"After three months it's fine," insists a friend of my husband's, as her seemingly healthy eight-year-old goes skateboarding by in Rittenhouse Park.
"They're just little flakes, think of it like a baby milkshake," says one relative at a party.
"The doctor said he could have cereal at five months. I gave it to him at 4 months and 99/100 months," writes a cousin, explaining her Facebook post about finally getting a good night's sleep.
"I gave it to all my kids as soon as we got home from the hospital. And I had ten kids," insists the lady at the seafood market as the owner, her middle aged son, hands over my Christmas order.
Then there is the other side, like my aunt who insists she "ruined" my cousin's digestive track by given him cereal too early. What to do?
As with all things baby, there seems to be no hard and fast answers. Some medical websites, like FamilyEducation.com, allow cereal as early as fourth months. Others, like the parenting board on iVillage, insist it's better to wait until closer to six months.
Like many other baby conundrums, we turned to the pediatrician to mediate. In our case, he's fine with us starting cereal at four months, with mashed up fruits and vegetables to follow.
But there are a few signs that both he and the websites seem in agreement on: Your baby will give you some cues. Is he interested in what's on your plate, reaching his little hands down to your plate or up to your mouth? Does he try to swallow a little dab of cereal mixed with breast milk or formula or does he still follow the natural newborn instinct to push it out of his mouth with his tongue?
In our case, next week we'll break out the baby bowls and tiny sized spoons. I imagine soon enough we'll be missing the days when he just spit up on his bib rather than slinging his applesauce and mashed peas across the room.
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