Baby cereal - pro and cons ????

Question

I’ve seen a ton of comments that baby cereal isn’t good for your baby but I was wanting some more information on that. Is there a article you can recommend me to , or explain what you think the pros or cons are? I would like to switch her to something different but because I breast feed I’m nervous she won’t get enough iron. What do you give your baby instead? Thanks in advance.

Answer

We just started my daughter on solids and the pediatrician said it’s just empty calories and has no real nutritional value so it’s not necessary. But she also said because it’s thicker than normal breast milk, it might help with my babies reflux and weight gain since she’s a smaller baby (13th percentile over all). She also said it’s a good transition to get baby used to eating off a spoon since it’s mainly breast milk at this point. We’ve been giving her a small amount every night and she seems to be doing fine with it.

Answer

It’s Just empty calories. There’s nothing nutritional in it whatsoever.

Answer

At 6 months my ped reccomended 1in cube of pureed chicken a day for iron. We mixed chicken with sweet potato and she loved it. Baby cereal can be constipating and doesn't give much in way of nutrients. If you want to introduce cereal, oatmeal is better than rice cereal.

Answer

We aren’t doing any baby cereal at our house. We have just started with whole foods that are high in iron (beans, egg, spinach, etc.). Baby cereal is highly processed and can have high arsenic levels, so wasn’t worth it to me!

Answer

Check out healthychildren.org. I'm not sure if there is an article on this specifically but it is a great resource!
We did a bit of cereal with formula due to reflux issues when my son was really young. After 6 months when he started purees we'd mix some in purees or add peanut/nut butter to help him learn to eat different textures.  This was reccomended by the pediatric nutritionist & doctor who felt he was not quite ready for table food but ready to move from only formula.

Answer

As others have said there is no nutritional value. It’s used to slowly thicken up puréed baby food to get baby ready for table food, but that’s it.

Answer

It’s all empty calories and takes away from the nutritional needs from milk. It’s also fortified and doesn’t absorb properly within the body. Natural foods with real nutrition properly absorb. Rice cereal is the absolute worst to feed. 
If baby is 6m then real foods can be started. With all ready signs met.

Answer

We tried oatmeal, my sons doctor discouraged rice cereal particularly tho because of arsenic content. He hated the texture of purées and cereal anyways tho so we went straight to table food.
It’s completely up to you and your baby’s doctor though!

Answer

The ped GI recommended baby oatmeal for my guy bc his reflux was so terrible.

Answer

Honestly, we mainly used the cereal to help transition to the purées and other “solids”. They didn’t care much for it, but it helped them chew and not take such huge gulps

Baby cereal - pro and cons ????

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