Hi...

Could some one post me Ragi/oats/barley receipes that I can try for my 5 month old.

thanks,
sadhana Hetal replied. hi there,,sry couldnt make it up to reply post regularly,,had some health issues,,,,was pleased to see everyone with lots of inputs,,,,

sadhana, as far as 5months old is concerned, ragi has been given from 4th month onwards and yes considering the setbacks,,many kids have shown sensitivty to it ! so it depends on each baby apetite and his acceptance to it. many kids even after 3 years of age, showed aversion to it,,while many accepted raagi from 4th month onwards !

it all dpends on hows baby apetite and acceptance to a particular food,,irrespective of ne culture or community..

though not a regular food in actual US, many cultures like native american,latins,african americans, have given millet(raagi) to thr kids and they themselves have been consuming it since years together !!!
its all sold in names of finger millet, ragee, african millet,coracan,,all these available in diff green/international markets where ragee is sold extensively !!!!

its a diff issue that in india too esp the south india, from mumbai onwards,,many communities have their main diet as raagi...most includes,karnataka,tamilnadu, andra, and kerala.

so its not a prob introducing ragi,that it always causes indigestion,,,,what matters your baby acceptance !

now about barley,,barley, is often given after rice, oats are given,,,the reason is explained when you introduce oats,,its expected that your baby has welcomed one grain flour of which rice flour is the lightest,,and easiest to digest, and thn comes oats,,

please note that the oats used in infant cereal,,is in the form is oat flour and not the whole oats before 8-9months ! cereals contain rolled oat flour and not the rolled whole oats !!

which explains the ease in digestion,,,
the concept is first go by flours, then go by whole grains in itself and then try variations and multigrains !
hope this explains you,,,

barley is often after you are completely thru with rice, oats,,,
actually speaking, after barley comes millet but in US most famous brands dont have millet cereal,,,,,and its hard to find,,however, some local brands and some at stores at wholefoods,,green markets,,you might find millet cereal,,,the type of millet is different,,i found it once, at my visit to florida when my daughter was 8mnths old, but then i couldnt find it lateron newhere,,the next day i thought since i dont get this in the place i live,let me buy a couple more packets and stock it,,but the next day,,there was no trace of it !! so then i was buying whole millets, would grind it at home to the consistency of flour and overboiled it and i offerd with lots of vegies to my baby !!!

now about wheat..if you read my post carefullly, you will observe that i have written that many cultures have given wheat to their kids from day 1 of solids,,,and many were perfectly find with it !
but acc to US standards,,aap doesnt recmmnd considering the number of cases of allergies, stomach discomforts/baby getting gastric refluxes,,nd that was messing with baby digestives system,,and the other cases were skin rashes and so on,,
also to mention that recently in india itself, drs have asked their patients to wait for wheat upto 8months,,the reason being their kids were not able to eat other foods that they were actually supposed to eat,,because of heaviness that baby feels after the feeding of wheat !!!!

on nutrional point of view,the study had showed that even though certain foods were accepted by the infant at 3,4,5th month onwards,,,the babies health were not upto expectations by their own ped. most cases(please note most and not all),,they reported that after the consumption of wheat the baby was not be able to absorb all of its 100% and this will cause his digestive system to stress more in trying to digest the hard grain flour or grain itself ! some cases like Usha, baby was fine enough accepting the cereals made of wheat,,but it might not be the case with all babies...also to consider that the cereal has wheat FLOUR mostly and not the whole grounded wheat...
thats where the diff lies,,culture in india, in north,,many practise giving roti soaked in dal from 8-9month onwards,,which explains the reason again !

well, as such speaking many cultures native americans and latin practise giving boiled eggs from as early as 6th month onwards and so with spices,,they give garlic,onions, ginger and red bell peppers as early as 6thmonths,,,but it all dpends on how you want to follow up with your baby when it comes to solids,,if you balance things well, there is no way your baby will have problems associated with digestion, acceptance or ne other issues,,unless otherwise he shows permanent allergy to wheats,,,

rest all is upto you,,you are the mother and a mothers decision holds true irrespective of any dr,,only she knows and she is able to decide,,, what is good for her baby,,,my work is done here !!
good luck ! Hetal replied. hi there,,sry couldnt make it up to reply post regularly,,had some health issues,,,,was pleased to see everyone with lots of inputs,,,,

sadhana, as far as 5months old is concerned, ragi has been given from 4th month onwards and yes considering the setbacks,,many kids have shown sensitivty to it ! so it depends on each baby apetite and his acceptance to it. many kids even after 3 years of age, showed aversion to it,,while many accepted raagi from 4th month onwards !

it all dpends on hows baby apetite and acceptance to a particular food,,irrespective of ne culture or community..

though not a regular food in actual US, many cultures like native american,latins,african americans, have given millet(raagi) to thr kids and they themselves have been consuming it since years together !!!
its all sold in names of finger millet, ragee, african millet,coracan,,all these available in diff green/international markets where ragee is sold extensively !!!!

its a diff issue that in india too esp the south india, from mumbai onwards,,many communities have their main diet as raagi...most includes,karnataka,tamilnadu, andra, and kerala.

so its not a prob introducing ragi,that it always causes indigestion,,,,what matters your baby acceptance !

now about barley,,barley, is often given after rice, oats are given,,,the reason is explained when you introduce oats,,its expected that your baby has welcomed one grain flour of which rice flour is the lightest,,and easiest to digest, and thn comes oats,,

please note that the oats used in infant cereal,,is in the form is oat flour and not the whole oats before 8-9months ! cereals contain rolled oat flour and not the rolled whole oats !!

which explains the ease in digestion,,,
the concept is first go by flours, then go by whole grains in itself and then try variations and multigrains !
hope this explains you,,,

barley is often after you are completely thru with rice, oats,,,
actually speaking, after barley comes millet but in US most famous brands dont have millet cereal,,,,,and its hard to find,,however, some local brands and some at stores at wholefoods,,green markets,,you might find millet cereal,,,the type of millet is different,,i found it once, at my visit to florida when my daughter was 8mnths old, but then i couldnt find it lateron newhere,,the next day i thought since i dont get this in the place i live,let me buy a couple more packets and stock it,,but the next day,,there was no trace of it !! so then i was buying whole millets, would grind it at home to the consistency of flour and overboiled it and i offerd with lots of vegies to my baby !!!

now about wheat..if you read my post carefullly, you will observe that i have written that many cultures have given wheat to their kids from day 1 of solids,,,and many were perfectly find with it !
but acc to US standards,,aap doesnt recmmnd considering the number of cases of allergies, stomach discomforts/baby getting gastric refluxes,,nd that was messing with baby digestives system,,and the other cases were skin rashes and so on,,
also to mention that recently in india itself, drs have asked their patients to wait for wheat upto 8months,,the reason being their kids were not able to eat other foods that they were actually supposed to eat,,because of heaviness that baby feels after the feeding of wheat !!!!

on nutrional point of view,the study had showed that even though certain foods were accepted by the infant at 3,4,5th month onwards,,,the babies health were not upto expectations by their own ped. most cases(please note most and not all),,they reported that after the consumption of wheat the baby was not be able to absorb all of its 100% and this will cause his digestive system to stress more in trying to digest the hard grain flour or grain itself ! some cases like Usha, baby was fine enough accepting the cereals made of wheat,,but it might not be the case with all babies...well, as such speaking many cultures native americans and latin practise giving boiled eggs from as early as 6th month onwards and so with spices,,they give garlic,onions, ginger and red bell peppers as early as 6thmonths,,,but it all dpends on how you want to follow up with your baby when it comes to solids,,if you balance things well, there is no way your baby will have problems associated with digestion, acceptance or ne other issues,,unless otherwise he shows permanent allergy to wheats,,,

rest all is upto you,,you are the mother and a mothers decision holds true irrespective of any dr,,only she knows and she is able to decide,,, what is good for her baby,,,my work is done here !!
good luck ! anuradha replied. I give raagi for my 5 month old daughter. I actually started it when she completed 3 months. I soak raagi overnight and in the morning i grind it. You will get a white milk which when you heat will be come porridge.I grind it everyday because i think that is more fresh.You can grind it in the blender or I use a small mortar a pestle. 2 - 3 small scoops of raagi can give you a small feeding bowl of porridge. U can add a little sugar to taste and ghee also. I heard from somebody it is better to give raagi in the morning. Usha replied. Hi Sadhana and MM,

I have read most of the mothers from US saying that ragi and wheat is very heavy for digestion. whereas in india let be ceralac, nestum, pristine brownmark all of them start with first cereal of wheat or ragi. Basically we need to understand the availability in that particular country, ragi is not part of their diet in US so it is not in their diet plan itself, when u c in india itself it North ppl dont use, but it is known cereal in south.

A small tip to you and other mothers who use ragi, pls sprout the ragi. Ragi directly given is heavy for digestion, though the kid wld not pass loose stools so v assume kids system has accepted it. But the absorption by his sytem wld be nill so what goes in ... comes out. When you sprout the high rich fibre breaks down to small enzymes and also become rich in protein. But do not over sprout as well, as you will loose out on flour. So soak the ragi for a day and tie it in cloth and hang it overnight and next day u wld find small sprouts, dry it in sun and grind. this can be made into a porridge, with lil formula and ghee. My son used to enjoy this.

MM - mix which u mentioned is slight heavy as almond is very rich in Vit E.

i cannot comment on wheat, but i do give cerelac wheat and apple for my son.

Comments which i m giving is what my ped says and he is highly qualified. He believes a lot in indian traditional method and comments check with your elders at home. MM replied. Hi sadhana,
I've tried a recipe with ragi for my son. Here it is...
take equal quantities of ragi, badam, pista, cashew, whole wheat, Raw rice, corn. Fry them a little bit in a kadaai. then dry ground them to fine powder. U can mix this powder (say 1 tsp) in hot water and then pour enough amount of milk. Then boil this for sometime. Add little bit of sugar to add on taste. This is really a very healthy food for babies.

Try it...

But before giving oats, pls ask somebody else, cos oats is very hard to digest. As ur baby is just 5 months old, he wont be having much of moving activity. So digestion will be a problem then. So u can actually start giving oats when he is little more older.

Hope this helps u.