Forgot to answer your questions: meat is introduced earlier now because of the iron thing... if you BF, this is important, not really though if you FF as formula has iron in it.
As for cereals - I use the baby ones personally, but DD doesn't take them as readily anymore... she did when we first started with solids, but once she developed more interest in different flavours/textures, cereal became boring

Rice can constipate so look for whole grain rice cereals - None of Gerber's are... here in Canada, we have Heinz Organics cereal - they have a whole grain rice... Oatmeal can also constipate, but not as readily as rice... barley keeps things moving so it's good to have too
