DD won’t eat cereal

[mummymichelle33]

My DD is 15 months old and eats a wide variety of foods, but has never taken to cereal. She’s only tried weetabix so far but refuses to eat it every time! As a result she tends to have toast or porridge for breakfast, but I’d really like to get her eating cereal if I can, if only for the calcium content! Does anyone have any tips?

I just add milk to porridge oats and bung it in the microwave for a couple of minutes. Add some extra milk to cool it down and it's done.

I've hated all cereals my whole life. I have porridge, toast or yoghurt. I don't have any mineral or vitamin deficiencies

I don't blame her, it's all rank apart from sugar puffs

@flowerpootle

I can see everyone is trying to support OP, and I agree it's no drama if her DC doesn't like cereal but can we stop saying it's all crap? It isn't. All bran is a great breakfast and milk provides calcium. Plus it's mega easy.

But OP - I don't actually think you need to do traditional breakfast foods unless he or you want to have them. Also a lot can change at that age.

All bran a "great breakfast"?

In what world is an overly processed cereal that is nearly 20% sugar a great breakfast???

@mummymichelle33

are you giving her instant porridge/ready brek type porridge, or real porridge made with rolled oats?

@LegoCaltrops I give her the Quaker Oats rolled oats porridge, made with whole milk and cooked on the hob - is that “real porridge”? It takes about 12 minutes to make including cooling down time. The instructions don’t mention anything about soaking the oats though!

Why do you think she'll get more milk from cereal than the porridge?

Cereal is not something to be worried about that she doesn’t eat, sugary, over processed quick carbs with cute pictures on the boxes and vitamin signs to trick parents buying it. Porridge and toast much better, add some eggs, banana pancakes?

She's never taken to cereal but has only tried weetabix? So how can you say she doesn't like cereal? There's loads to try.

@BernadetteRostankowskiWolowitz

Make overnight oats if you want convenience. 5x small Tupperware tubs, a scoop of porridge in each, add some mashed fruit if she likes, lid on, leave in the fridge. Use one per day for 5 days.

Do you use the same amount of milk as you would if you were making it the usual way? I’m imagining you’d need more as it has longer to soak it all in?

Do you use the same amount of milk as you would if you were making it the usual way? I’m imagining you’d need more as it has longer to soak it all in.

I've posted a recipe further up the thread

@BunnyRuddington

Do you use the same amount of milk as you would if you were making it the usual way? I’m imagining you’d need more as it has longer to soak it all in.

I've posted a recipe further up the thread

Thank you for pointing that out 😀 I did have a look and it looked yummy. But the lazy part of me is particularly interested in making a bit of effort one night and then having breakfast sorted for 5 days without any more effort, and I don’t think the one you posted would last 5 days with all those ingredients. Really appreciate you pointing it out though and when my daughter is a bit older and I’m therefore less exhausted at night I might put a bit more effort into it then 😂

@StCharlotte

When I had a B&B a lot of American guests had orange juice on their cereal. Maybe try that?

You shouldn't give fruit juice to wee ones.

@SmileyClare

Cereal is a good cheap way to fill up my teenagers who eat me out of house and home! I wouldn't write it off just yet, she's still just a baby. Try cereal again in a few weeks maybe?

It sounds as though you're clued up about a healthy diet. I don't think any food needs to be demonised.

If you're rushing out of the house in the morning and want your dd to eat something quick and easy then (although there are some good suggestions on here) a bowl of cereal is fine. No need to rule it out as unhealthy.

Cereal isn't cheap or filling...

Unless it is porridge

@Jailbreak42

Those saying cereal is terrible, it is actually fortified with a number of things such as iron and folic acid. I think for a young child, cereal is probably actually a better option than porridge.

Try her with something else other than weetabix. I don't like weetabix. It's rank. Anything that's not sugar coated like frosties or coco pops is fine.

It absolutely isn't..

The reason it is fortified,is because it's law, because otherwise it's just crap.

The child can get those vitamins from another (better) source,.like fresh fruit, veggies, meat, tofu etc...

Why do you think she'll get more milk from cereal than the porridge?

@00100001 I don’t - the reason I wanted to introduce cereal was for convenience.

I just add milk to porridge oats and bung it in the microwave for a couple of minutes. Add some extra milk to cool it down and it's done.

@Seeline why on earth have I not thought of adding extra milk after cooking to cool it down quicker? Thank you!

She's never taken to cereal but has only tried weetabix? So how can you say she doesn't like cereal? There's loads to try.

@CatCup True, I just went for Weetabix because it’s the healthiest one (and personally I really like it!) Also from this thread, it doesn’t sound like there are too many more cereals to try if you’re looking for healthy options only, which I obviously am for my DD.

Anyway as I’ve said, I will be sticking to porridge from now on (along with toast, eggs, yoghurt and fruit) as it’s such a healthy option!

You can make porridge in the microwave that takes 2-3 minutes! It turns out really well. www.healthykids.org.nz/eat/recipes/perfect-microwave-porridge

Anyway as I’ve said, I will be sticking to porridge from now on (along with toast, eggs, yoghurt and fruit) as it’s such a healthy option

No overnight oats? I'm going to start a campaign to get your LO some of those overnight oats I posted earlier!

@Ducksurprise

Why? Most Cereal is full of crap, porridge with milk is much better.

This! It’s not an essential food!

Cereal isn't cheap or filling. Unless it's porridge

I'm not sure why cereal is being so demonised on here. As an occasional breakfast it's fine. Let's face it we haven't all got time to whip up banana pancakes and cook eggs every morning.

My teens eat bowls of cereal as a snack. Something like muesli is cheap and contains the holy grail; oats! as well as nuts and seeds. I can buy a huge bag of it in Tesco for £1. I'd rather that then them filling up on biscuits, crisps, jam toast or eating all the cheese out of the fridge as snacks.
Cheerios are basically made of oats, with some added sugar.

A lot of porridge suggestions on here involve adding sugar (fruit, dried fruit, yogurt , honey- all sugar laden). It's silly to label one virtuous and one "crap".

Porridge is better than processed breakfast cereal and made with milk, contains calcium. How about yoghurt with fruit? Cheese omelette?

A lot of porridge suggestions on here involve adding sugar (fruit, dried fruit, yogurt , honey- all sugar laden).

Fruit is good for you though! I mean, we’re meant to eat five portions of fruit and veg a day.

Anyway, glad I posted on here because I don’t know a lot about nutrition. This thread has been an eye opener!

Porridge is much better than breakfast cereal.

Have you tried overnight oats ? No cooking ! Porridge, bit of Greek yoghurt watered down. Frozen cherries in is really nice. You could make it at the beginning of the week and store in the fridge.

Yes fruit is healthy but my point was it's high in sugar. It was in response to pps claiming porridge didn't have added sugar.

I think you should relax a little over your dd's diet Op and trust your own judgment. You sound sensible and understand what a healthy diet comprises of. MN can be very uptight about diet in general.

@SmileyClare apologies I do feel that since having a DC I’ve had to learn a lot about nutrition… and still have a lot to learn!