# how to prepare millet for baby food?



## Calm (Sep 17, 2004)

I'm not sure when to introduce grains, but I will wait until at least 9 months. But I would like to use millet as it is supposedly richer than rice and easier to digest? Is this right? I would make baby brown rice at home, not white rice, but that may make it hard to digest and white rice is seriously lacking as a food.

So how would I do it? Can I buy millet powder or should I grind those little grains? Or by the time he's eating grains, could I just use them whole as a cereal?

Thanks for any help.


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## mum5 (Apr 10, 2004)

Hi there. My dd's loved millet and used to eat it all the time. I bought a small cuisinart food processor, or I guess you could use a clean unused coffee grinder and grind them up. I added the powder to boiling water , don't remember the ratio, but I guess you could go with 1/2 and 1/2 the first time and them cook it for a while on lower heat.

Super Baby Food by Ruth Yaron is highly recommended by myself







: for great healthy ideas!!!


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## WuWei (Oct 16, 2005)

I hadn't seen you around, so I came looking for you.









I believe that millet isn't easily digested. We avoided grains until ds was about 3-4 YEARS old, due to the huge list of allergens. We wanted his gut to heal. Breastmilk is all he needs. We exclusively breastfed until over a year, essentially.

Pat


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## rootzdawta (May 22, 2005)

My son (9 mos.) seems to like millet. I don't make it specially for him though--I just give him a couple of tastes from his brother's breakfast. I don't really see the need right now. He's content on breast milk.

I toast it in a pan till fragrant, cool it and then grind it in a coffee grinder. I then add cool water (4 parts water:1 part millet), put it on the stove over medium to low heat and stir till it's thickened. I whisk in hemp or almond milk and a tiny bit of maple syrup so it's a looser consistency.


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## Calm (Sep 17, 2004)

Wow, that sound lovely! Toasted, I'll have to try it.

Hey Pat! How sweet. I go looking for you at times too.









That super foods book looks great, I can't seem to get it in my library here though, dammit.

DS is hounding for food. He's so ready that making him wait feels terrible. He goes nuts when the food comes out and wiggles around trying to get at the table and whoever is holding him has to go outside while the other eats. But my attempts last week had his face get a little pink on the cheeks (I think it was green beans, how ridiculous, they're supposed to be low allergy). So we stopped the solids but it's become very apparent that they'll be back on the list soon. I will start on pears again and introduce really slowly. It doesn't resonate with baby led weaning, where he can try and eat whatever his body reaches for... but we have to go slowly so I know if anything triggers him.

I'm not sure when to introduce brown rice cereal. My mother, being of the old school who fed us on cows milk and rice at three months (did ANYONE get allergies back then? What was their bloody secret?) thinks I'm crazy for waiting so long for the rice intro.


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## WuWei (Oct 16, 2005)

Consider soaking any grains in an acid medium _for 24 hours_. Check out Sue Gregg's blender batter method. http://www.suegregg.com/recipes/brea...erwafflesA.htm

Or consider sprouting your own grains, and then dehydrating and grinding them for optimal nutrition and least allergenic. You can make breads with them.

Fruit within reach will be your easiest option and most natural, imo. But, then introducing sweets so young might condition his palate.

Breastmilk distraction was easiest for our food intolerant baby. Or a trip outside to play with the water hose with dad while I ate...

Pat


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## WuWei (Oct 16, 2005)

Also, check out this thread. http://www.mothering.com/discussions...d.php?t=973522

You could make some raw food with avocado and coconut oil for increased fats, if he can have those. The fats will satisfy more than simple carbs. Fats are important for brain development. Also consider fish, well "masticated" or mushed up. Check out the Weston Price site. Bone broths, liver, cod liver oil, there are many alternatives which could be "finger" foods, or sipping foods to satisfy him while you all eat. http://www.westonaprice.org/children/recipes.html

Colorful options to chew on, like carrots and frozen bananas are other options. What is on your plate looks fun, provide something similarly "fun". It doesn't need to be adult food, exactly.

Again, tricky with the food intolerances.

Pat


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