Porridge/Ready Brek for first food?

[Sarah Lou 80]

Has anyone used this as a first food? Going to try my LO this weekend - eek! I was going to get baby rice but have been told by a few people that their babies didn't take to it so now I'm wondering whether porridge might be better?

Any thoughts? Also, I'm really wanting LO to start taking a bottle (well, a sippy cup actually) as he's EBF and refuses the bottle and formula. I'm happy to express but would really like it if he would take some formula too. Should I avoid using breast milk with the baby rice/porridge and try mixing with formula or just use water? I'm worried the formula will put him off the food but that using breastmilk might stop him taking any formula!

 

[Sarah Lou 80]

Any one?!

 

[albs]

How old is your lo? If under 6 months I wouldn't do oatmeal as don't oats contain gluten? If 6 months then go for it. Ds would never touch baby rice, will sometimes eat porridge but loves weetbix!

 

[albs]

Oh and I have always made his cereal with cows milk and it hasn't put him off bf-ing

 

[Rachel_C]

After 6 months, you can just give cow's milk on cereal so I would do that - it's there as a food not as a milk replacement. Both of my kids had Ready Brek from pretty early on, probably within the first month of weaning. It's just messy with BLW and not something I normally eat so I didn't think to offer it for a while, but if we'd had it I would have offered from the first day of weaning, the same as other normal foods.

I would deal with bottle/milk stuff separately.

 

[RKW]

Please read this before you start on ready brek. It is a one off incident but I personally would not use it.
https://m.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/1999/jul/28/familyandrelationships.features101

 

[summer rain]

Please read this before you start on ready brek. It is a one off incident but I personally would not use it.
https://m.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/1999/jul/28/familyandrelationships.features101

This story is many years old and ready brek no longer contains any salt and hasn't done so for some years now. Now it is literally oats, oat flour and added vitamins. Also if you read the story in depth, while they started on ready brek they soon moved on to instant mashed potatoes and gravy both things that used to be extremely high in salt and still are to an extent even though manufacturers have dramatically reduced the salt levels over the past ten years xx

 

[Pinkvc]

Please read this before you start on ready brek. It is a one off incident but I personally would not use it.
https://m.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/1999/jul/28/familyandrelationships.features101

This story is many years old and ready brek no longer contains any salt and hasn't done so for some years now. Now it is literally oats, oat flour and added vitamins. Also if you read the story in depth, while they started on ready brek they soon moved on to instant mashed potatoes and gravy both things that used to be extremely high in salt and still are to an extent even though manufacturers have dramatically reduced the salt levels over the past ten years xx

Summer rain I agree - plus this baby was fed this from 3 months!!!! I know guidelines have changed but still...

I have no proven giving LO ready brek. She's 7.5 months old.

ETA. We gave LO baby rice mixed with fruit and veg purées for the first few days, but never gave baby rice alone as we'd also heard lots of babies won't eat it.

 

[My_First]

Please read this before you start on ready brek. It is a one off incident but I personally would not use it.
https://m.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/1999/jul/28/familyandrelationships.features101

This story is many years old and ready brek no longer contains any salt and hasn't done so for some years now. Now it is literally oats, oat flour and added vitamins. Also if you read the story in depth, while they started on ready brek they soon moved on to instant mashed potatoes and gravy both things that used to be extremely high in salt and still are to an extent even though manufacturers have dramatically reduced the salt levels over the past ten years xx

Exactly this, it no longer contains any of the things, ready brek is fine to eat.

 

[Sarah Lou 80]

Thanks ladies.....he's 17 weeks and I actually decided on getting the baby porridge to start him on. I had read the aricle about the Ready Brek and can remember when it was in the news all those years ago but I thought I might as well play it safe! He loved it by the way! No spitting out and was smiling through out! I think I will use Ready Brek at some point but thought I'd ease my way into this with the baby porridge. I was unsure what to do with the formula/breastmilk so just used water to mix in, nd he still loved it! Yay!

Thanks for all your feedback everyone. It has helped reassure me!

 

[RKW]

Ok... A bit of a condescending response there.
I simply would not give ready brek when you can give pure oats. Only my opinion.
I actually work in food manufacturing and am more than aware of the moves being made to reduce salt in foods.

 

[My_First]

there is nothing in ready brek bar oats and oat flour and a few added vitamins and minerals, such as vit b and calcium. For me personally its just a bit quicker to cook than oats on their own, but then I'm lazy

 

[tigerlilly]

Lo has oats. I soak them over night in boiled kettle water and in the morning rinse them and cook.

 

[summer rain]

The only thing with oats is they contain gluten (unless they are gluten free ones which are available), and so are best avoided before six months. Xx