So You Want to Try Something New...

Rice cereal is usually the doctor's first recommendation when it comes to solid food. If you are successfully breastfeeding a happy baby, you may not need to start "solids" like rice cereal until 6, 9 or even 12 months. If your baby is having trouble sleeping through the night, seems hungry after feedings, or is watching you intently while you eat, it may be time to start something else.

While the only way to know for sure if your baby is ready for rice cereal is to talk to your doctor, and pay attention to your baby's individual cues, trying a little cereal watered down with hefty amounts of breastmilk makes for a fun experiment for babies over 4 to 6 months of age.



First, find the right rice cereal. I used Happy Bellies Organic Rice Cereal with DHA and Pro-biotics. It was tastier and more easily mixed than the other brand I used, and it also went down easier. I eventually cut costs by mixing this with Earth's Best Organic Whole Grain Rice Cereal, which was just about as good, but didn't have the DHA or pro-biotics. I would mix about half HB's and half EB's and little curly locks ate it all up. If they had had this on the market when my others were little, I certainly would have used HB's. The regular white rice cereal was never an option for me, but I can bet that stuff tastes a little like cardboard.

For their first feeding, mix according to the package directions. You'll get something that looks more like milk than like cereal, but this is where it starts. Expect there to be a mess. I tried to use disposable bibs or paper towels (be sure you watch closely when using paper anything for possible choking) to try to soak up the stuff that would run down this little one's cheek and into the multiple chubby chins where stuff was hidden for a between meal snack.

Before you know it, you'll have a teenager scarfing down a 1/2 a pizza. Hopefully you will have endowed a love of some type of vegetable so as to include it on the pie. :)

God bless you as you embark on a new wonderful mothering adventure!