Baby First Food Guide- Oatmeal

Baby First Food-

Pediatricians have historically recommended single-grain cereal, such as oatmeal or rice,as a first food for infants.

Oatmeal cereal may be a better starter cereal than rice as it is less constipating and many babies prefer the taste of oats over rice cereal.

There is no scientific evidence to suggest that cereal is the best first food for infants. However, a single-grain cereal is easy for a young digestive system to process, so cereal is an appropriate food to introduce early. Many moms offer rice cereal first, but oatmeal is more nutrient than rice cereal.

Oats are one of the least allergenic foods, so – whilst it should not be forgotten that ANY food has the potential to cause an allergic reaction – oats are among the safest to introduce to your baby as a first food.

Due to their high fibre content, they do not cause constipation in the way that rice cereal often does in infant.

The reason infant cereals are typically recommended is that they are fortified with iron, and iron can become limiting during late infancy, particularly in breastfed babies. In early infancy, babies are mostly using stored iron that was transferred from mom during pregnancy, but by around 6 months, those stores run low, and they need to be getting some iron from solid foods. 

Commercial baby cereals are fortified with iron, effectively making it an easy way to deliver extra iron to lots of babies.Oatmeal – also known as porridge in some parts of the world.

However, there are other sources of iron that are actually better than fortified cereals.You can get iron from meats,poultry,fish,spinach,beans etc but people are still prefer to introduce cereal as first food of baby due to allergies. 

If you don't have any allergies history in your family then you can give others iron based food to your babies as first food.There is no reason why you can’t introduce those great heme sources of iron (meat, poultry, fish) as first foods, and in fact, this is now recommended by the AAP . If your baby is consuming 1-2 small servings of meat per day, plus other sources of non-heme iron, then there’s no reason that you have to supplement with an iron-fortified cereal

Also, note that your pediatrician should test your baby for anemia around 12 months, so this will at least alert you if your baby is very deficient in iron.

Oats are high in fiber, calcium, protein and even some B vitamins. 

Types of oats- 

1)- Steel cut oats

2)-Rolled oats

3)-Instant oats

Although there isn’t a drastic nutritional difference between steel cut and rolled oats ,but Steel cut oats are slightly less processed.While both are great options (so long as you opt for regular rolled oats and not the quick-cook kind).Instant oatmeal is much more processed in order to enable instant cooking. Not only are instant oats pre-cooked and dehydrated, there is also, more often than not, added sugar and salt so it's really not recommended for babies.

Steel cut oats are slightly healthier and more nutritious than rolled, quick cook or instant oats. However it's takes longer times to cook.

Cooking Oats for Little One-

All in all, rolled oats and steel cut are both great options for baby—and for you, too! Whichever type you choose, I recommend that you use your Blender to grid the oats before cooking them  for babies. Just make the fine powder and keep it in Air tight BPA free container. Your Oat powder is ready to give baby!!

You can mix oats with breastmilk/formula and give to your little one or mix with your baby's fav veg/fruit purée.