Is infant cereal needed???

[Shaunsmom]

DD is now 9 months old. We have not given her any infant cereals or much of the pureed baby foods. We do give her very small amounts here and there of our mashed table foods, yogurt, and/or fruits/veggies in the fresh food feeder thingy. Not on a daily basis or anything though.

We took her in for her 9 month check up today and the pedi suggested giving her infant cereal for the iron in the cereal. Is this necessary??? I guess I was thinking that we'd just bypass the cereal but now I'm not so sure. Guess that was probably a question I should have asked at the appointment.

By the way, DD is 20 lbs, 10 3/4 ounces. 27 inches long and her head is 46 cm round. All this from her momma's milk only:) Hooray! We've made it closer to one year so far.

[hotlama]

No. My dd likes to play with her food and none of it actually gets into her mouth so I have used cereal for this purpose but thats it. I wouldn't actually feed it to her.

[intokermit]

I'm not an expert on this, but I would think that your dd is getting everything she needs from you. Does she have an iron deficiency? To much iron is not good for the body, so unless she needs to supplement for the iron, why would she need more? If you want to get her onto solids, and think cereal is the way to go, then great, but I don't know that she needs it for the vitamins.

[madelsmama]

I agree with the others. We have skipped cereal altogether.

Beans and lentils are an excellent source of iron and a wonderful finger food (and cheap!).

[mommy2e]

You already got great advice, but I will add mine anyway!;)

I gave DS cereal at 6 months per my ped. nurses instructions. I didn't know any better. So after about a day or 2 on it, he became constipated. A call to the ped. nurse said to keep giving him cereal and suppositories (sp?) to help him go. And I listened to that as well! Well, after a week of that, DH and I said this is crazy, and gave up on the cereal. DS was much happier, and we just tried some fresh pureed foods here and there. Luckily the ped. nurse is no longer there, so she can no longer give crazy advice to parents!

I have learned alot from the moms here, so the next baby will not get cereal, and first foods will proabbly be avocado, banana, etc.

Sounds like what you are doing is great. Also like madelsmama said, beans are great and are also a great finger food. DS still loves them at 2.5.

[colinsmommy]

I don't give cereal.....I usually just give fruits and veges. I am not sure why they suggest cereal. As long as your baby is gaining and you are BFing I am sure she is fine :).

[RedheadbyChoice]

Have you ever actually TASTED infant cereal? *shudder* Tastes like wet monkey butt. Blech!

Not only is it not necessary, but it tastes very very foul. If the ped is concerned about iron, then an iron draw is needed. And if you really want to give a cereal, good old fashioned oatmeal, that you make yourself, works just fine, too. :)

[Shaunsmom]

In my opinion, baby cereal tastes NASTY!

The pedi. wasn't concerned about her iron levels per se. In our discussion about what Shaun is now eating for solids, doc suggested we give her one of the infant cereals at least once a day because it has extra iron in it.

I posted in the express yourself forum in regards to solids at daycare. I'm stuck on this... Should we be feeding her solids yet or is she fine with nursing and some solids at home?

Me and DH want to be able to see what she is eating and control her portion size, etc. The only foods that daycare can give the infants in their room is either infant cereals (the nasty tasting ones that you mix with either pureed food, formula, or EBM) or pureed food. She doesn't eat either of those at home.

I guess the pressure is on more so now for us to feed her more solids, you know from family and friends. My response is usually something like, "she is totally healthy and thriving very well off nursing alone." We did get a note from pedi for daycare purposes to feed only EBM but I'm confused as to what we should be doing in regards to feeding her.

Yes, I know she's our daughter and we can feed her whatever we want. If society says that we "should" be feeding a 9 month old more solids than what we do, is it wrong that we don't feed her more solids? Thanks for reading:)

[RedheadbyChoice]

But, snort, if she's not concerned about the iron levels, why encourage you to feed her something that has extra iron in it? LOL Circular logic like that irks me.

No, it's not wrong for you to not feed her more solids, despite what society says. Hell, society tends to dictate early weaning of babes, so I don't put a lot of stock into what society says. I don't think it's wrong at all to just do the small amount of solids at home and not at DCP.

At 9 months, mine weren't getting tons of solids either; you know they're for fun and experimentation now anyway, so it sounds like it's going well, TBH. If she's happy and satisfied with what you're doing now, don't break it by trying to fix it, KWIM? If she starts showing more interest, sure, try something new with her, and as long as you're offering the breast first, you'll be fine.

Tell family and friends to kiss your butt. LOL You're the momma and daddy, you get to decide. She's happy and healthy.....gee, I don't see the need to change anything there. :D

[intokermit]

Have you ever actually TASTED infant cereal? *shudder* Tastes like wet monkey butt. Blech!

How many times have you tasted wet monkey's butt, red? :D

[RedheadbyChoice]

Oh you hush, green girl!







:D LOL :D

[ima062002]

Of course it's not needed. The iron from breastmilk is less than what you find in formula but it's more bioavailable, nature is clever hu :)? It's also not constipating. There shouldn't be an issue with your baby's iron stores unless you had a preemie, a fullterm baby who was less than 6 lbs. 5 oz or if you have poorly controlled diabetes. In addition, if you fed your baby cow's milk before a year, your baby *could* have low iron stores as well. Interestingly anemia of the mother during pregnancy has not shown that babies have low iron stores. The above mentioned factors only up the chances for iron deficiency, and checking a baby's iron, before feeding it iron supplemented food like cereal would be warranted.

Sooooo, to make this even longer :), just introduce iron ladden foods alongside the other foods you are giving your baby to experiment and start good eating habits - spinach, broccoli etc. and you won't need to supplement at all later on.

[SingingMom]

We didn't bother with it and my babies are fine. They are not anemic and they like REAL cereals just fine.

Of course, my babies like beans. A lot. No bean is safe from my children!

Really. Some of the conventional wisdom out there is so silly. Like- if your baby is a bit jaundiced, then quick! Give the formula. And then, lo, five months later the baby needs iron! Anybody see a connection there? Hey, maybe the baby is supposed to break that iron in those extra blood cells down slowly.

EBF babies do just fine without iron-fortified cereal. If I had a FF baby I might be more inclined to try the cereal, as the iron in formula is harder to digest, and formula is harder to digest in general.

[DecemberBaby]

Red:

Do you mean baby oatmeal or real instant adult oatmeal? Just looking for options when the time ;)..

[RedheadbyChoice]

Regular adult oatmeal. Thin with water or EBM as needed or desired. :)