TTMA cereal

[kookooma]

Gerber rice cereal mixed with breast milk. I have some samples that are the banana rice and he goes bonkers for it.

[rn536]

Rice cereal mixed with breast milk. Single grain. Next up will be oatmeal. I also mix fruit in now but to start I did only cereal. Then waited 3 days to try something new in case of allergies.

[rayray007]

I used Heinz with DD and am with the boys too. Not sure how I picked that one. I'm skipping rice with the boys because it made DD constipated. I'm using oatmeal. Barley gave DD diarrhea so I'll skip that too. Im using the kind where you add BM or formula. They're not huge fans so I have tried adding fruit purée and they like that a bit better. I might try adding cinnamon and other flavours too.

[mlee116]

I haven't given DD any cereal yet (she just turned 4 mos), but I plan on doing the same thing I did for DS.  We went straight to oatmeal (like PP's said, I was worried about rice constipating him).  I think I bought Gerber.  I mixed it with breastmilk (this is mainly what I use my freezer stash for) and then after awhile, some fruit like a mashed up banana or a applesauce/grated apple.  

[fergie17]

There's a great article from consumer reports about rice cereal. They are actually recommending limiting it to one time a day or using another grain. We will start with oatmeal but I have still yet to pick a brand!

[nolanova85]

I originally purchased Gerber oatmeal cereal, but DH decided that wasn't good enough for his precious boy and bought the Happy Bellies organic oatmeal cereal with DHA. I've tried it the last 2 weekends, mixed with formula. The first time we tried it he didn't do that well. This past weekend he did a lot better, but I still don't think we're quite there. I might try again tonight and make it a little thicker (the can recommends 1tbs oatmeal to 4tbs of formula), or just try a puree.

[abenson3]

With DD#1 we made our own brown rice cereal, I know it's not for everyone, but it's supper easy if you have a food processor or blender. Just add a cup of brown rice to said device and pulverize. Then 1 tablespoon cereal to 4 tablespoons of chosen warm liquid, let sit about 5 minutes.

[pros521]

We have Gerber rice cereal mixed with formula. I also started "yellow" fruits. Apple pear banana- he hates all the sweet things. Whether they are alone or mixed! The "what is this" face is great

[jesster88]

Apr 29, 2015 7:55:52 GMT -5 @kc295905 said:

Apr 29, 2015 4:01:50 GMT -5 @kelsz12 said:

My SIL gave us two boxes of some organic cereal we will use first, mixing it with non-organic formula. I like the idea of mixing fruit with it lululemon!

As for me, I like French Toast Crunch. Because lezbehonest I thought we were going to talk about our favorite cereals.

LOL. I'm on a cinnamon toast crunch kick! have you tried "moms best" cereals? they are in our organic section of grocery store. but putting organic aside, they are really good, and cheaper than regular brands! DH and I go through a ton of boxes of "mallow oats" (lucky charms) a week. It's basically a health food.

I am OBSESSED with mom's best cereals. At Mariano's (trendy grocery chain in Chicago) they are $1.50 a box which is cheaper than store brand. Their flaxseed oatmeal is so amazing. I eat it for breakfast at work for the lactation benefits.

For the babes, I have no idea where to start. Tbh I thought I just gave him veggies/fruits and that rice cereal was taboo, but I guess that is just rice cereal in a bottle?

[jesster88]

Apr 29, 2015 7:55:12 GMT -5 vigorousbabymama said:

Apr 29, 2015 4:01:50 GMT -5 @kelsz12 said:

My SIL gave us two boxes of some organic cereal we will use first, mixing it with non-organic formula. I like the idea of mixing fruit with it lululemon!

As for me, I like French Toast Crunch. Because lezbehonest I thought we were going to talk about our favorite cereals.

Have you ever made rice crispy treats with cinnamon toast crunch? One of my friends loves CTC so for her Bach party one of the things we had was CTC treats. Box of cereal bag of marshmallows and lots of butter. Amazing! It's good for your new baby. You should definitely make some.

My college cafeteria used to make these. It was the only food there I really liked.

[mlee116]

Apr 29, 2015 8:19:02 GMT -5 @kc295905 said:

Apr 29, 2015 8:13:04 GMT -5 abenson3 said:

With DD#1 we made our own brown rice cereal, I know it's not for everyone, but it's supper easy if you have a food processor or blender. Just add a cup of brown rice to said device and pulverize. Then 1 tablespoon cereal to 4 tablespoons of chosen warm liquid, let sit about 5 minutes.

I imagine you can do the same with oatmeal?

Yep, you can! I bought one box of baby cereal for DS used maybe a third of it and just used regular oatmeal from then on.  I guess he didn't like the texture of the baby stuff.

[mlee116]

Apr 29, 2015 8:48:02 GMT -5 jesster88 said:

Apr 29, 2015 7:55:52 GMT -5 @kc295905 said:

LOL. I'm on a cinnamon toast crunch kick! have you tried "moms best" cereals? they are in our organic section of grocery store. but putting organic aside, they are really good, and cheaper than regular brands! DH and I go through a ton of boxes of "mallow oats" (lucky charms) a week. It's basically a health food.

I am OBSESSED with mom's best cereals. At Mariano's (trendy grocery chain in Chicago) they are $1.50 a box which is cheaper than store brand. Their flaxseed oatmeal is so amazing. I eat it for breakfast at work for the lactation benefits.

For the babes, I have no idea where to start. Tbh I thought I just gave him veggies/fruits and that rice cereal was taboo, but I guess that is just rice cereal in a bottle?

I think the taboo part is putting it in their bottle, like you said.  Unless they have reflux issues and their dr prescribes it?  I'm not sure since I've never really done it.

Other than that, I think its fine to do whatever.  Starting with cereal seems to be the old school/traditional thing to start with, but I've heard of plenty of people skipping it.  In fact, the first thing I ever fed DS was mashed avocado. 

[alltheteainchina]

Apr 29, 2015 10:46:40 GMT -5 bdblz said:

Apr 29, 2015 9:06:42 GMT -5 @txaggie08 said:

Did anyone else's pedi tell them not to start with fruits or veggies before 6 months, but that rice or other grain cereals were ok? I had never heard that before.

FTR, LO doesn't seem ready for any solids so I'm not concerned with it right now. I was mainly just wondering if anyone else had heard of this guidance before.

Mine said to wait until closer to 6 mos for veggies, but can start cereal whenever. Haven't started anything yet though. Will likely pick oatmeal over rice cereal. Pedi also made an interesting point of establishing with veggies first, then adding fruits later. She said "you never hear of kids hating fruit, but always struggle with vegetables". You don't want them to develop a palate for only sweet things? I dunno how much I agree with that.

Any thoughts?

Our pedi said that about cereal and said we could skip it.  Kids don't need to develop a taste for carbs.  He's a proponent of veggies and fruit as first foods but didn't prefer one over the other.  With DD1, we started with squash then avocado at 5.5 months.  We never bought cereal for home but she did have oatmeal cereal at daycare mixed with formula and fruit.  I was only able pump just enough for her bottles otherwise we would have mixed with BM.  She had Earth's Best or Gerber brand.

DD2 is not quite 4 months yet so we won't be starting solids for a couple more months but will probably do the same. 

[bdk0186]

She isn't ready yet but dropped to the 30th percentile for weight. Ped suggested cereal if I wanted but basically start veggies at 5 or 6 months. If she has dropped more weight I might have to supplement w more calories. Not sure what that consists of for a baby...but I thought all about the foods I want (ice cream, cookies, etc) damn last 10 prego pounds!

[nannygoat]

We haven't had our 4 month appointment yet, so I haven't talked to his dr about this. I think that I may skip grains as well, or at least hold off until later around 5+ months. I am kind of sad that I've made this decision because I'm so excited to introduce foods, but from everything I've read, it is probably better to wait.

[jennielee123]

We just started LO on Gerber rice cereal. We mix it with breast milk and give it to her once a day. So far she loves it!

[ainslie325]

No reason you have to start with cereal. All Stage 1 food are okay, including all of the single grains. Once you've determined that baby has no problem with a given Stage 1 fruit and cereal, it's okay to add one to the other (pear with oatmeal, for example). I mixmy baby's cereal with formula (or, when I was pumping, expressed milk). I've never mixed it with water simply because I wanted the added nutrition of the milk/formula.

[mc13]

Our pedi said its ok to skip cereals and just start with solids at 6 months. We plan on doing baby led weaning, so waiting until about 6 months for DD to be actually interested in the food and able to pick up food herself.

[aleys628]

We did Gerber rice cereal. Just the plain kind for almost a month. We mixed it with formula. Now we mix in a little baby food. LO is 5 months old.

[chicorojo]

Apr 29, 2015 16:28:23 GMT -5 momtoEandC25 said:

Apr 29, 2015 10:46:40 GMT -5 bdblz said:

Mine said to wait until closer to 6 mos for veggies, but can start cereal whenever. Haven't started anything yet though. Will likely pick oatmeal over rice cereal. Pedi also made an interesting point of establishing with veggies first, then adding fruits later. She said "you never hear of kids hating fruit, but always struggle with vegetables". You don't want them to develop a palate for only sweet things? I dunno how much I agree with that.

Any thoughts?

I hate to say this but I feel like all this advice on when do introduce stuff to kids (meaning veggies before fruit for first solids) is just that, advice. You can take it or leave it. Kids will like certain things and won't like others and when they get to be of the age that they are able to choose what they will and won't eat, then it won't matter what order you introduced them in. FWIW, I did the veggies first and then fruits with DS1 and now he won't touch veggies. I have to sneak them in to his food. I understand it's important for the little ones, but I think as long as they get the nutrients they need then do it how you feel is right.
Stepping off my soap box.

Eta: commas

My mil always tells me to start veggies first, but with my first 2 I started with bananas and my kids love vegetables. So I think your right it really doesn't matter some kids are picky and others aren't.

[fergie17]

Liking vegetables is also partly genetic. There is a specific gene that makes some veggies taste bitter to people. Chances are if you like veggies so will your baby.

Also I really like this article regarding solids in general. I am a little wary of rice cereal as they discovered a quality control issue with many (even organic) brands.
www.askdrsears.com/topics/feeding-eating/feeding-infants-toddlers/starting-solids/faqs-about-solid-foods/solid-food-for-baby

[emilypk]

According to my pedi, most babies will prefer fruit to veggies no matter which order you introduce them, so it doesn't matter too much.

I picked up some Gerber organic baby oatmeal to mix with breastmilk. We haven't tried it yet - I'm thinking we will try this weekend

[jesster88]

Apr 29, 2015 21:23:40 GMT -5 mgk207 said:

Apr 29, 2015 20:41:11 GMT -5 Miss Killjoy said:

For the whole veggies/fruit thing, for babies who are BF, breast milk is very sweet. Fruits won't spoil a baby for veggies if they're already getting breast milk because they're used to sweet things... or so my LC told me haha. Dunno if it's true.

Makes sense! I lick a drop off my hand or arm from time to time, and I'm always surprised by how sweet it is!

I never thought about that. I have done the taste test to check if it I good and it reminds me of sweetened almond milk - definitely sweeter than some fruits.