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Rice for babies: when and how?
From the start of solids at around 6 months you can offer rice. The way you prepare it decides. Boiled soft and mashed as a porridge.
Everything here comes from the food catalogue inside the HeyFini app: the traffic light, how to prepare it at 6, 9 and 12 months, and the source behind every safety statement.
With limitsallowed, but preparation decides
What you need to know
Sources: the German BfR.
How to prepare it, by age
All three stages stand side by side. We don't know how old your child is, so read the stage that fits you.
At 6 months
Boiled soft and mashed as a porridge. Alternate with oats or millet, not rice every day.
From 9 months
Soft-cooked, sticky rice in small heaps to grasp.
From 12 months
Eaten as a side dish. Keep alternating and no rice every day.
Sources: WHO and UNICEF on texture stages, ESPGHAN 2017 on the lumpy-food window in months 8 to 10 and the German BfR.
This page gives general information and does not replace medical or dietetic advice. Every child develops differently. When in doubt, talk to your paediatrician or a registered dietitian.
The ages are rough guides. What counts is not the calendar but what your child can already do with mouth and hands.
A tip from everyday life
Boiled soft, rice is perfectly fine. But alternate with oats, millet or semolina and do not make it the daily staple. The BfR warns about arsenic.
The five safety rules
- Quarter round food lengthwise. Grapes, cherries and cherry tomatoes never go on the plate whole.
- Cook hard food soft or grate it finely. Raw carrot and raw apple break into hard pieces otherwise.
- Nuts are never whole, only as a butter or finely ground.
- Eating happens sitting upright, never lying down and never on the move.
- Stay with your baby while they eat. Choking happens silently.
Sources: AAP, the German BfR and Netzwerk Gesund ins Leben. All dangerous foods at a glance
All 234 foods in the app
HeyFini shows the preparation that fits your own child's age, plus the food passport and the allergen companion for all 14 main allergens.
Common questions
When can my baby eat rice?
As soon as solids are under way, so at around 6 months. Boiled soft and mashed as a porridge. Alternate with oats or millet, not rice every day.
What do I need to watch out for with rice?
According to the BfR, rice can contain traces of arsenic. Alternate with other grains, no rice porridge every day.
What changes with rice from 12 months?
Eaten as a side dish. Keep alternating and no rice every day.
Is there a trick for preparing it?
Boiled soft, rice is perfectly fine. But alternate with oats, millet or semolina and do not make it the daily staple. The BfR warns about arsenic.
Read on
General guidance, not medical advice. For questions about your child, talk to your paediatrician or midwife. In an emergency call your local emergency number (112 in the EU, 999 in the UK, 911 in the US).