Rice Cereal

My girls just went to their 4 month check up today and the doctor gave me the option to start them on rice cereal now, or to wait till they are around 6 months to start...He said the longer you wait the better.....
When did you start your LO's on rice cereal?? Any benefits of starting now, or waiting till 6 months??
My girls are eating around 35 ounces of formula a day...

 

I started my older kids at 5 months (since that's what was recommended at the time) and the twins at 6 months. I think they learned quicker at 6 months than at 5.

 

I tried rice cereal with my girls at 4 months old. It was a joke! They wanted nothing to do with it and I was so heartbroken! I had this vision of them loving this cereal on a spoon, when what happened was they freaked out and hated it! Whatever you do, DO NOT wait until they are hungry to try the cereal! When a baby is hungry s/he has no idea what to do with the spoon the first time!

We wound up really starting at 6 months.

 

Yeah, I started at 4 months and it was a joke like someone mentioned before. They were just playing and my son was terrified of the spoon. My daughter ate it and like it but then she would stop drinking her regular amounts of milk because she was full, so I stopped and decided I will do this at 6 months.

 

We waited until close to 6 months. DS was ready for it at that time. DD was still not read and kept pushing the spoon and cereal out of her mouth. She did much better at 7 months. I wouldn't be in any hurry. BM/formula is much more nutritious than cereal.

 

Yeah, I started at 3.5 months. My son's allergist told me it doesn't matter when I start, if they are going to develop allergies, they will develop them. I did rice cereal then oatmeal for about 3 weeks then made them sweet potatoes.

 

5.5 months only because they were starving all day long! It took them a while to figure it out.

 

can you guys tell me why it is best to wait 6 months? also, i added some rice cereal to my lo's bottle a few weeks ago at the advice of some other mom's who told me to do it-i have then read about aspirating and it not being good? did i do something wrong? The kids seem to have a little trouble digesting it so I stopped but worried i may have unknowingly damaged them?

 

Mine are a little over 5 months and I haven't started them on it yet. They just don't seem ready to me. Their pedi said to wait til around 6 months so we'll probably try then.

 

You shouldn't add rice cereal to a bottle unless it's recommended by your ped (imo), we did that at 3 months or so because of reflux and it worked miracles, for us. You did not damage them :hug:

For the twins we did the rice cereal at 4 months at it was a joke and they totally didn't get it till around 6 months or so. SOOOO I decided to wait till my youngest was 6 months to start him on solids and that was an even BIGGER joke!!! He didn't get it all until 8 months old! I recommend starting to practice at 4 months... really that's all it is in the beginning anyways. Good luck!

 

I definitely agree with your doc - I won't even bother with solids with our new baby until she is 6 months old. We started right around the 4 month mark with our lo's and to be honest there wasn't much point. They aren't taking enough at that point to fill them up, they usually don't know what to do with the spoon, they might not even like it becuase it's so bland, etc. Sounds like your babies are on track with their formula amounts and all is well. As far as the rice cereal in the bottles goes, my pediatrician explained it's like someone adding mashed potatoes to your drink and asking you to drink it through a straw. Frustrating and pointless unless there is a reflux issue. And there is a choking risk too. Also, ounce for ounce, formula contains much more fat and calories than rice cereal ever could. Cereal doesn't do much in terms of filling your babies up although some moms and dads swear by it. But even knowing all of this I still let DH talk me into trying it and once he realized it didn't help fill them up or sleep through the night, we stopped. No harm done!

 

This is what my pedi. told me at my LO's 4 month appt. He also told me that we could go ahead and start with baby food and not worry so much about cereal. We started with bananas and haven't looked back since! The boys take the spoon really well and share 2.5oz jar of food (eating it all)! So far we have done bananas, sweet potatoes, squash, peaches, and green beans!

I will probably add cereal with fruit to their schedule when we do morning feedings.

 

I started all of my kids on solids around 4 months. GL!

 

Here's a great article on the benefits of delaying solids.

http://www.kellymom.com/nutrition/solids/delay-solids.html