Rice Breakfast Porridge
Ali Segersten
We have a newborn baby in the house now, and that means our meals have changed a little. A few weeks ago, our sweet new baby girl, Camille, arrived peacefully in our home by candlelight…a successful VBAC at home! Our children were all there to witness her birth, though we couldn’t quite wake our 3-year-old twin boys to be fully present. I put myself on a mildly restrictive breastfeeding elimination diet once she was born to help ease the transition into life outside the womb.
Newborn babies have such delicate digestive systems up until around three months of age. Compounds in certain foods can cause fussiness and crying, excess gas, and even skin rashes in the breastfeeding baby.
Luckily, it’s really simple to just remove the most common offending foods from your diet at birth—or before—to help keep baby calm and happy. I actually removed any dairy I was eating a few weeks before she was born, as it can take up to a month for dairy to fully clear your system. Dairy—specifically the casein protein—is often the cause of many digestive and skin issues in newborns.
Our sweet baby girl has been sleeping through the night since she was a few days old and is a very peaceful, happy baby…just like our first daughter, Lily. She’s had a few bouts of fussiness—you know the kind where they’re really uncomfortable and want to nurse and then cry, and then nurse and then cry, and so on. I realized those were the days I had eaten a lot of citrus. Testing it one more time to be sure, we found that this is the one food I simply cannot eat right now.
I haven’t tested all the common offenders—such as dairy, cruciferous vegetables, or raw garlic—and, in fact, I would suggest not testing those three foods for many months. I can eat cooked onions, a little cooked garlic, and tomatoes…oh, we’ve been enjoying tomatoes in all sorts of recipes lately, thank goodness!
Baby Camille, 3 weeks old, with big sister Grace!
I did a great post a year or so ago on Nourishing the New Mom, which includes a list of foods to eat and avoid during the postpartum period. You can refer to that for more information. Below is a short list of the most common foods that breastfeeding babies can react to. I suggest avoiding all of them at the time of birth, and then—if you’re feeling ready—slowly challenge each food every four days, similar to our Elimination Diet protocol.
Please note that some babies require mom to follow a much stricter elimination diet, typically removing most foods and sticking only with rice, millet, quinoa, chicken, turkey, yams, squash, salad greens, olive oil, and sea salt for two weeks. From there, you can begin to slowly add back in foods like nuts and seeds, other mild fruits and vegetables, and finally, the foods listed below—one at a time—to help identify the source of baby’s discomfort.
Foods that most often cause issues in the breastfeeding baby:
- dairy (including goat and sheep)
- eggs
- raw onions and garlic (sometimes cooked can also aggravate babies)
- citrus
- tomatoes
- a lot of acidic fruit
- peanuts/peanut butter
- chocolate
- soy
- wheat/gluten
- some cruciferous vegetables (broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage)
- caffeine
Rice Breakfast Porridge
I have always craved rice porridge for breakfast after all of my babies have been born, and sometimes even as a bedtime snack. Rice cereal is a perfect postpartum recipe that seems to help promote the production of breast milk that is easy on a newborn baby's newly functioning digestive system. Rice porridge can be made out of any brown rice but our favorite is Brown Jasmine Rice. You can try brown basmati, sweet brown rice, short grain, or even black rice if you desire. I like to top my bowl with a little coconut sugar, ground raw almonds, and fresh nectarines or peaches, or frozen blueberries!
Optional Toppings
- Place the rice into a coffee grinder or high-powered blender and grind into a very fine meal, not as fine as flour, but not too coarse either. I use the dry container of my Vitamix to grind the rice, and then the almonds for the topping.
- Place the water into a 3-quart saucepan and heat over medium heat until warm. Pour in the ground rice, whisk together immediately. Turn heat up and bring cereal to a boil, stirring constantly.
- Once boiling, reduce heat to medium or medium-low. Cover and simmer for about 10 minutes. Remove lid and whisk cereal occasionally, adding more water if necessary depending on desired thickness. Cook for a few more minutes then remove from heat. Cereal will thicken as it cools.
- Scoop into serving bowls and top with your favorite toppings.
Use this recipe in our Meal Planner
About the Author
Alissa Segersten, MS, CN
Alissa Segersten, MS, CN, is the founder of Nourishing Meals®, an online meal-planning membership with over 2000 nourishing recipes and tools to support dietary change and better health. As a functional nutritionist, professional recipe developer, and author of The Whole Life Nutrition Cookbook, Nourishing Meals, and co-author of The Elimination Diet, she helps people overcome health challenges through food. A mother of five, Alissa understands the importance of creating nutrient-dense meals for the whole family. Rooted in science and deep nourishment, her work makes healthy eating accessible, empowering thousands to transform their well-being through food.Nourishing Meals Newsletter
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