Baby Cereal Starting Age?

I know the recommendation these days is 6 months, but my Ped told me they were ready once they could move the food from the spoon to the back of their mouth and swallow without gagging, he said I could start trying around 4 months. The first time I tried my son gagged (I made rice cereal very runny with formula) so I waited a week and tried again and he was able to do it. Rice cereal really has no nutritional value so it is more of a trainer food, so I gave him a small amount once a day for a couple of weeks, slowly thickening it slightly, and then we moved on to oats. Veggies came at around 5 1/2 months and I only introduced one new one per week to watch for allergies.

I added a bowl of oatmeal cereal made with breastmilk before bed around 7 months with my first when he stopped sleeping through the night because he started waking up hungry. I introduced other baby foods one at a time after that. But, he wouldn't eat ANY solid food until he was 13 months old - only breastmilk, cereal made with formula, or pureed baby food. He just wasn't ready for it.

With my second, I introduced oatmeal cereal made with breastmilk before bed around the same time, but I did not bother with baby food at all - I had decided it was a waste of time and money after my experience with my first. I just waited until he was a little older (around 10 months) and started putting small pieces of whatever we were eating onto his tray at dinner time (soft cooked green beans, pasta, etc).

Be careful with the rice cereal. I went with oatmeal, because when I tried rice cereal, my babies got very constipated and miserable.

I may be wrong on this, but I think we started a bit earlier than 6 months. I think it was after 4 - 6 months we could introduce them. Now .. here's the thing though, my babies were in the 95th percentile up and ravenous all the time. They were born very large with large appetites. I started very small - so cereal for a few weeks 1 spoon at a time and then we introduced stuff like baby squash and sweet potato (again, 1 spoon at a time ) to start.

I waited until I was instructed to add solids - and we were given charts on when to introduce what and when. I always provided breastfeeding first. So their main food was still milk. This was when they were hungry in between feeds - so it was to supplement the milk. That was key if I recall.

I would check first - I tended to wait until I knew it was ok and then I watched how they reacted to each food.

somewhere close to the 6 month mark we introduced baby cereal mixed with breastmilk just for the fun of it, i didn't rely on it as a nutritional source. i would breastfeed my babies as usual and whenever we were eating a meal i put them in a highchair and offered spoonfuls. after about 3 weeks i started with simple stuff. banana. and plain yogurt again feeding breastmilk when they wanted it and adding foods when we were eating just for the practice. by the time they were a year they wanted foods and not so much milk so i transitioned to a sippy cup of whole milk and weaned off the breast.

Do you think she would take more than 6 ounces at a feeding? I'm pretty sure my son was eating closer to 8 ounces by 6 ounces, but it's been awhile.

Honestly, if she's not waking at night to eat, and she's only eating every 3 hours, she's doing just fine. If you think she's still hungry, offer her another (smaller) bottle. She doesn't need cereal, she needs more breast milk or formula. Cereal doesn't really have any nutrition.

I started cereal at 6 months with both kids. With my first, I found that she was unable to maintain the weight percentile when she started solids. She was 75th percentile in weight from birth to 6 months, but once I began giving her solids, it gradually dropped from 75th percentile to 15th percentile from 6 months to 12 months -- rice cereal, veggies, and fruits are not very high in calories.

So with my second I waited until he was almost 7 months. The same thing happened with him -- he was unable to maintain the weight percentile. But this could just be my kids. I would personally wait until 6 months to start solids.

Rice cereal, fruits, and veggies can all be started from the beginning.

I tried some baby food and cereal with our son at 7 months - he just kept pushing it out of his mouth.
It takes time to learn that eating is a different tongue motion that breast feeding or even drinking from a bottle.
He was fine on formula till his first birthday (my milk dried up at 5 months) - and then he took to a new food every few weeks.
There's no rush on this.

My girls rejected all baby food. I didn't worry about it and just put them on table food at a year. Baby food is not for nutrition anyway.

Updated

My girls rejected all baby food. I didn't worry about it and just put them on table food at a year. Baby food is not for nutrition anyway.

This is one of those things that the recommendations keep changing. When my kids were babies, the recommendation was 4 months. And that's what we did. Teeny bit of rice cereal mixed with breast milk. Slowly increasing the ration/thickness. Never introduced more than one new food per week. Introduced veggies before fruits. And meats last.

My son is 19 now. So I have no idea what the current recommendations are. Neither of my kids had any issue following the schedule starting at 4 months.

Oh, and I offere the food stuffs at lunch, not dinner. These way if they're was any issue with tummy upset or allergy, I was awake to deal with it and baby wasn't uncomfortable overnight if something made him gassy. Adding solids often increases or creates some constipation issues (even if very mild). It didn't take long, however, before he was demanding his solid foods and getting them at 3 meals a day. But with each new food, it was offered at lunch, not breakfast or dinner.

I started my son so early on rice cereal. I would water it down and put a little bit in a syringe. He was less than 2 months old. He had no problem swallowing it. He was having a bottle every hour. I would give him the cereal at night so we could sleep a bit longer. He's 5 now and still eats all day long. He's a skinny kid with a high metabolism.

As long as you realize that formula and breast milk are the ONLY things that supply nutrition to your baby then feed them whatever you want. It will be empty calories that keep them from nursing or taking their bottle and getting food.

Cereal is to teach the baby to chew and swallow, milk is to feed them.

Baby food has about zero nutrition. It is a tool, not food. And that's according the baby food company themselves to me. I called to ask about some baby food that was given to me that was a couple of days out of date. The person at Del Monte or Gerber told me to toss it. That it has minimal nutrition when it's made then as it sits in the jar at the plant, in the trucks, in the warehouses, then on the store shelves it loses all that nutrition.

So we feed our babies flavored goo that has empty calories that turn to fat, we have a fat happy baby that's hungry all the time and eats and eats and eats and gets fatter and fatter.

We think the roly-poly legs are cute and a sign they're a good eater but it's not. They are starving all the time because they aren't getting any nutrients, the formula or breast milk they're getting is it, that's the only nutrition they're getting.

So they're starving for nutrients. Give your baby the bottle first, offer the breast, first. That whole first year let them drink as much formula/breast milk as they'll take. Then offer them bits of food.

At 5 months old, your baby still needs to drink a lot of formula.

The idea of baby cereal is to transition to the ability to mouth and swallow solids, but it is nutritionally lacking. Feeling full longer is not the purpose so if eating the cereal reduces her bottles, stop using the cereal because she needs the nutrients of the formula until she's eating a variety of table foods.

Back when mine were little, the Academy of Pediatrics said 4 months was okay. Much later they switched it to 6 months. Four months did not hurt my kids. I know that the following things are considered by the doctors - trying to prevent allergies and taxing a babies delicate gastro system, and the fact that food is really just about teaching a baby to learn how to deal with food in their mouths and get used to taste and texture. Before the baby is a year old, food is NOT the main thrust of a baby's diet, and shouldn't be. Breast milk or formula is. It's extremely important for the baby to have that milk. And at a year, you switch to whole milk - baby's brain needs FAT content. Don't give 2% or less milk until baby is over two years old...

Take things slow and only introduce one food at a time.

I am not sure why you really want to offer food now. It is NORMAL for a baby to drink the amount of formula your baby is...