Pedi recommends rice cereal for iron

In response to your last question about finding a new pedi:

I contacted an old friend from elementary school and asked for her recommendation! Her views are more inline with mine than most of my current friends/family. If you have any local breastfeeding FB pages, you could get suggestions from them, as well.

Good luck. It's so stressful to try to find a doctor that shares the same ideas. Mine works at a hospital and he works 2 weeks on, 2 weeks off. I hate that we don't get to see him for sick visits, but I feel pretty confident with him to make sure she is progressing as she should be. TBH, he didn't like that I waited until 6 months to start solids, but he didn't push cereal.

If you're worried about her reaction, I would definitely suggest getting a new doctor. I wouldn't personally go to a doctor who makes me feel like I HAVE to listen to everything they say. Now a days you can research so much online and get different opinions on things. There's nothing wrong with that and if a doctor made me feel bad for that, I'd be saying see ya! And find a new one. If you happen to be worried about her iron, you can up your iron intake since you're breastfeeding. They also have iron supplements for babies but I don't see how low weight=low iron. My daughter was breastfed and was smaller. Some babies just are. But I would stay away from rice cereal especially before 6 months and pretty much all together.

How do i find a new pedi that has the same views as i do?

She said dd is petite but growing good. Then said we should start rice cereal for iron and weight. Why would she say she's growing good then say well she needs more weight/good?

I agree new doctor. Like l said my daughter was always in the 5% for weight/height. Which chart is she using? The formula one will put her in a lower percentage. There is a specific one for breastfed babies.

My son ended up being anemic at 1. He was given iron drops and doctor recommended iron rich foods. Never did he push rice cereal. Stick with your guns. I would wait until 6 months for foods and when you do just do iron rich foods. Is she just small but staying on her growth curve? My daughter was always on the low end of the charts.

I'm going to hold off on the solids until 6m and skip rice cereal all together. I just worry that she's going to lecture us about ignoring her recommendations. I hate confrontation.

If she didn't do a blood draw to diagnose an iron issue I would ignore her. My son didn't get diagnosed with low iron until he was 1 1/2. And my doc actually checked his iron (routine).

Personally I wouldn't start solids until 6 M. I'm guessing she suggested rice cereal because babies don't have to be sitting on their own. Huge thing for starting solids.

So I would say if she's just small and they are not concerned about her weight then just keep nursing until 6M.

::ps I agree, rice cereal is garbage.

I just don't think she's ready for solids period. Regardless of what solid we give her.

No they didn't actually test her iron. I didn't know that was really a thing they did for babies. Then again this is a doctor who uses the cio method. Maybe i need a different doctor.

Did they actually test her iron? My daughter was EBF, and has always been super small 5th percentile or smaller. She's never had any issues with her iron level. Around 7 months we did start giving her meats, she wouldn't try them before that. There are lots of sources of iron though.

Baby rice cereal is not necessary. At all, at any age.

OP, your DD is getting all she needs from breastfeeding right now. Once she hits 6 months AND is showing signs of readiness, introduce her to iron rich foods. Veggies have a good amount of iron in them ☺️

@yasmeena but is it sooo urgent that it can't wait another month and a half?

She's getting her essential nutrients from breast milk. She needs iron. Baby rice cereal is loaded with iron.

She made it sound like it wasn't really an option and that it had to be rice cereal. I'm all for letting doctors do their job but I'm also all about questioning when something doesn't seem right. Even though starting foods will be exciting i personally want to wait a few more months.

So didn't really have an opinion on the topic at hand other than 'why not the doctor said it's OK'. So i don't really have him to back me up at appointments. And i don't want her to call cps because dd is so tiny.

Personally I would not start solids until 6 months especially with a breastfed baby. Just keep breastfeeding. Some kids are slow to gain weight. My daughter is super tiny. (Barely 21 pounds at 20 months). She's always been low on weight gain and it's always been an issue with our pediatrician. She finally left us alone last visit because it's clear my daughter is growing. It's just slow with weight.

You can also wait on the solids until 6 months and give her an iron supplement. We had to give LO a vitamin D supplement since he was breastfed

Majority of babies have stores of iron already until closer to 1 which by then they are eating more solids so getting iron from there. Rice cereal has no nutritional value and is hard to digest and it has high levels of arsenic. If baby is 6 months and showing all signs of readiness for solids I'd start with avocado it's easy to digest and fantastic for brain development you want to avoid the sweet fruits some in the beginning because then that's usually all they will want lol