It is safe to give a 2 weeks old baby cereal or rice?

Question

no i haven't done this, i am 8 months pregnant. my cousin recently 2 weeks ago had a baby and has been feeding her baby rice and cereal since he was 7 days. i thought it was wrong but wanted to make sure. thank you for all your responses.

Answer 1

The first person is right. It is NOT okay to give a baby rice cereal or any other kind of baby food or cereal until 4 or 5 months old. Some people will put rice cereal into a baby's bottle so they sleep longer in between feedings, but this is very bad. Baby's stomach's are not ready for that kind of food yet. Doing that is more for the convenience of the parents than for the well-being of the baby.

Answer 2

You've already recieved a lot of answers and you'll get more. I didn't even read the others because I know what they say!! Don't give a 2 week old baby solids. All they need is formula or breast milk. I DO NOT AGREE!! But besides all that, you need to remember one thing. YOU ARE MOM. So you make the final decision on what to do for your baby. No one else. And that said as well, I think that if you want to try to give your baby rice cereal, do it. Make it thin and use a spoon. Do not put it in his bottle. He will get the hang of it, even at two weeks old. If you notice that he gets constipated from the cereal, then you may want to stop and just increase his formula intake. You should do that anyway. But, a word of warning: Any baby will take a bottle even if they are not hungry. They will take it specifically because the sucking is a comforting thing for them. So make sure that you are not assuming that he is crying for food. Try other comforting things first and wait at least 2 hours in between feedings. Newborns will eat every 2-3 hours and they may not want the same amount each time. Good luck!!

Answer 3

OH NO!!! Let me tell you. I work at a daycare. We had this new mom who was feeding her baby cereal at 7 weeks, we kept telling her it wasn't good for her, and they cannot digest it properlly. Well she didn't listen to us because she thought she knew EVERYTHING there is to know about everything. A month later we called 911 because her baby was pale and breathing slowly. To make a long story short, the babies intesitnes had gotten blocked due to the cereal! She is fine now, but from this she still has a digestional problem. Thank you so much for asking before you actually get it! They need to be at least 6-7 months old before they try all of that good stuff. One more tip you might not know, don't ever give a baby honey, they can't digest it.

Answer 4

Absolutely not. While some may say that it "fills the baby up" and "helps them sleep" the truth is that the baby cannot digest any kind of solids at this age and giving it to them only means you are taking away their hunger for the things they need to eat like BREASTMILK or FORMULA. Until your child is at least 4 months of age there is no reason to even THINK of giving rice or cereal.

Answer 5

Two weeks may be a little bit early, but I don't know if four to six months is correct either. The reason most say not to give rice cereal too early is because it may cause food allergies. However, this claim is still up for debate and there have been no definitive studies that have proven this for sure. My pediatrician actually recommended introducing rice cereal around two to three months and then some mashed fruits/veggies around four months and meat around six months. He said only extremely conservative docs and of course formula companies recommend waiting till six months.
Here's a link from yahoo about it:
http://health.yahoo.com/topic/parenting/feeding/article/drgreene/Parenting_drg_fa_00013751
Plus if rice cereal is as bad for the baby as all these people state then why do the hospitals give it to premature babies that have reflux problems? That happened with my little sister. So you may consider earlier than four months, between two to four, if your baby has an issue with reflux. Here's a link concerning the issue: http://www.pediatricweb.com/seattle/article.asp?ArticleID=811&ArticleType=9
If you still have concerns I would recommend speaking to your pediatrician about it.

Answer 6

NO!!!! there should be no need to at this stage and it will only do harm. if you are breastfeeding then that is all your baby needs at this stage and for the first 5-6 months, the same for formula fed except they may need a little cooled boiled water in between feeds. if your baby seems very hungry then try adding another ounce to the bottle if bottle feeding and offer cooled boiled water in between. if breast feeding then feed more often. if you think you may get more sleep if you offer a solid you are wrong as it will only equal one screaming and very uncomfortable baby ,

Answer 7

no baby cereal should not be introduced until 4-6 months of age

Answer 8

I dont think so...new born babies need to drink that formula stuff out of a bottle dont they? You might mess up the baby's digestive system at 2 weeks old.

Answer 9

No! Their little bellies can't handle anything but formula or breastmilk! Their digestive systems haven't matured enough to break down food, and they won't be mature enough until they're between 4 to 6 months old. No food until then!

Answer 10

do not do that please....it is not safe at all you should wait until your baby is at least 4 months old your baby belly cant handle that right now.....beside the fact that at 2 weeks old your baby should still have the reflex of pushing its tounge out