Baby Bear got her first taste of baby cereal yesterday! She seemed to like it and ate almost the whole serving both yesterday and again today. She had a harder time sitting still in the high chair long enough to eat. We started in the high chair but had to finish with her on my lap while Daddy did the feeding. Of course, if baby does not want the food, don’t force it. Just try again another day.
Today, when I was by myself, I put her in the Bumbo because she can’t quite sit up in the high chair yet without ending up leaning on the side. Today, she was opening her mouth up and leaning towards the spoon before I even had the cereal ready! She couldn’t get enough! We tried the single grain oatmeal cereal first.
It is important to introduce a single grain first because it’s easy on the digestive system and also allows you to look out for any food allergies. You can do single grain rice cereal too – not much difference, just a different grain. Just wait a couple days between different foods to make sure there are no signs of food allergies like rashes, diarrhea, or vomiting.
At our 4 month doctor appointment, our doctor said we could start feeding her baby cereal if we wanted to. He recommended waiting until 6 months for any fruits or vegetables. At this age, the cereal is more for practice than any nutrition or sustenance. It isn’t necessary to introduce any solid foods before the age of 6 months. I wasn’t in too much of a hurry and wanted to give that little digestion system a little more time to develop (Baby Bear is 5 months). It also isn’t recommended to put baby cereal in a bottle. Unless of course, it is ordered by your doctor. Babies control how much they drink by volume, not calories. Putting the cereal into a bottle can lead to overfeeding.
These are the characteristic milestones that are used to determine whether a baby is ready for solid foods or not:
- Pushes up with elbows straight while on tummy
- Control over head and neck and can sit with support
- Turns head left and right
- Pushes tongue back and forth smoothly when you hold a spoon to their mouth