Ausimex Baby Oats 500gm, Australia

Product Overview

Ausimex Baby Oats is exactly what the name says — oats, milled fine enough for a baby to manage, in a 500gm pack from Australia. There is no added sugar, no flavouring and no long ingredient list, which is the point of it.

Plain oats are one of the better first cereals. They cook to a soft, smooth porridge in a few minutes, they carry useful fibre, and because they are unflavoured you decide what goes in — mashed banana, a little fruit puree, or nothing at all.

Before You Start Solids

Breast milk is the best food for a baby, and for the first six months it is the only food a baby needs. WHO and Bangladesh’s national infant-feeding guidance both recommend exclusive breastfeeding for six months, then breastfeeding alongside solid food up to two years and beyond.

Complementary food is an addition to milk at around six months, not a replacement for it. Starting solids does not mean stopping breastfeeding.

If your baby is under six months, or was born early, or is not gaining weight as expected, talk to a doctor or a health worker before starting any solid food. They can look at your baby; a packet cannot.

This Is Not a Milk Replacement

An infant cereal is a complementary food. It is fed in addition to breast milk or formula, in small amounts, once or twice a day to begin with. Milk stays the main source of nutrition for the whole of the first year.

Filling a baby up on cereal so they take less milk is a common and serious mistake. If your baby is drinking noticeably less milk after starting solids, cut the solids back and speak to a health worker.

Key Features

• 500gm pack, imported from Australia
• Plain oats — no added sugar, salt or flavouring
• Milled fine for young babies
• Suitable from around 6 months
• Cooks in a few minutes with milk or water
• Goes into anything: fruit, yoghurt, home-cooked baby food

How to Prepare It

1. Wash your hands and use a clean bowl and spoon.
2. Mix roughly one part oats to three or four parts water or milk for a young baby — thinner than adult porridge.
3. Simmer for three to five minutes, stirring, until smooth and soft. Or pour on hot water, cover, and let it stand until it softens.
4. Let it cool. Test on the inside of your wrist before feeding.
5. Thicken the mix gradually as your baby gets older and more confident.
6. Feed fresh and throw away what is left in the bowl.

Introducing a New Food

• Start with one or two teaspoons once a day and build up over a week or two.
• Introduce one new food at a time and wait about three days before adding another. If something disagrees with your baby you then know what it was.
• A baby refusing a new food the first few times is normal, not a verdict. It often takes several tries.
• Watch for a rash, swelling around the mouth, vomiting, diarrhoea or wheezing. Stop the food and get medical help if any of these appear, urgently if there is any difficulty breathing.
• Never leave a baby alone while eating, and always feed sitting upright.

Storage

• Store the pack somewhere cool and dry, out of direct sunlight. Do not refrigerate the dry powder — moisture ruins it.
• Close it tightly after every use, or move it into a clean airtight container.
• Use a dry spoon every time. One damp spoon turns the whole tin lumpy.
• Once opened, most infant cereals are meant to be finished within two to four weeks — check the pack, and do not keep an opened pack to the printed expiry date.
• If the powder smells off, looks discoloured or has hardened, throw it away.

About Imported Packs

This is an imported product. The pack is printed for the market it was made for, so the instructions, the ingredient list and the age guidance may be in another language and may use different measures.

Check the expiry date on the pack when it arrives and follow the pack’s own preparation instructions rather than anything written here — the pack is the authority on its own contents. If anything on it is unclear, message us before you use it.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is it fortified with iron?

Plain oats are not fortified the way a branded infant cereal is. Oats do contain some iron naturally, but if iron is your reason for choosing a cereal, a fortified infant cereal is the product designed for that.

Can the whole family eat it?

Yes. It is ordinary oats, just milled finer. Cook it thicker for adults.

My baby is younger than the age on the pack. Can I still start?

Please don’t, and please ask a doctor first. The age on the pack is about how ready a baby’s gut and swallowing are, not about size or appetite. Solids before six months are recommended only where a health worker has advised it for that particular baby.

How should I store it after opening?

Tightly closed, somewhere cool and dry, and used within the two to four weeks the pack states. Always use a dry spoon. Do not put the dry powder in the fridge.