Apple Pear Millet Porridge - Baby Food # 3

Millet is another grain that is suitable for baby's consumption. It is easily digestable and high in protein, manganese, phosphorus and magnesium. Good for diabetics and is heart protective. Eating whole grains is also good for kids and toddlers to prevent childhood asthma. (source: WH Foods). I have also been told that millet helps promote good sleep.

Westerners love cooking apples and pears to feed babies and I tried to incorporate that together with millet, to make it a filling meal. Nutritious and wholesome. If you find the apple to smell strong, try using just pear. It's still delicious. Lately there are small packham pears, good enough for 1 portion of porridge. When I first fed my boy with this, he gave me a weird look, but as he went on, he couldn't stop eating and cried for more when he had finished his portion. I made this many times and each time, he just loved it.

One thing I also found out after I started feeding him this. Whenever I fed him savoury rice porridge (meat + vege+rice), I found his stool to be harder and when I fed him porridge made with millet, his stool is softer. Much softer. My SIL's baby had hard stool too. When my SIL consulted her pediatrician, the doc told her to reduce rice consumption because rice will will cause hard stool. Eat other grains instead, or potatoes. When she told me this, it then confirmed my suspicions.

Millet is much cheaper than quinoa. It's 1/3 of the price and it's good to add some variety to baby's diet, rather than sticking to good ole rice. One packet of millet lasts me for many meals. You can try this with other fruits and see which one does your baby likes. But you can also use this to make savoury porridge with meat and vegetables. I am cooking fish porridge with a combination of millet and rice now.

My boy actually prefers sweet fruit based porridge more than savoury ones, LOL. I'm not feeding him all these sweet porridge you see in this week all the time, although he likes it. I think most of my readers are very  "Pro" in making savoury rice porridge and these few recipes could be something new for you to try.
I like to have variety in my diet, so I like to give my baby variety too. Remember that different food contains different nutrients, try not to feed them the same thing all the time.

Apple Pear Millet Porridge

Recipe source: WendyinKK 
Makes approximately 1 cup porridge

2 Tbsp millet
1.5 cups water
1/2 small packham pear, peeled and cored
1/2 small green apple or red, whichever preferred, peeled and cored

1. Place millet in a coffee strainer and rinse it under running water.
2. Place everything into a small pot and cook for 30-40 minutes until the millet is puffy and porridge is thick and smooth.
3. Remove the apple and pear pieces and mash with a fork. Return the fruit mash to the porridge, gently stir.
4. Let porridge come to slightly warm and feed to baby.

I am hoping to develop more recipes for young toddlers (13M-18M), before teething is complete (still need mushy food) and constipation is a common problem. I'll see how, I already have a few ideas in my head.