Starting Out With Solids

Happy 5th month Leo! We celebrated by introducing rice porridge. Unlike America where they begin with cereal mixed with milk or formula, Japan starts babies off with rice. Poor Leo didn't care for it much.

About to get his first spoonful.

In Japan they start off by only giving babies a spoonful a day, preferably in the morning. Once they get used to the one spoonful, you increase it every couple of days. When babies can take about five spoonfuls, then you can regularly feed them. I forgot the amount, but I think its something like fifteen to thirty spoonfuls per meal.. not quite sure. Anyway, it's a bit different than America.

Also in Japan they introduce a medley of veggies mashed or just the broth instead of introducing one veggie at a time like they do in the states. My Mother was surprised to hear this! I agree though, it's better to try one veggie at a time to see how the baby reacts to it. I'm excited to try sweet potatoe because I think Leo would really enjoy it!!

Leo's reaction to the rice porridge! lol

I don't blame him!! It was quite bland!!

Making rice porridge is really easy! Time consuming..well, a bit, but some rice makers have a rice porridge function, so you can just set the timer and have it ready for breakfast. That's what we did. It's called okayu. (おかゆ)

Japanese Rice Porridge

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup of rice
• 3.5 cups of water

Directions:

1. Wash the rice well and let it soak in the water (3.5 cups) for 30 minutes to an hour.
2. Move the contents to a pot and turn the heat on high until it reaches a boil, then lower the heat to low.
3. Let it simmer for 30 to 40 minutes. You can add more water to reach the consistency that you like. (For adults, season with salt.)

*Try to mash any pieces of rice before feeding to your baby, or just spoon off the top layer of the porridge, the paste part, not the rice part.

**It's nice to top the porridge with pickled plum, salted salmon, konbu seaweed, spinach marinated in soy sauce, or anything pickled. :) For adults that is!