Not to let my DD eat cereal?

[Peridotty]

My 16 month old goes to nursery 5 days a week. We pay for her breakfast, lunch and snack (included in the fee). However, I don’t like the thought of her eating cereal so we provide the breakfast and the snack. I don’t think it’s very healthy, even though it’s a wholewheat type cereal. I give her porridge made of steel cut oats instead with some applesauce. Would you be ok with feeding your kids cereal?

The nursery I work in offer rice krispies, cornflakes,weetabix, porridge and cherrios (only for older kids)

I agree with you since you said you're in the US. They have different, more obfuscating ways of labelling food for one.

I think a little applesauce is fine to sweeten it up - I assume you're making your own? Sorry I might have missed where you said that - although she might like it with cinnamon and cream instead. Berries are also good, sweet but much lower GI.

I'd be ok with a muffin once a week if she's getting something 'healthier' every other day. Mine used to have Weetbix a lot, sometimes with fruit and sometimes not. They down them in sugar or honey nowadays though so I'm not sure how successful I was with giving them good habits!

At one point dd only ate cheerios and chicken nuggets, she's at a top university now. I really wouldn't worry about low sugar cereals

A small bowl of shreddies and milk is about 100 cal and a small bowl of weetabix around 50 so neither are really bad.

It's not about the calories. Children need plenty of calories. They just don't need to be getting them from sugar and highly-processed carbohydrates. Highly processed , sugary, high carb foods are bad for anyone. Why start your tiny child on them?

so a pile of wheat, at least it gets their brains wired up for insulin spikes for life.

If you're happy and nursery is happy with the set up what's the problem?

I'm personally wouldn't worry. My daughter has bagels at breakfast club and pudding most of the time at school and she isn't overweight and is thriving. I'm grateful the school feeds her and it saves me a job!

@gogohm

At one point dd only ate cheerios and chicken nuggets, she's at a top university now. I really wouldn't worry about low sugar cereals

wins most ludicrous comment on MN.

Does anyone know what steel cut oats actually are?

My 10 month old and 2.5 year old love cereal. We do weetabix with blueberries , sometimes shredded wheat instead.

Wheatabix does have sugar in and is actually very unhealthy,sorry most people don't understand what foods are bad, only think about sugars that isn't the only bad ingredient, I wouldn't let my older children eat cereal let alone my baby so yanbu

But to be honest, the recipes for what looks like the same product are sweeter in the USA. Unless you are making your own applesauce I would avoid too, it's full of junk (we lived in the USA)

My DD pretty much lives on special k …

Never though cereal as a problem? (Provided not high sugar)

Cereals were so much better back in the day when you got free gifts . Why do miserable people spoil everything for kids

Wheatabix does have sugar in and is actually very unhealthy

Yeah, I mean you might as well give a wham bar and a can of red bull for breakfast

Cereals were so much better back in the day when you got free gifts . Why do miserable people spoil everything for kids

I know, right?

@Learnthroughplay3

Wheatabix does have sugar in and is actually very unhealthy,sorry most people don't understand what foods are bad, only think about sugars that isn't the only bad ingredient, I wouldn't let my older children eat cereal let alone my baby so yanbu

Do you actually have any older kids? Man your going to have a fit of the vapours when they are teenagers and able to access a shop

There are low sugar cereals in the US. Weetabix are expensive here, but plain shredded wheat is quite low in sugar. What child wants to eat bran flakes? That’s cereal for wrinklies!

Porridge oats are cereals. Applesauce is sugary stewed apples especially if shop bought.

@gogohm do you not realise that kind of food causes health problems down the line?? I find so many people so concerned about education not health, what use is having a good career when you get cancer etc we are taught the wrong foods are ok for us and without research people just eat without a thought because its the norm but you could educate yourself on health.

@Learnthroughplay3 so educate us. Why is Wheatabix so unhealthy?

@mswales

Does anyone know what steel cut oats actually are?

They're just whole oats, not Ready Brek type.

Wheatabix 😆

You can buy ordinary oatmeal and applesauce without added sugar in the States. I do so all the time at Walmart.

I find so many people so concerned about education not health, what use is having a good career when you get cancer etc

I've yet to see evidence pointing to a strong correlation between cornflakes and cancer

When I lived in America as a child (late 00s) we were regularly fed jam doughnuts at school for breakfast 😂 I’d 1000% avoid whatever nursery is serving based on this information alone. Imagine if a primary school was feeding young children jam doughnuts for breakfast on a weekly basis in the UK, the protests