When can you start using the cereal with fruit mixed in?

Question

I know when babies start on cereal. What I am asking is when can you use the ones with the fruit mixed in and do they like it?

Answer 1

I am a nutritionist

babys are able to digest both cereal and fruit starting after 6 months

Solids readiness depends on both the maturity of baby’s digestive tract and baby’s developmental readiness for solids. Although the maturity of baby’s digestive system is not something that we can readily observe, research indicates that 6 months appears to be ideal for avoiding the allergies and other health risks of too-early solids. After this point, different babies are ready for solids at different times -- developmental readiness for solids cannot be determined using a calendar. Most babies are developmentally ready for solids somewhere between 6 and 8 months.

Signs that indicate baby is developmentally ready for solids include:
Baby can sit up well without support.
Baby has lost the tongue-thrust reflex and does not automatically push solids out of his mouth with his tongue.
Baby is ready and willing to chew.
Baby is developing a “pincer” grasp, where he picks up food or other objects between thumb and forefinger. Using the fingers and scraping the food into the palm of the hand (palmar grasp) does not substitute for pincer grasp development.
Baby is eager to participate in mealtime and may try to grab food and put it in his mouth.

Stage 1 (6-9 months)

At 6 months solid foods can be introduced but the weaning process should not be hurried if baby is content with breast milk alone. Pay attention to the signals baby gives out e.g. baby will probably be ready for solid food if they cry after breast-feedings or chew on the nipple. Even then, breastfeeding should be continued (alongside the introduction of solids) for as long as is comfortable for mother and baby.

The best time to introduce solid foods to baby is just before breast or bottle-feeding. Starting solids is a very gradual process so be patient and go slowly. The classic 'first food' is mashed banana, which is very digestible, sweet and a good introduction to foods. Suitable first foods are baby rice or pureed vegetables. Fruits are usually introduced after vegetables in order to allow acceptance of vegetables before the sweet tastes of fruits is experienced. Other popular first foods are carrot, sweet potatoes, parsnip, apples, bananas and pears. When they have had enough babies will turn away their head, clamp their mouth shut or spit the food out! These are signs that they have had enough.

When introducing solids to baby offer one type of food only and then observe how well it is tolerated. Start with around 1-2 tsp of food and gradually increase up to 6 tsp. How is fed to baby depends entirely on how much they will eat. A rough guide might be a quarter of a very ripe mushy banana for a few days (or for a week) and the following week another soft fruit such as apple sauce. This gives the baby's digestive system time to get used to each new food before the introduction of additional ones. If two or more foods are introduced at the same time and baby has diarrhoea, colic or other digestive problems, it will be difficult to identify the culprit. The foods during this first stage should be bland with a smooth consistency.

If the baby is not interested the first few times solids are introduced it is advised to try again in another week. When baby is ready they will let you know. Baby might be hungry at any time of the day or night. Babies cannot tell the time but they know what they need.

Prepare cooked vegetables plainly, do not add salt, sugar or spices. Good introductory vegetables are parsnips, sweet potatoes, yams and carrots. Still start feeds with breast or bottle but now very gradually increase the amount of solid food given afterwards. Solids should only be given by spoon or hand and never added to a bottle of feed.

Typical feed for one day at stage 1 (6-9 months)


* 1st feed - breast or bottle
* 2nd feed - breast or bottle
* 3rd feed - 1-2 tsp baby rice mixed with 1 tbs milk from feed or 1-2 tsp unsweetened fruit puree
* 4th feed - breast or bottle
* 5th feed - breast or bottle

Stage 2 (9-12 months)

Try and move gradually from solid food at one feed in the day to solid food at two and then three feeds. Follow baby's appetite and move at baby's pace.

Avoid all baby foods that contain sugar or artificial sweeteners. Sugar contains no vitamins, minerals or protein and can lead to obesity, both now and later in the child's life. Sweetened foods also confuse and seduce the appetite tending to satisfy hunger quickly and displace healthful foods. Do not add salt to foods.

Typical feed for one day at stage 2 (9-12 months)


* 1st feed - breast or bottle
* 2nd feed - breast or bottle followed by 1-2 tsp baby rice mixed with 1 tbs milk from feed or 1-2 tsp unsweetened fruit puree
* 3rd feed - breast or bottle followed by 1-2 tsp vegetable puree or 1-2 tsp pureed fruit
* 4th feed - breast or bottle followed by 1-2 tsp pureed fruit
* 5th feed - breast or bottle

Answer 2

You can do the ones with fruit mixed in after you've tried all the other varieties (rice, barley, etc.) out there - you want to be sure that there are no allergic reactions. Don't give more than one new food a week - if there is a reaction, it'll be easier to figure out what it's to.

BTW - try not to give the cereal with the fruit mixed in all the time. Babies like the sweetness of the fruit, and will fight you on anything that's not as sweet, like green veggies, when the time comes. When you start giving fruits and veggies - do the icky green ones first and save the carrots and sweet potatoes for last before the fruit. Otherwise, they're not going to like anything but the sweet ones.

Answer 3

I never used the ones with fruit in them but I did mix rice cereal with
baby peaches and other baby fruits.
Keep in mind one kind for a week or 2 to make sure on allerigies.
And I would say as soon as they can eat off a spoon.
Just keep it simple.
Good Luck
Morgaine

Answer 4

Baby cereal is rather pointless, nutritionally speaking. The point of feeding it is that it is a good starter food because while it is nutritionless, it is also not likely to cause any severe allergic reactions of any kind. You have to start somewhere. Also, being tasteless is a good thing as well, as it would be quite a shock to an infant to eat tart applesauce, or some other strong tasting food as her first food. Obviously you are not going to expect her to eat plain cereal forever because you are going to experiment w/ adding in more nutritional and tasty things as she accepts them. It is all one big "experiment"! 4 mos. old is kind of young to be starting w/ foods tho. Maybe your dr has concerns about her weight, or maybe he just meant that it would not harm her any, but she doesn't necessarily need it either. If she does not act interested in the cereal, give it a break for a few days or a couple weeks, whatever you judge appropriate, then try her w/ it again. You have given her a taste, and when you come back to it later on it will be familiar to her and she may take to it, or maybe not. Whatever the case, let her decide when she is ready to take to eating.

Answer 5

What is recommended is giving baby rice cereal for a week or so, and then giving some kind of fruit, like bananas, applesauce, peaches or pears, and only use one kind of fruit for about a week to check for allergies. Then it is ok to mix, and move on to the next fruit, using the same 1 weeks trial and so on.

Answer 6

I wouldn't offer any sweetened foods at all until after vegetables are introduced. Ideally, no solids should be offered before 6 months of age to ensure no food intolerances. The longer you wait to offer solids, the more digestive enzymes a baby develops in their stomach to better be able to digest solid foods. The recommended order for introduction of solids is first rice cereal, then other baby cereals, then vegetables, followed by fruits and protein foods (in that order). Offering vegetables first ensures that your baby will eat vegetables and not develop a preference for sweetened foods. Your baby should be eating more vegetables than fruits daily.

Answer 7

i never used those kinds, i just mixed the baby food fruit right into my babies cereal and they turned out ok. they eat it alot better too. if they are eating both go ahead and mix them. do it with the veggies too.

Answer 8

i think it would be best to wait until they have had a variety of fruits and veggies to make sure there are no allergies. Then you can add the ceral with fruit. and yes babies like it.

Answer 9

I fed my daughters rice cereal at 4 wks,then oatmeal at 8wks, then the banans with rice at 12 wks. They are healthy 16 and 13 yr old teens now.

Answer 10

will i would say that u can mix it with any thing they eat anything right lol will i mixed all the food that i had at diffrent times i would mix frout then a meal thing the nexttime and just keep changing it they will eat