Rice cereal, though popular, is not healthy for babies. First of all, what ARE those flakes? I give my other kids whole foods but I'm going to give the baby some processed, strange-looking food? That makes no sense. Really, I might as well mash up some white bread and spoon feed it to him. Here is someone else who shares that view:
http://blog.sfgate.com/sfmoms/
I also don't think that waiting until 6 months is a great idea. I know its the current trend, but I think it is more important to look at the baby. If the baby seems hungry, grabs for things, can hold his/her head up, then give it a try. I'm not making this up people, this whole 'waiting until six months' thing is a trend that I think will swing the other way. It's just my instinct, but here is one argument why my gut might be right:
http://news.healingwell.com/
Additionally, for the first food, I'm pretty sure grains don't make sense. I believe we were built for the environment in which we were created. So, pretend I live like 2,000 years ago and I have a hungry 5 month old. Would I boil grains and seeds and mash them and let them cool and give them to my baby with spoon? I don't think I would. I think I would find something already soft, cool, and delicious. An avacado, a banana...its just what my instinct tells me. Then, after the baby was eating successfully (maybe a couple weeks later), I might give the baby some of what I was eating - probably a grainy cereal would start then.
http://baby.about.com/od/
totally agree with this! rice made Liam constipated and miserable so we switched to green soft veggies like avocado (which he is still obsessed with) green pea mash, and later sweet potato and parsnips.
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