Which cereal?

[splotchy1]

One reason peds recommend cereal first is that infant's iron stores start to deplete around 6 months, and cereal is iron fortified- where fruits and veggies aren't a great iron source.
That said, there are good alternatives nutrition wise, such as Earth's Best whole grain rice cereal- which gives the benefits of whole grain brown rice.
Ellen

[tessa1002]

Originally Posted by splotchy1 One reason peds recommend cereal first is that infant's iron stores start to deplete around 6 months, and cereal is iron fortified- where fruits and veggies aren't a great iron source. That said, there are good alternatives nutrition wise, such as Earth's Best whole grain rice cereal- which gives the benefits of whole grain brown rice. Ellen

Yeah I'm still giving my 11 month old DS rice cereal in addition to his breakfast because my ped said he isn't getting enough iron since he doesn't drink much formula. My other option was paying $10 for a box of vitamins.

I never heard of Earth's Best whole grain rice cereal. Do they sell it at regular grocery stores?

[beenwaitingalongtime]

Earth's Best whole grain rice cereal

We're using this. Got some NIB FFS on here!

Really, if you're mixing it w/ BM and just using it to intro. feeding, it's not going to be filler and you're getting all your calories/vitamins from the BM. (It's not as if spoonfuls are actually getting into their mouths!)

Starting w/ rice cereal is suggested just because of it's digestability and low incidence of food allergies. Then, 4d later you can make a switch to a veggie (like PP said, avocado is a good one to start with)...and keep trying new ones every few days (to make sure there's no allergic reaction.) Either way, BM (or formula) continues to be the main source of nourishment.

(That cereal comes from Whole Foods for sure. Where else? I don't know.)

[halyled]

Originally Posted by tubeater I couldn't tell you about Gerber cereals because I don't buy anything Gerber for personal reasons.

Care to share? Anything like the Nestle boycott? I bought Gerber for my first baby, haven't really this time around (though I was considering buying some of the baby sized bowls). I'm just fed up with the attitude that we have to depend on giant corporations to feed (and diaper) our children, but if there is some other reason to not buy Gerber, I'd like to know about it.

[tararaboomdeea]

We do a minimal amount of cereal, but we just started last week. A little bit at night, and have started with a small amount of fruit. I wasn't going to do cereal at all, but he has a bit of reflux and that is helping him. Plus, I like to use the cereal to offset what a lot of fruits and veggies can do to the little one's poops We do use organic baby food, we also eat organic as much as we can at home-dairy, fruits, veggies, etc. I plan to start making my own when he's eating more, but right now we're still in the "few bites at a time" stage.