Baby porridge with water?

[LittleMissRayofHope]

DS is 5 months so gearing up to weaning.

He is EBF and I haven't really been able to express. Never really managed it last time and for whatever reason I just can't get anything out

I'm surprisingly against formula (just for myself absolutely no judgement - this came as a shock to me when I had dd how much the idea upset me!) so don't want to use formula to mix with the baby porridge powder.

Will it work with water? I'm sure it will but I'm just wondering if it will taste rubbish?
Dd refused all puréed foods so didn't really do much of this with her anyway!

Tia

Mine started weaning at 6 months, just did normal porridge (so oats & cows milk).

Porridge made with just water is a bit hardcore Scot for me...

Cows milk is fine in porridge, just not as a drink until 1.

Cows milk is fine for cooking with.

You can also just use normal porridge not the baby stuff. Cheaper

Just use cows milk. Bit of formula as a drink fine when they're weaned anyway but unnecessary in cooking. I also use whole milk for cheese sauce etc.

That's true I never used baby porridge, just made some for myself and gave dc a bit.

I did purée a batch with blueberries and a batch with nectarine and froze leftovers but that was way too much faff and soon stopped.

Just use ordinary full fat milk then?

You're against formula but you'd be willing to deprive your child of a proper nutritious meal? Oats and water isn't really suitable for a baby.

I EBF'd mine til I started work at 7.5 months and wouldn't have dreamed of giving formula until I started weaning but after that I realised its just another "food". Also - it's made of cows milk, it's not poison.

I have got the hipp organic banana one. You mix with water only with that. Same with Heinz. Once they are 6mo you can use full fat cows milk. I'm not against formula because DD1 had some everyday from 7mo as I went back to work. But I actually don't know how to make formula from powder, don't own a steriliser anymore, and it costs nearly 70p for a ready made carton which I will only use a tbsp of. It sounds wasteful so I just get a baby rice that takes water! I will use blue top cows milk from 26 weeks. DD2 is 23 weeks so only 3 weeks to go anyway. And many believe 6mo is 24 weeks too.

This is the one
www.mysupermarket.co.uk/asda-compare-prices/Baby_Food_And_Snacks/Hipp_Organic_Banana_And_Peach_Breakfast_4mth_230g.html

I used ready made carton with DD1 but then she only used a carton a day. And it's put into her nursery bag. Nursery wouldn't make formula from powder on site.

Oh and DD1 refused all puréed food (spoon feeding). When she could sit upright very well, around 26-27 weeks, I gave up on purée and gave only finger food. Look up baby led weaning. She took it very very well. We progressed to three meals in a week or so and she was eating veg, meat, bread etc. Don't feel too dishearten if they reject purees. She's still young at 5mo.

No where in my post does it say anything about depriving my child of nutrients. The mere fact I'm asking for advice on this shows I'm attempting to do the opposite.
I can't help feeling how I feel about formula. It's personal and not something judge. Some of my closest friends FF or combo and I couldn't care less as its their choice.

Forgot about using straight up cows milk. Had the 12 months thing in my head but forgot that was for drinking.
I do see the baby porridge as kind of pointless and expensive but it won't be for long as happy to start there. I don't eat porridge personally so the small boxes are good compared to big bags of oats.
He'll move to wheetabix after a bit to match his sister anyway.

If you can't bear to poison your child with formula then use whole milk.

Water in porridge really isn't suitable for a baby.

Formula is nutritionally far better than cows milk or obviously water for a baby of five months. You are being ridiculous. Put your baby before your strange ideas and use formula or expressed breast milk.

Do you realise when they say formula changes a babies gut that is per weaning and applies to anything other than breast milk?

Sorry pre weaning.

No where did I say it was poison either....
Why is no one allowed to feel a certain way about something without being ridiculed, insulted or shot?

When I was pregnant I bought all the feeding stuff bottles, sterilisers etc but by the time I got to the point of introducing a bottle I just didn't want to anymore. My feelings had changed.

My post was for simple advice. Not a stupid breast vs formula debate.

Thanks to anyone who simply answered my question.

Ready brek is a cheaper alternative to baby porridge if you don't want to bother with proper porridge.
DD has been on porridge, weetabix or ready brek from 6 months

Most of the specific baby porridge on the market is 'just add water'. But then that's because it contains milk powder and other added ingredients which mean it is more or less the same as formula anyway.

I use Ready Brek which is a perfectly good cheaper alternative, it's just finely milled oats fortified with vitamins. Though if you're anti formula maybe you won't fancy vitamin fortified cereal either, all those factory produced artificial vitamins?

If you're going to be super-purist about it you can whizz up normal porridge oats in blender to make them smoother as a first weaning food, then make up with cows milk. But you're then going to have to make extra effort to get vitamins and especially iron in your baby's diet elsewhere.

I dunno, I can't really see the sense in being anti-formula when it is being used to substitute for something that is nutritionally inferior (cow's milk or water) rather than something that is nutritionally superior (breastmilk). Each to their own!

Ready Brek and cows milk as it's got some fortification. If you want an alternative to cows milk, we use oatly on cereal (DC has severe milk allergy). It tastes nice, nothing weird in it and it's got calcium and vit D.

FWIW I also surprised myself by feeling quite strongly that I didn't want DD to have formula while she was ebf. However, once we began weaning, my feelings changed. There was no longer any benefit to preserving her virgin gut so I treated it as just another weaning food. In this case, however, I would use full fat cows' milk. It's cheaper.

If you do feel strongly however, check the packet of your baby porridge; the Aptamil one, for example, is made with formula powder so you just add water.

I do blw weaning and ds likes porridge. I use a heinz baby one and the instructions are to mix with water to the consistency you want.

I boil it first and let it cool, as per the instructions.

Branded baby porridge is basically formula thickened with fine oats. So you can just add water to it as it is already modified cows milk, so formula, or use proper oats but with cows milk. If you're very set on EBF then can't you wait until the 26 week mark and give cows milk? Porridge alone with water will not provide data, calories and vitamins. Baby porridge will because it contains formula. So it's up to you what you think is better for your baby, but if you are weaning early it would be formula.

Fats, not data!