Baby rice with water??

[Fox28]

Hi! DD is 5 months and I'm just getting prepared for weaning. I bought some cow and gate baby rice without looking at the packet (baby was crying so I was in a rush!) and it says to mix with baby's usual milk. However I breast feed and don't express.
Can I mix it with water? Or is there another brand that I can mix with water?
Thanks!

[YokoUhOh]

Hi OP, Google 'baby-led weaning'. There's no need to give purees/baby rice at all as your DD will get most of her calories from milk until 12mo. Food at this stage should be about exploring tastes and textures, so give her sliced carrots, breadsticks, cheese and other finger foods with houmous, for example. She can then learn to feed herself. Don't panic about choking, babies' gag reflex is comparatively far forward in their mouths and prevents choking.

DS never had a spoon of anything shoved in his mouth and now eats a wide variety of food (he's 26 months).

Good luck! (And sorry not to have answered your question!)

[Fox28]

Hi! Thanks for your advice, but I'm going to do purees for a few weeks for DD to get the taste of food and then move onto some finger foods for texture/to start to learn about feeding herself.
Maybe I won't bother with baby rice though!

[GinGinGin]

I can't remember if you can use cows milk at 5 months (def can from 6 months). How about using almond milk? Don't use rice milk (arsenic) or soy milk (affects fertility in boys)

[stressbucket1]

I think it's cows milk from 6 months supposed to avoid dairy until then so I would imagine cows milk is included.
You could probably just mix it with water but I wouldn't bother with baby rice it doesn't taste the best.
You can get aptamil porridge that you mix with water I think or just start with pureed veg or fruit.

[Fox28]

Thank you both

[Littlef00t]

I did just fruit and veg til 6 mo as I read it can worsen potential allergies if dairy and wheat etc started too early, so maybe just hold off until 6 mo and use normal milk.