Making my own baby cereal

[plain jane]

I can't find baby cereal that does not say, "May contain...." on it and I'm not willing to risk a gluten or milk exposure right now. So, the only thing left to do is to make my own.

 

I was thinking of cooking up some organic long grain brown rice as I normally would. Then, I would add some bre@stmilk and put it and the cooked rice in my VitaMix and blend them up until it was the consistency I wanted. :001_unsure:

 

Does this sound like it will work? I know it won't be iron fortified and all that but I can't find cereal that is just rice. :glare:

 

Do I need to do anything else than just cook the rice as normal?

 

Help!

[Joanne]

Why do baby cereal at all? Starting with carbs is only "tradition" since about the 50's. It's not proven science or anything.

 

I skipped baby food (homemade or store bought) and simply fed my ready for solids babies real food. In fact, in most cases, I didn't even feed them. I simply put pieces of real food in front of them, and they ate.

 

Sweet potato, cooked carrots, cooked brocolli, cauliflower, peaches, smooshed peas, pears, avocado, chicken, beef, and eggs.

[Laurel]

I've done it the other way around - ground up brown rice and then cooked it as baby cereal. I used a coffee grinder (bought for that purpose, not used for coffee...) but I'd think you could use the vitamix to grind the dry rice.

[ktgrok]

Just skip the cereal. No need for it, and it is empty calories with almost no nutritional value. Start with fruits or veggies instead.

[plain jane]

I've done it the other way around - ground up brown rice and then cooked it as baby cereal. I used a coffee grinder (bought for that purpose, not used for coffee...) but I'd think you could use the vitamix to grind the dry rice.

 

Did you grind it up fine to the consistency of baby cereal and then cook it by adding hot water and letting soak? Or does it need to be actually cooked using this method?

 

Yes, I have the dry Vitamix canister so I can grind rice. This method could work for me too. :)

[plain jane]

Why do baby cereal at all? Starting with carbs is only "tradition" since about the 50's. It's not proven science or anything.

 

I skipped baby food (homemade or store bought) and simply fed my ready for solids babies real food. In fact, in most cases, I didn't even feed them. I simply put pieces of real food in front of them, and they ate.

 

Sweet potato, cooked carrots, cooked brocolli, cauliflower, peaches, smooshed peas, pears, avocado, chicken, beef, and eggs.

 

The reason I'm starting with cereal is because I have kids with allergies to 6 of the foods you have listed above. :( Rice seems safe in my family so far so I'm going to stick with that. :tongue_smilie: I will branch out from there, but for now it's the only thing I'm not really nervous about introducing. :o

[plain jane]

Just skip the cereal. No need for it, and it is empty calories with almost no nutritional value. Start with fruits or veggies instead.

 

I know. I really want to go this route. We have so many allergies (but none to rice) and I'm concerned to start with anything else. I've done bananas so far (although I do have a child with banana allergy) and that's gone well. I'm not really wanting to introduce too much at this point.

[Susan C.]

Neither of my dc could have anything iron fortified. I put oats (probably quick cooking) in a blender, then made like baby cereal. I think I put diluted juice in it..... (its been a LONG time).

[KRG]

I ground the rice until it was powder like and then poured hot water over it. It 'cooked' just fine like that--sometimes I added breastmilk or formula.

[meggie]

I have a book called Super Baby Food and she says she ground the grain to a fine powder then cooked it with liquid. I've never done it myself, but it should work that way. And from my many hours of watching Food Network, I think that if you were to try and process a cooked grain it would get all nasty and gummy. Again, no real experience, but that Bobby Flay sure seems to know what he's talking about.

 

And I wouldn't worry about the iron that much. Baby girl doesn't really eat the baby food cereals and her iron levels were fine when they checked at her last appointment. Maybe your pediatrician checks too?

[jallison25]

how old is baby? if you want to do rice i would just cook it with extra water and make it a bit softer than normal. then just put on baby's tray and let her feed herself :) that's what we do w/ my 11 month old and have done since she was introduced to food.

[SunD]

If there are no allergies to oatmeal, I might do ground oatmeal first instead because it seems like it would be much easier to make with just milk (yours). Even though you'd add milk to the rice, I don't know if I'd like the idea of so much water content. When baby is still growing so much I'd want to avoid filling her tummy with something that has so little nutritional value, and might cause her to nurse less as well.

 

Or you could try cooking the ground rice with just milk. I have no idea how that would turn out.