How old does a baby have to be to have infant cereal?

Answer 1

Hello there.
Babies do not need anything other than milk before they are 6 months old. Most certainly if you are breastfeeding DO NOT replace your wonderful breast milk with anything else until 6 months. If you give your baby cereal before that time he will drink less breast milk and that means you are substituting a superior food for an inferior one. Remember, your child will never again have any food that is as good for him, nor as amazing in its capabilities as breast milk. It will protect him from all the illnesses that it took you all your life to develop immunities to. Even if you are not breastfeeding you do not need to give your baby cereal before he is 6 months of age.
I would listen to the lady who quoted the Canadian guidelines. They made sense and I wish the US would adopt the same rules.
Blessings to you and your baby.
Lady Trinity

Answer 2

I find it amazing that people think saying that they gave their baby cereal at 7 weeks is good advice. So what if they got away with it and their baby is fine and did not develop eczema or allergies, that doesn't mean it's right. Cereal is an allergen and it is recommended that you wait until your baby is 6 months AND your paediatrician advises it (in cases of severe allergies in the family, or if the baby has any allergies, they will have you wait longer) The saddest thing is that people usually want to start their babies on cereal so quickly is because they are tired of feeding them so often and think that will help fill their tummies up. Cereal has far less calories than formula or breast milk and nowhere near the nutritional value, so why would anyone want to fill their too-young baby up with that??
My ire is directed at the people who respond with 'my baby ate cereal at 7 weeks and is fine' and NOT at you, the question asker!

Answer 3

My baby is 4 months old, and I just started her on cereal. I asked both her doctor and the health department. They both told me the same thing. They recomend 6 months, but if the baby starts waking up in the middle of the night again, hungry, they you can start them on cereal. I have known alot of people that put it in the bottle, but I never tried it because the doctors say it can upset their stomachs and they might have a food allergy.

Answer 4

Ususually the normal recommended age is 4 months. As some people mentioned though if the formula alone doesn't seem to be satisfying the baby you may want to introduce a little cereal mixed with the formula. One thing I did not see anyone mention is that you need to only introduce on cereal at a time to make sure there are no allergic reactions. That is the same as when you start the baby on baby food...only choose individual things first instead of meal flavors....such as green peas, carrots, sweet potatoes, corn, green beans...so forth. You would not know which if any your child was allergic to if you introduce the child to many items at once.
Good luck with the baby!

Answer 5

You should wait until the infant is 4-6 months old.

I started my son at 5 months with no problems
but my little miss was ready at 4 1/2 months so it just depends on a lot of different things.

But they say 4-6 months

Answer 6

No solid foods should be offered prior to the middle of the first year, including cereal. The AAP recommends introducing solids around 6 months of age. This is the earliest that baby will have the enzymes present in his tummy to digest anything other than formula or mother's milk. Starting solids earlier than 6 months can lead to an increased risk of allergies, diabetes and obesity.

Answer 7

I started the baby I nanny for when he was 4 months old. Its a difficult process though. You have to have a lot of patience when teaching them to eat from a spoon. Its worth it though. I usually mix half a jar of baby food with some rice cereal. The consistency seems to be a little easier for the baby to swallow, unlike the goopy cereal itself.

Answer 8

6-9 months according to every reputable health organization in the world.

"The following organizations recommend that all babies be exclusively breastfed (no cereal, juice or any other foods) for the first 6 months of life (not the first 4-6 months):

World Health Organization
UNICEF
US Department of Health & Human Services
American Academy of Pediatrics
American Academy of Family Physicians
American Dietetic Association
Australian National Health and Medical Research Council
Royal Australian College of General Practitioners
Health Canada
Most babies will become developmentally and physiologically ready to eat solids by 6-9 months of age. For some babies, delaying solids longer than six months can be a good thing; for example, some doctors may recommend delaying solids for 12 months if there is a family history of allergies."
http://www.kellymom.com/nutrition/solids/delay-solids.html

In Canada it is illegal to market baby food (excluding breastmilk substitutes) to babies under 6 months because it is a serious health risk.
"B.25.061. (1) Subject to subsection (2), no person shall include on the label of a food any representation respecting the consumption of the food by an infant who is less than six months of age.


(2) Subsection (1) does not apply in respect of a human milk substitute or a new human milk substitute.

SOR/88-933, s. 1; SOR/90-174, s. 4. "
http://198.103.98.49/en/showdoc/cr/C.R.C.-c.870/bo-ga:l_B-gb:s_B_25_001//en#anchorbo-ga:l_B-gb:s_B_25_001

In addition have you read what is in commerical infant cereal? Make your own it is much healthier.

*Rice flour (You know that brown rice is more nutritious than white rice because they remove germ and the bran which have more vitamins and minerals. For infant cereal they take white rice, remove even more of it, over cook it and then process it.)

*skim milk (broken down to be more easily digested)

*whey (milk protein which is what infants are allergic to in milk if they are allergic to milk. Lactose intolerance in infants is very rare[2])

*palm olien (modified palm oil)

*canola oil

*coconut oil

*oligofructose (to make it feel better in the mouth, also a sugar)

*sunflower oil

*Inulin(another kind of suger)

*ferrous fumarate (iron, generally only 4%-10% of synthetic iron is absorbed by children[3] and synthetic iron interferes with the absorption of iron from other foods and breastmilk. Starting any solids but particularly iron fortified foods before 7-8 months of age is linked to anemia in breastfed babies. Delaying solids until 7 months reduces anemia to almost 0[4])

*nicotinamide (vitamin B3)

*thiamine (vitamin B1)

*riboflavin (vitamin B2)

It strikes me that there are a lot of oils in that list. Makes me wonder how high oil would be on the list if they only used one kind.

Answer 9

usually 4 months but all four of mine were ready at 2 - 3 months, just start with something light like rice cereal and just a tiny bit at a time

Answer 10

If milk isnt fiilin gthem up give them cearal. I gave my 3rd child ceral when he was 7 weeks old. I give it to him out of a bowl with a baby spoon, NOT in his bottle. I do it once in the moring and once in the eveing.