baby rice

[Saacsmum]

My ds is still only 5mths so not quite ready to wean, I was hoping someone could help me with homemade baby rice. do I just cook rice as normal and then puree it? is it better to use brown or white, can I freeze it once it is cooked?

[hoxtonchick]

i've never heard of home-made baby rice. you can buy an organic version, then mix it with homemdae purees. hth.

[Twiglett]

Baby rice is a particular product (its not the rice you have in the house) Organix and Heinz do organic versions just check baby aisles

its really fine, you just add milk (breast or formula) and make it into a thin paste .. you really won't need to freeze it because its instant

later on you can use it to thicken purees

only buy one box .. you don't use it for long

HTH

[Saacsmum]

I realise there is a commercial powder product available but would still like a recipe for preparing homemade baby rice, thanx for the info though.

[ionesmum]

saacsmum, boil some white long-grain rice until very soft and then put it through a mouli or sieve. Brown is too hard for little ones to digest. I believe you can freeze it but I never have, being a total idiot in that direction! After a while you can just boil the rice until very soft then mash it with a fork. It's a good idea to make your own as the shop stuff can give their tummies dreadful wind. My dd1 loved rice mixed with both savoury and sweet purees. Dd2 won't touch it !!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[ionesmum]

BTW I am sure you know this anyway, but you should never use left-over rice for babies.

[Twiglett]

sorry .. didn't mean to be patronising

[NotQuiteCockney]

Fine-milled oatmeal (available from health food shops) is often recommended as an alternative. I think you have to boil it some ... it was ages ago.

I'm planning to wean my DS2 (same age as yours) at 6 months, and hopefully put him on grown up food as early as possible ... the purees and baby rice are a bit of a waste of time, I think.

[Blackduck]

Personally wouldn't bother with baby rice - ds showed his displeasure by spitting it at me well it is foul stuff

[Mud]

why would you want to make your own? that baffles me

you would have to buy rice anyway, you're just buying rice that has been ground to a very fine consistency

seems a little OTT to me

[biglips]

same to mine as baba kept on spitting out the babys rice and she wasnt havin it at all so i tried the veg casserole the following day and gulp it was gone before i knew it so she will be on that for couple of days before switching over to a different flavour so she get used to switching flavours. im just gonna used up the rest of babys rice in milk bottle just to top it up her hunger.

[biglips]

baba is 4.5 months old BTW

[Mud]

don't put rice in the milk bottle biglips. You shouldn't add anything to milk. If you want to use it up you can use it to thicken up veg and fruit purees.

[NotQuiteCockney]

Mud's right - cereals in the milk bottle are linked to obesity, and choking.

[Catbert]

I agree - baby rice is rice flour, made by the fine milling of rice - it's just a process, and it's one of the purest baby foods you can get - nothing added at all - so you wouldn't be really gaining anything by making it at home, other than giving yourself something extra to do... Use the time making fruit and veg purees I reckon! Noone does baby rice for very long anyway!

[Saacsmum]

hi, thanks all, and no worries about your post twiglet just wanted to clarify what I was after.
particular thanx to ionesmum will try that and also to notquitecockney for the oatmeal idea. To mud I have rice anyway and didnt think it would be too hard to make myself so thought I would see what was involved. I guess if he doesnt like it like some other children on this post at least I wont have to use up the leftovers. Biglips I have to agree with the others, you could mix the rice you have with casseroles or veggies to use it up but not in with milk, it would change the constitution of formula which has been specifically designed to meet babies needs and breast milk doesnt need any additives.

[ionesmum]

Saacsmum, you do gain from making your own because a) normal baby rice can make babies very windy (which is why I switched); b) it introduces texture and c) it tastes better. You can mix in cheese and veggies to make 'risotto', or fromage frais and fruit to make 'rice pudding'. The powdered stuff is just gloop, and they get enough processed junk shoved at them when they are older IMO. Good luck with weaning, it sounds like your ds is in for some yummy treats!

[biglips]

ok thanks everyone, i wont be doing it now as i didnt know (about putting the babys rice in the milk bottle)

[chipmonkey]

Saacsmum, found this in a recipe book using ground rice, ( in the flour aisle in supermarket near semolina).
2tsp ground rice
1/2 pint of breast/formula mild or water
Mix ground rice with liquid, bring to the boil, stirring continuously. Stir occasionally while it simmers for 5-8 min. Says in the book you can freeze it but I've never tried doing that. You could probably freeze in ice cube trays, then mix with fruit and veg later as you vary the diet more

[chipmonkey]

PS you can substitute millet flakes for the ground rice for a change, available in health food shops