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A few months ago I ran a poll on Oh Baby Instagram<\/a> asking which topic you\u2019d like me to write about first: the dark truth about pur\u00e9e pouches, or the dark truth about baby cereal. The pouches won<\/a> but there was still a lot interest in baby cereal, so after much prompting I promised I\u2019d share about that as well. The thing is, I prefer focusing on all of the amazing foods we can feed our babes with, not just the ones to avoid. I also don\u2019t want any feel badly about any choices they\u2019ve made. We\u2019re all just trying to do our best for our little ones! I\u2019ve finally decided to post this because even though baby cereal is one of the most common foods to start solids with, unfortunately it truly isn\u2019t the best first food to nourish our babies.\u00a0<\/p>\n Baby cereal was first introduced in the 1930s, which was when a monumental shift occurred away from real foods towards processed convenience foods. Previously known as pablum, mothers were advised to mix it into a bottle with breast milk for babies as young as six weeks old. Then when baby was around 3 or 4 months old, the pablum was mixed into a thicker consistency to be spoon-fed. <\/p>\n It was marketed as an ideal first food for your baby.<\/em><\/p>\n Iron-fortified grain cereal is still a leading recommendation for starting solids\u2026 even by most paediatricians, and even with today\u2019s clarity about the importance of whole foods vs refined. Sadly, processed grain products aren\u2019t the healthiest choice for anyone, let alone as a first food to properly nourish a developing baby.<\/p>\n Baby cereal is stripped of its nutrients and fiber and it\u2019s highly glycemic, which causes drastic blood sugar spikes followed by inevitable fussiness and hunger. Many parents often start solids prematurely with the hopes of keeping babies \u201cfuller for longer\u201d, but a high glycemic food like baby cereal doesn\u2019t contain the fat or protein necessary to satisfy a baby for very long at all. Baby cereal is also very bland tasting, which doesn\u2019t set the stage for adventurous eating. <\/p>\n Even if it wasn\u2019t refined, rice is sorely lacking all the top essential nutrients a baby really needs when starting solids, such as healthy fat, calcium, vitamin D, choline & naturally occurring iron. Baby cereal is fortified with synthetic nutrients, but our focus should undoubtedly be to ensure that our babies are eating naturally nutrient-dense foods instead of foods like baby cereal that are fortified with synthetic nutrients. Let\u2019s skip the processed foods to help set our babies up for a lifelong relationship with healthy, whole foods.<\/p>\n Arsenic is present in soil, so all plants can absorb some of it. Although, rice is known to be high in arsenic because it\u2019s grown in flooded paddies and soaks up more arsenic than other food crops. As a well-recognized carcinogen, arsenic is currently regulated in drinking water. However, there are currently no regulations concerning arsenic concentrations in food, including infant rice cereal.<\/p>\n While other foods account for 19% of arsenic exposure in babies 4 – 24 months, rice cereal accounts for 55%<\/a>. <\/p>\n Several studies have found<\/a> that arsenic exposure in rice cereal exceeds the US Environmental Protection Agency\u2019s maximum contaminant levels and markedly increases arsenic exposure among babies. Studies show<\/a> that the toxic effects of rice are most concerning in infants.<\/p>\n Some people argue that a baby doesn\u2019t produce enough amylase to properly digest grains. But I actually recommend being cautious with grains for an entirely different reason. Grains can be difficult to digest, even for many adults with mature digestive systems. Grains have substances called phytic acid that inhibit the absorption of minerals like iron and calcium.<\/p>\n When we look to ancient cultures for wisdom, babies have been fed rice or other grains as a first food in many countries around the world. They also weren\u2019t using arsenic-containing pesticides<\/a> that significantly increased the arsenic levels present in their rice. However, it\u2019s important to note that these whole grains used by these cultures were carefully prepared using traditional methods. <\/p>\n If you do include grains as a part of your family\u2019s meals, I suggest properly preparing them by soaking, sprouting, or fermenting\/souring to increase nutrient absorption<\/a> and digestibility. I also prefer waiting until baby is reliably consuming 3 meals per day with ample amounts of food at each meal. Babies tend to prefer \u2018filling up\u2019 on grains if given the choice, but like baby cereal, whole grains don\u2019t contain the essential nutrients that a baby requires in high doses during this age (fat, calcium, vitamin D, choline & naturally occurring iron)<\/em>. This leaves less room in their tiny tummies for the other foods that are much higher in these nutrients. Lastly, grains are pretty bland, and time and time again I see if babies were introduced to these foods in larger amounts at an early age, it\u2019s much harder to diversify their palate later on. Early exposure to a variety of flavors is key!<\/p>\n<\/div>\nStripped of its nutrients<\/h3>\n
High levels of arsenic in rice cereal<\/h3>\n
What about whole grains for babies?<\/h3>\n