won't eat cereal

[sensfan]

Do I need to worry at all that DD refuses to eat cereal? I started her with oatmeal, and whatever the consistency she mostly just spits it out. I took a break from it and tried again, but no luck. I tried mixing fruit in with it, and again no luck. Today I tried rice cereal and she continues to not be a fan Will she eventually be willing to take it? I thought I'd been told something about cereal being important for the iron intake...

[~Sara~]

My DS hated rice cereal, too.  Finally I just started doing fruit and mixing a bit of the cereal in (so, the opposite of flavoring the cereal).  It worked much better, and helped him get iron.  If your LO is bf, that helps a lot with the iron; and if LO is formula fed, there should be enough coming in through that.  When DS reached 1y, we switched to an iron-fortified formula for toddlers (12m+).  Has been fine ever since

[~inbalance~]

My DS1 didn't care much for cereal either, and I haven't even bothered with it for DS2.  Cereal is not necessary.  Don't stress if your LO doesn't like it, there are far more nutritious foods you can offer that she will enjoy more! 

[sensfan]

Good to know she's not the only one She is BF, so I'll definitely give that reversal a try Sara. Thanks ladies!

[sensfan]

Sorry Sara, just wanted to make sure I was clear: did you mix the cereal powder in with the fruit, without adding any water or milk?

[~Sara~]

Yes, that's how we did it.  It doesn't take much and it will thicken up the fruit puree, but DS loved it (and you can do it will all sorts of stuff, like veggies and other purees).