What's Wrong with Rice Cereal for Babies?

Katie Ferraro (0s):

If you're new to this whole world of babyled Weaning and starting solid Foods, you might still be on the fence as to whether this approach is going to work for you. And if that's the case, I want to send you my free feeding guide called Will Baby-Led Weaning Work for My Baby. This is a guide that contains a decision train map that you can work your way through to determine if this is the right approach for you guys. And then when it's time to start, grab your copy of Will Baby-Led Weaning Work for My Baby on my website, head babyledweaning.co/resources. Just checking in about CPR. Have you taken an infant refresher CPR course yet? Great idea when you're starting solid Foods because there's no higher risk of choking when you do baby-led weaning compared to conventional spoon feeding.

Katie Ferraro (42s):

But still choking is a very rare but real risk. And knowing CPR can save your baby's life. I've always been a stickler that anybody who helps watch or feed my Babies needs to know CPR. And I know you guys all took CPR before your baby was born. That was like six months ago. Time to brush up. So there's an online CPR course I take every quarter myself. I recommend it for anyone starting solid Foods. This online CPR class is already super affordable. It's less than 50 bucks, but my affiliate discount code KATIE10 will take an additional $10 off. So If, you go to this website bit.ly/onlinecprcourse you can register for the online CPR in that code. KD 10 takes an additional $10 off. Again, the website is bit.ly/onlinecprcourse.

Katie Ferraro (1m 25s):

Good luck getting those CPR skills up to snuff because your baby is ready to be starting solid foods. And if your doctor is recommending that you start solid foods with iron fortified white rice cereal, we need to look at why like that's a very outdated and even downright dangerous recommendation because your doctor's clearly not aware of the current recommendations to avoid regular use of rice containing foods because of the potential for arsenic toxicity. Not to mention that there are many other naturally occurring sources of food that babies can learn to eat on their own that do contain iron. We don't need to force feed these processed, refined white grain cereals to Babies. There's a much easier way to get babies to learn how to eat iron containing foods.

Katie Ferraro (2m 9s):

Hey there, I'm Katie Ferraro, Registered dietitian, college nutrition professor and mom of seven specializing in babyled Weaning here on the babyled Weaning Made Easy podcast. I help you strip out all of the noise and nonsense about feeding, leaving you with the confidence and knowledge you need to give your baby a safe start to solid foods using babyled weaning. A mom recently asked me a question at the end of my baby led weaning four beginner's webinar. And her question came across and she said, my doctor's telling me to start solid foods with white rice cereal, even though my baby is six months of age and ready to start solid foods.

Katie Ferraro (2m 49s):

I don't feel like this is the best first food. Am I right or is my doctor right? And in today's episode, I'm gonna go through, it's kinda a different episode for me. I don't like to focus on negative stuff, right? If, you follow any of my content or you follow my work, or you're in my program taking my workshop. You know, my emphasis is really on all of the Foods that your Babies can eat, right? We have enough negativity, especially in the infant feeding and babyled Weaning space. I want you guys to feel empowered by all of the Foods your Babies can eat. But occasionally from time to time, like let's do a deeper dive on a food that babies should not eat, and that is iron fortified white rice cereal. So today's episode entitled it, what's Wrong with Rice Cereal for Babies? And I wanna go through a few points that may help you if you're trying to decide whether or not you wanna incorporate a fortified infant Cereal as your baby's first food into their Weaning diet.

Katie Ferraro (3m 39s):

And I'd like to start each of these solo babyledweaning training episodes with a feeding tip of the day. And today's tip is, it is okay to skip baby cereal. A lot of us may have been raised in an environment where we ourselves were spoon fed. I hear from moms all the time that say their mom or their husband or partner's mom says, I spoonfed you Cereal and you turned out fine. That may be the case, but you do not need to feed infant cereal. If you've been following babyled Weaning or this podcast or any of our content for any period of time, you know that there are so many different Foods a baby can eat from my 100 First Foods List. I have fed every single food on that list to a baby in week one of baby led weaning.

Katie Ferraro (4m 21s):

Many different babies over many years just to show you guys that there's no right or wrong food to start with. So it's okay If. you don't want to go buy a special baby food and hang tight because in this episode I'm gonna share ways that your baby can get important things like iron and sink. And it does not need to come from a fortified food. If you guys are interested in baby food If, you like learning about history. One of my favorite books of all time is called Inventing Baby Food. And it's a book that was written by Amy Bentley. So Amy Bentley is a professor at NYU and in her book she kind of delves into the history of commercial, basically processed foods for babies. You can read her book, which I absolutely love, but also she was on the podcast in episode 1 44.

Katie Ferraro (5m 4s):

It was an episode called What did Babies Eat Before Baby Food Was Invented? And she kind of goes into the whole history of how you know commercial baby food has really only been around since the earlier part of the 20th century. She talks a lot about marketing and how we've come to this place where like in many cultures still, particularly in Western food culture, the default is to force feed a baby rice cereal by spoon. So I recommend her book Inventing Baby Food or check her out on the podcast again, that was back in episode 144. It's called Inventing Baby Food. Just an All Around. I Wish she still did work in that space. She's kind of branched out and started to do different stuff. We've touched base again over the years where it's like the the best that you ever wrote was inventing baby food.

Katie Ferraro (5m 46s):

So back to the actual white rice cereal, what's the problem with it? Alright, so let's look at the name Iron fortified white rice cereal. Let's start with the iron fortified part. We're gonna go in order of the terms in the name Iron Fortified, white Rice Cereal. When it comes to iron, many parents mistakenly think that the only way a baby can eat iron is if they buy fortified baby foods. And of course, the massive food companies that manufacture these processed, refined white grain foods for babies, they want you to think that this is the safest way or the only way that your baby can eat iron. But of course, these Foods have only been around since the earlier part of the 20th century, right? We know that for generations millennia babies have learned how to eat modified versions of the same foods that the rest of their family eats.

Katie Ferraro (6m 29s):

So yes, while iron is important, okay, we've done so many episodes here on the podcast and do so much content around iron showing you how babies can learn to eat foods that are naturally occurring sources of iron. 'cause what happens with baby food is you're like, oh wow, my baby turns six months of age, right? The iron stores that baby receive from mom at the tail end of pregnancy, they do start to dissipate around the six month mark, but it's not a huge deal because your baby is still having infant milk, breast milk or formula that contains iron to help them meet their iron needs while they're learning how to eat iron containing foods. And they're learning how to eat these Foods during the Weaning period between six and 12 months of age. But If, you never offer your child foods that are naturally occurring sources of iron.

Katie Ferraro (7m 9s):

They're not learning how to eat those Foods. And so while we are concerned about iron from six to 12 months of age in the American Academy of Pediatrics tells pediatricians in this country in the United States, that is that you should be screening for iron deficiency prior to 12 months of age. Doctors talk about it and it freaks parents out. But the thing is, it's not just your baby who I'm concerned about their iron intake because iron deficiency is the leading micronutrient deficiency around the world for children, even beyond the one-year mark. If your baby didn't learn how to eat iron foods and you just force fed them cereal, and then you stop doing that at one, now you have a one-year-old who knows how to eat no Foods that contain iron. So my belief as a registered dietitian who specializes infant infant feeding is that we should be using the infant feeding the weaning period from six to 12 months of age to teach babies how to eat iron containing foods.

Katie Ferraro (7m 57s):

Hey, we're gonna take a quick break, but I'll be right back.

Katie Ferraro (8m 52s):

So If, you have my 100 First Foods List, if you go down the list of the starchy foods, okay? We don't have have iron and fruits or vegetables. Fruits and vegetables are great. They contain Vitamin C that helps your baby absorb iron from the other foods, but not if you're not offering those other foods. And that's what we see. parents get stuck on fruits and vegetables. They do not do the whole grains, which are good sources of iron. They do not do the protein Foods, both plant and animal Foods, which contain iron. They do not do the allergenic Foods, which are protein foods that also in many cases contain iron. So we want to be offering a variety of Foods and If. you have that list as you're going through them. You'll see which foods contain iron, both plant and animal proteins as well as the whole grains. We can offer babies food-based sources of iron if you're concerned about how much iron your baby's getting, or is my baby getting enough?

Katie Ferraro (9m 36s):

Go back and listen to episode 169, it was called Iron: Does My Baby Really Need to Eat 11 Milligrams of Iron Per Day? And in that episode, I break down the recommendations with the dietary reference intake saying that seven to 12 month olds, quote unquote, need 11 milligrams of iron. And I explain what that really means, and the answer is no. You don't need to be counting the milligrams of iron. But I do talk more about high iron Foods that your baby can learn how to eat. So when it comes to the iron fortified part, no, we do not need to buy fortified Foods. That's just a bandaid. You're just delaying the inevitable. Like the work you need to do is teach your kid how to eat iron containing foods. Don't delay that by buying cereals that have iron added to them when your baby could just be learning how to eat the foods that naturally do contain iron.

Katie Ferraro (10m 17s):

Now, let's talk about the next part in iron fortified white rice cereal white rice a refined carbohydrate food. Okay? Rice is an important part of many different food cultures around the world. And while it's perfectly fine for your baby to have Rice Foods in moderation, all major health bodies at this point recommend against the regular use of rice food because of the potential for arsenic toxicity. And we've also done a lot of content on arsenic here on the podcast. But if this is the first that you're hearing of it, go back and listen to episode 246. It's called Arsenic in Baby Food. That's where I had Charlotte Brody and Jane Houlihan. They're from Healthy Babies Bright Futures.

Katie Ferraro (10m 57s):

They really like the leading, leading experts on lowering the risk of heavy metals in baby foods and they explain what arsenic is and why rice foods preferentially take up arsenic compared to other grain Foods. So white rice has higher levels of arsenic compared to other grains. Arsenic is a naturally occurring element that can be harmful in amounts, especially even smaller amounts for infants and children. And we know from research that prolong the exposure to even low levels of arsenic can lead to health problems. That is why we do not recommend the use of white rice cereal on a regular basis. You got some of it on hand and you're gonna maybe roll an avocado or a slippery piece of fruit like a poached apple or a poached pear in some white rice cereal powder.

Katie Ferraro (11m 42s):

Sure, that's fine. Okay. If you're doing babyledweaning, we sometimes can incorporate it, but you don't have to buy it and you certainly should not be offering it to your child every day. Whole grains are a wonderful source of carbohydrate that naturally contain iron and plant protein and other nutrition that you're not going to get in refined white carbohydrate foods. Sometimes parents say, well, I'm doing the white rice cereal because it's hypoallergenic. My baby's not gonna be allergenic to it. Guess what? There's nine Foods that your baby could potentially be allergenic to, right? The big nine foods are the ones that account for about 90% of food allergy. The other 91 Foods on the 100 First Foods List, your baby is also not going to be allergenic to. So we have Rice on the hundred First Foods List, but it's one of 20 whole Grains If.

Katie Ferraro (12m 22s):

you wanna grab a copy of that hundred First Foods List. I give it away to everybody for free on my online video workshop called Baby-led Weaning for Beginners. This is a 75 minute video training. It's free. You can sign up at babyledweaning.co. And at the end of that workshop, I'll give you the code and the link to grab the 100 First Foods List so you can start offering your baby a variety of different carbohydrate containing Foods that aren't Rice. I also have lots of info throughout my content about how to cook rice If you do in order to lower the arsenic content. Go back and listen to episode 259. It's called Pasta Water Cooking Method for Making Rice Lower in Arsenic. Now the last part of that title, iron fortified white rice cereal is the cereal part.

Katie Ferraro (13m 5s):

Can I skip Cereal? Heck yeah, If. you want to babies don't have to eat cereal. We do lots of different foods, including finger foods, knowing that research shows us that the babies who've had the least amount of practice with finger foods are actually at elevated risk for choking. So you don't need to shove the rice cereal into your baby's mouth or any cereal for that matter. Inside of my hundred first Foods program, we show you how to make each of the whole grain safe, how to do a preloaded spoon approach if you're using a porridge, but you don't need to buy these highly refined processed cereals and then force your baby to eat it. We show you how to make whole grains safe for your baby If. you wanna check that program out, go to baby led weaning dot co and click program. But it's perfectly fine to skip cereal. If you want to, and if you're using other whole grains to make cereals or porridges for your baby, your baby can learn how to feed them by themselves.

Katie Ferraro (13m 52s):

They do not need you to do it for them. And I have another great episode for you to listen to If. You need help talking to your doctor about why you're deciding not to do white rice cereal. First of all, if your doctor's still recommending white rice cereal as a first food, that's not a very progressive doctor. They're not aware of the recommendations against the regular use of rice foods. They're not aware of the recommendations that show that babies should eat a variety of foods. They're not aware of information on how to make iron containing Foods safe. And that's fine, but that's very outdated advice. If, you're getting it. And in episode 160, I interviewed one of my favorite people in the pediatric space pediatrician, Dr. Alan Greene. We did an episode called Why White Rice Cereal Should Not Be Your Baby's First Food episode one 60 with lots of great talking points for your doctor.

Katie Ferraro (14m 35s):

If you need additional help on why you've decided to skip white rice cereal. I've got the Shownotes for this episode linked up for you at blwpodcast.com/360 thanks so much for tuning in. Good luck offering your baby other foods that aren't white rice cereal because there are so many Foods that your baby can eat. Thanks for listening, and I'll see you next time If you're interested in doing babyled Weaning, but you're not exactly sure, like what does that mean? What does it look like? Where do I start? My online program called Baby-led Weaning with Katie Ferraro has everything you need to give your baby a safe start to solid Foods and get them to eat over a 100 Foods before they turn one, whether you're terrified of choking or maybe you've started but you feel like you're feeding your baby the same Foods over and over 'cause you don't know what to feed next, or you're looking for guidance on how to prepare foods safely for your baby's age and stage.

Katie Ferraro (15m 32s):

My program has exactly what you need. There's five hours of concise self-paced video training. You can knock this thing out during nap time this week. You also get access to my hundred first Foods content library so you can see and learn exactly how to prep all of the a hundred Foods as well as my original hundred days meal plan. I've been refining this program for the last seven years. Just today, a mom wrote to me and told me that the a hundred days meal plan has been a game changer for her busy lifestyle. When you join the program, you also get access to over a hundred phase two combination food recipes. So you're gonna try out the trickier textures, push your baby's palate. And what's cool about these recipes is your whole family will enjoy them. So everything you need to give your baby a safe start to solid Foods is inside of the program.

Katie Ferraro (16m 12s):

It's created by me, a registered dietitian who specializes in infant feeding. If you're tired of hunting and pecking around the internet trying to piece this stuff together on your own, I put it all in one convenient place for you. I invite you to check out the Baby-Led Weaning with Katie Ferraro program that's at babyledweaning.co. Again, that website is babyledweaning.co. And click on program to learn more.