baby rice vs normal rice

[cicciaciccio]

Is there any reason why we should use baby rice to wean our babies? I do not like the idea of using it - seems kind of cyber food to me (even if I am wrong probably...) But can I just make a puree out of normal rice well cooked and blended instead?
thanks

[colditz]

It's just finely ground rice. SOme people say it tastes like wallpaper paste - i happen to like it with lots of full fat milk and sugar (for me!)

If your baby is sitting up you needn't bother anyway, just give him/her bits of nice things.

[nethunsreject]

Aye, baby rice is pointless stuff.

If the baby is 6 mths and able to sit, they can eat 'real' food, either BLW or purees, whatever works for you all.

Both mine just had bits of what we had, mashed up a bit.

[RitaMorgan]

If your baby is around 6 months I wouldn't bother with it either. I started with things like broccolli florets, steamed carrot sticks, mashed avocado, mashed banana, sweet potato wedges.

[yama]

Never used it.

Normal rice is fine. I've never pureed (anything) either.

[cicciaciccio]

Wow thanks a lot for your answers. This is really reassuring. Indeed he'll be 6 months in two weeks but he is already obsessed with food - trying to grab from my hands and eat things that I eat :) so I would like to give him some tastes already in these two weeks.

[VeronicaCake]

Some people advocate using baby rice because it is fortified with vitamins and iron in particular. But if you are starting weaning at 6m you can start giving your child iron rich foods straightaway such as red meat, green leafy veg, eggs, lentils and dried apricots and figs. So you don't need to worry about fortified foods (and it is unclear how much of the supplemented iron is actually digested by babies anway).

Basmati rice mixed with plain yoghurt (which makes it sticky and easy to pick up) is a favourite round here.

[sanam2010]

Gave DD basmati rice with a bit of melted butter at 6 months and she loved it. She's never had baby rice or porridge but she has had melon, mango, lambchops, omelette, mango, baguette etc so baby rice just seems like a waste of money.

[galinab]

Hi what do you recommend to start weaning with/how? I'm looking at starting to wean my baby boy in the next few weeks but I have no idea where/how to start?

[FamiliesShareGerms]

Baby rice is only good for thickening up foods that are too mushy (eg having been frozen), otherwise I think it's pretty grim stuff

[TheNewStatesman]

Rice itself is a perfectly baby-friendly food, but the "point" of baby rice is that it is iron fortified--iron being one of the few things that breastmilk is not a good source of.

As babies' iron stores are usually starting to run low from around the middle of the first year, giving babies some iron-rich foods is considered to be a good precaution against iron deficiency (which can made mild but permanent effects on cognitive development).

You don't have to give the iron-foritied rice, of course; you can give meat and things like that instead. I gave both baby rice cereal and meat.

So whether you "should" give baby rice or regular rice depends on what you are giving it for. If you are just sharing your meal and it contains rice, of course you can just share some of your normal rice. But if you are "relying" on the rice to provide your child's iron, then you need to give the commercial iron-foritified rice--regular rice does not have any.

By the way, most plant foods (like the suggestions above of green leafy vegetables etc.) are pretty poor sources of iron; because babies eat such small amounts of food, the only foods that they are likely to get useful amounts of iron from are meat and artificially fortified foods, such as rice cereal. That is why the World Health Organization specifically recommends giving fortified foods such as rice cereal in its advice on weaning.

[MigGril]

The iron thing is rubish anyway, the only babies really at risk of low iron are those born prematurely. If formula feed its already contains more iron and although breastmilk contains less its in a much higher bioavaible form then artificial supplements. Also there is some evidence that to much iron supplements in babies isn't good for the developing gut.
If your breastfeeding kellymom has some good information on iron and weaning.

[TheNewStatesman]

No, it is not rubbish. Please see here for the up-to-date WHO guidelines.

whqlibdoc.who.int/paho/2003/a85622.pdf?ua=1


"Breast milk can make a substantial contribution to the total nutrient intake of chil- dren between 6 and 24 months of age, particularly for protein and many of the vitamins. However, breast milk is relatively low in several minerals such as iron and zinc, even after accounting for bioavailability. At 9-11 months of age, for example, the proportion of the Recommended Nutrient Intake that needs to be supplied by complementary foods is 97% for iron, 86% for zinc, 81% for phosphorus, 76% for magnesium, 73% for sodium and 72% for calcium (Dewey, 2001)."

"...the Expert Consultation concluded that the potential health benefits of waiting until six months to introduce other foods outweigh any potential risks. After six months of age, however, it becomes increasingly difficult for breastfed infants to meet their nutrient needs from human milk alone (WHO/UNICEF, 1998)."

"Average iron intakes of breastfed infants in industrialized countries would fall well short of the recommended intake if iron-fortified products were not available (WHO/UNICEF, 1998)"

We are all aware that the iron in breastmilk has relatively high bioavailability; however, the amount that is in breastmilk to begin with is so small, that is it impossible for breastmilk along to meet a baby's iron needs once their iron stores are running low.

And it is not true that it is only premature babies who can become iron deficient; iron stores depend on a number of factors, and a smallish but statistically significant minority of infants are already slightly iron deficient as early as six months of age. See here, for example: online.liebertpub.com/doi/abs/10.1089/bfm.2007.0002