As mentioned in the Dietary Guidelines for Chinese Residents, the diet should follow the principle of “a variety of foods, cereal-based, coarse and fine”. Eating coarse grains has many benefits, coarse fiber and vitamin B and other nutrients in coarse grains can help the balance of human nutrition, and can also promote gastrointestinal motility to prevent constipation. Many parents also want their babies to eat coarse grains, but they are afraid that the baby’s intestines and stomach are more delicate, so they do not know how big to give their babies to eat and how to do it to their babies. Today we will talk about those things that babies eat coarse grains. What is coarse grain The so-called coarse grain is the whole grain, shelled, no refined whole seeds. Common coarse grains are oats, oat, millet, buckwheat, rhubarb rice, black rice, purple rice, oats, and a variety of beans (red lentils, mung beans, kidney beans). The benefits of eating coarse grains for babies Coarse grains are rich in nutrients, such as dietary fiber, B vitamins, iron, magnesium, zinc, selenium, potassium, calcium, vitamin E, bioflavonoids and so on. Coarse grains not only have these nutrients, but also have some other effects: prevent constipation: coarse grains are rich in dietary fiber, which can promote intestinal peristalsis and help babies prevent constipation. Nutritional adequacy: coarse grains are not refined, rich in vitamins and minerals, nutritional value is much higher than refined white rice and refined white flour. Strong teeth: teeth also “use in and out”, eat more coarse grains, can let the baby’s teeth get exercise. Will coarse grains affect my baby’s digestion? For infants and toddlers within 2 years of age, digestion is not perfect, so if you eat too much mixed grains, especially whole grains, it is not so easy to digest, and coarse grains contain more dietary fiber and phytic acid, if you consume more, it may interfere with the absorption of iron, zinc, etc., especially for babies who eat relatively vegetarian. Therefore, it is not recommended to eat too coarse cereals within 2 years of age. However, it is not that babies and toddlers within 2 years of age cannot eat a little coarse grains. From the time babies start to add complementary foods at 6 months, they can gradually try some whole grains in small amounts, such as millet porridge; around 1 year old, they can try a small amount of mixed grain burritos and whole wheat bread. The American Academy of Pediatrics has the simplest formula for estimating dietary fiber needs at each age, age + 5, for a 1-year-old baby needs about 6 grams of dietary fiber per day. What should I pay attention to when giving my baby coarse grains? 1, slowly increase the consumption of coarse grains Some babies will experience transient abdominal distension and exhaustion after eating coarse grains. Therefore, the amount of coarse grains should be gradually increased from less to more each time to give the baby an adaptation process. The baby who is usually prone to bloating and diarrhea should not consume too much coarse grains. 2, coarse and fine with good nutrition will be coarse and fine grain with cooking, such as a coarse grain plus three to four fine grain, to ensure a more balanced intake of protein, carbohydrates, multivitamins and minerals, better absorption. For example, eight porridge, oatmeal rice, white flour with soybean flour to make small nests, white flour with cornmeal steamed rolls, etc., are very good coarse and fine recipes. 3, pay special attention to the texture of coarse grains In order to avoid harming the baby’s delicate stomach, in the early stage of adding coarse grains should take the method of doing fine, that is, grinding coarse grains into powder, pressed into mud, boiled into porridge or mixed with other foods, in addition to increasing the delicious, but also to improve the absorption rate of nutrients. In addition, it is best to give your baby coarse grains without alkali fermentation to reduce the destruction of B vitamins contained in coarse grains.