Solids

Be warned- this is a fairly long post! I did a separate post for Jack's 5 month birthday; see below and thanks for reading!

Today, on his 5 month birthday, Jack had his first taste of rice cereal. It was quite an experience! First, I put together his new high chair which I bought just yesterday.

It's made by Graco and works well. It has 3 recline positions and you can also adjust the height. It has wheels and folds when not in use, which is awesome! Jack looks pretty comfortable in it too. All in all, I'm happy with the purchase.

The next step was making the cereal. You can grind the rice into a powder before cooking or cook the rice normally and then puree it. I chose to cook the rice first, but I am definitely going to grind it into a powder next time. I think that would be much easier. Cooking it was simple, but pureeing it was tricky. I wasn't sure how much milk to add (I used breast milk) and I decided to thaw out 3 ounces. I probably could have used 4, but that's almost a whole bottle! My freezer stash will be gone in a week if I continue to do this! I added about an ounce of water and next time I think I will do half and half. Here's the recipe I followed from Wholesome Baby Food:

Rice Cereal with whole rice 

Ingredients:

1/2 c. rice (brown rice, basmati or jasmine)
1 cup water

Directions:

1. Bring liquid to boil in saucepan. Add the rice and stir.
2. Simmer for 20 minutes or according to package directions; stir 1/2 way through cooking time.

3. When rice is finished and a bit cool, add it in 1/2 cup measurements with liquid of your choice (breastmilk, formula, water etc.) and puree as needed. Keep a watch as you puree so that the rice does not turn into paste!
4. Serve warm mixed with fruits, veggies and liquid of your choice.

May be frozen but upon thawing, may turn a bit rubbery.

So I pureed 1/2 cup of cooked rice with 3 ounces of breast milk and about an ounce of water. This makes about 3 servings with some leftover cooked rice. Here are some pictures of the process:

Uncooked short-grain organic brown rice

Cooked rice

Pureed into baby cereal!

It seemed to take a long time for all of the rice to puree. I was using a small food processor and I think it'll work better if I use the larger one I have. I literally spent 20 minutes pureeing the rice. It can turn into a paste if you overdo it, so I'd run it for a little bit then stop and inspect it. I did this over and over. It would have helped it I had had some sort of mesh strainer to separate out any pieces that were being difficult. I did taste it and when it was a little thicker, it just tasted like oatmeal. It was actually pretty tasty! The taste changed as it got more runny, but it wasn't bad. It was definitely edible. I think it'll be yummy with some fruit or veggies mixed in, but we have a little ways to go before we get there! I've heard other moms say the boxed cereal tastes like cardboard. I suggest making your own! Who wants to eat cardboard? Part of it could also be that I added breast milk and not water. 


I did buy some baby food at the store though. I bought one box of cereal, one box of oatmeal, and a few jars to have on hand, all from Earth's Best. I only bought the jars because they don't expire until 2012. Seriously! I'm pretty sure I can find a use for them sometime in the next 2 years! There are going to be times and places when it just won't be convenient to make food for Jack and I want to be prepared. I mean, I'm not supermom!

I'm going to try the boxed cereal later in the week, just to see how it tastes. If it tastes okay, I might give some to Jack because I only have enough made for 2 more meals. When we get home at the end of the day, it's 5:45 and I take Jack upstairs to start our bedtime routine at 6:30. It'll just be easier if I have something already made to feed to him. That's also why I think it'll be easier to grind the rice into a powder first. You just cook the powder, then add milk or water and you're done! So easy! The recipe is on the same website as the other one. 

And now for the moment you've all been waiting for. How did Jack like it, you ask? He seemed to love it!!! He was getting upset in between bites because he wanted more. I couldn't give it to him fast enough! 

First bite

I love this picture!!

Give me more!

And now I'm done

I put 2-3 tablespoons in the bowl and he didn't eat all of it. I'd say he ate 1-2 tablespoons. It felt like I was giving him a lot of spoonfuls, but the baby spoons are really small and don't hold a lot. I didn't measure it so I can't say for sure, but he definitely ate and enjoyed some rice! He was really excited and kicking his legs. At first, I was afraid he would just spit all the food back out, but he did pretty good. Obviously some came back out, but I was impressed at how much he got down. And I could tell when he wanted more and when he had had enough. It went well!

Now that the process has started, I'm going to take it slow and not rush into trying new foods. I want to give Jack cereal once a day for about a week and then start giving it to him twice a day. Once he's okay with that, I'll introduce veggies. I'm just going to take it one step at a time. I have to say though, I'm not as freaked out or nervous as I thought I would be. Jack is ready for this. Me on the other hand? Well once I get the hang of making his food it won't be so bad. Soon enough it'll become a normal part of our routine. As long as Jack is happy and healthy, that is all that matters to me! He loves to eat and he proved that again tonight. I'm looking forward to exploring new flavors with him in the months to come.