How to make baby cereals

This little guy here, well. He eats a lot.

again, if you ever get tired of baby pictures, you just tell me...

He's been on 2h feeds since birth, with very little break for mommy at night.
And he's been watching our cutlery with interests at mealtime, ever more since those 2 little white things got out... So, we've started giving him solids. Avocado, apple, carrots... He loves it. He's very thrilled!

tonight's batch. grand-pa carrots! not organic, but surely locally grown and at least we know what gets on those...

Pediatricians tell us we need to start with rice cereals... I'll refer you to this article, which reflects my point of view.

Rice cereal has traditionally been the first complementary food given to American infants, but “Complementary foods introduced to infants should be based on their nutrient requirements and the nutrient density of foods, not on traditional practices that have no scientific basis,” Dr. Greer said in an interview.

"Rice cereal is a less than perfect choice for the first complementary food given to infants. Rice cereal is low in protein and high in carbohydrates. It is often mixed with varying amounts of breast milk or formula. Although most brands of formula now have added iron, zinc, and vitamins, iron is poorly absorbed—only about 7.8% of intake is incorporated into red blood cells."

This article about babyled weaning is great too, if you can read French.

That's why I went for avocado first, a good source of natural iron (amongst other good stuff) that will actually end up being absorbed.

But cereal is still good stuff, when not chemically processed.

Ingredients:

1/4 c. rice powder (brown rice ground in blender or food processor)
1 cup water

Directions:

1. Bring liquid to boil in saucepan. Add the rice powder while stirring constantly.
2. Simmer for 10 minutes, whisking constantly, mix in formula or breast milk and fruits if desired
3. Serve warm.

Sadly, I didn't even know that there was an alternative to the (quite expensive for our budget) boxed cereal instant powder when it came the time to feed solid to Mariann.

I won't give fast food as a first food to my baby this time.

yum!

And I finally got around finding time making SouleMama's granola recipe.
It is really good for us. We're the kinds that have many little in-between snacks. (And it's cheaper!)

Hope every one had a great weekend. It's been an indoor weekend here. Really really freezing! -32°C with the winds. For US folks, it means -26F. They forecast -34F for tonight. So we've been in our pyj (woollen socks for the olders), eating hot stuff and drinking tea! It's great to stay home a little, but now I'm kind of itchy to get outdoor... But not tomorrow apparently, since it's still going to be really cold.