Rice Cereal Then Fruits and Veggies?

When my son was little I used to mix his rice cereal in his bottle then when i started with the baby food i would mix a table spoon or so with his fruits like apple sauce in the morning for breakfast. We didn't even try the oats and barley. My son didn't seem to like the taste of the cereal by itself so thats why I always mixed it with something else.

When I started my daughter on fruits and veggies I still gave her rice, mixed grain or oatmeal cereal. I would breast feed first then do cereal and fruit or veggie. I started only giving her 1/4 cup of cereal and just 1/3 jar of stage one baby food. I think you could ask many moms and you will get lots of different ideas. The cereal has lots of vitamins and iron in it that they need in their diet. You could just do cereal 2 times a day and one meal just fruits or veggies. I think whatever you do will be fine and some of it is what works best fir the child.

Hi Jody! I wonder if maybe she is not ready for cereal? I just mention this because we were told the same at my son's 4 month appt but after 2 nights of being up all night with an upset tummy we did some more research and found that a lot of people are suggesting waiting 6 months now as their digestive systems sometimes aren't ready that soon. We waited until 5 1/2 months (at which point he was maxing out his ounces of formula and starting to wake in the middle of the night hungry) and then we started cereal again. He took to it like a pro then! I know what you mean... there doesn't seem to be one way to go about starting solids but rather 100 different ways. I know we did cereal, veggies and fruit in that order. We always started a new food in the morning and gave it for 3 days to make sure there was no reaction before starting another one. There are also lots of good websites out there with info on what foods to introduce at what ages... you just have to google. I am still looking for info as my son is close to being ready for more texture, etc. Good luck to you!

Jody-

IMPO grains should not be given until baby has teeth. If your kiddo has teeth, then she also is producing the enzymes to break down grains.

If teeth are not the issue, then she just may not be ready for food. Some kids' digestive systems are not ready until 6-7 months old (or later). There are signs to watch for (PM me if you would like more info).

If it seems that her fussiness is discomfort from gas and/or constipation, you may want to introduce a probiotic to help balance her digestive system. There are different types for babies, depending on whether she is exclusively breastfed, taking formula, etc. Again, PM me if you would like more info.

Yours in health,
Dr. Alyssa

If you are just giving her plain rice cereal, mixed with water, then she probably doesn't like it. Which could be why she is crying. Try mixing it with formula or breast milk. It is a little tastier. We did do the barley and oats but we bought a little box of the barley. Our girls loved the oats better than the rice, but they ate both when mixed with formula or BM. We also mixed them with some juice, apple or grape or prune for a change in flavor. Only after a few days of each plain though. They ate cereal for several months before we went to baby food. I hope this helps you out a little. Good luck and God Bless.

If you have already been giving her the rice cereal awhile and know she isnt allergic you can always mix a little fruit to the cereal to give it some flavor. Its what i did with our son and he ate it much better, but ya when you give her something wait a few days and try something else so you will know if she is allergic what is causing it.

Hi Jody-
This is what I did. When I started out on the cereals I did them for breakfast, lunch, and dinner with a bottle. I started with Rice until the box was empty (it was about a week and half.)Then the Barley and then Oats. Then when she got done with that I kept her on oats for breakfast and dinner with a bottle but I replaced the creal for a veggie for lunch. Then when she started meat, I replace the dinner cereal with a meat and now we are replacing the breakfast cereal with fruit. I was told they get the main nutrients from the formula/breastmilk and the solids are just getting them used to regular food. I hope this helps. So her schedule now is a bottle when she wakes up. a bottle and fruit at about 10:00am. A bottle and veggie at about 2:00pm and bottle and meat at about 6:00pm and an one last bottle about 8:30pm before she goes to bed. I hope this helps. Good Luck Jodi!

start slowly some babies like change and others can't stand it.my daughter started on the rice cereal at 3 months because it helped fill her up and increased the time between feedings. I don't recommend switching just yet since you just started feeding it to her. she probably is just trying to adjust and it could upset her tummy a little at first. but if she still won't eat it after two weeks then try switching. also try mixing the cereal with juice or applesauce it could be she doesn't like the tase with it mixed with her normal milk.

as for the fruits and vegtables don't start those until she is eating cereal regularly. I mixed a little creal in with the fruits and vegtables at times. My daughter has done most of everything early so it just depends on the baby when they are ready to eat more foods. you also should try giving her the cereal before her milk . if she is bottle fed keep the bottle out of sight while trying to feed her the cereal. babies are creatures of habit.

I haven;t heard of running the course on the cereals before giving other food, but you should do as instructed by your ped, or at least question them. They have their reasons for what they do. We always started our kids out on rice cereal until they got good use of the spoon and cluedin to how to eat well, then we started on VEGGIES. I don;t know if its true, but I've heard that soemtimes if you introduce fruits before veggies they may reject veggies. My first child ate whatever we gave to him and my second is prooving to be much choosier about what he will eat.

I went straight from the rice cereal to adding veggies and then add fruits. I don't know if this is true, but I didn't want to take any chances, but they say that you should introduce veggies first, and that you introduce one veggie for 3-4 days and then add another one, same time frame, and then another but not to add fruits until you get through all of the veggies because babies tend to like the sweet taste of the fruits. I was told that if I introduced fruits with the veggies then my kids wouldn't eat the veggies. Again, I don't know if that is true, but I wasn't going to chance it. What I did was I made the cereal like I always did and then I added the veggie into the cereal and had a side cup of just the veggie to get them used to it. I was also told to start with the green veggies first since they tend to be a little easier on the tummys.

Don't rush it! Babies are supposed to have breastmilk or formula exclusively for six months because their little digestive systems are not fully equipped to handle 'real' food - even cereal - until at least then. I don't understand the hurry....they grow up too fast as it is!!

I did not go from rice to barley and oats with any of my three. My pediatrician recommended going from the cereal to meats first. Her advice was they would not like the meats after the fruits and veggies, unless you were skipping straight to 2's after the fruits and veggies. That worked with mine. All three of my kids are good eaters.

I recommend getting rid of the rice cereal and moving onto oatmeal first. Rice cereal is horrible. It looks gross and makes them so constipated! It's good to start them on that b/c of allergies and it being so bland, but after that, ditch it and never look back! My daughter loved the oatmeal, we never tried barley.

Hi Jody, I have a three year old son (actually his birthday is today, so he just turned three) and when he was little we did cereal and I didn't do the cereal in any kind of order. I just picked up a different one when was done with the box, that way he wouldn't get sick of the same one all the time. Then after he got eating the cereal down, we would give him cereal in the morning and then veggies and fruits throught out the day. You always introduce Veggies before fruit because fruit is sweeter and you don't want them to just like the fruit and not want the veggies. You also should introduce one veggie at a time for four days or so to make sure that they are allergic to it. Samething with the fruit. Good Luck and I hope this helped!

My son is now six months old. We are feeding him cereal mixed with veggies.
Neither he nor his brother cared for rice cereal AT ALL, so we are feeding him oatmeal right now. He also likes mixed grains.
To use up the rice cereal, though, we did mix it with breast milk, applesauce, and cinnamon. Then they ate it rather well. If we were out of applesauce, we mixed in a bit of sweet potato instead.
Follow your baby. If she is upset with the food, try one thing different. Is she too tired to eat? Too full from milk? Distracted? Work with her and it will get better.
Good luck!

my kids really didn't like the barley or oat cereal but loved the rice cereal. I did mix a little fruit babyfoods with the cereal as they seemed to eat it better that way. 2 Tablespoons cereal, 1 tsp fruit, and add water but don't make it too runny but not real thick either. About 6 months is when you want to introduce other foods. Anytime you introduce a new food, feed the same one for a few days and watch for any allergy symptoms. If you don't see any then you can move to another food and switch back to the ones your baby has tried before again for a variety. Don't waste your money on the plain meats, I haven't found a baby yet that would eat those and they smell like dog food when you open the jar so not too appealing to even mess with them. I got a chopper at wal-mart and would chop up whatever meats we were eating real small and they ate meats at about 8 months. They did like the noodle type meals that had meats mixed with them. I also didn't buy the graduates or anything above size 3 babyfood jars. Those are expensive and can feed them the foods you eat by that stage. Mostly bought stage 2 and that was all they needed. They ate a lot of foods that we ate at dinner and fed them cereal/babyfood for breakfast and lunch. If you don't feed them directly from the jar you can use them for several meals. I had a divided dish, When they were 6 months, I would mix cereal/fruit and put in the big section, then have about 2-3 tsp veggies in one of the smaller sections, and a few tsp fruit for dessert. This gave them a little variety but wouldn't feed them the fruit until they ate all of the cereal and veggies which they usually ate everything, then would give them 2-4 ounces of their milk after they finished eating the babyfood. This is also a good time to introduce the cup. Have one available while you are feeding them babyfood and any of it that is left pour into the bottle after they are done at the high chair. I usually made a 4 ounce bottle during mealtimes and put an ounce in the sippy cup then after they got down from the high chair they got the rest of the bottle.
this eating schedule worked well for us. 6-12 months
woke up between 5:30-7 am 6 ounce bottle, went back to sleep
9 am breakfast--2 tbls cereal mixed with fruit, 4 ounce breastmilk or formula
12 pm lunch 2 tbls cereal/fruit, 2 tsp veggies, 2 tsp fruit, 4 ounce bottle
took nap from 12:30-2:30
3:00 PM 6 ounce bottle
6:00 PM ate dinner with us depending on what they could eat then had a 4 ounce bottle or 6 ounces depending on how much food they were able to eat
9:30-10 PM 6 ounce bottle, last bottle for bedtime
slept through night and if they did wake up they got a bottle of water.

Jody, I would go ahead and start with a veggie. They say to do veggies first then fruits. You should introduce one thing at a time and give it for a couple of days, that way you can tell if your little one has any allergy problems. I add infant cereal to almost all veggies and fruits, the cereal is iron fortified. Most of the veggies are really runny and adding a little cereal makes it easier to feed to your little one.

Good luck, your little girl may be a whole lot happier with her solid food when it actually has some flavor!!

M.

I'm not sure how thick you are making it - but at first you will want to make it pretty runny because they are not used to anything but milk. I would continue trying the rice cereal for a week or so. Once you add a fruit/veggie - you will want to wait at least 5 days between a new one in order to gauge if they are allergic to one of them. You may want to try veggie's first as they are not as sweet and it might be harder for her. Don't give up - we started my daughter on cereal around 4 months as my doctor recommended and she didn't care for it - so after about a week - we decided to wait until she turned 6 months old which worked better. (we also started my son at 6 months on cereal, etc). Good luck.

Ive always started with rice cereal for a few weeks then veggies and last fruits. You dont have to give her the barley and oat cereals. With daughter only had rice cereal but my son hated the rice so we tried the fruit flavor and he still disliked it. Now hes almost 1 and still wont eat any of the cereals. They are suppose to eat the cereal, veggies and fruits each day. Doesnt always happen though. My daughter always ate every baby food she was offered but with my son as soon as he got enough teeth all he would eat is table foods at 8 months old.

If she's had the rice long enough to make sure there's no allergy, I'd try the next cereal. Some are tastier than others. My kids liked the oatmeal better than any of the others. The rice is VERY bland. Also, I don't know how thick you make it, but my kids also preferred it a little thicker. When it's about as watery as formula, it runs all over and they don't know how to keep it in their mouth. But a little thicker mixture (not thick enough to choke them) helped my kids eat it better.

After my kids had the cereals down pat, I started the vegetables at lunch time. Then, after all the vegetables were proven non-allergenic to them, I started the fruits at breakfast. I always started the cereals at night, in hopes that they'd sleep longer. :o) It starts them toward 3 meals a day. When the meats came along, I switched the cereal to breakfast time. Once you know they are not allergic to anything, you can feed them whatever you want. That's when it gets easier.

My son just turned 5 months last week and we were given the same sheet at his 4 mo appt. I started with the rice cereal, but it really constipated him and gave him gas. I switched to the oatmeal and it's TONS better. He also likes the taste A LOT better....he too would scream with rice. Yes, you continue the cereal at the same time as the fruits and veggies. I actually just mix them together, and he loves it that way....and it makes for a quicker feeding for me :) .