oats for breakfast?

[TROUBLE1]

I m a bit confused - do oats contain gluten if so can you get gluten free oats?
I'm about to start giving breakfast to my ds who is just over 5 months and need advice about cereals and oats. I have cooked all of ds organic foods and don't want to give him packet cereal as I would prefer to give him totally natural organic food. Are normal breakfast oats ok to give, or would baby rice be better until 6 months? - any ideas or advice would be welcomed!

The thing with oats is very confusing! My understanding is that they DO contain a kind of gluten, but it's not nearly as problematic as wheat gluten. Which is why they're recommended as a good alternative even if your baby can't tolerate 'normal' gluten.

Can't give any advice on the timings I'm afraid, I started solids at 6 months and just did baby rice for the first couple of weeks. Then introduced quinoa porridge, which is completely gluten free (you can get quinoa flakes from health food shops, and boil them up in milk for 4-5 minutes till sludgy!). Introduced porridge oats at 8-9 months. But I was being very cautious due to eczema, asthma, and nut allergy history on my part.

Hi. We have coeliac disease in the family, so I have been megga careful with both sons' weaning. The baby is now 7 months. Up until 6 months I just did baby rice & fruit, as I knew oats could be a problem. I have since found out that many people with gluten intolerance can tollerate oats, but some can't....but better safe than sorry....

The quinoa sounds like a good idea - I didn't know you could buy it in flakes.

Thanks for the advice I will try and track down some quinoa flakes.

hey pidge, am i stalking you now !!?
thanks for your advice, i decided to buy the s.oliver book after seeing it on amazon. want to try ds with the quinoa again, as he didn't take to it at first. noticed in the recipe for quinoa-millet porridge, she says you can freeze left over cooked porridge,; did you do this. feel a bit wary feezing, and defrosting something made with formula milk??, may start a new thread on that.

trouble, my ds will still only eat blinkin baby rice and fruit or yoghurt for breakfast, so i will be trying quinoa; he didn't like the teaxture of it at first. even after wizzing the actual flakes in the blender to a powder before cooking them with milk, it still produced a "grainy" texture when cooked. think its just a case of persevering, good lick!

sorry, , that meant to say good luck!! lol!

Hi alibo - tee hee - I think we just keep following each other around!

With the quinoa - have you tried mashing in some really ripe banana, or stirring in some pureed apricot or prune? Or is it really the texture your ds is objecting to? I think it does take some babies a while to get to grips with non-smooth foods, but it's just a question of persevering and eventually they get the hang of it.

I never tried freezing the porridge myself, though it would have been useful. I don't see any reason why there would be a problem - lots of recipes call for freezing which include milk (formula or cow or EBM). I would imagine it might need a bit more milk adding to it once defrosted to make it the right consistency.

definatly the texture, as he will eat pureed apricot with the rice! not tried banana yet, as he is very prone to constipation.

Hmmm - in that case I would just keep trying it every few days, he'll get the hang of it eventually, he's still pretty young isn't he? The quinoa is definitely lumpier than baby rice, though I would say less lumpy than oat porridge, so it's a reasonable transition dish. Maybe make it really milky and runny at first, or could you try blitzing the flakes in a food processor BEFORE cooking them in the milk?

yes will keep trying; i did blitz the flakes first before cooking, to a realy fine powder, but it still went kind of "grainy" when cooked, even with a lot of milk. just to go off the subject, interesting that she recommnends brown rice puree for a breakfast basic; gina ford book recommends brown rice and wholegrain products after age 12 months, as before that too much fibre for a baby, what do you think?

Yes, some books make a big deal about not too much fibre. I did use brown rice and dd was always fine. It's pretty chewy though - so I guess your ds may object if he dislikes the lumpy quinoa! I do fret about too much fibre sometimes -these days dd loves bran flakes for breakfast, but have started mixing them with cornflakes for a slightly less fibre-laden start to the day!

We always use wholewheat pasta and brown bread, so dd gets those too. Plus she loves lots of things like peas and lentils and bananas, which I think are also heavy on the fibre front.

She's always seemed fine, so I just carry on. But I don't really have any good advice on this one.

Oh and even when pureed - the brown rice thing is REALLY lumpy. I never used it for breakfast, it looked too disgusting for words! Just stuck to giving it to dd with some veggies.

uumm, thanks pidge, might give the brown rice a miss!!

I gave dd brown rice for dinner last nite. kept some of the water and added pumpkin oil at the end and just whizzed it alittle bit as she is nearly 1 year. It wasn´t lumpy as I made sure that the rice was cooked with extra water 3 -1 rather than 2 - 1 cups. I added abit of yogurt too.