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why baby rice?

bby rice has very little nutritional value and the only purpose is to introduce babies to a new texture. my hv has said not to bother with it, as we are starting weaning at 6 months, as at 6 months they should totally by-pass purees and be on more of a mash.

but i see lots of people on here start with baby rice. it looks awful and has no value, so why do people give it? i'd have thought, and im not saying im right im just asking, that if people give babyrice then it's a thicker substance, so baby would drink less milk, therefore consuming less calories / nutriton, not more. is that not right? surely a hungry baby would need more nutrition, not less? :\?

Replies

  • I think it is so they have a familiar taste with an unfamiliar texture as opposed to new taste and new texture all at once. TBH I used it for a couple of days with DD1 then used it to make her veg and fruit purees creamier.
    You mix it with breast milk or formula so it does have a slight bit of nutrition I guess.

    Serena X
  • It's processed rubbish and I wouldn't bother with it. You can give baby ready made deserts in jars with it in, some of those are ok if you're in a rush but if you're cooking for baby at home I wouldn't bother feeding her that junk. Rice is tricky for a baby to eat and ours took until 8 months to master it. blend or mash up butternut squash, sweet potato or broccoli. Baby went mad for butternut squash with a bit of butter melted in and slept for once like a baby. I always ask myself would I eat it and if the answer is no I don't give it to baby. bleugh horrid junk!
  • ds had it once, just because thats what friends/family ahd suggested as a first food. he had the tip of a teaspoon, and that was it, the next day we started on root veg, he never had baby rice again unless i used it in a fruit puree etc to thicken it up a bit so it wasn't just liek juice ona spoon. my sister weaned her lo's (the youngest is 9 so back when it was perfectly normal to wean at 16weeks, some before then) purely on baby rice, tbh i couldn't imagine doingt hat, and i'm not surprised that all 3 of her daughters are the worlds fussiest/worst eaters, they still get very little variety in their diet and certainly do not get even 2-3portions of fruit and veg a day, let alone 5.
    i think the baby rice/hungry thing is because its fills up more, like normal rice, it expands once in ur tummy, so yeh u take less in but fills u up for longer and as a complex carbohydrate it takes a lot longer for ur body to digest, so again, is in ur tummy for longer, keeping u feeling full.
  • Because the HV told me and who I am to argue...but LO tried a teeny bit and screamed so it had never seen the light of day since, it looks rank. But I can see the reasoning behind it, as serena says, its tastes just like milk, its just a new texture. But I did get the impression it was more for those weaning pre 6 months (which I did so not a criticism!)
  • i gave my son some baby rice when i weaned him and he spit it out!!! we tried evreything then butternut squash, broccolli, fruit purees he loved the broccolli (after it had cooled, obvioously) straight from the colander, as the stem was easy to hold. he now eats nearly anything and has never really been fussy, i'm really thankfull i took the time to prepare his food and give him loads of flavours to try, i even pureed fruit to go into his porrige and froze it in ice cube trays!!
  • thas pretty much what i thought. my neighbour asked me this week if i was gong to start dd on babyrice, as she gave it to her ds for a week at 6 months. he didnt like it but she carried on. i couldnt work it out as he was 6 months old, so did he really need a week of baby rice?

    thanks for the responses.
  • It is a suggested first food as you make it with their normal milk and therefore it should be a palatable taste for them.

    Having said that I don't believe in giving my baby something that I wouldn't eat myself and I just saw baby rice as a manufactured product full of nothing. My baby had carrot for his first food and I can honestly say that we've got by just fine without the need for baby rice xx
  • I have only used baby rice a couple of times and it was basically to thicken up an Ella Kitchen stage 1 pouch (one of the fruit ones) when we were on holiday as it was so runny DD struggled to get it in her mouth. I actually threw the open box out the other day when I was cleaning out a cupboard and it was partically full!
  • Toby has never had baby rice, I just didn't see the point and like others have said I wouldn't give him something I wouldn't eat myself. Was hard to stand my ground in the face of meddling neighbours, MIL etc though!!
  • i must be in minority dd1 loved baby rice and i gave it to her before her bedtime feed and she couldnt get enough of it she was still having it at 9 months! i finally got her to stop when we went on holiday dd2 did start on it but i went with more the babyled route with her and had no problems i wont use baby rice with an other children i have.
  • It's processed rubbish and I wouldn't bother with it

    Er not really. It's rice.

    Agree that it's not worth bothering with in terms of nutritional value though. I just use it as a thickener for fruit & veg purees.
  • My son wasn't best impressed with baby rice and tbh neither were we lol..it smelled funny. We started him on it cause thats what we figured you were meant to do but fortunately a couple of days after starting him on it and him being mostly unimpressed a sample of cow & gate breakfast cereal dropped through the door so we tried him with that and he loved it. We used to give him that in the morning/lunchtime and then pureed fruit or veg in the afternoons to start with. We used to take water mix cereal and a pot of water if he was due a food-feed when we were out and about cause it was easier than trying to get one cube of pureed something or other heated up. Baby rice got used for thickener occasionally and then I binned the open pack and passed on the other packs to my friend.

    Don't think we'll bother with it for baby girl..just go straight to the cereal and mush
  • calleigh i think coz of the age of your dd you could by pass it no bother, it's used as v thin to startand helps baby to learn how to use the spoon with something of familiar text and texture, also its easy to digest again helping them get used to eating solids, the advice over here is once baby can use the spoon ok work away with the veggie purees so for some this could be a few days others a few weeks would also depend on weaning age my ds was 16 weeks as you know so used baby rice once a day for a week then twice a day for a week and then onto the veggie purees

    have to say i'd be quicker to give rice than a pudding jar with rice in it??
  • I started weaning ds on baby rice at 21 weeks - not really sure why, I guess because it's the 'done thing', and like someone said, a familiar taste as mixed with milk. My HV did say it wasn't necessary to give baby rice though. He only had it for a couple of days before I introduced veg, and then I used it occasionally to thicken fruit purees as a breakfast - didn't give porridge as didn't give gluten til 6 months.

    When I wean dd (not yet as currently only 11 weeks) I'm planning to skip baby rice and start with veg, although not sure which yet - I'm open to suggestions, don't want anything too sweet. I;m also planning on starting finger foods as soon as poss (once she's 6 months I mean) - ds was spoonfed for quite a while and then took a while to get the hang of finger foods, so I think even just giving her some to hold while I spoonfeed her would help.

    Calleigh, my HV said at 4 months puree, at 5 months mashed potato consistency and at 6 months lumps - if your dd is 6 months there's no real need to give her slop at all.
  • How slow am I - dollywotsit's a troll, right?
  • How slow am I - dollywotsit's a troll, right?

    unfortunatly not!
  • What's a troll?
  • Someone who makes comments that purposefully provoke arguments! Which dollywotsit does not.
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