is ready brek OK???

[girlafraid]

www.guardian.co.uk/Archive/Article/0,4273,3887145,00.html

The packaging states no added salt but this article is very frightening

I'd intended to switch from C&G creamy porridge once wheat was being well tolerated. I realise I could just use porridge but I think DS would prefer ready brek

I used ready brek, although not constantly, my girls loved scrambled eggs as well!

Ready Brek is low in salt, as far as I remember. I think the article is scaremongering.

You could use ground rice with some jam or honey to sweeten it, another favourite in our house until they could tolerate 'lumps'!

The article is frightening, but then the baby mentioned is three months old which is really too young to wean anyway let alone feed proper grown-up food. (Also the article is from 1999 so chances are the ingredients have changed dramatically since then)

I'd have thought readybrek would be fine - I give my ds that oatsosimple stuff in winter which I assume is more or less the same as readybrek.

I don't think that article tells the whole story. iirc the baby had been regularly fed all sorts of processed, high in salt, foods, only one of which was Readybreak , from about 6 weeks of age. Part of the problem was not only the salt content of the food itself but also the immaturity of his body to digest and process anything other than the contents of milk. Ready Brek's formulation may well have been changed over the past 10 years in response to general concerns about salt intake too.

In that article, the baby was 3 months old, also he was having mashed potato and gravy! If the mash was made with butter and the gravy made with granules, that is much more likely to have larger amounts of salt.

6-12 month old babies can tolerate 1g of salt (0.4g Sodium) per day. If I give DS any processed food (ie from a packet) I have a quick look at how much salt there is per portion and then roughly work out how much of an adult-sized portion he will be having, to see how much he can have.

www.guardian.co.uk/Archive/Article/0,4273,3887145,00.html

Oh also, if you are worried, you can grind up normal porridge oats in a food processor to make smoother porridge.

girlafraid why do you think your ds would prefer ready brek? His tastes aren't really formed yet and IMO it is best not to pre judge that he would prefer the 'kiddy' option unless you can't get him to eat the more adult/less processed version.

Did you know you can make porridge in the microwave? That is what I do and it is no more hassle than ready brek.

those parents fed their 3 month old lo instant mash and gravy and that is more to blame than the ready brek which has no added salt or sugar.

I cant get the full article but the makers of ready brek were going to fight back against the claims made against so I dont think it was ever full of salt in the first place.

Ready Brek cereal fights coroner's `slur'

ready brek is ok from around 6 months old.

this baby in the article was weaned far too young on the wrong things

the baby was overdosed on salt via whole lot of unsiutable foods given too early

I put the oats and milk combo in a microwave pot and in the fridge overnight, makes is smoother as oats are softer.

I have to add (after getting time to read whole article) that 3 months is very young, too young IMO, to wean a baby especially straight onto adult food. I weaned from as late as 7 1/2 months to earliest 5 1/2 months, which is still classed as 'early'. I started with baby organix (when we could afford it!) and cow and gate and gradually introduced home cooked meals, lots of yoghurt and mashed banana too.

I agree with the provincial lady, just use normal porridge. The sooner you use 'real' foods the better and the lumps in real porridge will help your baby get used to them.
You can buy bags of organic porridge for about a pound and it lasts for ages.

if its good enough for Annabel Karmel, its good enough for me!

DD has ready brek sometimes, mainly as I love it , but she is 3. I would use normal porridge as a baby/young toddler though. Its just as easy to make.