Are there 'regular' alternatives to so-called 'baby' rice, if so could you recommend...?

[PinkPussyCatInAPearTree]

Ds is coming up to weaning stage, was just wondering, in view of popular antagonism directed at the marketing of baby rice, is there a rice/ground rice equivalent suitable for babies? Quite like the idea of maybe mixing it with a fruit puree....or is that a bad idea too...so much to take in with this weaning thing!

random house are bringing a book out in august, but it doesn't sound like you can wait that long.

LOL aitch, i think he will need feeding before then but thanks anyway!

Isn't it? I thought it was No Spoons Whatsoever?
No I just meant, we used to spoon feed him his porridge-and-fruit. We did a mixture of spoon feeding and fingerfoods and then later, he just sorted himself out.
But then I didn't wait until 6 months (largely because nobody mentioned it and it didn't occur to me to) so he wouldn't have managed to feed himself.

gad no. (well i think if you join the yahoo group they're a little more hardcore perhaps).

afaic it's an ethos, really, just chilling the fuck out about it, not making feeding a child more complicated and fraught than it need be and enjoying family meals. and it seems to me that if you wait until 6 months and the baby is in a position to (more or less) sort themselves out then why bother with all the other stuff, mush, puree, spoons, whatever, if you don't need to? but it's not a 'you must not' kind of thing, more a 'encourage them to do it for themselves if they are capable' thing. at least that's what i think. i just can't imagine my mum getting her knickers in a twist about giving us food in the manner that certain childcare gurus want us to now.

Yes it is all very relaxed and that is good.
WAY better than whipping up special baby dishes and arranging them artfully on the plate...

porridge is very much a blw food! at first ds had porridge pancakes, then he ate it out of the bowl with his hands, now i load a spoon for him and he puts it in his mouth.

this is the only book i know of on the subject.

www.midirs.org/mshop/shprod.nsf/SHOPPRODUCT?openform&id=B1F6879A03B18AEC802572260035E594

Nappyaddict, ooh, tell me how you made porridge pancakes please!!

Also, am i right i thinking that oats have gluten? DD is going to be wheat-free for a while due to family allergies.... not quite sure if avoiding wheat means avoiding gluten in general, or indeed if oats are gluten-y

But I eat loads of porridge and really want to get DD in on the action

here you are i'm not sure, worth asking about on the allergies board, but i think that oats aren't as associated with allergies.

millet porridge is gluten free.

Ooh porridge pancakes sound fun!!

and Aitch the recipe blog comes complete with gluten info too. Hurrah.

Had thought about giving millet a go too. thanks for that.

Glad there are other people up at silly hour too. I really should be in bed after last night's sleeplessness but the temptation to stay up and do 'normal' things now DD is finally asleep is much too great. Oh I will pay later....

The formula thing (along with prematurity) comes from the fact that due to the fact the original study was done on full term breastfed babies to say it would suit all babies would discredit the study.

There are plenty of people who have done BLW after formula and Gill Rapley has said in informal settings (like the blog) that she sees no reason why it wouldn't work.

With premature babies (as I mentioned it) don't look at their birth or corrected age, look at their developmental age. If they are sitting up, reaching for food, trying to stuff things in their mouth, then give them a go. I started just into six months because of bad advice, but I would have waited longer. There isn't a "window of opportunity" to start a baby on solids, you're not going to have them forever on milk if you don't start by a certain age! Some countries start as late as two years. Sorry that got a little OT.

I never fed Tink anything, now we sometimes share food in the same way you would if you were having a romantic meal (I feel it's so romantic sometimes with her lol), I don't see that there is much need to, there is nothing that you or baby can't find a way for them to eat it with a little ingenuity or can't wait till later.

Apparently the 'jury's still out' re oats containing gluten, as some people with gluten allergy/coeliac react to them and some don't.... I was asking a mum at toddlers (who is also a paediatrician) this very question the other day!