Hi. I was wondering how long do I need to give my baby rice cereal before he no longer needs it.
I started changing from the baby rice cereal into the baby oatmeal and then baby multi-grain cereals after my kids changed over to stage 2 foods (I guess around 8 or 9 months old -- after the pincher grasp started and I began introducing early finger foods).
I still give mine the multi-grain baby cereal for breakfast some mornings -- it's a great way to get them a warm breakfast with all the great vitamins and iron!
Personally, I used the rice cereal for a while as a means of 'practicing' eating and swallowing. Once my son got the hang of it (and I ran out of rice cereal) we moved to Stage 3 oatmeal, which I'm sure tasted significantly better!
Rice cereal has no nutritional value other than fortified iron. The baby never "needs" it but it is a good starter food because it is relatively easy to digest and unlikely to cause allergic issues. Baby gets all the iron they need from breastmilk or formula.
according to the requirements for the USDA food program we are to keep giving infant cereal for breakfast until they are a year old. The cereal can be any kind, just like introducing a new food you can introduce oatmeal, mixed grains or other types of cereal as you want. But keep the infant cereal in the diet for at least breakfast as it's an essential source of iron at that age. For lunch we can substitute a protein instead after 8 mos of age (so a jar of meat with a jar of veggies instead of infant cereal with the veggies after that age, or table food meats are ok too).
Hope that helps!
You can give rice cereal as long as you would like, however there are a few better options as first foods such as avocados, sweet potatoes and bananas, all which you can mash and puree yourself. All three have more nutritional value than rice cereal. Avocados is full of good fats for the baby's brain (which is crucial the first 2 years of life, 75% of the brain develops the first two yrs), sweet potatoes is full of beta carotene and Vitamin A and bananas is full of potassium. Then you can mix avocados with sweet potatoes (we loved sweet pocados!) and avocados with bananas for more nutrients and the fat. We put avocados in just about everything we made.
Avocado was my daughter's first food and she loved it and loves it to this day! A good brand of rice cereal is Happy Baby Bellies which has probiotics in them good for the digestive system and immune system. Be careful not to introduce grains too soon, then can end up with wheat or gluten allergies, study just published late this summer. Why the others are better choices. So stick with rice cereal and wait to introduce oats until 7-8m and other multi-grain cereals.
Good luck it is fun!
J. W. MPH
Wellness Educator/Lifestyle and Wellness Consultant
I skipped rice cereal. I gave my daughter oatmeal. She was around 5.5 months old. I introduced multi-grain cereal shortly thereafter.
Not sure when I will stop giving her cereal.
