Want advanced access to my weekly Chewsday Reviews?

Every Tuesday morning receive the latest Chewsday Review delivered directly to your inbox.

Bellamy’s Organic Baby Rice with Prebiotic (GOS) | Chewsday Review

I always get some conflicting feedback from my baby rice cereal reviews, with some opposed to using it as a first food and some wanting more reviews to compare what’s on the market. As a paediatric dietitian who supports both puree and baby-led weaning approaches to introducing solids, I’ll happily review another baby rice cereal for those interested. If you prefer not to use rice cereal, that’s absolutely fine! You decide what works best for you and your family. For those who do like to use baby rice cereal, or those unsure, read on to find out more about Bellamy’s Organic Baby Rice with Prebiotic (GOS). For you avid readers, this one is similar to Bub’s Organic Rice Cereal.

Ingredients

Organic Rice Flour (95%), Organic GOS (from milk) (3%), Organic Vegetable Oil, Mineral Iron, Vitamin C, Rosemary Extract.
Prebiotics feed the good bacteria in our gut. In this product, the prebiotics are GOS (Galacto-Oligosaccharides), which are naturally found in milk. Grains, fruits and vegetables are also a good source of prebiotics.
I’m not particularly sure why the organic vegetable oil and rosemary extract have been added, but both are fine for your bub to have.
These ingredients are certified organic, but remember this doesn’t mean they’re any more nutritious than non-organic ingredients.
Allergens: Contains milk.

Positives

This product contains a good amount of iron, which is critical for your baby’s brain and immune system development. At about 6 months of age, babies no longer have sufficient iron stores, and breast milk or infant formula can no longer provide enough iron for their growing bodies. In fact, a baby’s iron requirements are higher between 7-12 months than they are during later childhood. A 14g serving of this cereal mixed with 120mL of water provides 26% of a baby’s iron requirements. Given that babies only ingest very little food (especially compared to what ends up everywhere else!) at the start, this is an easy way to include iron.
There’s no added salt or sugar.
Fat, sugar and salt are within healthy guidelines.

Negatives

Rice cereal is super bland, which isn’t necessary for babies. It’s fine to offer a range of tastes right from the start, so I’d recommend adding rice cereal directly into fruit and vegetable purees to add a source of iron (rather than offering rice cereal on its own.)
Although ‘per serve’ there appears to be a good amount of iron, the serving size (14g of cereal mixed with 120mL of water) of this product is essentially 3x the amount of a serve of Bubs Organic Rice Cereal (5g of cereal mixed with 40mL of water). When we look at iron per 100g, this product only has 2.2mg, which is less than half the amount of Bubs Organic Rice Cereal (5mg per 100g). This product is still an easy high-iron food, but if more food ends up on your bub than in their mouth, you may want to go for Bubs Organic Rice Cereal.
There’s been some panic about arsenic levels in rice products, so let me clear some things up for you. In a quick summary, all rice can absorb arsenic (a heavy metal) from soil/water (where arsenic naturally occurs, or occurs from pollution). Some areas in the world (e.g., Bangladesh) have higher levels of arsenic contamination than others, but the levels occurring in Australian foods (including rice) are relatively low. Our Food Standards organisation reviews these levels and has indicated no need for concern if your baby eats a range of foods. There would be a risk if your baby had rice formula/milk, rice cakes, rice crackers, rice and rice cereal EVERY day, but this is pretty unlikely. So, if you offer your baby a variety of foods, then rice cereal is completely safe to include in your bub’s diet.

Marketing

Alternatives

Even though this product doesn’t have as much iron as Bubs Organic Rice Cereal, it’s still a good option to add to first foods because it’s a ready source of iron, which is the most important nutrient in the first 6 months of introducing solid foods.
Feel free to mix with other foods like fruit or veggies- which will have an added benefit of higher iron absorption thanks to the presence of vitamin C. If you’re intent on only doing baby-led weaning (without offering purée), then you could use this cereal to replace a small amount of flour in pikelet/muffin style foods, or buy a self-feeding spoon for your bub to practice with.
I’d also recommend including other high-iron foods as your baby develops the skills, like puréed meat, slow cooked meat, lentils, fish and Weet-bix.