I just got a serious telling off from my doctor’s receptionist (his wife, who is also a nurse). She called to discuss Mika’s upset tummy and asked me what I was feeding her. My response: Breast milk and baby rice. She asked: Baby rice? From a packet? I said: Yes. From a packet.

She was horrified. Do I not have time to cook some rice? Would I feed myself dehydrated and packaged plain rice for lunch? Why on earth was I not making it myself? She said my name over and over as if it would help get the message across: Pamela! Why are you not cooking her rice yourself? Pamela? Why not Pamela? And I suddenly felt very silly.

Truth is, I’ve been quite confident when it comes to preparing vegetables and fruit for Mika, but rice just seemed…too hard. I didn’t even really like the idea of serving Mika rice at all. But when this tummy bug hit and everyone said to feed her rice, I just figured the prepackaged baby stuff would do the trick. Easy.

But as I stood over the stove heating up some real rice for Mika today, I cringed in hindsight. First of all – brown rice is much better than white rice. Brown rice naturally has more vitamins (B1, B3 and B6), iron and essential fatty acids. No need for the iron-fortified packet stuff. Secondly, it is so freaking easy to make. So easy that I am going to share with you the process.

Brown Rice Porridge with Fennel (a natural colic reliever)

• Brown rice (I use Ceres Organics Basmati Brown)
• Fennel seeds
• Water

1. Using a coffee grinder, grind up some brown rice with a few fennel seeds until you get about 1/4 cup of fine powder.
2. Boil 1 cup of water. Add 1/4 cup of powder and whisk for about 10 minutes (turn the heat to simmer)
3. Let cool and serve.

This actually makes quite a lot. It will refrigerate for 2 days in an airtight container or freeze for a couple weeks. Alternatively (and preferably) make all the powder but only cook what you need. Store the powder in an airtight container in the pantry where it will keep for a couple months. 10 minutes each day to cook up some baby rice is nothing too daunting in my opinion.

This girl agrees: