Can I give my 6 month old ready brek instead of expensive baby porridge...?

[Flingmoo]

We're not exactly broke, but I object to spending £2.50 on a box of Aptamil baby porridge which is 200g, that's only about 4/5 servings now he's suddenly turned into a big piggy with a huge appetite... Although I must admit, the baby porridge does smell and taste so yummy.

Can I give him ready brek instead? I paid £1.50 for a 450g box which is obviously a lot better value! I can always add dollops of fruit puree to give it a yummy flavour.

Know of any good reason why I shouldn't? Also, formula or cows milk to make it?

TIA

[Infoj]

I see a lot of people commenting on the case of the baby Leroy Elders. But I would just like to point out that this happened because they started to spoon feed their baby at 3 months which is far too young. They were also giving the baby foods which were high in salt such as smash and instant gravy powder which are extremely high in salt and should only be given to adults. Ready break is fine.

[hymy76]

I started straight away with normal porridge (can't remember the brand but the quick ones) and added bilberry powder (it's 100% natural way to add vitamins). I've never used microwave as I don't think the radiation is good for you - nor the baby. This is a beautiful pic of our breakfast bilberry oat porridge that my boy who's now 4 still has almost every day.

[Spindelina]

They don't get soaked at all. Served just like cornflakes. But oatier. It's called "cold porridge" in this household.

[Pointlessfan]

No I haven't, Spindalina. I microwave it which only takes a minute but then it takes a few mins to cool.
How long do you soak the oats for?

[ReinholdMessner]

The Ready Brek salt thing has really stuck, hasn't it? The articles at the time note that the boy was also being given Smash and Bisto.

[EmbarrassedPossessed]

Ready Brek has NO added salt or sugar - see the ingredients here.

There is so little salt in fact, that there is basically none in a 30g serving and only 0.03g in 100g.

The poor little boy that died of too much salt was being fed a whole range of high salt unsuitable food at far too early an age. Ready Brek changed their recipe afterwards to remove the added salt. For some reason it seems to have stuck in people's subconscious as "Ready Brek killed a baby", which seems really unfair.

[anothergenericname]

I used to mix in frozen berries or frozen fruit puree to flavour the porridge and speed cool it - worked a treat! Still do it for my impatient nearly-3-year-old

[Spindelina]

Pountlessfan have you tried oats and milk without the cooking? I had an impatient, crying DD till I figured that one out,

[LetticeKnollys]

Maybe use oats most of the time as PP say and then Ready Brek when you're in a hurry? I had heard there is added salt in Ready Brek but it sounds like lots of people here are doing alright with it.

RE oats: wholesomebabyfood.momtastic.com/oatmealbabyfoodrecipes.htm#.VIm_mslbQwk

[CaroleService]

I used to mix the weaning biscuits with milk too.

[Showy]

Wow. Haven't seen the Leroy Elders case misquoted for years. It did Ready Brek a lot of damage at the time when it wasn't causally linked to that little baby's death. It wasn't then and isn't now a problem for a baby of an appropriate age. Obviously not your fault fingers. V poor reporting at the time. It's virtually salt free iirc. I always used normal oats, same as everything else. Didn't buy "baby" foods as largely they seemed a money making exercise.

[SunnyBaudelaire]

why would you use Ready Brek when you can get a bag of - gasp- real porridge oats for like 70 p?

[Andcake]

I used normal (own brand) porridge and oat bran - which in fairness I had never bought before. Both stick in the microwave with milk or water very easy. Or wheatabix with cold milk (occasionally formula if he didn't finish his morning bottle) worked a treat with ds.

[Pointlessfan]

DD has only ever had porridge made with whole cows' milk and porridge oats which are 75p for a huge bag in Aldi and Asda. She loves her porridge and cries for it while it cools down!

[moonbells]

I used to get Oatibix (one biscuit is 0.06g salt btw) and add warm milk to one bix (bic?) which makes fantastic baby porridge. Weetabix are a bit more grainy but are still nice hot. Both are also low sugar.

[FatimaLovesBread]

I use porridge oats if I'm making it for the whole family but if just dd then ready brek. She's been having it since she started weaning.
Bung ready brek in the bowl, stir in milk and some raspberries and then microwave for 45 seconds. That couple of minutes less makes all the difference when I've a 2 yr old nagging for poyidge

[ShadowKat]

We just used ordinary porridge oats.

Cheaper than Ready Brek and it only takes a couple of minutes to cook in a microwave.

[Mrscog]

I used tons of ReadyBrek. Better in many ways for little ones as it's fortified where as normal porridge oats aren't. When you're weaning and they're not eating loads of everything, it's reassuring to know they've had a bowlful of carbs, protein and vitamins :)

DS then easily made the transition to normal oats around12 months or something.

[Spindelina]

About the multigrain thing - are your DCs really lacking in wheat or rice? Mine certainly wasn't (toast, wraps, crumpets, risotto, rice cakes...). So oats on their own was actually a bonus.

[CockBollocks]

A huge bag of porridge oats is usually about £1.50 - much better value and very easy to make.

[MovingOnUpMovingOnOut]

I never bought any baby products. They're all just a marketing con.

Porridge from oats is very easy and cheap and if you want to do instant just check the ingredients to make sure there's not too much salt, sugar or other additives.

[fingersandthumbs]

Apologies if the information is out of date. It was relevant when I was weaning my son. I think that the advice to be careful and look at salt content of any food given when weaning is important. I'm sorry if I have inadvertently scaremongered.

[DoesntLeftoverTurkeySoupDragOn]

normal porridge oats need actual cooking don't they?

You can just stick the oats and milk in the microwave. IIRC there are instructions on the bag of oats. Check the temperature thoroughly though.

No need to worry about the lumps - if your porridge requires chewing, you've done something wrong!! :o

I used to make batches of banana and blueberry porridge and freeze it in portions.

[jaggythistle]

You don't need to use formula. Cow's milk can be used in food from 6 months, just not as a main drink.

Ready brek is just finely milled oats and oat flour so makes a smoother porridge oats. It has some added vitamins as well I think.

[treaclesoda]

Plain Ready Brek appears to have less salt per 100g than Aptamil baby products, according to the ingredients list I have just compared.

My children always ate Ready Brek rather than baby products, I was happy enough from the ingredients list that it was really just finely ground porridge.