Baby Food - Baby Cereal

Our son was exclusively breastfed for six months.  At that point, we started him on solids.  We decided to make our own since it would be healthier and also more cost efficient.  There's a lot of wastage when it comes to baby food since a good part of it will go to his clothes, any body part other than his mouth and on the floor.  Plus, you're not always sure just how much the little one will eat.

We started with cereal - brown rice, oats and barley.  Making your own baby cereal can be daunting at first but you'll eventually get the hang of it.  

Here's what we do:

1. Grind the grains. You will have to do this in small portions especially with the harder grains.  The first time my husband did this he thought he killed our blender - it overheated.  I usually do a couple of table spoons or a fourth of a cup at a time. The finished product should resemble some sort of powder.  (Our handy-dandy appliance of choice is the Philips Mini Blender.  It works quite well for making baby food since it's not bulky and quite easy to clean.)
2. Cook the cereal.  Bring water to a boil in a sauce pan.  Add the powdered cereal.  I usually use 1 part cereal and 2 parts water.  (I just eyeball it though and don't actually measure.)  Simmer for 10 minutes while stirring with a whisk.  You may want to add water if it gets too thick.  I prefer a thick consistency then just add water or breast milk when serving.
3. Cool the cereal.
4. Feed and/or store.  I make a small batch and put it in ice trays with lids so that I have individual servings ready to be popped in the microwave. Since the ice trays aren't exactly air tight, I also put them in ziplock bags when storing in the freezer. 

Philips mini blender

cooked ground oats in ice trays

brown rice cereal mixed with breast milk

There are a lot of options when it comes to grains - rice, barley, oats, millet, flax, etc.  My son likes brown rice and oats.  We've tried quinoa but there are days when he doesn't seem to enjoy it.  He probably finds the flavor too strong so we make sure to feed it to him with something he likes.   We mix his cereal with different kinds of pureed fruits or vegetables and even mashed hard-boiled egg yolk.