01/20/2026
Sharing again because I’m not sure why rice cereal still a thing
Skip the rice cereal when introducing foods to your baby!
Why? "Imagine dipping your spoon into a bowl of sugar and feeding baby a spoonful or two, that's essentially what you are doing when you feed your baby rice or grain based cereals." - Dr. Mercola
If that isn't reason enough, here are 10 more reasons to skip rice cereal:
1. Babies produce little to no amylase, which is the enzyme needed to digest grains properly. Infants produce much less pancreatic amylase (the workhorse of starch digestion) than older children do. NOTE: Breastfed babies do receive some amylase from mother’s milk to help digest starch; however, their bodies are much more equipped to digest healthy fats. (1)
2. Rice cereal is nutritionally void. Any iron that is added can easily be obtained through fruits, vegetables, meats, and fish (once baby is 6 months or older). The nonheme iron that is added is not as easily absorbed by the body. Also, rice cereal is refined, meaning that the bran and germ, which contains the most nutrients, have been removed to make it more shelf stable.
3. Doctors used to recommend rice cereal as a method to get baby to sleep longer at night, but research shows that this method does not work. (2)
4. Rice cereal can possibly raise your baby's insulin levels and can increase risk of Type I diabetes according to the Journal of Medical Association. (3)(4)
5. Babies who are fed rice cereal are consuming 3 times more arsenic than adults in relation to body weight. This is true even is the rice cereal is organic. The FDA found that inorganic arsenic exposure in infants and pregnant women can result in a child’s decreased performance on certain developmental tests that measure learning, based on epidemiological evidence including dietary exposures (5)(6)
6. Rice cereal fills your baby's belly and keeps it from getting nutrients from other healthy foods.
7. The undigested grains left in baby's digestive tract can cause an imbalance in gut flora and could potentially cause a whole host of issues such as allergies and weakened immune system.
8. There are much healthier options to offer baby when they are ready for solid food (6 months or older) such as many fruits and vegetables. Remember, just because you may not like a certain food, does not mean that baby will turn their nose up at it. My oldest son actually drank a liver broth that I made on a daily basis for months!
9. Babies need a good amount of fat for their developing brains and nervous system, especially in the first couple of years. Rice cereal does not provide this.
10. Rice cereal was recently found to have high levels of a chemical called perchlorate. This chemicals disrupts thyroid function which is crucial to brain development. (7)
****IF YOU HAVE GIVEN YOUR CHILD RICE CEREAL, YOU ARE NOT A BAD CAREGIVER!! THIS IS MEANT TO PROVIDE INFORMATION SO YOU CAN MAKE INFORMED DECISIONS. YOU DON’T KNOW WHAT YOU DON’T KNOW. YOU’RE AMAZING REGARDLESS ♥️♥️****
🥦Also, check out my post on 10 Best Foods for Baby Published on 1/18/20 at 6pm CST!!!🥑
If you are interested in one-on-one nutrition coaching for you or your children, please contact me at dana@thrivekin.com.
Questions? Feel free to ask me anytime!
Sources:
(1) https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/m/pubmed/8780901/?i=5&from=/6179037/related
(2) https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/m/pubmed/2672785/
(3) https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/fullarticle/197391
(4) https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/fullarticle/197392
(5) https://www.fda.gov/NewsEvents/Newsroom/PressAnnouncements/ucm493740.htm
(6) https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamapediatrics/fullarticle/2514074
(7)https://www.healthybabyfood.org/sites/healthybabyfoods.org/files/2019-10/BabyFoodReport_FULLREPORT_ENGLISH_R5b.pdf
