Choose the Best Cereal for Your Baby

Once your baby nears six months of age, he may be ready to advance from a formula-only or exclusively breastfed diet. The addition of cereal to your baby’s diet is a common — if not essential — next step in the introduction to a variety of foods. The baby aisle of the supermarket offers a wide variety of infant cereals, so knowing what to choose and why can be a challenge. With a few helpful tips, you will be better equipped with the knowledge needed to determine which cereal(s) may be the most beneficial for your baby.

Steps

Determining Your Baby’s Needs and Readiness

1. Talk to your baby’s doctor. There are a wide variety of opinions on what foods babies should start with and when, and some of them are far more scientifically-grounded than others. You and your baby’s physician are most familiar with your unique little human being and should work in concert to plot his transition to solid foods.
   • Most pediatric organizations now say that babies should be breastfed exclusively — or if necessary, breastfed with formula supplementation — for the first six months. This has less to do with a baby’s readiness for solid foods and more to do with his nutritional needs. Seek your doctor’s advice on the best time to start the transition with your infant.
   • Many experts think that waiting to start solids until 6 months of age may reduce a child's risk of developing allergies and even eczema.
   • Regardless of when you start solid foods, your child’s doctor will almost certainly advise you to continue feeding the baby breastmilk until at least twelve months of age.
   • In consultation with the doctor, consider the following steps in this section when determining your baby’s readiness to begin solid foods such as infant cereal.
2. Look for increased head control in your baby. Before he can safely advance on to cereal, he needs to be able to hold his head upright during feedings. This is an important safety measure and is crucial in preventing choking.
   • In almost all cases, feeding your baby breastmilk (along with formula, if necessary) exclusively is perfectly fine beyond six months of age. This may be the best choice if he cannot yet adequately control his head for safe feeding. Be patient, be safe.
3. Make sure your baby is able to sit upright. It is okay if your little one cannot sit upright without assistance, and the use of a supportive seat is perfectly acceptable. The important factor is if the baby can maintain the upright position he is placed in.
   • If baby slouches down in the seat, flops his head and body to one side or just cannot maintain a sitting position, he is at an increased risk of choking on solid foods.
   • Use your best judgment and position him so that he remains as vertical as possible during feeding.
4. Watch for the disappearance of the tongue thrust reflex. Before your baby is ready to move on to solid foods, you may notice that his tongue has the natural ability to automatically push food right out of his mouth rather than swallow.
   • If this happens when you introduce cereal, wait a few days and try offering cereal again.
5. Take notice of your baby’s weight gain. If your baby has roughly doubled his birth weight (and is at least 13 pounds) by the time he is close to six months old, it is a good indicator that he is ready to begin solid foods.
   • As always, however, consult with your child’s pediatrician.

Choosing Cereals

1. Start simple. Adding cereals to your baby’s diet is a process of trial and error, not only in the feeding process (get ready for a lot of messes!) but in determining how your baby reacts to certain new foods. Starting with single-grain cereals before moving on to multi-grain varieties allows you to better monitor your baby’s reactions and identify potential allergens.
   • Rice cereal is the common first choice, largely out of tradition but also because it is considered low-allergy, easily digested, and easy to mix and eat.
   • There is, however, no medical evidence that rice need be the first cereal choice; many in fact prefer oats, which are also easily digestible and generally low-allergy as well.
   • There is some controversy over whether or not the gluten content in wheat-based cereals — or barley cereal, for instance — help facilitate the development of wheat allergies and/or celiac disease, or if this actually decreases the likelihood. Recent studies have found that introducing wheat before your baby is six months old may reduce the risk of her developing a wheat allergy. Talk to your baby’s doctor, especially if she is under six months.
2. Go one grain at a time. Once you have determined which grain variety to begin with, feed with it exclusively for two to three days before moving on to the next grain. Alternatively, you can add the second grain to the first, and so on.
   • Keep a close eye out for signs of allergies as you introduce each new grain. Rashes, hives, digestive problems like vomiting or diarrhea, and breathing problems can all be signs of a food allergy. Call your child’s doctor right away if you suspect a food allergy, or take him to the emergency room if symptoms seem severe (or if there is any evidence of breathing difficulty).
3. Look for iron fortification if your baby needs it. Although there is some debate on the topic, most experts seem to agree that babies over six months of age, especially those who are breastfed exclusively, benefit from iron supplementation. Iron deficiency in small children has been indicated in developmental delays, and breast milk is limited in iron content (although formula is fortified).
   • Talk to your baby’s doctor about her iron needs, especially if you are breastfeeding exclusively at six months. Should iron supplementation be advised, commercial infant cereals are usually an excellent choice because they are almost always fortified with iron. Check nutritional labels for iron content.
   • There are other alternatives for iron supplementation, including the introduction of pureed meats to the diet.
4. Determine your preferences. Much about what you decide to feed your baby has less to do with scientific proof and more to do with your preferences as a parent. When evidence is inconclusive, contradictory, or just not available, you will have to trust your beliefs and instincts. Some of the decisions you will have to make include:
   • Whether or not to avoid genetically-modified crops. There is no reliable evidence that GM crops have any negative health impacts, but some parents want to avoid them for various reasons. Most baby cereals, so long as they don’t contain corn products, won’t have GM ingredients regardless. To be certain, you can select 100% organic products, which by USDA rules cannot have any GM ingredients.
   • Whether to limit or avoid rice cereal due to its arsenic content. Because of how rice is grown, all forms of it tend to have higher concentrations of arsenic, which in excess can cause skin and vascular problems in children. It is possible that only one or two servings of rice cereal per day could reach the FDA recommended limit for infants, although there is no official recommendation that parents should limit or avoid serving it.
   • Whether to select whole or refined grains. While whole grains generally provide better nutritional content, refined grain cereals tend to facilitate the absorption of the fortified iron in the product. Both refined or whole grain cereals are acceptable options for babies, but you may want to consider the latter unless your baby has an iron deficiency. Talk to your pediatrician.
   • Whether to skip cereal as the first solid food. There is no evidence that cereal needs to be the first food group to be introduced, and many parents opt to move right on to ground, mashed, or pureed fruits, vegetables, and meats. Baby cereals are easy to prepare and provide ample nutrients, but babies can thrive without them being the first option, if that is your choice.

Preparing and Feeding Cereals

1. Make your own cereal, if you desire. Commercial baby cereals usually have only a few simple ingredients, along with added nutrients, but if you want more control over the content of your baby’s food, it is easy to make your own baby cereal.
   • Making rice, oat,, or barley cereal is no more complicated than grinding the uncooked grain (most conveniently in a spice or coffee grinder), cooking it in water for 10 minutes (15-20 for barley), and mixing it with milk or formula.
   • Please note that homemade cereals are not fortified, so if your baby needs additional iron, for instance, you will have to provide other sources — such as pureed meats.
2. Prepare the cereal according to the package instructions. Especially when your baby is new to solid foods, be sure that the cereal is prepared more on the loose side rather than thick, closer to soup than porridge.
   • Use breast milk or prepared formula to thin the cereal, whether store-bought or homemade.
   • Adjust the milk-to-cereal ratio to thicken the food as your baby gets used to eating it.
3. Choose a time when your baby is not fussy or tired when you first attempt to spoon-feed cereal. Get to know your baby’s needs and implement a feeding schedule that works best for him.
   • Start with just 1-2 teaspoons of cereal mixed with breast milk or formula.
   • Early in the day works best for some babies, when they are generally the most hungry. Other babies have a difficult time breaking from their routine first thing in the morning, and will do better when cereal is offered in the evening or before bed.
   • Limit feedings of cereal to once or twice per day when first starting out. As your baby becomes more accustomed to eating solids, the amount of feedings will increase.
   • Keep providing 24 ounces or more of breast milk or formula per day.
4. Be patient with your baby. Remember, eating in this way is a new experience. He may need lots of practice before he can eat cereal. Don’t be discouraged if he does not take to the cereal right away. Wait a day or two and try again.
   • Never force your baby to eat cereal. If he is not ready or willing, wait and try again.

Tips

• Consult your doctor if you are unsure when to begin to introduce solids to your baby’s diet.

Warnings

• Never use cereal as the only basis of nutrition for your growing child.
• Never add cereal to your baby’s bottle, this is not necessary and can pose a choking hazard.
• Never offer cereal to a baby under four months of age without doing so under the direction of your pediatrician.

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• Make Baby Finger Foods
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• Mix Baby Cereal
• Get an Infant to Eat More
• Feed a Baby or Infant Solid Food
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• Formula Feed a Premature Baby
• Burp a Newborn
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