Cerelac is one of the most talked about baby food every where in this world. It is one of the kids favourite meal and is packed with a whole lot of nutrition. Now, the question here arises how to start your baby with Cerelac or any other semi solid food for that matter and to simplify things for you cerelac stages are defined. These stages are categorised age wise. So in this article, you’ll find answer to these questions:
- What are Cerelac’s key ingredients?
- What are Cerelac stages?
- When is it recommended to be started?
These are a few questions that arises in each first time parents mind. So let’s try to solve some of the major concerns revolving around Cerelac.
What are Cerelac’s key ingredients?
Cerelac is a baby food supplement product manufactured by nestle. They have a whole range of variety in this name genre. Starting from just rice or wheat there is a whole range of ingredients added to it like fruits, dates honey etc depending upon the cerelac stages of it.
What are Cerelac stages?
Now, the biggest question arises here when exactly to start feeding your baby with cerelac?
To ease your worry cerelac has come up with different stages which are ideal for different ages of the infant. Like,
Cerelac Stage 1
Cerelac stage 1 can be started right from the sixth month of the baby’s age. You get different choices in it too. There is Cerelac with simple rice, Cerelac with simple wheat flavour, also Cerelac wheat and apple flavour too. Go for Cerelac stage 1 is ideal for 6 – 8 months babies.
Cerelac Stage 2
This stage is for 8th month to 10th month. As the baby grows so does their taste buds. Cerelac stage 2 has a whole variety of flavours added to it like wheat apple cherry, wheat orange, rice vegetable, wheat honey. The sweet taste of these flavours and the chunks of fruit ingredients makes the infants taste bud go bananas over the taste. So as soon as your baby enters this age frame, Cerelac Stage 2 must become their ideal food.
Cerelac Stage 3
This stage is ideal for babies above 10th month of age. Cerelac stage 3 brings in a lot more complicated and intense flavours to the table. Ranging from wheat honey dates, ragi apple, wheat rice mix fruit. The more the flavours the more would be the fun to have them. Babies just love these combination and yes they are very nutritious too. Go for Cerelac Stage once your baby crosses the age of 10 months.
Cerelac Stage 4
This stage is for kids who have already started having solid adult food. So cerelac stage 4 is a bit challenging to be accepted by the kids. So they have flavours that are like normal adult food. Cerelac stage 4 is ideal for kids one 1 – 2 years. They have flavours like multigrain with fruits, khichdi with ghee, multigrain dal veg, multigrain and fruits.
So, now we have seen the buffet that Cerelac serves with each stage moving on to the intense part, how good is Cerelac for the baby?
Pros of Cerelac
- Ideally cerelac is a complimentary nutrition supplement for the baby along with mother’s breast milk. The get additional vitamins, iron and calcium from it and it beneficial for them.
- It is very quick and hassle free to prepare and infants love their various flavours. It is easy to dogest and doesn’t upset the baby’s delicate tummy.
- The smooth, semi solid porridge like structure of the meal makes it a perfect feed for the baby they wont have any hazard of choking or gaging.
- It’s a perfect travel companion parents can give the kids a wholesome perfect meal while on the go.
- There are no harmful preservative or food colours added to it.
Cons of Cerelac
- Along with the other ingredients cerelacs few stages have an additional sugar content to it, to make it even more sweeter to taste. Too much sugar may not be an ideal meal choice for babies.
So now according to WHO the ideal time for a baby to start with the semi solids is after the baby turns six months old. Till then the baby needs to be exclusively on breast milk. But according to American Paediatric Association if the baby shows signs of wanting other food apart from breast milk, like he gets excited by looking at the adult food, starts drooling or salivating too much on the sight of food, so around 4 – 6 months one can start slowly introducing the baby to semi solids. But, one needs to keep in mind that the baby should be able to hold the head properly and must be able to sit straight at least with support. This would be the perfect sign to start meals for the baby. Also, one must remember that breast milk is the ideal nutrition source for the baby so we should keep providing the child with that too.
How is Cerelac stage 1, Cerelac Stage 2, Cerelac stage 3, Cerelac stage 4 prepared?
- Wash your hands thoroughly before preparing any food for the baby.
- Make sure the container that you are preparing the food in is sterilized. Also the storage container for cerelac should also be sterilized.
- Now, in a vessel take a few cups of water and bring it to boil.
- In the feeding bowl take scoops of cerelac powder exactly as mentioned in the box, the water and the powder should be exactly the same as given on the box, do not take extra powder or extra water. It might lead to faulty preparation.
- After the water is boiled perfectly keep it aside to cool into luke warm temperature.
- Add the water to the powder of cerelac and keep stirring till you get porridge like texture.
- While introducing your baby to cerelac for the first time make sure that the baby js placed in a proper sitting position, he isn’t in a cranky mood. Be prepared for a mess and bit of wastage for a few times while introducing new food. Be very patient while feeding your baby. See to it that he is swallowing the food properly and not gaging on it.
So folks this was a brief insight about cerelac, its stages and feeding procedure on the whole. I hope it clears most of the doubt if you still have any queries please post it on our facebook page. Also, if you need home made cerelac recipes please comment the same.
Happy parenting !!!