Homemade cereal is a good choice to start as first complete solid food to your 6 months baby.

You can start with fruit pureed or semi-solid foods once your baby has completed 6 months. Later on, you can introduce solid food like porridge, cereals to your baby’s diet. Cereals are the good choice for your growing baby as the nutritious one-bowl meal. You can either pick ready to use cereal from the market or made it at home.

It’s very easy to make cereals at home, just pick the grains and grind it into grinder/ food processor.

It is recommended that you must breastfeed your baby for at least first 12 months even when you start solid foods for your baby. 

Things to keep in mind while introducing solid foods to your baby

• One thing which is always advised that your baby’s first food must be soft, properly cooked, pureed and single grain.
• There must be a gap of 3-4 days between two new foods to check food allergies in babies.
• Start with 1 or 2 tablespoons of food, a very small portion.
• Avoid foods which can cause gas like dairy, wheat, onion, garlic, beans.
• No salt, sugar, honey or artificial flavoring to your baby’s food.
• Don’t heat breastmilk or formula milk directly on the stove.
• There is no hard and fast rule for which food to introduce first and when you can start offering the solid foods to your baby. Every baby has his own growth cycle. So you must be able to listen to your baby’s needs.

When I bought the market cereals for my son, I was not sure about the quality so thought to try making cereals at home. So I tried my hands on cereals. Sharing the homemade cereals which you can prepare easily at home for your baby without compromising on the quality.

5 Homemade Cereals For Babies

#1. Rice Cereal

Most of the people prefer rice cereal as first grain food for their babies. Rice in particulars is not a known “high” allergen. Rice cereal is low in protein and high in carbohydrates. It is often mixed with breast milk or formula.

Ingredients

• ¼ cup brown rice powder
• 1 cup water
• Formula / Breastmilk

Procedure

Step 1:  To make the rice powder, grind brown rice in a blender or food processor. Make sure powder is really fine.

Step 2: Bring the water to a boil. Add the rice powder while stirring constantly.

Step 3: Reduce the heat to low and simmer for about 10 minutes. Keep stirring constantly otherwise rice will stick.

Step 4: Switch off the gas stove, let it cool down. Mix enough formula milk or breastmilk to give the consistency that’s best for your baby.

Step 5: Serve warm.

If you have introduced fruits then you can add fruit puree to cereal to enhance its taste.

#2. Oats & Apple Cereal

You can add apple along with Oats to your baby cereal. Your baby will get health benefits of apple.

Ingredients

• 1/2 medium-sized apple
• 1/4 cup of ground oats [ Take oats and ground in blender or food processor]
• 3/4 cup water

Procedure

Step 1: Peel, deseed and cut an apple into small dices.

Step 2: Add oats, apple, and water in a pan.

Step 3: Reduce the heat to low and simmer for few minutes. Keep stirring constantly until apples are soft and mashable.

Step 4: Once oatmeal is cooked, switched off the gas flame.and cools down to room

Step 5: Let it cools down to room temperature. Add breastmilk or formula milk to thin consistency if needed.

Step 6: You can add berries or raisins if your baby is around 12 months.

#3. Oatmeal Cereal

Oatmeal cereals have health benefits for babies like high in energy, easy to digest, improves the immune system, good supply of vitamins, minerals.

Ingredients

• ¼ cup of ground Oats [ Take oats and ground in blender or food processor]
• 1 cup of filtered water
• Formula / Breastmilk

Procedure

Step 1: Boil 1 cup of water in a saucepan.Once start boiling, add the oatmeal while stirring constantly.

Step 2: Simmer gas flame and whisk constantly until desired consistency.

Step 3: Switch off the flame, let it cool down to room temperature.

Step 4: Mix in formula milk or breast milk & serve warm to your little one.

Step 5: You can add fruits or nuts if your baby is around 12 months.

#4. Dal and Rice Cereal

Ingredients

• 1 cup of dal/ lentil (I prefer yellow moong dal or orange masoor)
• 3 cups rice

Procedure

Step 1: Take 1 cup of dal, wash it thoroughly.

Step 2: Once washed, rinse and put it in a tray or plate for drying.

Step 3: Now take 3 cups of rice, wash it thoroughly and put it in a tray or plate for drying.

Step 4:  Once rice & dal are dried, dry roast dal and rice separately on the low gas flame.

Step 5: Once done, let it get cool down and grind in a grinder together. You will see a fine powder.

Step 6: Put the powder in an airtight container. When you want to feed cereal to your baby then add lukewarm water to 2 spoons of powder, mix well & serve to your baby.

This cereal has a shelf life of 10-15 days depending on the weather.‬

#5. Barley Cereal

Barley is one of the most nutritious grains. It contains amino acids, lots of fiber (ounce for ounce, three times as much fiber as oatmeal), B vitamins, iron, selenium, copper, manganese, and phosphorus. It contains gluten which can be allergic food for your baby. So most of the pediatrics advice to wait until your baby is at least 6 months of age.

Ingredients

• ¼ cup ground barley powder (barley ground in blender or food processor)
• 1 cup water
• Formula milk / Breast Milk

Procedure

Step 1: Boil 1 cup of water in a saucepan.Once start boiling, add the ground barley powder while stirring constantly.

Step 2: Simmer for 10 minutes, whisking constantly until desired consistency.

Step 3: Switch off the flame, let it cool down to room temperature.

Step 4: Mix in formula milk or breast milk & serve warm to your little one.

Step 5: You can add fruits if desired.

Conclusions

Homemade cereals are wholesome, easy to prepare, no compromise on quality and economically cheaper than market brands. Do try to make it at home once and I am sure, you will hate to buy cereals from market after that 🙂