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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Not to let my DD eat cereal?

472 replies

Peridotty · 05/10/2021 19:44

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?

OP posts:
TempNameChangexx · 05/10/2021 23:55

Put some actual fruit into her porridge rather than applesauce which is basically just fructose (i.e. sugar) by that stage....
Maybe chopped up/crushed blueberries, bananas etc.

noblegreenk · 05/10/2021 23:56

Steel cut oats?! 😂

noblegreenk · 06/10/2021 00:02

I also noticed recently that coco pops are one of the lower sugar cereals. Obviously not low sugar like oats are, but really as bad as you'd think. My daughter was thrilled!

saltinesandcoffeecups · 06/10/2021 00:03

Am I the only one wondering what the drama is? You don’t want the nursery breakfast, you send your own.

Are asking if it’s weird, then no, you probably aren’t the only one.
You didn’t mention the the nursery having a problem with this…so nothing to see there.
Now the fact that you are buying your groceries at Whole Foods could be seen as unreasonable, they didn’t get the nickname whole paycheck by accident… and most people would silently judge you for shopping there.

Or is this just another American bashing session…if that’s the case then have at it.

Normandy144 · 06/10/2021 00:05

You are right to try and avoid processed breakfast cereal. The less processed the better as it helps to keep blood sugars steady. So steel cut oats are less processed than rolled oats. Cereal such as Weetabix and shredded wheat are the 'best' of the cereals but still are ultra processed and will send blood sugar soaring so best to avoid. I learnt a lot about so called good cereals when pregnant and developed gestational diabetes and even the good ones had terrible effect on blood sugars so I stay well away from them. Instead my children get eggs, wholemeal toast and nut butter or full fat Greek yoghurt and berries. Keep doing what you're doing OP!

BookFiend4Life · 06/10/2021 00:07

We don't do cereal in our family either, I just don't think it has much nutritional value and, like you, prefer whole grains. I don't have a problem with unsweetened organic applesauce though.

Bagamoyo1 · 06/10/2021 00:13

I thought YWBU until you said you were in America. They even put sugar in bread don’t they?!

nanbread · 06/10/2021 00:20

I don't think all cereals are unhealthy, or at least unhealthier than porridge.

Shredded wheat, puffed wheat, spelt, rice or oats, low sugar muesli, Bircher muesli, are all good choices and not too processed.

Clocktopus · 06/10/2021 00:29

Wheatabix does have sugar in and is actually very unhealthy

You're chatting shite, hen Grin

Weetabix is one of the cereals recommended by BHF, diabetes UK, the NHS, and more. DS dietician recommends it as a preferred cereal (alongside Shredded Wheat and also Ready Brek as it has a huge amount of calcium in it). It is wholegrain which is good for you and is low in salt, fat, sugar, and saturated fat as well as being high in fibre.

Original poster
Peridotty · 06/10/2021 00:40

@Graphista you can buy applesauce with added stuff but the one I buy is 100% organic with only apples. I thought it would be fine since loads of baby foods have apple purée in them anyway and it’s basically the same thing. But I’m not going to give it to her anymore.

OP posts:
Original poster
Peridotty · 06/10/2021 00:41

@Bagamoyo1 you cannot buy sliced bread without sugar. It’s impossible! I have tried. If it’s not sugar, it’s honey or molasses. To get non sugar bread I have to buy baguette or artisan bread.

OP posts:
saltinesandcoffeecups · 06/10/2021 00:52

[quote Peridotty]@Bagamoyo1 you cannot buy sliced bread without sugar. It’s impossible! I have tried. If it’s not sugar, it’s honey or molasses. To get non sugar bread I have to buy baguette or artisan bread.[/quote]
Oh dear I’m not sure you are looking hard enough lots of no sugar options

www.wholefoodsmarket.com/search?text=Bread&diets=sugar-conscious

worriedatthemoment · 06/10/2021 00:55

Do wholewheat cereals have more sugar than the apple sauce you send ?

worriedatthemoment · 06/10/2021 01:03

Could you read the ingredients on the cereals they give ?
But to be honest if your happy sending in breakfast and they are happy to give it then keep doing that as your child so upto you what you feed them

mustlovegin · 06/10/2021 01:09

I give her porridge made of steel cut oats instead with some applesauce

Errmmm oats are cereal Hmm

worriedatthemoment · 06/10/2021 01:10

@Ironi not sure how that works for all my ds1 (18) is nearly 6ft and he has an awful diet ( food avoidance) my second ds eats a very balanced diet and he is a little short
I would still go for healthy diet as my eldeat ds is very very slim and he takes vitamins to try and get some vitamins where as youngest gets it al from food and is generally healthier in terms of illnesses etc

Original poster
Peridotty · 06/10/2021 01:11

@saltinesandcoffeecups oh yes! We used to buy Ezekiel bread. It was so funny it has biblical verses on it.

OP posts:
Original poster
Peridotty · 06/10/2021 01:12

@mustlovegin I mean breakfast cereal. I thought in the U.K. ‘cereal’ just means breakfast cereal (US). I know oats is a type of cereal just like rice is etc etc.

OP posts:
Original poster
Peridotty · 06/10/2021 01:17

@saltinesandcoffeecups

No real problem except the effort it takes to pressure cook the oats and then reheat them, cleaning up etc. The oats aren’t cheap either.
We buy from a combination of Wholefoods, Trader Joes and the market. I agree, Wholefoods is expensive. When I lived in the U.K. I never thought I would be buying my main groceries from them weekly!! But I have almost got used to the expensive prices in the US now. There isn’t that big a difference across supermarkets I find. I live in Boston if that helps. Everything is expensive here.

OP posts:
ElCaMum · 06/10/2021 01:28

Ah the fact that you’re in the US makes your AIBU make so much more sense!
Everything has so much more sugar, even the ‘healthy’ cereals. It’s a mine field to find the healthy stuff.
I would question the apple sauce but equally I’d choose that over the processed sugary cereals that are on offer in the US.

Randomneim · 06/10/2021 01:34

100% depends on the cereal I reckon. Most are processed and crap, but some really unprocessed museli I would put in a different category, though lots of sugar still from the dried fruit.

Randomneim · 06/10/2021 01:35

omg US cereals are MENTAL. they're so fluoro!

GTAlogic · 06/10/2021 02:15

Mine have whatever we buy. It could be shreddies or weetabix or whatever is in the "good" list but then it could be Cocopops or chocolate pillows or similar. They eat healthily the rest of the time (apart from some chocolate or sweets or crisps through the day). No food stuff is banned in our house because I don't want to create issues that aren't there.

GTAlogic · 06/10/2021 02:16

[quote Peridotty]@Bagamoyo1 you cannot buy sliced bread without sugar. It’s impossible! I have tried. If it’s not sugar, it’s honey or molasses. To get non sugar bread I have to buy baguette or artisan bread.[/quote]
Could you bake your own bread?

1forAll74 · 06/10/2021 02:54

Cereal is fine,if it's not the sweet and sugary type. Weetabix has always been a favourite with most children for years.