Avoiding cereals as baby's first food?

[MamaHaven]

Does anyone have any experience, or links to research or articles on avoiding grain cereals as a first food for babies?

I have heard that the starches can cause constipation and gas- and my 4mo old suffers greatly from the latter. I'm thinking I will actually delay into of solid food til about 7mos because of the gas, I'm concerned her intestines are still immature.

I also have concerns about the transformation of 'white' carbs into sugar.

I was thinking of just going with mostly veggies (excluding carrots and other nitrates as well as gas producers like broccoli and beans), meat broths minus salt and then a bit of fruit (excluding citrus).

I also plan to continue breastfeeding as much as she wants.

Anyone have any experience with this? Are cereals essential calorically? I feel like she could get enough from the carbs in the veggies...

Thanks so much!

[weliveintheforest]

No research to give you, but you are right that cereal is not necessary. I would even leave the salt in the meat broth, as long as it's good sea salt.

here is a good link, that says cereal is not necessary and is full of good info :
http://kellymom.com/nutrition/solids/first-foods.html

[MamaHaven]

Thanks Sheila, that is a FANTASTIC article.

We have a wonderful nurse here in Seattle who runs something called First Weeks and then Next Months and she's the one who tipped me off to leaving out cereals. She runs a class on introducing foods and I plant to take that in October. But I also wanted to see what was out there online and I had a hard time finding anything via searching on Google.

[Marylizah]

I don't have links-- I read about avoiding cereals here on MDC-- but I do have experience.

DS never got any cereals. He got steamed fruits and veggies when I first introduced solids, around 6 months. I eventually added in meat, and he ate what we did (slightly modified to avoid grains / pastas / etc) starting at about 8 months. We added cow's milk and bread and grains only at about age 1.

He's very healthy and happy, and aside from normal 3 year old pickiness eats everything!

I think cereals are totally silly and unnecessary and frankly kind of gross. Most of their food (calories, fat, protein, vits and minerals) will come from breastmilk, if you are bfing, well into their 2nd year.

[marisa724]

Not only did we avoid solids, we avoided purees entirely with DS2. Sure, he's had some applesauce or something like that, but for the most part we used the "baby-led solids" approach and it's worked out wonderfully.

http://www.tribalbaby.org/babyLedEating.html

Starting around 5 1/2 months, he would sit in his highchair at the table with us and would 'gum' some sort of food -- usually a spear of cucumber, no seeds, from our garden during those first few weeks. At that point he had been sitting up well for a few weeks, was using the pincer grasp, and had a couple of teeth already - the external readiness signs.

We moved on to giving him peeled pieces of apple and pear, cubes of cooked sweet potatoes (great for iron), peas, a piece of crusty bread (no wheat allergies here). Within a couple of months he was happily sampling appropriate foods right off our plates. He is an adventurous, eager eater.

The nice thing about this method -- apart from it being super-easy for mom, no purees to spoon-feed! -- is that you know that baby is starting and stopping of his own accord. He's responding to his own curiosity and appetite. My DS2 is now almost 16m and he sits at the table with the family, eating as well as my five-year-old. Sure, he still dumps some food on the floor, but that's a good signal that he's not really hungry anymore.

[lonegirl]

I avoided rice cereal (constipating) and went with oats and barley.

[Purple Sage]

All carbs (except fiber which is indigestible) turn to sugar, not just "white" carbs.

We don't do baby cereals. The baby will eat little bits of whatever we're eating, avoiding common allergens and choking hazards, of course.

[funkymamajoy]

I didn't start with cereals either, after DS1. The commercial cereals, IMO, are not even food and don't offer anything other then artificial vitamins.

DD started with acorn squash and DS2 started with bananas.

[MamaHaven]

Yes, I plan to bf definitely for a year, ideally for 3, but somehow need to start on baby #2 in year 2 or 3 so we'll see how that goes.

Now in reading alot of the info on BF babies and cereals and solids and getting your experiences (thanks all) I feel much better about delaying solids, and then going with a baby led non-cereal approach. From what I've read now, the evidence really shows that in terms of iron absorption, intestinal development,immune system development and later life obesity - the longer the baby is BF the better so I will make sure the majority of her calories come from that through the first year.

PurpleSage, my concern with white carbs is the rate at which they turn into sugar, should have clarified that! I'm aware that it all turns into sugar at some point. =>

[kiwiva]

I skipped the cereals. DD just had breastmilk until almost 10 mos and then I introduced fruit and veggies and she self fed. I delayed all grains until 15 mos or so. Rice cereal is completely devoid of nutrition. I also wanted her to eat stuff that tasted good and that doesn't.

[alegna]

We skipped baby cereal with both kids- first cereal they had was cheerios or puffed rice they fed themselves.

-Angela