Rice Cereal or Oatmeal? - For Babies

lisar wrote: Okay when did everyone start giving thier babies rice cereal or Oatmeal? Like 1 teaspoon in a 3 or 4 ounce bottle of formula. My baby is only 7 weeks old I was curious to know when everyone started this. I know your not supposed to give this to them untill they are like 3mths old. My Grand-mother has given babies everything early. I was just wondering.

Lisa

A&A'smommy replied: 4 - 6 months I wouldn't give her solids yet! JMO

~KARA~ replied: My oldest I started on Oatmeal cereal at 2 weeks(via a baby spoon). Youngest dd was 6 weeks before I tried oatmeal cereal on her, she didnt like it then so I retried it at 3 or 4 mo. Then she would only take it in a bottle untill she was 6mo old. With lil man Ill probably wait a while longer like I did with youngest dd. He is content with the formula for now so well hold off.

My pedi has always told me to start them on oatmeal first cause the rice constipates them. And it did both dd's

luvbug00 replied: Mya needed all the nurishment she could get it was arround 2 months maybe even earlier I don't remember. Per peditricain of course.

kit_kats_mom replied: The AAP has recently upped the age to start solids to 6 months. It used to be 4 months but it's since been found that starting solids too early can contribute to allergies later. Now, if your ped tells you something different then I'd do my research before I started solids at such a young age.

In the past, thickening babies bottles by adding cereal was reccomended to help the baby sleep longer but that has been proven not to work.

Jamison'smama replied: We started at 6 months with both kids---rice is what we started with because it has less allergenic properties.

mysweetpeasWil&Wes replied: I started Wil on rice cereal at 4 months and oatmeal around 6 or 7 months. I have never put it in his bottle.

Hillbilly Housewife replied: Both my kids got cereal early - I think my son was about 4 weeks old when I gave him his first little bit of cereal in his bottle....

he SEEMED to sleep better...

but both kids had graduated, slowly, to 1/3 cup cereal for one meal before bedtime at night, by about 4 months, which was when I started giving them baby food.

Warbride replied: I started Joe on rice just before he was 4 months old. He wasn't getting enough nutrition from the bottle, so we had to give him cereal a little earlier than planned. He had rice with no problem, but had a really bad reaction to oatmeal. There's alot of food allergies in my family and my hubby's family, so that really wasn't a surprise. If there's a lot of food allergies in your fam, make sure you mention it to your ped. when talking about starting solids, he should have some info on detecting food allergies for you.

Boys r us replied: I followed my ped's advice with both of my kids and did not give them any cereal until after 4 mnths. I began with Rice b/c like Brenda said, it's less prone to cause allergy problems. But whne I did start them on cereal, it was NEVER in their bottle, that can be a real chocking hazard, only by spoon.

NummyMommy replied:
ITA I waited till after 6 months....but my best friend didn't because her family was very competitive and pressured her to do it sooner....she had many problems with constipation, allergies, and immunity with her DD until she stopped...everything got better except the allergies Docotrs dont recommend cereal in bottles at all anymore because research has found it contributes to obesity later in life. HERE is an article that addresses this issue better than I can. Good Luck!

Warbride replied: I agree with not putting it in the bottles. But sometimes babies do need it sooner. Joe was big though, and we think he was born a month late. He was eating 48 oz. of formula a day, and still crying from hunger. I gave him cereal as a last ditch effort, and only after talking to a health care professional about it(she's actually a nurse-practitioner, not a doctor, but closest I could get right now, stupid tricare...) So if your little one is crying all the time and doesn't seem to be full, talk to a ped. And you might want to ask about formula thickened with rice starch, it's different from cereal, and really does help undernurished babies. My cousin's baby was almost starving because of an underinformed grandmother's decision to put him on soy formula. They had to give him the rice-thickened formula just to get him back where he belonged. I hope everything works out, I know how tough first time parenting is, I'm there too

MyBrownEyedBoy replied:
It has also been demonstrated that adding cereal to a baby's night time bottle can keep them awake b/c it causes their tummies to get a bit upset laying down all full.