which cereals do you give and at what age?

[hellosailor]

My 16 month went off porridge at breakfast ages ago and has been having toast for months, but doesn't want to eat toast at the moment (possibly related to her father having introduced her to the concept of shreddies!)

I gave her shreddies this morning and have possibly never seen her so excited, but was just wondering at what age others started giving cereals and which ones? Shreddies, cheerios etc?

The ones that are desirable to a toddler like shreddies are all packed with sugar and salt aren't they? But I can't imagine her greeting a bran flake with the same enthusiasm as met the shreddies!!

Is 16 months a bit early for the amount of sugar in cereals? (obviously I'm not putting sugar on top!)

[womanofdulwich]

I think cheerios have a lot of sugar in - as do 90% of breakfast cereals.I managed to keep my eldest son on porridge but my youngest son had every sugar cereal possible as he was never hungry in the morning and I tried everything.

BRan flakes- if I can't eat them I dont expect my children to - Fruit and fibre is nicer but I suspect its full of sugar too.

[duchessofdulwich]

Mini weetabix? Not sure what the sugar content is like though??

[fapl]

If they are still in nappies keep them off bran. My 2 year old loves bran, we have had to ban the bran! If he is lucky we will sprinkle a few flakes on top of another cereal to keep him happy. All the bran passes through their system undigested and sticks to their bum when you try and wipe it, really difficult to clean.

I always thought regular plain crispies, cornflakes and weetabix were all ok. Full size weetabix is ok, the milk makes it soggy and they can break it up, I think the mini ones aimed at children are loaded with sugar. Made that mistake with some mini weetabix once, they were ridiculously sweet.

[jollymummy]

My 3 year old son demands shreddies (original) almost every day, I put a dollop of apple puree on top and he loves it. I caught him feeding a soggy shreddie to my 12 month old and she too loves them. I also feed them Weetabix again with apple puree on top, my dtr has this almost every day. Porridge is a hit too as long as the apple puree is added!

I always thought full size Weetabix and Shreddies were low in salt and sugar but I could have it all wrong.

[hellosailor]

thanks all, had totally forgotten about weetabix, which she has had and liked, will get some more today!

[Indiana]

My daughter has had weetabix since about 1 - adult size - and she often likes having raisins with it which helps 'sweeten' it I guess. We had the min-bix on holiday last week and agree - they don;'t need any sugar so my assumption was they are loaded with it already!

[slh2009]

There's also Oatibix which goes down well here with almost 19 month old....

[cashewnut]

We've given our little one normal weetabix and ready brek from around 6 months. Sometimes we add pureed fruit to the ready brek. My other half has some professional expertise in this area so I'll ask him about others - I know he's told me in the past that some of the stuff you'd think is fine is actually terrible.

[gebbjane]

Mini shredded wheat are a hit with my toddler, no added sugar.

[jennyh]

Always weetabix here as mine went off porridge like yours. She sometimes has it warmed a bit, occasionally with a blueberry or two floating around. At nursery I think they give rice krispies sometimes as well but usully stick to weetabix.

[KateW]

Everything in moderation, I reckon. DD (19 months) has been on Weetabix with stewed fruit since about 9 months, but recently we alternate it with Shreddies, both of which she loves. Then toasted muffins with butter and smidge of jam before we got out in the morning. Yum.

Thinking back, my Mum (who is a fab cook, super healthy eater etc etc) used to give us warm Ribena when we had woken up (as toddlers) then we had Frosties! We must have bounced out of the house on a sugar high!

[SBot]

My 2year old has a mixture, so half a weetabiz, handful of cheerios, handful of rice crispies. Ready brek always a favourite with mashed banana in.

Bran flakes are coated in sugar and honey! Mini shredded wheat with the fruit filling she likes too! I do read the ingredients on some of the cereals, strawberry flavoured sugar puffs, now what on earth is in them!!

At the moment we have crunchy bran, looks like cat food but she loves them.

I really found mixing the cereal much more exciting! And chopped fruit in too!

[Fuschia]

Lots of the cereal you think is ok is very sugary - rice crispies for eg

Only weetabix, porridge and shredded wheat are not high in sugar

But it's all a question of moderation I think and trying to discourage too sweet a tooth

[lucyA1308]

Petit filous is also a favourite in our house. Sometimes if I have made muffins, they get a treat of a muffin for breakfast, but other than that weetabix or crispies or toast.

[sunbob]

With our daughter we stuck to mini shredded wheat till well over a year old then moved to weetabix which we haven with son now we are not quite so strict and are already mixing in weetabix at 7 months.

By the way on bran. I don't know about bran flakes but All Bran (the little sticks) are absolutely packed with sugar. I once used some in a cake recipe and checked the packet.

[etta166]

The great thing now is that it is easy to find the information on the package (look on the side for the information per 100g of cereal - then you just have to decide how much sugar is too much). Things like AllBran and Bran Flakes have LOADS of sugar added.

I remember being given FrootLoops as a child, only for my very strict mother to try them one day and be horrifed by how sweet they are!

For what it's worth, my 15m and 2yo have generic shreddies and cheerios from time to time, but not every day. I have even been known to buy the multipacks of sugary cereal to take on holidays with us... The rest of the time it is porrige or toast (no jam).