When introducing solid foods to your vegan baby, many parents often wonder whether it is safe to introduce grains, such as infant cereals, rice, bread, and/or pasta during their feeding journey. 

Many vegan parents that I have spoken to have heard from others that babies can not digest grains and cereals. This leaves vegan parents like yourself feeling a bit hesitant to offer these plant foods and question when is the right time to give grains to their vegan infant. 

While it can be concerning to hear that babies shouldn’t have grains until after 1 or 2 years of age, the truth is that there really is no evidence showing that grains and cereals should be limited or avoided—unless there is a true allergy. If anything, the introduction of cereals and grains bring many nutritional and gut health benefits.
 

What are grains?

Grains are a type of seed that are also known as cereals. They are one type of food group in our plentiful plant-based diet. Types of cereals or grain crops include oat, wheat, rice, rye, maize, millet, sorghum, and teff (1). Quinoa and amaranth are also sometimes grouped into the grain family because of their similar nutritional value but they are primarily referred to as pseudocereals (2).

Can babies digest grains?

Vegan parents often feel a bit overwhelmed in their meal planning at the beginning of their complementary food journey with their infant, this is true whether starting with puree foods or Baby Led Weaning. One of the biggest questions I hear from parents is whether babies can digest grains. 

I remember a vegan parent from India reached out to me and asked if it's true that they should wait to introduce rice to their 9 month old’s vegan diet until the age of 2 years old. This vegan parent shared how they were told babies cannot digest grains and rice shouldn’t be offered in their baby’s diet. 

This caused a lot of stress for this parent, primarily because rice was so central to their cultural cuisine. They didn’t know how to meal plan without rice for their baby and felt worried if any early introduction of rice would harm their 9 month old baby in any way.

It brought a great deal of empathy to hear this vegan parent feeling so concerned at the idea of potentially not sharing an important cultural food with her baby. After all, the beauty of feeding our vegan kids is that we get to share cultural traditions through food. 

Like this parent, if you’re still unsure whether babies can have grains or other types of cereals, I want you to feel reassured that they can. For one, there is plenty of data for why certain cereals, like infant cereal, is among the first foods in complementary feeding in various countries (1).

And this is for several reasons like(1, 2, 3):

• Being an excellent source of energy for growing babies who need calories for proper growth and development

• They provide an array of nutrients, vitamins, and carbohydrates to support their growth

• Great source of iron (when infant cereals are fortified) which they need as breastmilk alone is not a reliable source of iron

• Facilitates an infants microbiome development (or more commonly known as good gut health)

So, if there are benefits to introducing cereals, can babies actually digest grains? A short answer is yes. Babies can digest grains and cereals at the time they begin solid foods, which for most babies, this is around 6 months of age. 

It is believed that a baby’s digestive system isn’t mature enough to be fully ready to digest food like cereals and grains early in their infancy. To date, there’s little evidence that shows that a baby can digest starchy foods from birth (3). What we do know is that many countries recommend the introduction of solid foods at around 6 months of age. This is partly due to the delay in babies being able to produce and secrete pancreatic alpha amylase(3), which is an enzyme that helps with the digestion of starch. Research shows that babies under the age of 6 months have very little production and secretion of this enzyme to be able to digest starchy foods, like cereals and grains.

While alpha amylase is low in young children, there are studies that show infants as early as 60 days “are able to digest thin boiled starch of white waxy sorghum” (3). Studies have also shown that infants between the ages of 4 - 7 months can completely digest meals that include rice and corn (3). 

While babies require time for their digestive system to mature to ‘adult-like’, infants are still able to digest starchy foods at around 6 months of age. It is discouraged for infants younger than 4 months old to be introduced to cereals (2) but they do not need to avoid cereals and grains later on in their infancy once your baby is ready to begin solid foods. 

In short, as long as your vegan baby is ready to begin solids, they are ready to digest starchy foods, such as grains and cereals.

When to introduce grains and cereals to a baby

Babies can begin to have cereals and grains when they are developmentally ready to begin complementary feeding. In these instances, vegan babies can have starchy foods at the time they show signs of readiness. For most families, this is around 6 months of age but in some instances, babies can begin to eat solid foods before they turn 6 months. Always speak with your child’s pediatrician to ensure proper guidance and timing of starting complementary feeding.

Signs of readiness that indicate your baby may begin solid foods include (5): 

• Has good head and neck control 

• Can sit independently without assistance or support

• Seems interested in food by reaching or looking at your own food

• Opens mouth if offered food in spoon 

Recommendations for complementary feeding have changed a lot over the years. For example, in the past, many pediatricians would recommend avoiding certain foods for the purpose of not risking allergic reactions (1) or to add infant cereal to a baby bottle. These recommendations are no longer valid because we have more scientific evidence on proper nutritional guidelines. 

This is a good thing that nutritional recommendations based on scientific evidence is ever evolving because we now know that starting complementary feeding at around 6 months of age is best for an infant to meet their nutritional needs and grow properly. And we know that babies are able to digest starch.

What type of grains can baby have?

There are a variety of grains that are suitable for babies just starting solids. Many families begin with iron-fortified infant cereal because it’s universally recommended as a first food when a baby starts solid foods. This is partly due to infants needing iron as their iron stores are depleted between 4 - 6 months of age and because it’s an adequate texture for infants just starting solid foods. 

However, you do not need to start with iron-fortified infant cereal as the first food for your vegan baby. You can if you want to but it is not a requirement. In this blog post (click here to read), I share other plant foods that are appropriate as a first food for your vegan baby if you’re starting Baby Led Weaning.

While iron-fortified infant cereal is a great option to begin with and I recommend to include it in your vegan baby’s diet, there are other types of grains and grain products that are appropriate for your vegan baby. Here are three that are great to start with:

• Rice (alone or mixed with other foods)

  • Your vegan baby can have long grain rice or short grain rice

  • If you’re concerned about arsenic levels in rice, soak and rinse your rice. Then cook in excess water and drain remaining to eliminate some of the arsenic. Consider choosing white rice over brown rice, if possible, as white rice has shown to have less arsenic levels. 

• Oats (infant cereal or oatmeal)

  • If you’re considering an infant rice cereal, I recommend to opt for one that is oat-based to limit arsenic exposure to your baby. 

  • Try these Baby Led-Weaning Oat Bars (click here for the recipe)

• Wheat (bread, pasta, pancakes)

  • Your baby can have a variety of breads like sprouted grain bread, whole wheat bread or white bread. 

  • Other types of grains products like pasta and pancakes are also suitable for babies, as long as they are they appropriate texture and size for them to eat. 

References

1. Gamage, H. K., Tetu, S. G., Chong, R. W., Ashton, J., Packer, N. H., & Paulsen, I. T. (2017, October 30). Cereal products derived from wheat, sorghum, rice and oats alter the infant gut microbiota in vitro. Retrieved from https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-017-14707-z

2. Klerks, M., Bernal, M., Roman, S., Bodenstab, S., Gil, A., & Sanchez-Siles, L. (2019). Infant Cereals: Current Status, Challenges, and Future Opportunities for Whole Grains. Nutrients, 11(2), 473. doi:10.3390/nu11020473

3. Lin, A. H., & Nichols, B. L. (2017). The digestion of complementary feeding starches in the young child. Starch - Stärke, 69(7-8), 1700012. doi:10.1002/star.201700012

4. R;, Q. E. (n.d.). Starch Consumption Patterns in Infants and Young Children. Retrieved from https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/29762375/

5. Starting Solid Foods. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.healthychildren.org/English/ages-stages/baby/feeding-nutrition/Pages/Starting-Solid-Foods.aspx