Rice Cereal

Strangely, our pedi suggested not starting cereal until 6 months. I could have sworn it was 4 months with my first son. It appears many of you on here started around 4 months and our daycare provider said they are allowed to feed infants cereal at 4 months. So, I have started feeding them rice cereal. My questions is, does anyone know why some are now saying to wait until 6 months? Also, did anyone start 1st foods before 6 months?

 

I think it just depends on the pediatrician and I guess if they feel your babies are ready, other then that I am not sure why. I remember going to my pedi for one of their earlier visits and she told us that they would start solid foods at 6 months and then gave us the go ahead to start at 4 months. We started with rice cereal for a week at one feeding and then the next week added a vegetable to another feeding.

 

One of the reason for the delay is to try and decrease allergies to food. Plus lots are just not ready at 4 months. But with that being said, we did rice cereal at 4 months with all 3 of our kids. Leah was very ready and starving for it. The boys really didnt "get it" until they were closer to 5.5 months. However, they were getting rice cereal in their bottles due to reflux so we figured we may as well try it at 4 months.

 

The girls' pedi recommended starting at 4 months... gave me a list of things... rice and oatmeal cereals, and 1st foods... fruits and veggies. We've been giving one thing a week. The girls are doing well with it.

 

A few days ago there was a similar discussion on this board. I posted my response on that thread.


http://www.twinstuff.com/forum/index.php?/topic/142586-how-do-you-know-your-babies-are-ready-for-cereal/

 

I tried to start rice cereal at 4 months but my girls weren't ready. They didn't take cereal until 6 months.

 

We got the green light at 4 months and I am so glad that we waited. They had a strong tongue thrust reflex and I did not want to fight them. All of the sudden the boys started to wake us up in the middle of the night for a feeding. Therefore, we started cereal when they turned 5 months. Their reflex is gone and it is getting easier everyday. I will not introduce veggies until they reach 6 months. I want to get better with the feeding ordeal before I start giving them the food I already have prepared for them.

Have fun with it and try to keep your sense of humor!

Jenn

 

With all my older kids, the doctors recommended between 4 & 5 months. But now, they recommend 6 months because it decreases the possibility of allergies evidently. So, with L&L I waited until 6 months.

 

There's some difference of opinion on this in the AAP, but most pedis now are recommending waiting till 6 months to start solids (including cereal, unless rice cereal is used to thicken formula for severe reflux); many studies show starting solids early is linked to increase risk of developing food allergies, obesity and diabetes. Since we have family history of all three, we waited till 6.5 months to start solids. Even at that age, one of my twins really wasn't ready for it; he still had the tongue-thrust reflex.
I've also read that before 6-7 months, their digestive systems are still immature and not able to properly process anything other than formula or breast milk. For almost the whole first year, solids are just for practice while breast milk and formula are for nutrition, so for most babies there's no pressing reason to start as early as 4 months.

 

I still have more research to do about this topic (I just started), but my understanding is the main reason you want to wait until 6mo or later to start solids is because breast milk or formula is what your baby needs nutrition-wise. Solids from 6mo to 1yr are just for practice and for fun exploration.

I would recommend that you find out what the signs are that your baby is ready for solids. Not having the tongue-thrust reflex and being able to signal when they are full are two off the top of my head. You also want your baby to be able to hold their head up unassisted.

Like SC_Amy posted, babies younger than 6mo still have an "open gut", meaning their intestines aren't mature enough to handle solid foods properly. This doesn't mean that giving cereal at 4mo will hurt them, just that they're not getting much nutrition from it.

At this point, I'm leaning towards waiting until 6mo or later to try solids, unless the boys show a really strong interest in eating before then. When I asked my DH what he thought we should do, his response was "I guess when they snatch the pizza right out of our hands, we'll know they're ready!"

 

Our pedi had us wait until 6 months b/c the boys were preemies (33weeks). She tends to lean towards the conservative side of things (which is why I love her). The boys were getting rice in their bottles at 3 months for spit up issues, but they still had issues with the spoon and Jake had a poor gag reflex. It took several weeks of practice before they ate much. Just make sure that formula is still their #1 source of nutrition.

 

We just saw the pedi. for their 4 months check up and he said that he usually gives the go-ahead at the time for cereal, but like mommy_meg's pedi., he said because they were preemies he wants us to wait until 6 mos.