When it comes to food, you only want the best for your baby. We all know that we are what we eat and our children are no exception to that rule. Babies need a particular set of nutrients and minerals to grow and develop. Mainly, their brains need sustenance to improve as they are learning so much every single day for the first time.
Once your baby is ready to start eating whole foods, you’ll tend to reduce or stop breastfeeding them, or using milk formulas. As a result, it’s necessary that the foods you give them have the ingredients that they need for their growth. However, this isn’t the only factor to consider when you’re purchasing baby cereal.
For as long as we have recorded history, babies have been fed soft rice and grains because they are calorie-dense and easy to prepare. While they don’t include the nutrients and minerals that a baby would get from milk, they need vast amounts of calories each day to grow the muscles, bones, and tissue that they need.
As a result, these cereals are a perfect choice. Doctors and health professionals have been recommending baby grains and cereals since the 20th century and are likely to continue for years to come. As a parent, you know all too well that caring for a baby isn’t easy, which is why grains are fantastic, because they are easy to prepare and feed.
When we were looking at the available products, we considered three primary factors, nutrition, budget, and taste. Every parent knows that these three things matter. You want the best nutrients for your baby, but it also needs to taste good enough that they eat it without kicking up a fuss and it certainly can’t break the bank. Having a baby is expensive enough as it is!
During our research phase, we looked at over a hundred different cereal products to figure out which to look into more deeply. To achieve this, we read as many reviews as possible to get an idea of what parents are looking for and where some brands fall short.
As a result, we’ve been able to narrow the potential list down to only ten options. These ten, we believe, are the best baby cereals on the market for value, taste and nutritional value. Our goal is to allow you to purchase without having to think about it. Hence, we’ve done as much research as possible and summarized it below within our reviews.
Gerber is one of the leaders in the industry and has specialized in creating baby food for many years. Through this honing of their craft, they’ve been able to put together a cereal that is not only good but delicious. Babies seriously crave this stuff, and we can understand why. If banana and strawberry isn’t the best combination, we don’t know what is!
Truthfully, you can be confident that your baby isn’t going to eat this without any fuss. Each box comes with 90 servings, plenty for your baby to eat for at least a couple of months.
The thing we love about this Gerber cereal is that it comes with many of the nutrients and minerals that we know babies need for their development. It’s packed full of iron, which has been shown to help the brain development of newborns. Likewise, they use real fruit in their cereals rather than fake alternatives which are fantastic.
Fruit, in appropriate quantities, can be great for children because it’s full of vitamins and nutrients which can help to ensure they are deficient. As a result, their bodies will be able to function better and more healthily.
You’ll also be happy to know that the grains they use to make the cereal are non-GMO. While some people are comfortable eating GMOs, others aren’t. These concerns might be especially important when it comes to young children whose bodies are still developing and are more fragile than our own.
Having read a large number of reviews, one of the factors that parents love is that it tastes great. Also, they note that it doesn’t cause constipation which is critical for young children because they have little control over their diet and bowel movements.
Perhaps the best thing about these packages is their taste. One of the most popular reviews that we saw was by an adult, who has a physical disability that means they can only eat liquid and soft foods. They said that this food was tasty, which means a lot! Likewise, many parents mention that their kids thought that it was delicious.
Therefore, we’re confident that even if you have fussy children, your baby's will be happy to eat this cereal. Rather than coming in a boxed container, each is individually packaged into a pouch so that you can squeeze it directly into a bowl for your baby to eat. It doesn’t get much easier than this, which is a huge benefit for busy and exhausted new parents.
The ingredients that they use are certified as organic by the USDA, and they also are GMO-free. Each package is individually sealed and doesn’t contain any BPA so that you can be confident that you’re feeding your baby healthy and delicious ingredients that are safe for them.
Designed to be the very first solid food that your baby eats, it’s ideal for mixing with breast milk, formula or even water. It's an organic cereal, so that you can be confident that you know it’s safe for your children. What you might not understand as well are probiotics.
Probiotics are the ‘good’ bacteria that your baby needs. They go into their gut and will help with digestion. Children don’t have the same gut flora that adults do, and therefore probiotics can be incredibly helpful. If your child isn’t having healthy bowel movements or stomach pain, probiotics can help with these symptoms as well as bloating and gas.
It also contains, iron, choline, and calcium. Iron is critical for the brain development of children. Choline is necessary for brain and eye health, both for adults and babies. It’s typically found in eggs and is vital. Each serving also contains 20% of their daily calcium needs, which can help to encourage strong teeth and bone growth which are important.
This product is the second one by Gerber on our list. Unlike the first, this one uses a multigrain cereal. The primary advantage of multigrain is that your baby gets a greater range of nutrients, minerals, and vitamins. The budget and value of these packages in nearly identical to the previous which makes it an affordable and quality option.
Unlike the other package, this one has little to no taste. For some babies, that’s not ideal. While for others, it can make it very easy to consume without any fuss. Each serving also contains a considerable amount of iron, which many reviewers have noted is a huge advantage to them. Iron can help with their learning development during their first few years.
Having been praised by nutritionists across the country, it’s filled with the nutrients that babies need. It contains amino acids, which are the building blocks for proteins. As your baby grows they develop muscle that they need to move around. Amino acids are crucial, and this cereal is packed with them to ensure that your child develops appropriately.
Likewise, it also contains omega 3, 6 and 9. All of these oils are vital for the heart and brain development of your baby. Many of us have far too much omega 6 in our diets from wheat and don’t balance it with omega 3 and 9, which this cereal helps. Each of the packages is individually wrapped. However, this isn’t the cheapest choice, not by a long way!
While not technically a cereal, this formula is a great alternative. It can be mix with a variety of different solid seeds and quinoa. The great thing about this formula is that it’s full of DHA and ARA, is designed to replicate breast milk as closely as possible.
If you are opting to start using cereals as a way to reduce breastfeeding, you should consider swapping to an infant formula like this. It helps your baby to develop because it mimics breast milk by giving your child all of the nutrients that they will need.
Perhaps the biggest negative of this cereal is that it’s quite expensive. If you’re on a budget and can’t afford to pay more for cereal, we wouldn’t recommend this. However, some reviewers noted that it’s the only product their picky children would eat. Therefore, it might be worth trying if your baby cries when you try to feed them other foods!
Each serving contains 45% of the daily iron needs of your baby. Compared to other options, this is very nutrient dense. Likewise, it also uses all natural ingredients like grains and nuts. It’s not the best choice, in our opinion, but it’s an option to consider for picky children and it relatively tasty according to reviewers.
Created using whole grain rice, it’s perfect for babies first solid food. It has no GMOs and is without any potentially harmful pesticides or insecticides. Everything is natural, which is why they call it Earth’s Best. However, this package has a large number of negative reviews.
Many people have repeatedly complained about the packages being past their “best before” or “use by” date upon delivery. One person even complained about bugs in their package. For this reason, we are not willing to recommend this product to anybody. Instead, if you want to give it a try, buy it from a store rather than online.
When you’re considering a range of different cereals, you need to look closely at the grains. Not all are alike, and some have greater nutritional value than others. Likewise, you need the cereal to taste good so that your baby craves it and looks forward to meals, rather than making it a challenge for you when you barely slept the night before! Consider these factors:
We get it, which is why we factored in taste heavily to our research. The best cereals will be packed with calories so that your baby can get everything that they need. These cereals don’t have to be only for the morning. To ensure this, look at the nutritional information on the back and compare to the diet and calories that your doctor recommends.
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