Porridge Recipe for 6-12 month old baby

Hi there,

I see that you have twins. Congrats. Here's a simple recipe:

1. 1 tbsp rice
2. 2 tbsp thinly chopped carrots
3. 2 tbsp green peas
4. a few leaves of spinach
5. a few pieces of chicken meat

ingredients 2,3 & 4 can be substituted with other veg (brocolli/cauliflower/pumpkin/potatoes/sweet potatoes) or packed mixed vegetable. Ingredients 5 can be substituted with anchovies/fish/pork)

Add 4 cups of water and cook the washed ingredients in a pot. Cook until rice is soft. Blend it or mash it using a potato masher.

Hi Menaga,

My twingirls are turning into 7 month old in two days time, hoorray! :)

Say if i m using slow cooker, for one tablesppon of rice, how much water i have to add? I always have this problem where I have wake up to add water in the middle of the night. I start cooking the porridge at about 11.30pm before I go to bed and bring the porridge to mil's place with the girls in the morning!

Thanks for sharing!

Cheers.
pooisun

Hi Menaga,

I see that u uses the same recipe that I have been using for all my babies but one vegetable that I always like have in the porridge ie. tomato. Would like to advise here that it is not good and healthy to blend or mash the porridge as baby and mummy would be in deep trouble in the future.

To get a smooth and soft texture of porridge, use a slow cooker to cook for more than 3 hours, advisable not more than that. I have started all my three babies with porridge since the age of 3 mths old and they have turned out to be SUPERB in food consuming without any fuss and hassle. When they reached 6 to 7 mths old, I would start them with rice and soup, macaronis with soup or spaghetti style and tung sum fun.

U can use dried oysters, fresh/dried scallops, beef, lamb, fish etc., do be adventurous in creating the ingredients.

Pooisun, suggest u to cook the porridge with the slow cooker early in the morning, ie. 6.00 or 6.30 a.m. for about 1 hour with high temperature, then u can bring the cooker over to your MIL's place to continue to cook with slow temperature for another 2 or 3 hours for lunch. Off the cooker during lunch and on back 1 hour before dinner to heat up for dinner. This is better than u cook the night before which is too long where I m afraid that it would be overcooked with the nutrients gone by then.

Hi, Congratulation to your twins.

As for me, I didnt start my children eating porridge so early. As I believe thier stomach cant digest solid food, I try to give solid food around 8 months old.

as the ingredian, you can cook with potato, pumkins, vege, carrots, dried oyster and so on but never mix too many things into porridge.

As i agree that do not blend the food. Cook a bit longer rathar then blend it. The old folks believe that it will cause wind in the stomach

Porridge need not to be blended. However as for myself, I do puree/blend fruits & potatoes or Vegetables for my baby when he 1st started on solid food at 6 months, so far my baby is fine with it & don't have any colic problem.

Going forward when baby reaches about 8 months or so, we should adjust the food to a more coarse texture to encourage chewing.

I also put in dry scallop and a few 'kei chi' into my bb's porridge. Since both us (me and hubby is specky), I hope with the 'kei chi' he wont follow us :p

Anyway, I do know that we need to encourage him to read in brightly lit areas when he's older.

Anyone tried to cook porridge by adding red dates and "long ngan"? Any other ingredient to add? Is it suitable for 7 mth old baby?

Thank you.

Through my own experience and knowledge, red dates(remove seed) and 'kei chi' is good but not advisable to add longan as it would aggravates wind.

I recently try to add in corn to the porridge and the sweetness taste so good......

I steam the corn & blend it a bit before adding in to porridge (coz my baby can't really chew yet, no tooth)

Happy trying!

Hi Karen,

Which type of corn would you recommend? Those frozen kernels to steam first. Or those fresh corn (where we need to take away the husks first).

karen,

may i know which type of dry scallop can we use to boil together with bb poridge? as i know it come into big and small. which one is better?

Both Karens....hehe
If don't want to trouble, just chop the fresh corn into small pieces then boil together with porridge. Remove it during feeding time.

Hi dreams_961,

Sorry, I don't know how many types are there..
My mum just buy those dry scallop from the market. She bought those that are small in size.

Maybe other mummies can help you out on this.

Hi Kristyc,

Thanks for your tip. Will be getting corns tomorrow for my bb and introduce him to it.

Esther, the bigger they are, the more expensive. Depends on your budget lor.

Yes, dried scallops comes in two sizes, big and smaller ones.

I have used both but I prefer those big ones. It is up to individual preferance as both comes with different pricing and quality. Both sizes have different quality and price.

Can spinarch be consumed everyday? I mean as daily dinner. I give my twins 3 times porridge a day (breakfast/lunch/dinner - breakfast & lunch using same vege and dinner diff type of vege).

My twins are going to 7 mth 2 weeks old. Do u mummies think that 3 time porridge a day is too much? Each time they can finish one bowl of porridge. Any comment pls

Hi,

U mean spinach(bayam)? For me, no problem but not in a large quantity. Recently, I heard from some sources saying that from researches, found that spinach has some contents that is not good to be taken everyday and in large quantity for boys and mens.

As for me, I used spinach in my babies porridge everyday. I guessed it depends on the likings of individual.

As for the 3x of porridge in a day, I don't think that it would be too much. It would be good to see that my babies can have so good appetite as porridge is a healthy food for them to grow.

My boy also take spinach daily (lunch and dinner) but did not put in big quantity, just a little as there's carrot, tomato, etc..being added in.

Hi Karen (me too!)

Sorry for my late respond.

I buy the fresh corn from market, not frozen ones, they normally sell it by cup.

I just wash & steam it as it is, then blend it a bit before adding into the porridge. I feed my baby together with it.

babyblue you are right, the contents that could be harmful to babies (not only boy) is called Nitrates, please note that Nitrates is also contained in Carrots.

Therefore it is advised not to feed carrots or spinach to babies below 10 months too often, maybe 2-3 times a week is fine but not everyday.

You can use other Vegetables like Bo Choy, Cauliflower, Broccoli & Asparagus Tips.

Hi Karen (hehe..)
I will get the corns tommorrow from the market and give it to my baby. I noticed your baby is 8 months. Mine as well!!

must be hard work.. with twins.

my eldest sis and 2nd sis are twins :)

hows the gals now??

Nicole

I havent try my bb Sean with dried scallops porridge. How many small pieces to put? SO far.. i only let Sean eat potato, carrot, cauliflower,sweet potato porridge.

Nicole

It is all up to u, actually. U can put in 2,3,4 or more as more would make it more tastier, normally 2 or 3 would be sufficient.

Anyway, it depends on the sizes of the dried scallops too. U can even use fresh scallops.

My husband worry if I put dried scallop and later bb... eat cant digest. I dont have fresh scallop only got the dried ones.

Maybe I can just add a few dried scallop for cooking porridge in the slow cooker then remove them.. when feeding bb.

How you fd your bb with dried scallop???

Nicole

Nicole,

Don't worry about the digestion problem as the dried scallop would be soften to tiny bits if u cook the porridge using a slow cooker for more than 3 hours. Before cooking, wash and soak the dried scallops for a while.

It is not necessarily to feed baby with the cooked dried scallops as the juices of the dried scallops would be transferred to the porridge itself. U can eat up the dried scallops yourself.

Yeah, I eat the cooked dry scallops all up. No need to waste mah. *grin*

did u soak it at all??

i plan to cook it with potato in porridge, then only try just dried scallop with porridge for bb.

Nicole

For me, I just rinse the dry scallops then put to cook together with other stuffs for my girl. The dry scallops is only for taste. You would still need to add the other vegs.

I do soak it sometime, just for a while to soften it. Most of the time, I just wash thoroughly through running tap water, then I would put it in the rice for cooking with other meat and vegetables.

Like what Kristy said, dried scallop are mainly for taste wise, so, u should add in some meat and vegetable.

the meat , does bb consume the meat? or its just for the taste? cant cant chew yet.. will just swallowed... :(

I havent start my son with any meat yet. So far only the potato, carrot, cauliflower, brocoli, sweet potato porridge. Wht vege is suitable for b?

Dried scallop are just mainly the taste m then wht kind of mean and vege can add in???

oh for meat, is it use lean meat so no need to boil it? if chicken? need to boil then remove the oil and skin??

It all depends on how good your baby can bite,chew and swallow solid food. If baby is good, u can slice, shred or break up the cooked meat just by using the spoon or laddle to be fed to baby. It is ok if u do not wish to feed the meat as the juices of the meat would all be absorbed into the porridge.

U can use chicken, pork, lamb, beef and fish meat. Yes, use lean meat as fat is not healthy. What do u mean by 'boiling the meat'? I do not boil the meat separately, I would just wash, remove the fat and skin, then put into the slow cooker with the veges and cook for 3 hours. As for vegetables, u can use any kind. The common ones used are carrots, tomato, spinach, pumpkin, french beans, long beans, poh choy, potato and sweet potato.

My Sean loves the taste of porridge with dried scallop and potato. Yeah I ate the dried scallop :) so yummy...

Oh bout boil the meat I mean like eg chicken coz hubby said that its oily.. so has to boil it.. to let the oil out?then remove the skin and cook with porridge?? havent start with any meat except dried scallop.

Good to know that Sean loves the dried scallop with potato porridge and mummy loves the dried scallop..

Nope, u do not need to boil the chicken meat in order to drain the oil. Just request the seller to remove the skin and oil or u yourself removes it would be sufficient. After removing the skin and oil, put in together with the rice and other ingredients to the slow cooker to be cooked for 3 hours. Those 'malai' chicken (ayam kampung) would be good as it is very low in fat if u find that the normal chicken is too oily but so far, I do not have any problem with them.

If u uses fish meat, prepare the meat and put in to the porridge to be cooked 1 hour before feeding time.

thnks for sharing your recipe with me :) I will try it.. out..

Is your porridge thick or watery? Mil said must let bb eat the thick porridge which mean.. the porridge is sticky enough to spoon and u try to make the porridge out.. u cant.. unless u hit the spoon on the bowl only the porridge comes out. Imagine how sticy it is. Mil feed my son and chocked him 2 times. I so scare :(

Oh no, that is too sticky already. Must make it not too watery and not too sticky, which means just nice for baby. Even we as adults dont take too sticky type. How to eat?

I add water in porridge coz is so thick and stiky and MIL scold me.. saying cannot add it becomes watery. :(

dear mummies,

my bb will reach 8 months soon this 27 Oct 2006.

i asked the bbsitter to feed her porridge when she reach 7 1/2 months. and i discovered that there were orange/green points in her "tahi". i guess that might be carrot or vege that she fed my bb. is that normal?

i am shocked when i saw that

Felicia, i think that is normal.

My bb is almost 10 mths now. if i give my bb spinach, i'll see green, if i give carrot, i'll see orange. hehe!

wat do other mummies think.

dear ambermama,

thanks. at least i am relieved now. :)

for the porridge, i saw the mummies suggested one tablespoon of rice. it means for one meal? so if two meals, then 2 tablespoons?

when i take care of my bb myself during weekend, i put half bowl of rice, it ends up too much leftover.

Hi Felicia,

I usually grab the rice in palm one handful for cooking porridge. Now my bb appetide is bigger so I hav to grab one and a handful of rice for cooking porridge. Yeah if leftover alot I will eat up myself.

Felicia, yeah, baby's stool will have spots of orange or green from the veg you put into her porridge. No worries.

When you cook more often for your baby, you will slowly begin to know how much she can take and slowly reduce the rice you use to cook the porridge. Eventually, you will have no leftovers. But mind you, not to let her take the leftover porridge the next day. It is best to give baby fresh cooked food.

Happy cooking.

dear sss1979 and kristyc,

thanks for your reply. i begin to like this forum for the promp action, :) .. for me, i will online during working hours from mon to fri, 9 to 5pm and sometimes at home during weekends .. is great that i have found this website for useful parenting knowledge, thanks to candy that invite me to vote for her baby.

yeah, my hubby have eaten the leftovers, hehe .. sure, i wont let my bb to consume the leftovers the next day .. is unhealthy ..

my bbsitter also told me that the stool will be like that .. is not that i don believe in her as this is my first experience .. so might be overworry .. but now, knowing from u all that this is normal situation, i am kinda relax now ... thanks!!

Welcome aboard Felicia

Glad you find this site useful. Auntie Anna would be very pleased to hear that.
We all try to make this site a fun and useful place to learn from each other.
Feel free to post anything if you are unsure. I am sure there are many mummies willing to share.

u are most welcome, felicia.

im also a first time mummy. I post my questions when i have queries / doubts. We exchange views, giving support and at the same time we follow each others bb's growth. Isnt that interesting.

As for me, i use my bb's milk scoop to measure the rice. I tried 1 scoop when my bb started her solid @ 4 mths old. Now that she's 10 mths old, and eats porridge for lunch & dinner, i give her 4.5 scoops which makes 2 FULL bowl (quite thick) porridge (my bb is a big eater..hehe) You may "agak-agak" at first, and eventually u'll get the right measurement, and there will be no left-overs.

out of curiosity..

izzit allright to give bb meat / fish that is clean, cut & left froven in the freezer for a wk.

Good Morning Gals,

I am back after a long week off and after Kristy asked for my feedbacks.

As for the thickness of the porridge, too thick and watery is not good as too thick could choke the baby and too watery would be difficult to feed and it would not be filling for baby. If it is too thick, do not add in water during feedings but add in some boiled water to the pot of porridge and cook for a while.

I normally just use my hand for the rice measurement. Meat that has been cleaned and frozen for 1 week should be ok for baby's consumption but kalau boleh, try not to as we would not know what could happen/change to the meat especially fish meat where it would not be fresh by then.

My 14 mths old baby gal prefers rice now than porridge. When she sees the bowl of rice on mummy's hands, she would sit down obediently waiting to be fed but if it is porridge, she would starts rejecting it after a few feeds.

thanks to the suggestions .. i managed to cook the porridge without much leftover now ... :)

and i put broccoli, meat and dried scallop last weekend .. and my bb love it ... previously, i do not know that there are variety of vege that we can mixed in the porridge .. i just put the carrot ... this weekend i plan to put tomato :)