Oats Porridge is yet another wholesome meal for your precious little one. Not only is it super nutritious but it can be cooked in a jiffy also. Any instant oats (Quaker, Baggry's) that is available in the grocery stores(in India!) can be used to make porridge.
If your child has just started eating solids, then powder the oats finely in a blender and store it in an air-tight container. For new solid eaters the texture of plain oats would not be very appealing and hence you would have to powder it finely. Once your child becomes an expert solid eater, she would start to enjoy oats in its own form (say about when she is 10-12 months old).
The cooking procedure is the same as you make any other porridge. I also have it mentioned in Ragi porridge post right in my blog. Nevertheless, for quick reference here goes the recipe.
1. Take two leveled table-spoons of oats (powdered oats for infants) in a heavy bottomed vessel. Add 3/4th cup water to it.
2. Mix it well so that no lumps are visible.
3. Put the heavy bottomed vessel on the stove and keep stirring the mixture (If you don't stir continuously, Oats could settle at the bottom of the bowl and can get burnt).
4. In couple of minutes you should see the mixture thickening, if you feel the mixture is a little too thick, add water to it. (Children who have just started with solids prefer thin porridge. So add more water to it. Once your child is a Pro solid eater, he should like thicker porridge)
5. Finally when you see the porridge boiling, turn off the stove.
6. Let the porridge cool to the room temperature before feeding it to the little one. Some kids like the porridge a little lukewarm.
Oats porridge is a great source of fiber. And so if your child is constipated, giving her a meal of oats porridge everyday could ease her constipation (and give us parents the MENTAL PEACE).
