Sidenote: I used the store-bought cereal for Bella, and she did fine with
it. I didn't even think it was possible to do homemade baby cereal, so I
just ignored all of the additives, etc. in the stuff. This time around, I
had to be aware, because Balian did NOT do so hot on the store bought
cereal. Turns out there's all kinds of craziness in those little
boxes. If you want a healthier option, this is it!!
For all of these instructions, you can use white rice, brown rice, or oatmeal. Here, I'm showing oatmeal.
1. Pour old-fashioned oats (Quaker, off-brand, organic, whatever. Just make sure they're old-fashioned. The quick cooking ones have ingredients other than just oats!) into a food processor.
2. Process on High Speed for a minute or two...
...until they are ground up into a course powder...
...that looks kinda like this. (rice will take longer to grind up because of the hard outer shell)
3. Put the powder into a container, and store until you need it to make cereal.
4. To make cereal: Use 1 cup of water per 1/4 cup of oatmeal powder. I do 4 cups of water and 1 cup of oatmeal powder at a time, now that Balian is eating more each feeding.
For rice, I have found that I need to increase the water a bit.
5. Boil the water.
6. Slowly whisk in oatmeal powder.
7. Whisk continuously (reducing heat, if needed) for 5-10 min, or until cereal gets to a very thick consistency. (they need to cook for a while...the more they cook, the easier it will be for baby to digest...so they say) I usually keep mine at a pretty high heat (just under high) and cook for about 5 min. and it has worked wonderfully.
Rice seems to thicken much faster, so consider turning down the heat and cooking
longer...combine that with adding more water at the beginning, and it may have a better result.
This cooks down a good bit. I transfer the cooked cereal into one of my 3.2 cup Rubbermaid containers and stick it into the refrigerator.
When I need to make some cereal for Balian, I scoop out however much I need, microwave until just warm (probably 10 sec. on a normal microwave. Mine's slow, so I have to do 30 sec.), stir up a bit on it's own, then add breastmilk/ formula until it's the right consistency. You can store the cooked, non-mixed-with-milk cereal in the fridge up to 3 days (I'm sure I've done it for a day or so more than that, and it's been fine).
Otherwise, follow the same rules as the ready to mix stuff - discard any unused, prepared (with milk) portion.
If mixed with milk ahead of time, follow the guidelines for breastmilk and formula as far as refrigeration requirements. (ex. refrigerate immediately, use within 24 hours, only keep room temperature for however long...etc.)
Hopefully this isn't too overwhelming - just trying to cover all the bases. It really is easy, especially considering how much healthier it is for baby!
Let me know if you have any questions!!
