What brand of baby rice cereal is good? Comparison of 10 popular rice cereal brands

Top 10 Frequently Asked Questions about Baby Rice Cereal

1. Question: At what age should babies start to add complementary foods? Baby rice cereal review

A: According to the recommendations of the World Health Organization, babies should start to add complementary foods from 6 months old, and babies fed with formula or mixed feeding can try to add complementary foods from 4 months old. The first addition of complementary foods should follow the principle of gradual introduction from a single ingredient to multiple ingredients. For example, apple flavor (one kind) → apple, cherry, blueberry (3 kinds) → pear, raspberry, pumpkin, carrot (4 kinds). After one year old, you can choose according to your baby's preferences.

2. Question: How many buckets of rice noodles should I buy for the first stage when I eat them for the first time? How long can I eat one bucket? What should I use to make rice noodles? When should I add rice noodles and how many spoons should I add? When should I start eating the second stage?

A: Based on the weight of 14g per ton, one can of rice cereal can be eaten for 14 meals. The method of consumption is to mix rice cereal with water, breast milk or formula milk in a ratio of 1:4. It should be noted that breast milk should not be heated in a microwave. There is no segmentation for the cereal complementary foods of Hi Baby. All complementary foods are suitable for babies aged 6 to 36 months. Babies can cross-eat Hi Baby rice cereal to supplement the nutrition of multiple cereals.

3. Question: Why does the plastic inside bulge? Essential tableware for babies to eat complementary foods

A: Because Hibee Rice Noodles does not contain artificial additives and preservatives, we will create an oxygen-free environment in the can by flushing nitrogen into it to achieve the purpose of preservation. Nitrogen will expand due to changes in air pressure and temperature, which will cause bulging of the lid, which is a normal phenomenon.

4. Question: In addition to rice flour, how should we eat complementary foods such as fruit puree, dissolved beans, and biscuits?

Answer: During the teething period of the baby, you can add biscuits, puffs, and dissolving beans to help the baby relieve teething discomfort, reduce saliva, and cultivate the habit of independent feeding.

5. Question: After my baby started eating solid food, he often needed to be fed at night, at least four times a night. What's going on?

A: The last meal before going to bed should be full, preferably with milk and complementary food, so as to reduce the number of night feedings.

6. Question: What should I do if my child doesn't eat rice cereal and only eats milk powder?

A: When adding rice cereal for the first time, you can mix the milk powder that your baby likes into formula milk to mix the rice cereal. After the baby gets used to it, gradually reduce the amount of formula milk until the baby gets used to the rice cereal. In order to increase the taste of rice cereal, you can also add fruit puree to the rice cereal to make fruit rice paste.

7. Question: Why does rice noodles tend to clump after being left for a long time? Does it affect the consumption?

Answer: The clumping is because the rice noodles absorb moisture from the air. It does not affect consumption, but it is recommended not to leave it for more than one month.

8. Q: Why does powder leak? Baby food recipes

A: We carefully check each can before shipping to ensure that consumers receive intact products. However, during the shipment from the United States to China, some rice noodles will inevitably leak due to squeezing.

9. Q: Why are the colors and flavors of the products I received different from before?

A: At the end of 2016, Happy Baby improved the formula and ingredients of all rice cereals, so the outer packaging and the color, taste, and ingredients of rice cereals are slightly different from before. Please feel free to eat them. Happy Baby rice cereals do not contain any pigments or control agents, and the color of the cereals themselves is displayed. Natural organic cereals may have a small amount of color differences due to the season and climate, which is normal.

10. Question: What should I do if my baby doesn’t like complementary food when he is 6 months old but doesn’t like it when he is 7 months old?

A: Every baby has a different timing to accept complementary food. You don’t have to force it. You can adjust the method of complementary food according to the baby’s own habits.

How to choose baby rice cereal

Bellamy's

Suitable age for babies: 4 months+

How to use: 1 tablespoon + 40ml water

Organic rice noodles have simple ingredients. Every 100g contains 21mg of iron and 30mg of vitamin C. It also contains trace amounts of fructose. It has a high iron content and an appropriate vitamin C content, making it worth recommending.

Earth's Best

Suitable age for babies: 6 months+

Directions: 1 tablespoon + 40ml formula milk or breast milk

Many mothers are familiar with this rice noodle brand. It has been strictly verified by the US Department of Agriculture, and there are no pesticides, fertilizers, or genetically modified crops in the formula. The raw materials are all natural organic brown rice, and each 100g contains 32mg iron, 857mg calcium, 14.3mg zinc, and a small amount of vitamins. It is the rice noodle with the highest iron content on the market, and it also adds electrolytic iron that is more easily absorbed. There is no salt, sugar, artificial flavors, colors, or preservatives. The taste is a bit like millet porridge, and the taste is not very good. It is not sweet or salty, and generally needs to be consumed with formula milk.

Hipp

Suitable age for babies: Reisflocken 4 months +; KindergrieB 6 months +

How to use: 1 tablespoon + 30ml water

Made from organic rice, Reisflocken does not contain iron, but contains a small amount of vitamin B and fructose. KindergrieB is vanilla flavored and similar to milk powder formula, with 490mg of calcium but only 3.3mg of iron. From the above data, it can be seen that although HiPP is a very recognized brand, the iron content is really not good.

Happy Baby

Appropriate age for babies: 1 stage organic brown rice cereal 6 months and up

How to use: 1 tablespoon + 30ml water

There are Chinese and American versions. The Chinese version of organic brown rice contains 510mg calcium, 6.3mg iron, 5.7mg zinc, 552 vitamin A and 5.66 vitamin D per 100g, so it is high calcium and high vitamin A rice noodles, without sugar or salt. However, brown rice does not taste good because it contains a lot of vitamin A and calcium, which may easily cause constipation.

The American version of the formula contains additional probiotics, choline, and algae oil DHA to promote digestion. It does not contain salt, sugar, or vitamin A. Choline can help babies develop their eyes and brain. The American version also has a fortified iron formula, with iron content 15% higher than similar rice cereals. Probiotics and prebiotics are suitable for babies with eczema. Some parents have reported that the Happy Baby packaging is also easier to store.

In addition, Hi Baby also has oatmeal rice flour and mixed grain rice flour. The former contains water-soluble fiber, which can protect the stomach and intestines; the latter contains quinoa, amaranth seeds, etc., which are more nutritionally complete.

Gerber

Suitable age for babies: 6 months+

How to eat: 1 portion of rice flour + 4~5 portions of formula milk

@不专业奶爸 tried rice cereal, which has DHA & probiotics version and single rice version. Both of these non-organic rice cereals from Gerber have added more sugar and a small amount of salt, so the taste will be more advantageous, but it is not good for cultivating healthy eating habits for babies. The formula of the DHA & probiotics version contains 40mg potassium and 1g sugar per 15g, and iron accounts for 45%.

Heinz

Suitable age for babies: 6 months+

Heinz has several versions. In the iron-zinc-calcium version, 100g of rice flour contains 285mg of vitamin A, 400mg of calcium, 5 iron, 4 zinc, and other vitamins and minerals. The organic rice version has white sugar added, so it is sweeter. It also contains vitamin A and high calcium, but the iron content is not high. The British version of rice flour has a better formula, but it cannot be called high-iron rice flour. It still belongs to the high-calcium formula.

Plum Baby

Suitable age for babies: 4 months+

Plum is the highest-end brand of complementary foods in the UK, and its price is relatively the most expensive. Its advantage is the "four kinds of grains", namely quinoa, whole-grain rice, whole-grain millet and amaranth. Among them, amaranth is not available in other rice noodles. Quinoa is a popular food on the Internet in the West recently. Its protein content far exceeds that of other grains, and its calcium content is 4 times that of wheat. The calcium content of amaranth is 28 times that of white rice, and the iron content is 50 times. The only drawback is that the taste is very light, almost tasteless, and it takes some effort to coax the baby to eat it. A complete guide to adding complementary foods to babies

Aptamil

Suitable age for babies: 4 months+

Pure rice flour does not emphasize the iron content, so mothers should remember to supplement iron for their babies when purchasing this rice flour. Mothers who have higher requirements for iron content should choose carefully. Aptamil rice flour does not taste sweet, and no extra sugar or salt is added.

Baby Gourmet

Suitable age for babies: 4 months+

This brand of complementary food comes from Canada. It is organic brown rice flour, and it is also the one that @少女爱吃橙家’s baby eats the most. It is easy to make, much thinner than Earth'sBest, and slightly sweeter. This rice flour is suitable for babies who are prone to allergies because it does not contain allergenic ingredients such as milk. It is also rich in iron. Every 30g of rice flour can supplement 70% of the daily iron requirement, which is a relatively high level among similar products.

Ella's Banana Rice Noodles

Suitable age for babies: 4 months+

Organic rice flour, which contains 60% corn flour, no extra sugar and salt are added. Because of the corn flour, the taste is better and babies will like it. Ella's fruit puree is already sold in supermarkets such as Ole in China, but rice flour seems not to be available yet. The iron content is unknown, but it is estimated that it is not too high.

The most complete time table for adding baby food

According to @小可乐的SuPer麻麻’s suggestion, complementary foods can be added at 4 to 6 months, and no later than 8 months, otherwise the baby cannot replenish nutrition in time. It is recommended that mothers add high-iron rice noodles at 5 months, and it must be high-iron, because the baby’s demand for iron will increase after 6 months, otherwise it is easy to develop iron deficiency anemia, which will affect development in the short term and memory and cognitive function in the long term.

① Babies over 6 months old: pureed liquid, high-iron rice noodles. You can puree bananas, apples, pears and other fruits with low allergy risk, or root vegetables (potatoes, carrots, pumpkins, sweet potatoes, etc.) and mix them with rice noodles before feeding.

②7 months+ babies: Meat can be eaten, and two or more vegetables can be added to the complementary food at a time. Commercially available baby rice cereal, millet porridge, rice porridge, bananas, apples, pears, peaches, plums, avocados, root vegetables, yams, green beans, Mando, etc. are all acceptable. Baby complementary food diary

③8 months+ babies: baby food + pureed semi-solids. Baby rice cereal, rice, millet, baby noodles, etc., except for kiwi, strawberry and other allergy-prone fruits, other fruits are basically edible. Most vegetables and military grains such as mushrooms and mushrooms. Egg yolks, fish with few bones (salmon, cod, long fish, sea bass), liver (chicken liver, pork liver, but liver should not be eaten more than 2 times a week), beef, pork, chicken.

④9 months + baby: baby food + semi-solid, in addition to the ones mentioned in August, you can also add oats, tofu, lamb, shrimp, etc. Cereals: baby rice cereal, millet, rice, oats, baby noodles, other pasta, etc. Vegetables: almost all vegetables, mushrooms, tofu Fruits: except kiwi and other allergenic fruits with egg yolk Meat: fish, pork, beef, lamb, chicken, shrimp. Shiitake mushroom chicken vegetable porridge, tomato chopped vegetable dumpling soup, spinach shrimp skin cheese pancakes, assorted vegetable pork wontons, red dates, purple potato steamed cake, garden shrimp, double rice porridge, tomato beef brisket alphabet noodles, cod mixed vegetable noodles, spinach egg drop chicken noodles, bamboo shoots, black fungus beef porridge

How to eat complementary food

Before talking about how to eat complementary food, I would like to explain when you can start feeding your baby complementary food. Generally speaking, there are 5 characteristics:

① Be interested in adults eating.

② Form a feeding routine with an interval of about 4 hours, and breastfeed 8 to 10 times a day. The baby will still cry and say he is hungry if he drinks more than 1000ml.

③ Frequent biting of nipples or pacifiers, and increased drooling.

④ The weight is twice that at birth. For low birth weight babies, the weight reaches 6 kg and the weight does not increase even with sufficient milk.

⑤ Can sit up with a little help. Baby food recipes

Okay, now let’s follow pediatric expert Cui Yutao to talk about how to eat complementary foods.

① Eat before breastfeeding

This way, the child can eat enough at one time and will not develop the habit of eating small meals frequently, which will affect the child's interest in eating.

② It is recommended to use water to mix

Since nutritious rice noodles come from the West, many mixing habits are still based on Western habits, such as mixing rice noodles with milk powder. However, for Chinese feeding habits, it is still recommended to mix with water, and then gradually add vegetable puree, meat puree, egg yolk, etc., to get closer to Chinese food.

③ Add egg yolks at 8 months, and egg whites after one year old

Egg yolks and meat are both protein-rich foods. You just need to add them alternately. There is no need to add an egg yolk every day.

④ Quantify according to baby's needs

Only the child knows how much complementary food he should eat. If he can finish the complementary food every time without vomiting, diarrhea or other discomfort, you can gradually increase the amount of complementary food.

⑤ Mothers should set an example

When adding complementary food to babies over 6 months old, they should be able to sit with support and use their upper lips to "clean the food in the spoon" instead of just sucking the semi-solid food in the spoon. The correct way to feed complementary food is to use a bowl and a spoon. Do not mix rice flour with milk and feed it with a bottle. Let the baby learn the chewing action, and when feeding the baby, the mother must eat with the baby and let the baby watch the mother chewing. The demonstration of the "chewing" action is very important, even if you are chewing gum. What you must not do is to chat, be distracted, watch TV or do other irrelevant things while feeding the baby, otherwise it will soon develop into a very strenuous feeding.

Pay attention to these supplementary food misunderstandings

Myth 1: Complementary food can replace milk

Before the age of one and a half, milk is still the staple food for children! Babies under one year old should add complementary foods on the basis of sufficient breast milk or 800ml+ formula milk. Babies from one to one and a half years old need at least 600ml of milk.

Myth 2: Egg yolk and egg custard are the first complementary foods

Eggs are rich in protein but contain almost no carbohydrates, but babies can most easily absorb energy from carbohydrates. If eggs are used as complementary food, it will waste the growth-promoting effect of protein and increase the metabolic burden.

Misconception 3: Determine whether complementary food is suitable for my baby in seconds

It takes at least 3 days to observe whether a baby accepts a certain complementary food, so complementary foods should be added one at a time. Adding them at the same time can easily cause intolerance, and it is difficult to find the cause.

Myth 4: If complementary food doesn’t taste good, add salt and sugar to it

Although breast milk, infant formula, and rice noodles are not salty, it does not mean that there is no sodium and chloride ion. It is just that they are not table salt (sodium chloride). Adding salt to children too early will lead to excessive sodium intake, increasing the risk of hypertension and cardiovascular disease in the future. Adding sugar at an early age will increase the risk of tooth decay.

Myth 5: Rice noodles can be less, but vegetable calcium water is essential

Many parents now believe that eating less rice noodles is not enough, but vegetables and calcium water are also important. Some parents think that their children eat a lot and have a good appetite, so why don't they grow? After careful questioning, we learned that in each bowl of rice, there is only 1-2 teaspoons of rice noodles, at least half of which is vegetables, and there are also eggs or meat. As a result, the energy-generating components in the food are insufficient, so growth is slow.

Myth 6: Add whatever your baby likes to eat

According to the results of nutrition research at home and abroad, there needs to be a certain order for introducing food, otherwise it will be detrimental to health. According to the guidelines for adding complementary foods to infants at home and abroad, the basic order of introducing food should be: cereal foods (such as rice flour) → animal foods (such as meat paste, fish, poultry, egg custard) → vegetable paste, fruit paste. The order of adding animal foods is: meat paste → fish paste (remove the bones and thorns) → minced meat → egg yolk, and eat whole eggs after 1 year old.

Myth 7: Babies still eat fine grains of complementary food at 7 or 8 months

From a medical point of view, when the baby is 7 to 9 months old, he has entered the food texture sensitivity period. In addition, his teeth gradually begin to grow at this time, and his gums will feel itchy and painful. Therefore, he will especially like to eat complementary foods that are slightly grainy and a little rougher than those at 4 to 6 months old, such as minced meat, minced vegetables, and porridge. The friction of this complementary food on the gums will also help teething.

Myth 8: Add complementary foods between meals

Adding complementary food between two meals will make the child always in a half-hungry and half-full state when eating complementary food. When the child is not very hungry, he will not enjoy eating complementary food. Hunger is the best food for babies.

Myth 9: Do not add paste-like complementary foods to babies with diarrhea or constipation

After adding vegetable and fruit purees, if the baby's stool is mixed with some fiber from the vegetables or the color of the food, or even the stool is thinner than usual and the frequency is more, does this mean that the baby can no longer eat mushy complementary foods? In fact, no, this is a common phenomenon at the beginning of adding mushy complementary foods. At this time, mothers should pay more attention to the child's mental state. As long as the mood is good and the appetite is good, there is no need to worry too much. If constipation occurs, you can feed watermelon, melon, cucumber puree, or boiled radish, green vegetables, sweet potato, radish, etc., which can improve constipation.

Myth 10: Complementary food can be eaten irregularly

Just like feeding with milk, complementary feeding should be given at regular times, in regular places, and in regular quantities. Irregular feeding will cause the intestines to feel irregularly full and hungry, which will affect digestion and absorption.