Which baby cereal?

[cmeilim]

You shld let your baby try both on its own first. Feed the cereal first for 4 days to chk if got allergy then feed the other food. After that you can mix the two types of food.

Re: How to mix and feed
Scoop the desired amt of cereal and puree into a bowl. Add milk/ water. Stir to mix evenly. If too thick, add more milk/water. Feed via spoon please to prevent choking.

hi snowbear, how to puree the cereal into a bowl? stupid question probably but i've never tried before. wanna introduce semi-solids to my six-month-old this weekend but very confused by rice cereal, rice porridge, rice etc....what's the difference?

my mum who takes care of my son when i am working and was a babysitter for more than 10 years typically just cooks white rice porridge (very fine texture to start with, of cos) for the babies she's taken care of. but i am wondering if that's the best or right way to start my boy on semi-solids.

 

[meiteoh]

From what I read here and in books, the main difference between rice cereal and rice porridge is rice cereal is iron fortified which is important for babies who are just starting semi-solids as their iron supply in the body is running out; rice porridge is not iron fortified and suggested for older babies who can take iron-rich foods like spinach and meats.

If you're feeding porridge, you need to make sure that your baby gets a balanced meal hence why a lot of mums choose to give porridge only when their babies are older and passed the "tasting" stage that most 5-6 month olds go through when they are just starting semi-solids.

 

[snowbear]

hi snowbear, how to puree the cereal into a bowl? stupid question probably but i've never tried before. wanna introduce semi-solids to my six-month-old this weekend but very confused by rice cereal, rice porridge, rice etc....what's the difference?

my mum who takes care of my son when i am working and was a babysitter for more than 10 years typically just cooks white rice porridge (very fine texture to start with, of cos) for the babies she's taken care of. but i am wondering if that's the best or right way to start my boy on semi-solids.

I meant scoop the cereal and add in any other veggie puree into a bowl. There's no need to puree cereal

Yup, like what meiteoh said, the main difference is in the iron content. For me, I gave Alicia commercial cereal coz it is iron-enriched. I only gave her porridge when she was 8 mths onwards coz by then she can take in other iron-rich foods like meat and veggies like broccoli (which is usually advisable only after 8mths).

 

[cmeilim]

i bought a packet of rabbit brand si sen brown rice powder (plain flavour) and a packet of healthy times oatmeal from NTUC last nite. no stocks of healthy times brown rice cereal. =( is it ok to start off with the si sen brown rice powder mixed with EBM? how many times a day should i start off with, how many teaspoons of powder, and how many times a week? when can i also start introducing the healthy times oatmeal?

 

[snowbear]

i bought a packet of rabbit brand si sen brown rice powder (plain flavour) and a packet of healthy times oatmeal from NTUC last nite. no stocks of healthy times brown rice cereal. =( is it ok to start off with the si sen brown rice powder mixed with EBM? how many times a day should i start off with, how many teaspoons of powder, and how many times a week? when can i also start introducing the healthy times oatmeal?

Yup, my sil started with that last time. Just give a bit every day then slowly increase. Make maybe 1 tablespoon first then see his response. Most of the time they will only eat only a couple of teaspoons for the first few times.

Healthy Times oatmeal can be introduced from 6mths onwards according to the packaging. That's alicia's fav cereal last time in the HT range of cereals.

 

[meiteoh]

Came in here to drop a note coz I'm in PJ/KL and they have the Heinz rice baby cereal (blue box) out for sale at Babyland - I just bought two. So if you have friends or relatives coming to M'sia, you can ask them to look out for you as well.

 

[jojoki]

I give net net happy bellies brown rice cereal.. she likes it!! i like it too... nice texture n taste!

 

[cmeilim]

ian loves rabbit brand si sen brown rice cereal mixed with a bit of EBM. he ate some 15 or more teaspoonfuls of the mixture - quite amazing for his first semi-solids, i think! the texture is pretty smooth and it's also quite fragrant.

i went to the organic store at great world B2 today. found both healthy times and earth's best brands of organic brown rice cereal. eventually bought a packet of the latter to try. my mum, who looks after ian when i am at work, prefers those that do not need cooking, just warm up EBM and add cereal to it.

is heinz cereal sugar-free and iron-fortified as well?

 

[meiteoh]

Yes, no sugar, salt, gluten, dairy, eggs and soy.

Ingredients are basically rice, veg oil, iron, vit c and antioxidant. I bought two boxes of the stuff. I saw it in Giant as well. Going to Carrefour to see if I can find the same or similar varieties as well. Am hoping to find the Organic line.

 

[mandymtb]

ian loves rabbit brand si sen brown rice cereal mixed with a bit of EBM. he ate some 15 or more teaspoonfuls of the mixture - quite amazing for his first semi-solids, i think! the texture is pretty smooth and it's also quite fragrant.

i went to the organic store at great world B2 today. found both healthy times and earth's best brands of organic brown rice cereal. eventually bought a packet of the latter to try. my mum, who looks after ian when i am at work, prefers those that do not need cooking, just warm up EBM and add cereal to it.

is heinz cereal sugar-free and iron-fortified as well?

is there a reason why u chose earth's best over healthy times?

needed some ref as i am buying some for my gal soon....

 

[cmeilim]

is there a reason why you chose earth's best over healthy times?

hello mandymtb

haha, actually i dunno the difference in terms of nutrients, cos i didn't do a detailed comparison. i had bought a pack of healthy times oatmeal the other day, but i understand that i should start with the plain brown rice cereal first. couldn't find the latter at ntuc so went to the organic store at great world city where i saw many other brands of brown rice cereal, including earth's best. it was a bigger pack and at a cheaper price than HT - $6.90 for a 227g pack while HT costs $7.50 for a 170g. so i decided to give it a shot. also, i wanna try various brands to get my baby used to different tastes, so that he doesn't become picky and stuck to any particular brand.

i fed my baby earth's best brown rice cerea this afternoon. he ate more than the rabbit brand si sen brown rice yesterday, although it is not as fragrant. so i guess my baby likes it too. =)

if any mummy has tried both HT and earth's best and know the detailed difference, perhaps they can help to answer your question better. =)

 

[woofy55]

hi mummies - i am searching thru the threads on intro cereal and found this. It seems that a lot of mummies advice that shouldn't intro cereal until 6mths. But my MIL who is helping to take care of Louis WILL BE feeding him rice cereal soon when he hits 4mth, once a day in the morning. Anyway, its difficult to find cereal that indicate "4mths onwards", most that I am seeing are "6mths onwards". When I told her that, she's not rather convinced. She took out her "Nestle notes" that duno from where, showing the can of cereal indeed has "4mths onwards". My SIL say her daughter (5yrs) took the "6mths onwards" cereal when she was 4mths old.

Should I be concern?

 

[ocee]

our pedia advises to delay start of solids until baby reaches 6 months. this discourages early weaning from milk to solids. maybe you can share this to your mum. or bring her with u to pedia when u have chk up ( i am assuming here that that pedia has the same thoughts as mine. )

gud luck! i am starting our baby with Frisocrem (advised by his pedia) this weekend. his 6th month bday.

hi mummies - i am searching thru the threads on intro cereal and found this. It seems that a lot of mummies advice that shouldn't intro cereal until 6mths. But my mother in law who is helping to take care of Louis WILL BE feeding him rice cereal soon when he hits 4mth, once a day in the morning. Anyway, its difficult to find cereal that indicate "4mths onwards", most that I am seeing are "6mths onwards". When I told her that, she's not rather convinced. She took out her "Nestle notes" that dont know from where, showing the can of cereal indeed has "4mths onwards". My sister In law say her daughter (5yrs) took the "6mths onwards" cereal when she was 4mths old.

Should I be concern?

 

[cmeilim]

hi mummies - i am searching thru the threads on intro cereal and found this. It seems that a lot of mummies advice that shouldn't intro cereal until 6mths. But my mother in law who is helping to take care of Louis WILL BE feeding him rice cereal soon when he hits 4mth, once a day in the morning. Anyway, its difficult to find cereal that indicate "4mths onwards", most that I am seeing are "6mths onwards". When I told her that, she's not rather convinced. She took out her "Nestle notes" that dont know from where, showing the can of cereal indeed has "4mths onwards". My sister In law say her daughter (5yrs) took the "6mths onwards" cereal when she was 4mths old.

Should I be concern?

i agree with ocee. i argued against my mum (who takes care of my baby in the day) when she wanted to feed my boy solids earlier than 6 months. we got our way cos hubby and i are both very strong-willed people. since this is your MIL, can u ask yr hubby to help to explain to his mum? some babies may not have developed the digestive and physical abilities and coordination for swallowing semi-solids at four months old.

 

[meiteoh]

Even if your paed says you can, it doesn't mean you should. Babies should be ready for solids based according to their development milestones and not their age. They should be able to hold their head/neck up steady, sit up supported/unsupported and the most important one of all is that they can tell you that they have had enough by turning their head or closing their mouth.

My paed said that I could start at 4 months but I waited until Eva was ready. How I knew was basically I tried giving her a small spoon of water and it just dribbled out, so that means not ready coz she didn't know what to do. When my MIL tried again when she was 5.5 mths, she swallowed immediately and wanted more. That was our cue that she was ready for solid food. She was also opening her mouth and such when she sees the spoon.

The general consensus is that the longer you wait, the better it will be for the baby in terms of experience and health-wise (less allergies, more fun, etc).