Why rice cereal for first food?

[blessedatlast]

I have heard that it's high iron, low allergy and a good bland food to start, but I was a bit confused why the dietician would want me to start hiom on such starchy food? She specifically said that starchy food was recommended.. I would have thought the opposite.. I might try him on it but I'll buy some organic rice and make my own, then we'll move onto veges quickly after



ETA: Maybe she wants me to start him on starchy food for calories?

[meow]

If you're after calories and iron then meat and egg yolks are great.

FWIW, my youngest son has been on a low starch diet his entire life and has never eaten any grains or potato and is doing awesome. I can't think of any nutritional benefit to starch.

[Barb Glare]

Hi,
first foods are very different the world over. In Italy apparently carrot and zucchini puree is the preferred first choice. In China it's congee (rice porridge) in our culture it tends to be rice cereal. Generally, if your baby is 6mnths old they can have any family food. but it sounds like your baby might have special needs so rice cereal might be a good bet in your situation.

[kelebek]

I believe at about 6 mnths the stores of iron start to deplete and rice cereal has fortified iron added to help. The problem is that the fortified iron isn't easily absorbed/digested by the body and if the dietician insists on rice cereal I would probably do some googling and make your own rice cereal (the overcooked one mentioned sounds awesome) and maybe pureeing some meat and mixing them together.

[Phteven]

If you're breastfeeding your baby will be getting adequate iron from breastmilk.

[meow]

If you really want to give grains then try sprouting them first to make them more digestible, and the nutrients more bio-available.