Yes there are. A newborn baby's gut is still developing and is not able to properly digest solid foods (even if they are liquified, the food composition remains pretty much the same). This can cause difficulties at the time (indigestion, blood in the stool, malnutrition, damage to the intestines and constipation) and digestive difficulties in the future. Until a baby is six months old s/he should be receiving breastmilk exclusively, or as a last resort, infant formula. For more information check out www.askdrsears.com

My doctor recomended I don't start my son on pablum until he's about 3 months old. I started him on it when he was 2 months. Not through a bottle, because I was afraid he would always expect "food" from a bottle. I got plastic baby spoons and bowls and gave it to him that way. He started sleeping through the night that very same day. Coincidence? Maybe, but I'm sure glad he was on it at that age. Then at 4 months he started on beginner baby food in the jar. He had no problems what so ever starting pablum at 2 months old. The more he got use to it, the thicker I made it. After about 2-3 weeks, it was the consistancy of yogart. I always say, do what your parental instinct is telling you to do. You know your baby better than a doctor does.

Yes. I was told that you should not start cereal until the fourth month. Babies digestives tracts are still to immature for any solids. If no information has helped you I suggest to call the baby's doctor he/she should know best for your child.

In my opinion, giving a baby rice cereal at 2 months is absolutely fine. My baby is now 13 months and he's doing great. It's funny that the user "thintaonga" would say that my son slept thru the night due to "severe problems the solids have caused him". My daughter slept through the night from the first day we brought her home. She's 9 and still does. If your baby seems like he/she's not getting enough and isn't satisfied with just the bottle, then the baby is obviously hungry and the milk just isn't enough. If your baby is hungry then feed him/her.

It is perfectly fine. i started giving my child cereal when she was 2 months old and and she started sleeping longer and she is now 15 months and is perfectly healthy.

My doctor says it is fine as long as its liquidy and fed by spoon. not bottle

Okay we have all heard the saying every child and baby is different, and yes this is true. But there are valid reasons why doctors and manufacturers tell you not to give these products to babies until 4-6 months of age..because their bodies cannot handle them. Yes some babies are fine when this is done..but for starters why parents try to make their babies hurry up and grow is beyond me..i have 3 sons..9,7 and 2 months...none of my children started on pablum of any kind until 4 months..i asked my pediatrician this question after reading it on here and fire shot from his eyes and i thought he was going to blow as gasket..finally he just frankly said if people want to ruin their child's digestive tracts by all means go ahead.. i also asked him about giving them pablum so they sleep longer intervals..he said that is a myth..he explained to me that when given cereal early the child cannot break it down therefore it just sits in their bodies until finally they eliminate it..in other words they are getting nothing out of it except a rock in their tummies....ever had gut rot?? thats what he said you are giving to your babies.. so people will do what they want and that is fine that is their child but i know my new baby will be starting pablum when it is time for him according to his pedi... also the other thing that bugs me about this type of question is do you mix your supper in liquid??

PLEASE talk to your doctor or public health nurse, they will tell you why it is likely to cause problems, I BEG of you, everybody has an opinion but the one you should listen to most is the one that comes from your health professional. If you let me know where you live I will be glad to put you in touch with some over the phone infant care.

my kids were given cereal at 2 months. they are healthy and thier doctor never had a problem with the way I fed my children. I fed them with a spoon not in the bottle and the cereal had the consistency of formula. I would gradually reduce the water and my youngest now 8 months has a very healthy appetite as well as my 2 year old. its my belief that the whole idea behind 4 months is due to the allergies found in children today because they are being exposed to other things too soon. I have yet to find someone with a rice allergy....

My daughter is 2 months old and I was instructed by her pediatrician to start her on cereal. She was eating over 32 ounces/day and 2tbs of cereal once/day helped her tremendously! I think some of you have your invalidated "opinions" and are trying to make others think they are doing something to "harm" their children. If your pediatrician says it's OK then do it! And for the record, I don't know what some of you think of when we talk about cereal but we are not talking about Lucky Charms here! We are talking about rice cereal and it is NOT A SOLID and it will NOT harm your child!!!!

The American Academy of Pediatrics, the World Health Organization, and many other health organizations recommend that babies be exclusively breastfed (no cereal, juice or other foods) for the first 6 months of life. Some doctors may recommend delaying solids for the first year if there is a family history of allergies. There has been a large amount of research on this in the recent past, and most health organizations have updated their recommendations to agree with current research. Unfortunately, many health care providers are not up to date in what they're telling parents, and many, many books are not up to date. Delaying solids gives baby greater protection from illness. Although babies continue to receive many immunities from breastmilk for as long as they nurse, the greatest immunity occurs while a baby is exclusively breastfed. Delaying solids gives baby's digestive system time to mature. If solids are started before a baby's system is ready to handle them, they are poorly digested and may cause unpleasant reactions (digestive upset, gas, constipation, etc.). Delaying solids decreases the risk of food allergies. It is well documented that prolonged exclusive breastfeeding results in a lower incidence of food allergies. Delaying solids helps to protect baby from iron-deficiency anemia. The introduction of iron supplements and iron-fortified foods, particularly during the first six months, reduces the efficiency of baby's iron absorption. Delaying solids helps to protect baby from future obesity. The early introduction of solids is associated with increased body fat and weight in childhood. Delaying solids helps mom to maintain her milk supply. Studies have shown that for a young baby solids replace milk in a baby's diet - they do not add to baby's total intake. The more solids that baby eats, the less milk he takes from mom, and less milk taken from mom means less milk production. Babies who eat lots of solids or who start solids early tend to wean prematurely. Delaying solids helps to space babies. Breastfeeding is most effective in preventing pregnancy when your baby is exclusively breastfed and all of his nutritional and sucking needs are satisfied at the breast. Delaying solids makes starting solids easier. Babies who start solids later can feed themselves and are not as likely to have allergic reactions to foods.

My daughter is 2 months old and I was instructed by her pediatrician to start her on cereal. She was eating over 32 ounces/day and 2tbs of cereal once/day helped her tremendously! I think some of you have your invalidated "opinions" and are trying to make others think they are doing something to "harm" their children. If your pediatrician says it's OK then do it! And for the record, I don't know what some of you think of when we talk about cereal but we are not talking about Lucky Charms here! We are talking about rice cereal and it is NOT A SOLID and it will NOT harm your child!!!!

I started giving mine rice cereal at 6 weeks in the last feeding before bed at night and he started sleeping for 5 hours straight! Yeah! Much better than having to get up every 3 hours. As he got a bit older - probably 3-3 1/2 months - I started feeding him a small bowl of solid rice ceral mixed with formula and warm water at around 8:00 p.m. and he fell asleep around 9:00 p.m. and would sleep through until about 5:00 a.m. I'd give him a bottle and he would sleep another 2-3 hours. He just turned 11 months today and he is a fine, happy healthy baby - oh and smart and handsome too.

Our children would wake during the night, because their bottle was not holding them, until the morning. constantly hungry. Came up with the idea of mixing a small amount of rice cereal with their milk at bedtime. at first, we had enlarged the bottle nipple way too big. it caused a little gagging. we made a smaller hole. my wife and i also learned that the babies had to be practically sitting up, for the cereal/milk combination to work and eliminate air. This worked like a charm for us back in the 1960s and our children are doing the same with their children. We encountered no dangers for the babies, once we understood our part. For a full nights sleep, its rice cereal in the bottle.....GUARANTEED!

People have been feeding thier children before 4 months for ages but I believe all this allergy business is from all the processing in food. the nice thing about rice cereal is it doesnt cause allergies. it helps moms out with much needed sleep and baby seems happier.

This comment is from sharon pennington, john's wife. I, also have to agree that it is and could be dangerous. Quite aa few years ago, this was a practice for a hungry baby. Yes, it worked for us and others, but for an allergic baby, or a baby with an esophageal history.....not. Of course we were quite young then. Medicine was just not as advanced in infants as today. I am a nurse now, and have been involved with high-risk infants. Babies that were born less than a pound. One is not sure SIDS does not come from such an act. Babies born seemingly healthy, then for no reason die. Usually on their tummy and frothing at the mouth. Infants sometime have regurgitation in their sleep. Something as cereal could aspirate into their lungs and kill them without anyone being the wiser. Follow the pediatritian, only the ped. Hope this helps.

This comment is from sharon pennington, john's wife. I, also have to agree that is is and could be dangerous. Quite aa few years ago, this was a practice for a hungry baby. Yes, it worked for us and others, but for an allergic baby, or a baby with an esophageal history.....not. Of course we were quite young then. Medicine was just not as advanced in infants as today. I am a nurse now, and have been involved with high-risk infants. Babies that were born less than a pound. One is not sure SIDS does not come from such an act. Babies born seemingly healthy, then for no reason die. Usually on their tummy and frothing at the mouth. Infants sometime have regurgitation in their sleep. Something as cereal could aspirate into their lungs and kill them without anyone being the wiser. Follow the pediatritian, only the ped. Hope this helps.

Obviously, you wouldn't make the rice ceareal thick like yogart, just thin enough so it still goes through the nipple hole of a bottle. Babies are smarter than we all think. They know what they want and you'll know if they're not satisfied. In fact, I know of a lady who had her little boy and while in the hospital still with him, she was told by the Dr. to put him on watered down ceareal. When he was 4 days old after he came home from the hospital he was on this baby ceareal because he needed it to feel satisfied. He's now 28 years old and just fine!! Yes 2 months old is a little early, but if baby needs it, well baby needs it! And yes, as some of you said, 4 months is a good time to introduce this rice ceareal. I've heard of some people not giving anything to their baby till 6 months, but I'm sure it's the 4 month mark. When my little guy went in for his 4 month check up, the Dr. asked "Has he started rice ceareal yet?" I said yes, he said Good and he's doing good on that I'm assuming? So, I do believe 4 months is good, not too early at all.

You should let your baby's internal organs fully develop before tasking them with solids. In the short term your baby will have a stuffed or runny nose with lots of mucous, a sign that the body is rejecting something, and in the long term,when your baby does mature, the half developed organs wont be able to tackle real solid food, then you'll have to deal with things like obesity 'cos the body cant burn fats well, asthma because the lungs cant deal with whats in the air......I could go on and on. Spare your kid future agony, let the organs mature without interruption. He/she has a whole lifetime of eating solids, what's your hurry??

Make it thin and use a spoon. I was told by my kid's dr. when they were young that if I was going to insist on feeding them cereal (I started them all at bedtime when they were 6 weeks old and they all started sleeping through the night) to feed it off of a spoon or it could be a choking hazard. They don't need much at that age. My grandson was eating about a shotglass full at 3 months.

both my boys have whooping cough, they are 6 weeks old, they both start coughing so hard that they puke up all their milk along with the antibiotics we have to give to them during meal time. so we now mix the antibiotics in with 1/2 an ounce of pablum, this way they are able to keep their medicine down while having enough food so they dont get stomach aches from a lack of food with the harsh medicine. both of them dont get constipated at all. i think it depends on the baby and family history if the pablum is going to agree with them or not.

I am a new grandmother and am not understanding the whole concept of not giving infants rice cereal. I personally would like to see the scientific proof that their digestive system is not ready for solid foods. I do think that you should be cautious about introducing new foods to babies. All three of my children began rice cereal at about 4 - 6 weeks of age. Eating from a spoon not added to a bottle. They really enjoyed the experience and the "myth" of them not sleeping through the night...sorry...busted. Ask most mothers from my generation and they will tell you it does make a difference and I know of none that developed food allergies. I think the new breed of doctors are trying to pull a fast one on our new generation of parents. I'm thinking the amount of children with A D D and Autism and other syndromes have risen greatly in the past several years maybe we should be more concerned about the vaccines we are allowing to be administered to our children (at 2 months of age) verses when to start them on the road to good eating habits. Who knows maybe the child obesity rate will come down too.

Look! My first child was born a healthy 9 lb 11 oz strong little boy. Although I was pumping 42 0z a day and he was still hungry; I had to supplement with formula each day. By week 3, that wasn't enough. A doctor I worked with told me to try a little bit of rice cereal in his milk before bed. I did it and not only did it finaly satisfy him for the day it satisfied him for the entire night. I continued this for an entire year and also introduced vegetables at 5 months old. He told me to avoid constipation just add a small amount of cairo syrup to the bottle. He was just fine. He is now two and has had three colds in his life. Nothing else. My second child is now 3 weeks old. The first two weeks of his life were spent in the neonatal intensive care unit. He is also breast fed but has diarrhea. I just gave him a teaspoon of cereal to his bedtime bottle 2 days ago. Finally, he has taken a normal poop. Thank godness for DHA supplemented rice cereal.

speak to your doctor first. that is a very young age for rice cereal, it is also never a good idea to put anything in your baby's bottle. A doctor sometimes recommends adding oatmeal to a bottle when an infant has acid reflux, and that is only to help keep the formula down. please speak to your doctor that is a very young age

It changes so often. When I had my first, he weighed 9lbs. He was starving. The Dr. but him on rice cereal and applesauce after 1 week. That was 36 years ago and I know the "rules have changed again but, it didn't hurt him. He was much happier.

i give my daughter ceral (sometimes mixed with her formula sometimes feed her with a spoon) i dont see why you cant. i would like to see scientific proof too that their digestive system isnt mature enough. My daughter is 3 months and she has no problems. no pooping problems, no nothing. we dont feed her ceral all day just the last bottle at night we put a couple spoons of ceral and give it to her shes full and she sleeps thru the whole night some babies do some babies dont. Just because the year has changed people want to try to change living habbits too. back in the day they gave us baby food and ceral before 6 months so why cant we do it now???? youre the mother its YOUR child if you want to feed it ceral go ahead it shouldnt hurt him/her

I wouldn't try it if I were you. Bits of rice might get stuck in the baby's throat.

Consult with the doctor. My doctor advised giving my daughter rice cereal at 6 weeks because she drank a bottle every two hours around the clock. I gave it to her morning and night. II tried a bottle but the cereal would get stuck, The doctor suggested making it very, very thin and feeding it to her with a spoon. It worked. She still drank every two hours during the day, but began sleeping a few hours at night.