Feeding babies cereal, when?

So, I was thinking after talking to my grandfather, at what age do you start feeding your little one baby cereal? And letting them drink juice? Can you start at 6mons? Or am I totally off?

 

I start solids right around five or six months. I try to stay away from juice too much. It's really just full of sugar and gets them used to sweet things. I choose water and start that in a sippy cup about 4-5 months. I kinda skip on the ceral thing too. I go staight for bananas or apples. Those are really good for you campared to dry, pre-processed baby cereal ya know?

I'm curious as to what your grandfather thought about when to start cereal. Care to share?

 

The other day I talked to him and he asked how he was doing, I told him he's doing good, he's just got a cold and seems to be very gassy. He asked if I was feeding him cereal, I told him no, then he asked if I was giving him juice I said no just breastmilk that's it. When he asked about the cereal and juice it made me wonder when I start giving him them. Becasue he's only a month and a week.

 

I started solids with Bella around 5-5 1/2 months. Really no hurry....it just makes for stinkier poo.

Like CH already mentioned, there is no need to start with cereal. Really any fruit or veggie is good. Bella's first was avacado and she liked it okay.
And we just started (at 6 months) giving water out of a sippy cup.
As for juice~I stay away from that even with my 6 year olds. It is too much sugar. If you feel the need for juice, you can dilute with water.

 

I asked because I wonder when him and your grandmother started giving cereal. I know in my mother's generation it was very popular to give cereal early, like 4-6 weeks! I think they put it in the formula <yuck>. My MIL showed my a pic of BIL eating cereal at 7 weeks with a spoon! That's just insane.

I'm like RS with the juice. My 2&3 yo's don't drink juice but once or twice a week.

 

I would stay away from juice as long as you can. You need to bf exclusively for about 6 months, I'd say. When Maggie Sugar feels well enough to get back, she can give great advice. I would, like the others say, skip the cereal. It's gross and boring and doesn't add any nutrition to the child's diet-esp.since you're already BF.


My personal advice, don't buy the gerber baby foods. Make your own from fresh fruits and veggies.

 

I started solids around 5 months of age with my oldest son, and at around 6 months with my twins. We rarely ever did any juice. In fact, they weren't interested in it surprisingly. They wanted milk or water to drink when it was super hot out, that was it. They're pretty much like that to this day still.

I made all of my own baby foods as well. A few times in a desperate rush on the go, I went to the store and bought jarred food, only to have my babies turn up their noses in disgust. *lol* The only jarred food that they would eat (and it was rare that I ever gave them jarred) was Earth's Best. A little pricey though.

I ground a lot of my own cereals too and added extra healthy additions. I used the book Super Baby Food by Ruth Yaron for many helpful ideas. Some of the stuff in there was a bit, I don't know, over board in my opinion, but there really were some great ideas. We saved a lot of money making our own food, and I really enjoyed doing it because I knew exactly what was going into my babies.

Hugs...

 

wait tell 5-6 months then intro the soilds

 

I started cereal around 4 months. I never gave juice or water, if they were thirsty I figured the breast milk was far better than either.....

Our grandparents' generation didn't have a lot of information to go on....so some of them have weird ideas.... Like breast milk isn't good for babies (only poor people breast-fed)...I had to dodge a lot of "good intentions" and misinformation handed to me..

My second ate only home made baby food....I didn't know how easy it was the first time around...live & learn..

 

I started giving Aiden cereal, baby food, and water at two months. I didnt start giving him juice until 3 months and after he eats I usually use a warm cloth to wipe his gums or else i just give him his tooth brush. I still breastfed too. now my son is 7 months old and he gets 3 meals a day with juice or water and for snacks i breastfeed him for

 

this post is right on.

 

depends on the situation. if you are able to breastfeed, the baby will get the majority of his needs met from that, for quite a while.

it's now recommended that you start solids between 4-6 months, with many people waiting longer, to try to avoid food allergies. if you go much earlier than that, the baby's stomach will have trouble digesting the food.

having said all that, i started levi on solids right at 4 months. i had had to wean him because of the never ending medical issues, and put him on formula at roughly that time. i figured since formula isn't as good for him as breastmilk, maybe i could fill in some of the nutritional gaps with some food. he thought cereal was yucky, so we pretty much skipped that. he eats all kinds of fruits and vegetables now, a couple of times a day, but he still gets most of his nutrition from formula. he gets an ounce or 2 of prune juice, diluted with a couple of ounces of water once a day. i do that because formula generally, and specifically the formula that he is one is constipating. the juice makes him poop. otherwise, juice isn't really needed, and is sort of like junk food.

if you are breastfeeding, you need not worry too much about offering water, since breastmilk contains lots of water. if the baby is formula fed, you might offer him some water if he gets overheated, or something, but the baby might not like it much.

 

i look for info at www.askdrsears.com - they don't sell baby food so they don't have a vested interest in getting your baby off the breast they have a lot of really excellent info on tons of stuff, below is the link directly to the foods chart.

FEEDING AT A GLANCE: Birth - 24 months: http://www.askdrsears.com/html/3/T030500.asp

 

my daughter didn't get cereal until she was almost 8 months old. she was content and healthy with the breast until then.

 

I gave my oldest son cereal at 2 weeks. That's what the doctor told me to do. But you got to remember, my oldest son is older than most of you. He was eating fruits and veggies by a month and meat by two months. He also had juice every day by two months. From a spoon, never in his bottle. My little guy was already getting cereal in his bottle when we adopted him. I know when we saw him at 3 months he was already getting it. When we brought him home at 5 1/2 months he was also eating a bit of fruit. They were mixing half cereal and half formula in the bottle to stretch the cost of the formula. The first thing we did was to wean him off the cereal in the bottle. Then we slowly switched from their formula to Baby's Own Organic Formula. After he was on our formula full strength, we started adding fruits and veggies. I used Earth's Best because I work fulltime and I was too lazy to make my own. Dakota also had a lot of oral defensiveness. I think that's the right term. He wouldn't accept things if they weren't of a certain texture. He was like that well into his second year. Would only eat baby food fruits and veggies until he was almost 2 years old. We switched him to Rice Dream when he was about 15 months old. That's when we learned that he was allergic to milk and a whole lot of other things. He's 3 years 3 1/2 months now. He still drinks Rice Dream. But he is able to eat almost all the foods he reacted to as a baby and toddler. He rarely drinks juice. Usually only if we go out to dinner. Too much sugar.

If I were to have a bio child now, (like that's gonna happen at my age), I would totally breastfeed until at least 6 months. And then slowly add fruits and veggies that I made. I probably wouldn't introduce meat until well over a year and no juice until over 2.

Kathi

 

In 1845, Elijah Pratt of New York, patented the India-rubber nipple. It had a bad taste, and found little favor initially. The Biberon nipple made of cork, was held to be superior because it neither had the repulsive taste of India-rubber, nor was it putrified like calves' teats. Other nipples of the period were made of metal (pewter, silver), glass, ivory or wood. Perfection in manufacturing methods, however, enabled the rubber teat to emerge as the universally accepted nipple. These changed from the original black (still used in lamb's nipples) to white (containing lead), to red and brown. Later models were adapted to the needs of sterilization, ease of sucking by premature babies and, eventually, "disposability."

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So I'll assume if the baby bottles or the nipples on the bottles weren't here in the early 1800's and earlier, then alot of babies didn't have juice or water when they were a month old either.

Which was always my 1st arguement when anyone tried to give any of my 7 kids a bottle (of anything) so young.

 

About 6 months



4 - 6 months: Baby lifts head and learns to sit with help
5 - 7 months: Baby plays with feet and hands

Food: Starting Solids

• Only breast milk or iron-fortified infant formula until about 6 months of age* (no cow's milk)
• Your doctor can help you understand when your baby is ready to start solids. For most babies, this is at about 6 months.
• When you start your baby on solids, feed from a small spoon, offering only about one tablespoon per day at first.

Daily Basic Foods: ​

Breast milk or iron-fortified infant formula - 6 - 8 or more feedings per day*
1- 4 Tbsp of iron fortified baby cereal

New Foods: Vegetables, fruits, juice

• Strained or pureed only. Avoid adding salt or sugar.
• Gradually increase from 1 Tbsp to about 4 Tbsp of vegetables per day and from 1 Tbsp to about 4 Tbsp of fruit daily.
• Diluted fruit juice starting with 2 oz daily - put juice in a cup not baby bottle

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whenever you do start go with the single food flavors, not all the mixed dinners or fancy sounding desserts as they are usually loaded with salt or sugar or peservatives or whatever that the baby don't need.
my oldest daughter loved pears & peas & applesauce. (she still loves all 3 ) Some of the other kids loved carrots & plums.

 

I am just imagining those combinations together!!!

only kidding!!!

in a really warm dry climate like here they suggest offering babieswater as everything is just so dehydrating for mother and baby...this is only when they are 4 or so months old though...
juice not at all...it is nutritionally useless and water and breastmilk will do the job just fine. I did however used to offer my little one sips of fresh juces when she was grasping for th straw of my drink...her face used to go through expresions of "what the fuck was that" to "urgh!" and she to this day will stll choose water over juice...

 

haha..noooo, we didn't mix the peas & applesauce together. She ate them seperately, just meant they were her fave fruit & veggie. Actually now she mixes applesauce with her mashed potatoes....have no idea why as she is the only 1 of my kids who does that.

 

Babies never need cereal. Cereal, especially commercially prepared cereals, are void of nutrition and are nothing but empty calories. babies are growing so rapidly that nothing should ever enter their tiny little tummies that is not nutritious and growth promoting. If you look at your baby's tiny little fist, that is the approximate size of his stomach.
Infant cereal is also highly allergy producing. Grains should be the very last things added to babies diet, with the bright orange and yellow veggies being first, followed by green, then fruits. The brighter and deeper the color, the more nutritious the food. meats and eggs can follow, and then last of all grains.

Different babies are ready for solids at different times. I have had babies who were eager for solids at 4 months, and one who wasn't interested until he was nearly 2 years old. There are several signs of readiness;
1) baby is sitting up solidly and without support.
2) baby has at least 2 teeth
3) baby watches you eat with fascination, imitating you opening your mouth, following your fork with his eyes, etc.
4) baby tries to take food off your plate
5) baby can bring a spoon or other object to his mouth
6) baby can chew small bits of soft foods.
Babies should be a part of family meal time, either sitting on your lap, or when he can sit, in a high chair at the table. When baby is showing signs of readiness, offer 1 or 2 tiny, 1/4 inch size pieces or fork mashed bits of sweet potato or some such veg on the high chair tray and let him finger feed. If baby enjoys it, you can very gradually add to and increase the variety of his diet. If baby spits it out, gags, or throws it to the floor, he's simply not ready yet. Never offer solid foods unless the baby has been nursed first. During the first year, breastmilk is the only food necessary and should make up the vast majority of the baby's nutrition.

If a baby can only eat pureed foods, he is not ready to eat. Babies should be able to gum fork-mashed foods and tiny bits (1/4 inch) of soft cooked foods easily and without gagging. (I think all these pureed foods being fed to infants over a prolonged period of time contributes to all the speech impediments we see in school children these days. They never have to use their jaws and tongue, so they don;t develop properly) If a baby cannot finger fedd himself, he's not ready to eat. He should be able to bring a spoon to his mouth (even if he can't use said spoon to bring food to his mouth) because that signifies the hand to mouth coordination necessary.