Why you should make your baby's food

Top 2. Feb 22, 2000 10:29 PM

» Lucinda22 - Hi!

I am a mother of a 5 month old baby who has, until very recently, been exclusively breastfed. (I have let her suck on a tangerine piece in my hand, on occasion smile

HOWEVER, my bouncing bundle of joy has been watching me eat curried chicken as of late with a desperate look in her eyes. For the past month,
she has been scrutinizing our eating habits very intently, and she has even begun to complain loudly until we bring pieces of food to her nose and allow her to smell them (this is probably my fault, as I have been doing this from day one). She then attempts a mad grab for the fork/spoon and tries to bring it to her mouth. When we take it away she fusses noisily. SO...I have reluctantly decided to renounce my 6 month holdout and offer her a teaspoon or so of baby cereal a day (diluted with breastmilk of course.) We bought the Heinz rice variety which appears to have less in the way of ingredients than most other brands (except for the vegetable oil shortening, malt extract and soybean lecithin!! YUCK! But then, you should have seen some of the other ingredient lists...) My daughter appears to like it well enough, but mom certainly doesn't. I have been to health-food stores but the brands they carry are not enriched with vitamins or iron...

My questions are as follows:

How can I make good, homemade cereal with WHOLE-GRAIN rice as opposed to the stripped white variety, making sure to be mindful of iron and B- vitamin content?

Are infant cereals even NECESSARY? In Quebec, (Canada that is) people make a big stink of starting babies on this stuff as young as 3-4 months of age...what is your take on this matter?

Good subject, great articles...keep it up smile

Thanks in advance for the input,

Kristine (contributing editor for congenital heart disease)

-- posted by Lucinda22

Top 3. Feb 29, 2000 9:20 PM

» Kalebsmom - Homemade Cereals

That's a good question, and I have been thinking about writing an article on it...
Yes, you can make your own cereal. Buy whole-grain rice and put about 1/4 cup of it in your blender and blend for 2 minutes (a full 2 minutes)so that it is a full powder, with no big chunks. Then, boil 1 cup of water and slowly add the powdered rice while stirring and turn down the stove to the low. Cover the pot and cook for 10 minutes, stirring frequently to avoid scorching. It should look like cereal when it is done. This makes 3-4 servings, depending on the appetite of your baby! And it will keep covered in the refrigerator for 3 days. You can also adjust the thickness by adding more water (or breastmilk before serving) or using a bit more powdered rice. After your baby has grown accustomed to the homemade rice cereal, you can also try oat, barley and millet, and then combine grains she has already tried.
With my baby, I actually bought his cereal. My main concern here was the iron. When babies hit 6 months, they have in general, exhausted the reserve iron they were born with and rely more on getting iron from their food. Store-bought cereals are fortified with iron. Homemade cereals are not. So, make your baby's cereal, but be sure to talk with your pediatrician about an iron supplement (by the way, too much iron can lead to toxicity in infants, so be careful not to supplement too much!).
I agree with you, those boxed cereals tasted horrible! And how did they get those grains to look like shiny little flakes? I have found a natural cereal that my baby loves -- "Kashi - Baby and Me." It's made by the Kashi Company (PO Box 8557, La Jolla, CA 92038-8557), and it containsground kashi seven whole grains and sesame (whole oats, long grain brown rice, whole rye, whole hard red winter wheat, whole triticale, whole buckwheat, whole barley, sesame seeds) and iron. It smells terrible, but contains some great stuff!
I wouldn't worry about holding out for another month -- it sounds like your baby is ready to eat now! I started mine on "solids" one week before he turned six months. Be careful with the citrus though! That is a common allergen (I gave mine pineapple at nine months and you should have seen the diaper rash he got! Ouch!).
Good luck and have fun!
Kristine ;-)

-- posted by Kalebsmom

Top 4. Oct 21, 2002 6:07 PM

» Tara77 - Re: Hi!

In response to message posted by Lucinda22:

Babies need to be introduced to solids around 4-6 months as the supply of iron they were born with has run out and if it is not replenished they will become anaemic. I don't know much about the taste or varieties of rice cereal available but the ones fortified with iron are the best. Parents start their babies on rice cereal because it is bland and pretty tasteless but it helps babies start to learn about the different textures of food. Once they have taken to rice cereal you can start them on fruit/ veg and other nicer cereals. You don't stop breast feeding you are just supplementing the nutrients that breast milk isn't supplying. Your baby is telling you she is ready for food by the way she is taking an interest in your food. She is telling you it is time for more.

-- posted by Tara77

Top 5. Feb 14, 2003 4:11 PM

» libbym26 - Baby food

My baby's doctor gave me an outline of how and what to give my baby. The outline started at 4 months, but I started her at 5 1/2 months on rice cereal. Do I need to go by the 4 month old outline orby her age?

Also, what food is best after starting cereal?
I will be making her food, of course.

-- posted by libbym26

Top 6. Jun 14, 2003 9:28 PM

» melissawd - Avacado for Baby?

I make most of my baby's food. She is 6 months and I was wondering if it safe to feed her avacado? I am new at this and I want to make sure it will not be bad for her.
Thank You, Melissa

-- posted by melissawd

Top 7. Jul 7, 2003 3:13 AM

» leah81 - hello!!

i have been breast feeding my baby 4 5 years now and my tits have gone very very saggy! i really want to stop but my baby is to powerful and i dont have the strength to resist! wot do u think i shud do?

-- posted by leah81

Top 8. Jul 7, 2003 3:23 AM

» leah81 - hello!!

-- posted by leah81

Top 9. Apr 17, 2006 10:06 AM

» KBraughler - Hi!

My baby is 6 months old. I am obsessed with giving him only organic food. I don't know why. Maybe it is because I wish I could have such a good diet. Anyway have you tried Earth's Best Rice Cereal or they have other options too. There is a website. earthsbest.com I think.

-- posted by KBraughler

Top 10. Jun 6, 2006 5:16 PM

» mcdaniel24 - Homemade baby food

My daughter is almost five months old. I started her on rice ceral when she was three months old. only at night.(I was able to get some sleep) I have recently started her on baby food. My mother in law baught her baby food, so I gave her some and she hated it. So while my mother was here visiting my she showed my how to make baby food and my daughter loves it. I tried store bought and the stuff I made and the stuff I made is way better. My mom is a chef in New York and also she made my baby food when I was little. At least if you make thier food you know what their eating.

-- posted by mcdaniel24