Grain and fruit porridge for your baby

When your baby has gotten used to the first two porridges of complementary food, you can replace another milk meal with the cereal-fruit porridge around the 8th month of life. This is not only very rich in vitamins, but also low in protein and is therefore the ideal supplement to the other two protein-containing porridges, the vegetable-potato-meat porridge and the milk-cereal porridge . In order to keep this balance, you should make sure that the cereal-fruit porridge is dairy-free and consists only of a little water and the following three ingredients:

• Fruit: Contrary to what the name might suggest, fruit is not the main component of the cereal-fruit porridge, but rather fruit. Which type you choose is up to you and your child’s taste. Very sweet varieties, such as pears, apples or bananas, are usually more easily accepted by children. From a nutritional point of view, fruits that contain a lot of vitamin C are particularly suitable, as this facilitates the absorption of the iron contained in the grain. Grain supplements are a must, as fruit alone does not provide enough energy and nutrients to function as a meal on its own.
• Cereals: Along with meat, cereals are one of the most important suppliers of iron. You should therefore make sure that the grain-fruit porridge does not contain too little of it. Unfortunately, this is often the case, especially with jars. When buying, you should therefore make sure that a meal contains at least 20 grams of grain. Due to the higher nutrient quality, whole grain products are particularly suitable. Which variety you choose can depend on the taste of your child, but oat flakes or wheat semolina are often used.
  Attention: Glass jars often contain grain in the form of biscuits or rusks. As a rule, this does not allow any reliable conclusions to be drawn about the exact composition. Therefore, choose products with simple grain additives whenever possible.
• Fat: In addition to the two main ingredients, it is also very important that there is enough fat in the cereal-fruit porridge. Only in this way can the fat-soluble vitamins from the fruit be optimally absorbed and utilized by the body. Rapeseed oil is particularly suitable as a fat additive because it contains many unsaturated fatty acids, such as essential omega-3 fatty acids, which promote the development of eyesight and the brain. Unfortunately, many jars contain too little fat, which is why it is worth paying attention to the quantities and adding a teaspoon of oil if necessary.

If you would like to cook the cereal and fruit porridge for your baby yourself, you can get some suggestions here. Of course, you can also exchange the individual ingredients in the recipes for other alternatives and thus always offer your baby something new.

Recipes for the grain and fruit porridge

• Banana oat porridge
• Oatmeal with blueberries
• Spelled Plum Porridge
• Porridge with wheat semolina and honeydew melon
• Millet porridge with breast milk and peach

Enrich cereal-fruit porridge with iodine

To ensure an adequate supply of iodine, the Research Institute for Child Nutrition in Dortmund (FKE) recommends giving babies between four and twelve months about 80 micrograms of iodine a day. You can give these to your baby in tablet form, for example. But it is also possible to enrich the grain-fruit porridge with the appropriate amount of iodine. Many finished products already contain iodine in the form of potassium iodide or potassium iodate, so it is worth paying attention to this when buying jars or powders for cereal porridges.

No other additives in the cereal-fruit porridge

In addition to the three basic ingredients, the grain and fruit porridge should contain no other additives, such as aromas or other flavoring substances. You should definitely refrain from using products to which other types of sugar have been added in addition to fructose. Sugar significantly increases the risk of tooth decay – even if your baby has no teeth yet. In addition, B vitamins are required to break down sugar in the body, which are then lacking elsewhere, for example in the development of the heart, muscles and nerves.