit in with the cereal would help her enjoy it more. Just keep in mind that bananas will also constipate (I've heard) if you are having that problem! Good luck!

Dear S.~

I'm afraid you're almost 'obsessing'. . . YOU'LL DO FINE AND BE A WONDERFUL MOTHER!!! DON'T SWEAT IT, JUST ENJOY IT!

Our 4 kids are 20-31, and WE were told to start cereal and juice at 6 WEEKS (NOT 6 MONTHS, mind you!!) And the kids actually survived! LOL

You didn't say how old your baby is, but, anyway -- there are no 'hard and fast rules' about feeding! Think of all the babies in other countries -- rich and poor and what and when they eat (if anything). . . Changes the perspective, doesn't it? It's not a big deal. Make sure they're fed when they're hungry, dressed and covered when it's cold, rested when they're tired and just LOVE, LOVE, LOVE 'em!!

Rice, barley, oats . . . Does it really matter as long as they're not allergic? Vegetables, fruits, meat . . . (well, meat IS the last addition -- even according to the Bible. LOL) Stir a little applesauce, prunes or banana in her cereal. Make the cereal WITH apple juice. Feed her mashed potatoes. Whatever.

God bless

Rice cereal has very little food value, get her on oatmeal, and use a fresh banana mashed well. I made all my own baby food, and they loved it. Rice cereal- no more of that!

Hi-All of my kids have done this. Once they start eating baby food and get those different flavors they don't want that bland taste of rice cereal. Gerber has a mixed grain cereal. Or, a new one that my infant loves...Beech Nut has new cereals. We like the Whole Grain, Multi Grain with Apples and Yogurt and the Whole Grain, Brown Rice with Bananas and Rasberries. These have DHA (18mg per serving) plus in it. And the Nurtition Facts says 45% daily value of iron.
As far as fruits. If your baby is eating the veggies, start the fruits. You just start the veggies first to make sure they will eat them. If they get the sweetness of the fruits they may not like the veggies. It would be like eating desert first.
You'll know when to start 2nd foods. If the baby is eating a whole thing of 1st foods, a veggie and a fruit and wanting more, time to move to 2nds.
Good luck with it all!!

Some babies simply do not like the taste of rice cereal. I am pretty sure that all the baby cereals are rich in iro so it should be fine to use a different one. Starting the babies on veggies is great because alot of babies if they start on fruits will get used to the sweeter taste and refuse veggies. I am not sure of the time between introducing veggies and fruit. We probably waited about a month. However, we added rice cereal into all the baby foods when we fed our sons. We would mix it with the veggies and he would eat it right up. You may want to give it a try just mixing it with the baby food.

Hi S.! My daughter went through this phase at that age too. As long as she's getting formula or breastmilk, it doesn't much matter what solids she eats until age 1, so don't stress. Just try to start her out with good habits/routines at this age. If she doesn't like the rice cereal you could try the baby oatmeal or barley and see if that works better. My daughter hated rice but loved the oatmeal, especially with bananas. As long as you wait a few days in between new foods, you can pretty much try anything (fruits, veggies). Pretty soon she'll start finger foods and you may have days where nothing gets in but cheerios! As long as you are still supplementing with milk it's fine and she can experiment!

Hi S.,
Don't have an answer for all of your questions...but, it sounds like you started the rice cereal along w/some baby food. From what we've done and see w/others: we started feeding our little ones only the cereal. The baby food come a month or more later. So, since she's doing the baby food now, maybe you could sneak a little of the cereal into it. I would just add it in dry, as the food is wet enough. Hope this helps a little.
-L. F. in Murfreesboro, TN

Dear S.,
-You've gotten several very insightful ideas here. You don't mention your daughter's milk source. Is she breast or bottle?
-To begin with, I believe that rice cereal is completely unnecessary and junkfood. If she is bottle-fed and it is important to you and/or your pediatrician, you can put it in her bottle with her formula. Cereals are frequently used to thicken formula anyway. (I also think that baby cereals thicken gravies nicely.)
-The textures of stage 1 and stage 2 seem to be the same. The difference seems to be that stage 2 has pureed food combinations, like "chicken and rice dinner", etc. Stage 3 begins having smooth lumps.
-The single most important thing about starting solids is to wait that three days after initiating each new food.
-When my kids were infants, my husband was in medical school and we couldn't afford jarred baby foods. I took our vegetables, fruits, (and our other table foods), pureed them in a blender or a masher, poured and froze the mush in ice trays, then put the cubes in labeled plastic bags in the freezer.
-Check out the website that Dee recommended. Also, check out some of Mamasource's old threads for previous questions and answers about starting solids. Mamasource has had lots of infant-feeding questions/answers.
-Good luck!

Have you tried a cereal bottle? Try to mix the cereal with her milk. You'll need to make the hole in the nipple bigger so she can suck it out though or get some of those feeder bottles specifically for baby foods. It worked for my daughter, niece and nephew. Good luck.

Have you seen the yobaby yogurts? there is one just for babies with the cereal already in and my daughter loved them! they are all natural and it would be a way for your child to eat cereal.

It looks like you are getting plenty of advice on both ends of the spectrum. I use rice cereal for my reflux baby and have found that Beechnut and Gerber Rice cereals mix differently and I would imagine feel different on the tounge. Personally, there are foods I don't eat because of texture, and I would think the way rice cereal mixes that I might not like it, either. Perhaps your little Lola has the same issue. Have you tried diffent brands. My daughter hates oatmeal. What a face she made when I gave it to her! Are you serving it cold or warm? That might also make a difference. Mine has a preference for room temps.
If you are formula feeding, check the iron content on the label. If you are breastfeeding, ask your doctor about supplementing iron if you still can't get her to eat cereal.
Most importantly, don't stress too much. Follow your instincts and don't forget to enjoy your baby. It goes by all too fast!

Hi S.,
My son hated rice cereal also, so we just gave him oatmeal instead. I also started with fruits before veggies, so I would just mix some stage 1 or 2 fruit in with the oatmeal (which I made with formula) and he ate it right up. You can try any of the stage 1 foods, but gradually. That stage one meat is horrible tasting, so if she doesn't eat that, I wouldn't force the issue. I found there is very little difference in consistency b/w stage 1 and 2- you just get a little bigger portion with stage 2. Good luck!

if you want to do the cereal alone, add some grape juice in with it!

My baby never liked plain rice cereal either, but he is fine if it is mixed in with stuff. As soon as I started on fruits, that became his breakfast- cereal with whatever fruit we were introducing. Now he is almost 11 mos and still eats the cereal for breakfast. Now it is mixed with plain yogurt and fruit. I use fresh or frozen fruit and unflavored yogurt and he loves it.

Oatmeal and mixed grain are also fine- they are all fortified. The beechnut cereals someone mentioned are great. Just make sure to do the 3-day rule for everything. I switched to oatmeal, then after that I did a mix that included oatmeal, rice and something else, and that way I knew all 3 were ok.

Mine never liked stage one foods. I made all my own food for the most part, and had jars for when we were out and he hated them, I would have to mix them up with cereal to thicken. Really, stage 2 are only a bigger jar and a tiny bit thicker.

You can start veggies whenever you would like. Every book, doctor and article has an opionion but there are no rules. Easiest thing to do is go by your doctor's recommendations. Just make sure you wait 3-4 days for each thing.

I think meat should be added last if you prepare it. Jarred baby food has been processed at really high temps and it is easier to digest.

I found these 2 websites since I make my own babyfood for the most part. But they have a lot of useful info regardless of whether you make your own or not. You just search for a fruit or veggie and there are articles about what they are good for, whether they cause constipation or diarrhea, they give ideas on flavor combos to be able to get some things down that baby might not like by themselves. You might find them helpful. It really helped me to be able to look up which foods to give and not to give when the rice cereal was making my baby a little constipated. They are very similar but I like them both.
http://www.wholesomebabyfood.com/
http://www.homemade-baby-food-recipes.com/index.html
If you want to ask any other questions feel free to message me. I have been really lucky to have a good eater so far, he has been like a textbook perfect case study. And I know I worried about doing it right like crazy. My only question now is what I should feed him since he is done with babyfood and wants real stuff- I have to learn to cook! :)

I had a similar problem with my little one. I tried mixing some fruit and vegetables with it and that helped for a little while. Another thing I did was feed it to him at dinner time instead of breakfast. For some reason he didn't want it first thing in the am but would eat later on. I also tried switching to oatmeal and to the mixed grain cereal, with some success. There were also many days where he would just flat refuse so I didn't push the issue too much. He eventually began to eat it again. As far as introducing fruits and meats, we did each vegetable for a week and continued right into fruits and meats right after that. We worked our way through stage 1 and right into stage 2, week by week. I haven't heard about not starting meats until 8-9 months. We started at six months when he started all solids. I hope this helps a little. Good luck! I know it can be frustrating when they refuse stuff.

S., You daughter does NOT NEED rice cereal. For the first year if all they did was nurse or have formula, that has all the iron she needs. The purpose of introducing any food is not for nurtritional purposes.It is to train their mouth to take in a spoon and do something with the texture of what it is on it. My youngest son hated ALL baby food and insisted on the real thing beginning at 7 months. I could not refuse him. So, I kept it real, but smashed it, cut up really small, whatever it took. I started with veggies, and moved to fruit. BUT, I did not do it for the sake of nutrition. I kept him on a schedule with his nursing and let him tell me what he wanted and when. He sat at family meals and wanted what we had. We ate a lot of fresh veggies and his favorite by 9 months was cucumbers and black olives! Go figure. Let her explore and don't stress about cereal. It's a grain and our bodies don't have to have it. We need the vitamins and fiber, but you can get that from fruits and veggies. So, relax, ditch all the cereal and let her que you in to what she wants. Just make sure she is nursing or getting her bottles regularly and that her bowel movements and wet diapers are consistent. Both of you will be happier for it ;)

You start fruit after they really like her veggies. You don't start fruit b/c that may make them not want veggies. You can mix peaches or applesauce, etc with her cereal and maybe she will like it then. Oatmeal should be fine, check the back and see how the iron is as compared to the rice cereal.

S. - your daughter does not need the rice cereal. Feeding just the foods on their own is perfectly fine. If you want to give the oatmeal cereal a try, that is also fine. My daughter hated rice cereal - it really upset her stomach and my ped told me that rice cereal is difficult to digest. She ate just the foods for awhile, then I introduced the oatmeal cereal, which she loved and then I would feed her the oatmeal cereal with fruit mixed in for breakfast and the straight foods at any of the other meals. If you want a good handout on starting solids, go to www.tenthstpeds.com
This was our old pediatrician's office (we have since moved away) and when the home page comes up, so to 'browse by topic' - click on food and then read their handout on introducing solids - it does suggest using rice cereal, but you do not have to do so - as I said, we skipped it.
good luck!
I just read the post about the yobaby yogurt - check the label - those yogurts are LOADED with sugar. when you first introduce yogurt, introduce the full fat plain stuff with some of you baby food fruit mixed in - not nearly as much sugar. she'll have plenty of time to try the sugary yogurts when she's older.

Have you tried mixing her cereal with her favorite vegetable? It sounds really gross, but it works. You can mix baby foods in ways- that you'd never eat your food- to get the little ones to eat it. They don't know gourmet, so go for it. If you get the nutrients in, you've done your job.
As far as fruits go, it's ok to start them off at 5 - 6 months. You might start out introducing them in cereal. Your baby may then begin to prefer the rice if it's sweetened a bit. And don't stress too much about the rice. It's not the only source of iron. A lot of formulas have iron added to them. Too much iron can have a negative effect on her, just as too little can. Too much of it causes constipation, which we all know can be very painful.
Please know that as a mom you need to take your doctor's advice as simply that: advice, not law. If he/she suggests something that doesn't seem to be working out, relax. Try something different or just wait a bit. Time works out a lot of kinks in raising babies.
Coming to Mamasource is a great thing to do when you have concerns. There's wisdom as well as knowledge found here!
These ladies have been to the school of hard knocks as well as getting a formal education. It's great!

I know the doctors make it sound life or death if you vary from their plan...but trust yourself, you are her mom and you really do know best. With my oldest, she hated rice cereal too, I just mixed in the tiniest bit of applesauce - she was addicted...I figure she was getting the nutrients she needed - I just cheated a tiny little bit :) Veggies are hard - I alternated with fruit - to give us both a little bit of a treat/break. Good luck!

They make several different kinds of cereals. Try a different one.

As soon as i started baby food my son stopped eating his cereal except in his bottle. He won't even it mixed with anything. Once you start on baby food they don't really need the cereal anymore. That is just to start them on solids. As far a fruits are concerened I started with a veggie then a fruit I kept that up till all were introduced. Most babies don't care for the meat itself so when starting that mix it with a food already mastered or you can buy it already mixed.