When it is time to start solids for babies, parents have many questions in mind. Which first foods are the best for the baby to start with? How to ensure baby gets enough iron?
In many cultures around the world, parents start with whole grains-based cereals that are rich in iron like rice cereals, barley, maize, or oatmeal for babies. Some parents prefer iron-fortified whole grain baby cereal as an easy way to get this essential mineral in. Whatever you choose it is generally accepted that whole grains-based cereals and porridge are good first food for baby.
Where do oats stand in all of this?
ARE OATS GOOD FOR BABY?
If you are wondering, can I give oats to my baby? Yes, you can.
Oats are whole-grain cereal that contains a variety of nutrients that are good for the baby. A cup of oats contains a good amount of carbohydrates and protein, 41% iron, 69% magnesium, and 41% zinc %DV. (source)
Oats contain a soluble fiber called beta-glucan that helps keep the child full for longer. Beta-glucan also promotes the growth of healthy gut bacteria that aid good digestion.
Whole-grain oats also contain antioxidants and polyphenols that protect the body against inflammation. (source)
So go on and add oats to your baby’s diet.
DIFFERENT TYPES OF OATS
Let us look at the differences in the most commonly found types of oats
Oats groats
Oats groats is another name for the oats kernel. It is what you get after harvesting oats, cleaning them, and removing the outer hull. These take the longest to cook somewhere close to 30 minutes.
Steel-cut oats
Steel-cut oats are made when you take the oats groats and cut them into pieces using steel blades. These cook faster compared to oats groats.
Rolled oats
Rolled oats or old-fashioned oats are created when the oats’ groats are steamed and rolled into flakes. Rolled oats cook for about 15-20 minutes.
Instant oats
Rolled oats when rolled even thinner, and steamed to create what we call instant oats. These are the most processed kind of oats, but they cook the quickest, in under 5 minutes. I get many mothers asking if they can use Quaker oats for baby? Since Quaker Oats are most processed they are easier for babies to digest and are a wonderful vehicle for other nutrient-dense add-ins.
WHAT KIND OF OATS ARE GOOD FOR BABIES?
Okay, I know now the next question will be, “Which oats are good for babies?”. The important point to note is that the nutrition stays the same in all the types of oats as they are all derived from the whole grain and choosing what type of oats to cook depends on what is more convenient to you. (source)
I personally love using rolled oats to make porridge and granola bars and instant oats for quick breakfast porridge and to make oats flour for pancakes.
When choosing instant oats make sure they are the variety that only contains oats and don’t come in those quick-to-prepare packages loaded with unnecessary added sugars, salt, and other flavoring agents. Find out here what brands I use.
You can prepare oats in many ways and sweeten them or spice them up to your liking and make yummy meals.
Here are some oats recipes for babies and toddlers you can try.
Related reading : Ragi recipes for babies and toddler. and Easy toddler snack recipes.
30 Amazing Oat Recipes For Babies And Toddlers
1. Basic Oats Recipe For Babies (6months+)
This oats recipe for baby can be baby’s first oats porridge. Mothers always ask me, how do I give my baby oatmeal? Try this simple oats recipe for babies 6 months and above. Once the child gets accustomed to the taste you can add different mashed fruits or nut powders to enhance the nutrition.
Ingredients:
1/4 cup instant oats
150 ml water
1 mashed banana
Directions:
Cook the oats in water for about 5 minutes. Add a mashed banana for sweetness. Keep stirring so that the oats don’t stick to the sides of the vessel and burn.
This can be one of the first foods for the baby like a baby oatmeal porridge. As the baby grows older you can add more nutrition to this basic oats recipe by adding a combination of ground flaxseed powder, almond butter, and a dash of cinnamon powder for more flavor.
2. Banana Oats (8 months – 1 year+)
Oats recipe for babies 8 months and older. This is an easy oats recipe for baby weight gain. By adding calorie-rich toppings you can easily bulk up this recipe to support your child’s growing needs.
Ingredients:
1/4 cup rolled oats
150 ml soymilk/almond milk
1 mashed banana
Toppings : Toasted pumpkin seeds, almond butter, and blueberries.
Directions:
Cook the rolled oats in the milk of your choice. Add in a mashed banana for sweetness. Rolled oats take about 15 minutes to cook to a soft texture.
Add toppings of your choice. Featured here are toasted pumpkin seeds, almond butter and some blueberries. Skip the toasted seeds when cooking for baby, use ground pumpkin seed powder instead.
A nutrient-dense way to start the day. You have slow-release carbs, iron, potassium, magnesium, and Vit C all in one bowl. The sweetness comes from fruit with no extra added sugars.
Now that you know, how to prepare oats for baby, let us look at some oats recipes for toddlers and older children.
3. Tahini Oats (1 year+)
A simple oats recipe for 1-year-old baby.
Ingredients:
1 cup oats
1.5 cups water
1 tablespoon 100% sesame seed tahini
Directions:
Cook oats in water in a similar way as the basic oats recipe.
Once cooked, mix in a tablespoon of tahini.
Featured toppings are honey-glazed pumpkin seeds and sunflower seeds.
4. Mango Overnight Oats (1 year+)
For a more Indian flavor try this oats recipe for toddlers with Alphonso mangoes.
Ingredients:
1/3 cup instant oats/rolled oats
150 ml coconut milk
3 tablespoons chia seeds
1 tablespoon ground flaxseed powder
½ chopped mango pieces
1 tsp maple syrup
Directions:
Mix all the ingredients well in a bowl. Pour into mason jars and keep in the fridge overnight.
Have the next morning for breakfast with more chopped mango pieces as toppings
5. Rawnola (1 year+)
Ingredients:
½ cup almonds and cashews
1/3 cup rolled oats
4 dates
1 tbsp desiccated coconut
Directions:
Blitz all the ingredients in a blender. Make sure to blitz only for a short while to give you a coarse-textured rawnola.
To serve take 2-3 tablespoons of rawnola and serve with milk. Add fruits like bananas or berries as toppings and some coconut meat, hemp seeds, or any other seeds of choice.
6. Fig Banana Oats Porridge (1.5 yr +)
Ingredients:
1 cup oats
1.5 cups water
1 mashed banana
1 tsp almond butter
1 tsp flaxseed powder
½ tsp cacao powder
handful of chopped figs
Directions:
Add a mashed banana to oats with water. Cook for about 5 minutes while continuously stirring. Add half a tsp of raw cacao powder and once cooked mix in almond butter, flaxseed powder, and chopped figs.
Raw cacao powder contains a high amount of iron which can be beneficial to meet nutritional gaps in your picky eater’s meals. But at the same time raw cacao also contains some amount of caffeine, so make sure to use raw cacao occasionally and in recipes for older toddlers and preschoolers.
7. Oat Muffins (1.5 yrs +)
Here is an easy and healthy toddler oat muffin recipe.
8. Blueberry Oats Porridge (6 months+)
Ingredients:
1 cup oats
1.5 cup water/soymilk/almond milk
2 tbsp blueberry puree
Directions:
Cook the oats and blueberry puree in water/milk and keep stirring as you cook so that the oats don’t stick to the sides. Once served add toppings of your choice, here we went with strawberries.
9. Coconut Overnight Oats (8 months+)
Ingredients:
1/3 cup rolled oats
1 cup almond milk
1 tbsp chia seeds
1 tsp hemp seeds
1 tsp almond butter
1 tsp desiccated coconut
Pomegranate for toppings
Directions:
Mix all the ingredients well and store in mason jars in the fridge overnight.
Serve with toppings of your choice, (here you see pomegranate seeds) the next day.
10. Oat Pancakes (1 year+)
I love making oat pancakes for the family. These are a big hit with our boy and I am assured he is getting good nutrition as he enjoys them.
This recipe along with 36 snack recipes is available in my eBook, The Easy Toddler Snackbook
11. Banana Smoothie With Oats (1year+)
Ingredients:
1 banana
150 ml cow milk/almond milk/soy milk
2-4 tbsp oats
1 tsp honey
Handful cashews
Directions:
Blitz all the ingredients together in a high-speed blender. Serve chilled as a breakfast option on busy mornings.
12. Mango Oats Porridge (6 months+)
Ingredients:
1/4 cup oats
150 ml coconut milk
½ chopped mango pieces
Directions:
Cook the oats in coconut milk while stirring continuously so that the oats do not stick to the sides. Add chopped mango pieces to the oats as they cook. The oats take about 5 minutes to cook. Once cooked, serve in a bowl and add more mango as toppings and your favorite nuts and seeds powder for added nutrition.
13. Strawberry Oats Porridge (6 months+)
Similar to the mango oats porridge one can make any fruit combination in oats porridge.
Ingredients:
¼ cup oats
150 ml soymilk/almond milk
4-5 chopped strawberries
Directions:
Cook the oats, milk, and strawberries together. Stir continuously and when serving add a tsp of flaxseed powder and 1 tsp almond butter.
14. Apple Cinnamon Oats Porridge (1 year+)
Ingredients:
¼ cup oats
150 ml soy milk/almond/cow milk
½ chopped apple
¼ tsp cinnamon powder
Directions:
Cook the oats, milk, apple, and cinnamon together. Make sure to stir continuously. Once done, serve with some more chopped apples, chopped walnuts, and honey.
15. Oats Upma
Here is a quick recipe for oats upma
16. Oats Idli
We tried this recipe recently and it has quickly become my go-to recipe for busy mornings. We have it without the tempering most times but the idli with tempering is super delicious too.
17. Oats Dosa
Here is an instant oats dosa recipe for you to try.
18. Oat and Peanut Butter Balls (1 year+)
Ingredients:
1 cup rolled oats (coarsely ground)
1 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder
2-3 tbsps peanut butter
2 tbsp honey
Directions:
Combine all the ingredients in a large mixing bowl.
Spoon out small quantities and roll them into ball shapes.
Stays fresh in the fridge for up to 7 days.
19. Tahini Oat Bites (1 year+)
Here is the recipe for tahini oat balls. Your toddler will love these calcium-rich energy balls. Great as a snack box addition for toddlers and preschoolers too.
20. Cranberry Oat Bites (1 year+)
These cranberry oat bites are a superb combination of soft, salty, and sweet flavors.
21. DIY Oats Cereal (1 year+)
If you are in a rush in the mornings, another quick way to enjoy oats is to make your own oats cereal.
In a bowl add lightly toasted rolled oats, raisins, almond flakes, a mix of your favorite dehydrated fruit, a tsp of honey, and milk. Keep the cereal and milk mixture soaking for 15 minutes and then enjoy it.
21. Homemade Granola (1 year+)
If you have more time you can batch-prepare some homemade granola and use it as a breakfast option on busy weekday mornings. Here is a super healthy granola recipe for you.
22. Granola Bar (1 year+)
You can also try these delicious granola bars I make for our son as a snack or lunch box treat. Very easy to make and kids love it. My first choice over chocolate any day.
23. Oats Muffins (1 year+)
Try these healthy oat muffins the next time your child wants something sweet. These are super delicious and so easy to make, great as a packed daycare snack option too.
24. Carrot Cake Oat Cakes
These yummy and unique carrot cake oat cakes were a huge hit with our son. Super delicious and an easy way to add veggies to snacks too.
25. Oats Breakfast Bar
This simple oats breakfast bars recipe packs in the nutrition with oats, apples, peanut butter, and some maple syrup. These are meal-planning friendly and pair perfectly with some yogurt for breakfast.
26. Oats Khichdi
A simple and nutritious oats khichdi recipe for babies
27. Banana Oat Cookies (7 month+)
You can’t get an easier cookie recipe than this one.
28. Savory Oats Bowl
I loved this idea of building a savory oats bowl. It contains a good balance of nutrients and sounds so delicious. I can’t wait to try this one soon.
29. Oats with Mashed Potatoes (6 months+)
Adding oats and potatoes together is an easy-to-digest food combination for a baby. This recipe is great as the first food for babies that packs in nutrients in every bite.
30. Cheesy Broccoli Oats
I have tried a similar recipe combination of oats and broccoli in a savory format and our son loved it. The addition of cheese is definitely going to enhance the flavors here.
Before I end this post I’ll address more questions that come up whenever I share our oatmeal porridge on Instagram stories,
CAN I GIVE OATS TO MY BABY EVERY DAY?
Here I would like to add that the first few years are an important time when a child is getting accustomed to new flavors and foods, why then would we want to restrict our child’s food exposures to just a few foods? Instead focus on adding as much variety as you can to give your child a chance to develop a liking for new foods, flavors, and textures from early on.
Having oats 2 or 3 times a week is fine, use the other days of the week to add other nutrient-dense breakfast options for baby.
Baby-led weaning is a great way to introduce baby to family foods and flavors cooked in baby-appropriate ways.
Adding variety to your child’s diet also helps to catch all nutrients in the most natural way. Giving the child more opportunities to meet his nutrient needs through foods over supplements.
ARE OATS HARD TO DIGEST FOR BABIES?
Oats are a fiber-rich first food for babies and are not hard to digest for babies. In fact, they are good to start baby on when transitioning to solid foods as they have a neutral flavor profile, can be easy to bulk up with a variety of calorie-rich add-ins, and provide satiety.
WHAT CAN I ADD TO OATS FOR MY BABY?
You can add fresh in-season fruits like bananas, apples, pears, berries, and more depending on what is local to you. Besides fruit, you add healthy fats to oats in the form of nut powder for babies, homemade nut butter, eggs, and milk.
There you go,
My hope with this post is that you find some new recipes to add to your existing recipe bank. Let me know if you try any of these oat recipes.
I love cooking with oats because it is such a versatile grain to cook with and so easy to build a variety of oatmeal porridge combinations.
Also, comment below if you have some yummy oat recipes for babies of your own.
