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hey leanne,
my daughter is 6 months old and we started her on solids at about 4 months (she wasnt puting on weight so we started a little early) so far she has had no problems eating anything and loves all of her vegies n fruit but i cant get her to eat rice cereal. no matter what i mix it with or how i prepare it (water, formula, breastmilk) she just simply will not eat it she spits it out or refuses to open her mouth. when normally i cant shovel her food in there quick enough!
im worried that shes not getting the iron that she needs as im also iron deficient and my milk apparently doesnt have enough iron in it for her.
is there an alternative that i could try other then rice cereal since shes far to young for things like meat and fish?
To be honest I really cant blame bubs who turn their noses up at infant cereal. Generally it is pretty bland goo.
Just to ensure you don`t feel that you or more to the point your milk is at fault, the amount of iron in breastmilk is reasonably independent of your diet and also while the iron in breastmilk is very absorbable there isn a great deal in the milk. Babies rely largely on their own body stores of iron that they gain in utero, which tend to run low around the 6 month mark.
So with this said and done, obviously forcing the issue with infant cereal isn`t the way to go, but you may like to try a little meat. You will find the recommendations on solids is going to change. I am not advocating a steak, I do think we there is room to move with foods. So pop a little slice of well cooked meat into a feeding mesh and let baby have a suck on it. This way baby will gain the juices but not so much of the protein, it is a win win. Just a couple of times a week is probably suffice.
Don`t forget to trial it first as the only new food and see how it goes. You may like to start off with chicken (I recommend organic).
Baby can start on fish soon anyway, then onto chicken and meat so you will only need this for a little while as her diet will expand quickly to include more iron-containing foods.
I have some tip sheets on Huggies on solids covering what foods when. I also have a step-by-step book I wrote as I started my second son on solids, the links are:
Solids
Which foods when and fridge chart
All the best,
Leanne