Is rice milk suitable for baby starting solids?

Liz wrote:


I guess the main reason is that the books I've read say to mix rice cereal
with breast milk or water. I tried expressing breast milk yesterday and
couldn't get a single drop, so I wondered if the rice milk would give a
better flavour than just water. And because I've got two packs of rice milk
that I'm not using myself... :-)

I used water, and it worked fine -- the kids eat tiny quantities to
begin with anyway, so there's little difference. When the kids had had
applesauce as well with no ill effect, I started mixing the cereal with
a bit of applesauce. You can also get rice cereal with formula in it,
which presumably has a similar sugar level. Honestly, they eat so
little of it at a time at first, you could put Coca-Cola or Guinness in
it and it wouldn't raise my hackles a whole lot! (okay, I'm kidding,
I'm kidding ...)

My kids liked barley better than rice, unless it was just my
imagination. We never finished that first box of rice cereal, and I
think we went through at least one box of barley cereal per baby before
getting to table foods, but memory is now dim on that point.

--Helen

I guess the main reason is that the books I've read say to mix rice
cereal with breast milk or water. I tried expressing breast milk
yesterday and couldn't get a single drop, so I wondered if the rice milk
would give a better flavour than just water. And because I've got two
packs of rice milk that I'm not using myself... :-)



I wouldn't even both with the rice cereal. It's nothing but tasteless
filler and empty calories. Something along the lines of avocado, sweet
potato, or even mashed banana would be much more interesting and healthy.

Carrie
Mom to Jazz (6/02)

Liz wrote:

I guess the main reason is that the books I've read say to mix rice cereal
with breast milk or water. I tried expressing breast milk yesterday and
couldn't get a single drop, so I wondered if the rice milk would give a
better flavour than just water. And because I've got two packs of rice milk
that I'm not using myself... :-)


Mix it with juice instead. That makes it sweet, and the vitamin C in
the juice will help her absorb the iron in the cereal--and that's the
point of the cereal, mainly.

Leslie

Liz wrote:
To me, it tastes much closer to breast milk than cows milk. The only concern
I would have is it has salt listed as an ingredient. DD will be six months
old in a week, and I think I'll try her on solids then -- she seems keen.

Thanks,
Liz

Rice milk is pretty nutritionally weak and NOT something I'd give to a
baby under about 1 year ever, and probably not a child under age 2.

Why?

It has little fat, little protein, and is mostly a light "carbohydrate
water" with added synthetic vitamins and gums to give it a good mouth
feel.

I drink rice milk, but consider it mostly a liquid calcium supplement
(and a poor one at that).

Babies need fat. They need protein. They need food-type vitamins. Rice
milk is just a poor excuse for a food, and I actually kind of like the
stuff.

Babies under the age of 2 need about 50% of their calories to come from
fat, and moreover, they *need* the kind of fat that breastmilk, cow
milk and/or goat milk can provide.

My policy is that my baby can have my milk and plain water, and that
juice and other liquids are not appropriate for her right now (she's 17
months). We actually give her greek yogurt because of the higher fat
content--she only gains when she gets a very high percentage of fat in
her diet due to a chromosome anomaly, but it really pointed out to me
that many of the "first foods" for babies are really inadequate in the
fat department.

Jenrose

Sue wrote:
I would think to treat it like cow's milk and not give it until after 12
months.

Honestly, rice beverage is a *poor* substitute for cow milk for babies.
It is closest to juice, nutritionally.

wrote:
Liz wrote:
To me, it tastes much closer to breast milk than cows milk. The only concern
I would have is it has salt listed as an ingredient. DD will be six months
old in a week, and I think I'll try her on solids then -- she seems keen.

Thanks,
Liz

Rice milk is pretty nutritionally weak and NOT something I'd give to a
baby under about 1 year ever, and probably not a child under age 2.


Oh, and rice cereal is pretty nutritionally null too...and not
necessary.

By 6 1/2 months Shiny's favorite food was banana mixed with coconut
milk fat (she needed the extra fat), but anything with ground rice in
it made her upchuck.

wrote in message
oups.com...

Liz wrote:
To me, it tastes much closer to breast milk than cows milk. The only
concern
I would have is it has salt listed as an ingredient. DD will be six
months
old in a week, and I think I'll try her on solids then -- she seems keen.

Thanks,
Liz

Rice milk is pretty nutritionally weak and NOT something I'd give to a
baby under about 1 year ever, and probably not a child under age 2.

Why?

It has little fat, little protein, and is mostly a light "carbohydrate
water" with added synthetic vitamins and gums to give it a good mouth
feel.

I drink rice milk, but consider it mostly a liquid calcium supplement
(and a poor one at that).

Babies need fat. They need protein. They need food-type vitamins. Rice
milk is just a poor excuse for a food, and I actually kind of like the
stuff.

Babies under the age of 2 need about 50% of their calories to come from
fat, and moreover, they *need* the kind of fat that breastmilk, cow
milk and/or goat milk can provide.

My policy is that my baby can have my milk and plain water, and that
juice and other liquids are not appropriate for her right now (she's 17
months). We actually give her greek yogurt because of the higher fat
content--she only gains when she gets a very high percentage of fat in
her diet due to a chromosome anomaly, but it really pointed out to me
that many of the "first foods" for babies are really inadequate in the
fat department.

Jenrose


Thanks Jenrose, I didn't think of the fat aspect!

Liz