7 month old hates cereal!

[jenniferr]

Hi there.
My dd has been on solids for about 6 weeks. We started with rice cereal which she liked, but led to severe digestive upset. Now she eats fruit and veggies and, if I'm lucky, some oatmeal. She really does not like any of the cereals I've tried, even with fruit mixed into it. I was just wondering if it's absolutely necessary that she eats grains or can she just continue with the fruits and veggies?
Thanks.
Jenn

[em_here]

I have never really gave dd any cereals (except weetabix). We started with fruit and veggies and then meat before widening her diet to other things. I would personally say its fine 

[~*Sugar*~]

I am not an expert by any means but from my understanding its not important (until she is 1 year) what she eats at all as long as she gets her brestmilk or formula.If she is eating fruits and veggies i would say it was fine but if your worried you could try her with some finger foods like a few cheerios that she could feed herself....maybe she would like that better then mushy baby cereal.My lo likes cheerios...I just soften them a little in his milk first and he chows right down on them.

Christina

[baba]

dont worry at all careal is not that important. why dont you try some cooked brown rice.

[Dree]

I am surprised that some of the mommies are saying that cereal is not important. Here in Canada, they highly recommend it. I guess it's because it is iron enriched.

I think that if you are able to replace the iron in someway than you don't have to offer cereal. But, I would try watering it down a bit more with water or milk before you discontinue it.. Give it a try.

Dree 

[rob1lu2]

My ped is pretty vigilant about the cereal. She doesn't care if they eat anything, but wants to make sure they drink 20oz per day and eat at least 1T of cereal per day.

I "trick" my girls, by giving them one spoonful of something they like followed by a spoonful of something they don't prefer. If she likes fruit and veg, you could try that!

Lu

[jenniferr]

Thanks for the replies.
I'm from Canada as well so I know what you mean about being highly recommended b/c of the iron. We've actually been having good luck with oatmeal, as long as I give it just in the morning and mixed with pears. The issues we were having were digestive and always seem to be worse in the evening.
Thanks again!

[maggie2]

Could you ask your doctor about iron drops if that's your concern?  Many doctors still recommend cereal as a first food - I think mostly because of the iron, but there is a lot of info and recommendations out there these days that actually indicate its really not the best food to start with anyway.  The theory is that the digestive system is not designed to digest grains that early.  So I would say that if your lo doesn't like it, or esp. if you're seeing digestive discomfort, just hold off  

[Dree]

Once my dd got used to cereal at around 7mths. We introduced fruit. This will help with the digestive problems. If you LO is constipated they you can offer pureed prunes. Works like magic.

You can also try introducing water by cup or sippy cup. This will help with digestion.

Good Luck
Dree 

[karinli]

This is funny as I was just dealing with my 7 mo old DS who could take or leave cereal today; it is boring & bland & I would not get excited about it either!!

MM

[marensmama]

I was talking to a nutritionist yesterday at a public health baby group who said that the cereal is only important for the iron and that if instead a meat is more palatable to the baby that it's fine to use that as a first food.  She said that lots of things have changed in terms of what's recommended, including no longer pureeing foods, just mashing with a fork is good enough, and fruits can be added sooner rather than later, they don't learn to prefer sweeter foods just from that.  Things have changed since DD1 was at that stage and she's only 2 1/2 !!

My DD 1 hated rice cereal, but couldn't get enough of the oatmeal, especially if I mixed in some banana with it.

[karinli]

Wow, yes food is food & we are all human beings; I just found out that I was fed Carnation Milk with 3 tbsps of SUGAR when I was 5 mo old!!!! Can you believe it? I'm fine, & I don't have a sweet tooth (go figure).

Just like anyone, I think each baby prefers different tastes & textures to others; I thought I was reading somewhere about iron vitamins or something like that; we give them extra vitamin D so why not iron if they are not eating, or there is concern about a lack of etc.

MM