Question
Can a 2-and-a-half-month-old baby start eating rice porridge? Can it be fed alongside formula milk? Should the formula milk be mixed directly with the rice porridge when feeding?
Answer
Generally, babies are introduced to solid foods around four to five months old. Offering complementary foods to a baby as young as two months may be premature, as their digestive systems have not fully developed and could lead to indigestion. If you do need to introduce complementary foods and feed rice porridge, you can cook the rice to extract the top layer of clear soup, known as “rice essence,” and then mix it with an adequate amount of formula milk for feeding. You can gradually start offering rice porridge as long as the baby’s bowel movements are normal. However, if symptoms of indigestion occur, you should stop immediately and return to full formula milk feeding before gradually reintroducing the rice porridge.