Cereal monster

[Misty9]

Nearly 21mo ds is developing a serious addiction to cereal.. He loves breakfast and in the last few days will have a couple spoons of his lunch/dinner and then point to the kitchen and protest until he gets his cereal boxes! He'll then either eat it straight from the box, or have some in a bowl with milk.

We don't really know whether to indulge this or to set some boundaries? We tried closing the kitchen door but made no difference, so it's not that he can see the boxes..

Will this be another phase that will pass in other's experience?! It didn't for my 30 yr old brother, who still survives mostly on cereal!

Personally I'd tell him that cereal is just for breakfast and then deal with any tantrum that comes afterwards. Perhaps give him a choice of lunch options ('Do you want toast with ham or cheese?') to distract.

In the greater scheme of things it's maybe not hugely important whether or not he eats cereal for his lunch as well as his breakfast, but personally I'd tackle it just because you want to set boundaries about stuff like this.

Thanks for the response. We've started doing as you suggested in your post and only allowing cereal for breakfast or as a pudding if he eats his lunch/dinner. Unfortunately, often he'll eat nothing in that case! But his appetite has always been very up and down so not too worried.

Anyone else with a cereal monster? Seems to be common among RL friends :)

toddlers are very faddy, it won't last.

Ds1 and ds2 quite often have cereal as a snack, but never instead of lunch or tea.

I normally only buy cereal which has less than 15g of sugar per 100g of cereal, otherwise it is very sugary.

What cereal do you buy?

Try only buying 'boring' cereals ie weetabix, porridge or shredded wheat? Keep them out of sight, or just say they've all gone and you need to get some more when you next go shopping?

Oh they are all very boring! Shreddies, cornflakes and multigrain hoops - all the non brand versions as I find they're much lower in sugar and salt.

He's eating nothing much at the moment and seems a bit under the weather poor thing, so we'll see what happens when he's better.

Ds2 eats hoops as a treat. He loves them, and last time he went through a box in 4 days. But they are nearly 1/5 sugar, as are cornflakes and shreddies , so I don't buy them very often.

Hope your little ones feeling his usual self soon.

Have you tried doing mini platters of food?

A few raisins, a few small cubes of cheese, toast shapes, a couple of slices of red pepper etc

Ds's appetite is tiny - I mean like a handful of cereal if that, so I'm not too worried about the sugar/salt content. Though I do realise hoops are a particular culprit so have already decided not buying those again.

Thanks for advice, platters yes we do those most lunchtimes in a vain attempt to get him to eat anything, any amount!

Children go though fazes of what they will or won't eat. Try not to stress about it. He won't starve himself to death.

Just try to remember that he has got a really small tummy, and if he's drinking milk (mummy or formula) it is quite filling.

I could have written this! Same age, same obsession! He had pasta and a yoghurt for tea last night then half an hour later asked for cereal and devoured two bowls of Rice Krispies. He only gets boring stuff too but at least that's not too bad, and the milk is nutritious, I suppose.