Best Baby Cereal
Today’s goal is to equip you with every bit of knowledge you could ever need to choose the best baby cereal on the market. This is going to allow you to kick start your infant’s development in the most effective way possible as soon as they’re ready for solid food types. With all of the different cereal options available, it’s easy to understand how so many parents can feel daunted and confused when trying to select one.
Luckily for you, not only are we going to tell you how to shop for the most effective and safe varieties, but we’re also going to give you a list of five of the absolute best products available in this category to make your life easier. Don’t go anywhere else, we’ve got everything you need right here to make the safest choice for your baby’s cereal needs.
How Did We Pick the Best Baby Cereal?
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Best Overall
Gerber Single-Grain Oatmeal Baby Cereal
Key Features
- Single grain for maximum purity, the only ingredient is oatmeal plus vitamins C, E
- Gerber is the number one paediatrician recommended brand
- 2 servings gives 90% of your baby's daily iron needs
- Used by hundreds of thousands of satisfied parents
Why It is Better?
- Great value 6-pack
- A large array of additional vitamins and minerals are included
- Recommended for total peace of mind
- Created by a well-trusted, highly reputable brand
- Why Do You Need a Baby Cereal?
- How to Pick the Right Baby Cereal
- Top 5 Best Baby Cereals
- 1. Gerber Single-Grain Oatmeal Baby Cereal
- 2. Healthy Times Organic Whole Grain Barley Baby Cereal
- 3. Earth’s Best Organic Infant Cereal, Whole Grain Oatmeal
- 4. Happy Baby Organic Probiotic Baby Cereal with Choline Multi-Grain
- 5. Nestle Cerelac Wheat with Milk
- Frequently Asked Questions
- Conclusion
Why Do You Need a Baby Cereal?
Baby cereal products cater for the crucial stage of a baby’s development where they switch from liquid food types to solids. This is a scary time for many parents because there’s so much scope to get this aspect of their nutritional intake wrong, and if you do, it can carry some fairly dire consequences.
Cereals that have been formulated exclusively for infants, provided they’re a top quality product, will provide a multitude of benefits for your child in a convenient all-in-one solution. There are several requirements that you need to meet when it comes to making the move to solid food, and most importantly of all are those of your infant’s energy needs and providing enough to sustain them.
However, because no two children are the same and one digestive tract can differ enormously from another, it’s crucial that you provide this energy in a way that won’t harm them. Non-allergenic products are without doubt the safest way to do this. Because the range of food types is so limited for an infant at this early stage, they also need to have access to an abundance of vitamins and minerals through their limited nutritional resources. This is where a cereal can shine through as a viable one-stop solution to meet this end.
The leading products are fortified with additional health-boosting properties with ingredients that are high in both vitamins and minerals while sometimes even offering bonus features like probiotics for digestive health. Regardless of your baby’s needs, there is absolutely a highly-effective formula out there to meet them conveniently and safely within this diverse product category.
How to Pick the Right Baby Cereal
A huge part of finding the best baby cereal to suit your infant’s needs is ensuring that the benefits that it offers are right for your child. You can’t take a one-size-fits all approach, which is why we’re now going to break down the main areas of comparison for you to draw on when browsing through products in this category.
- Organic: As a rule of thumb, anything that’s good for an adult concerning purity is also good for a baby for the same reasons. Organic food is one area in particular that has enormous benefits for anyone of any age. Choosing an organic option means that it’s less likely to have any unwanted additives or filler ingredients. The purer the better because this means that your baby will reap maximum benefits without anything unnecessary being thrown into the mix that may negatively impact their digestive system.
- Vitamins and minerals: Cereal products engineered for infants should ideally contain additional vitamins and minerals. It’s completely fine to go for an option that doesn’t if you’re supplementing your child via other means (for instance, a specific vitamin and mineral supplement formulated for a baby) and you just want something basic. Outside of these circumstances, however, it doesn’t make sense not to get something that provides enhanced benefits in these areas.
- Ingredients: Whether it’s the best rice cereal for babies, an oat based option, or even a multi-grain variety, everything that your product contains should be completely natural, wholly beneficial, and safe. This means little to no additives unless they’re in the form of something that’ll promote healthy development. Single-grain food types like rice and oatmeal have been shown to be some of the most effective because they are easily digested and improve overall internal functionality.
- Allergen-free: This isn’t always possible depending on where and how a product has been manufactured, but in an ideal world, your product choice shouldn’t contain any of the eight allergen ingredients that could spark a negative reaction in your baby. The best organic baby cereal available will typically cater for this need by containing only natural and totally safe ingredients.
- What’s the age range? There’s an enormous difference between a baby at the 3, 6, 9 and 12 month stages. This is due to the accelerated rate of development during this crucial timeframe. As such, it’s imperative to ensure that the product you purchase caters specifically for the age of your child. This will impact the concentration of the included ingredients and even the required dosage. Too little or too much could prove to be harmful.
- Protein and carbohydrate content: Carbohydrates are crucial for energy release, and protein is vital for muscular and structural development. The best cereals contain both, to the extent that they cater for a decent proportion of your baby’s daily requirements. It’s not purely about the included ingredients. These nutrients must be a staple part of the product. Otherwise, it’s not going to offer optimum benefits in these crucial areas.
- Fiber content: Fiber is a vital component of any good baby cereal because it helps your infant to effectively digest food and leads to a healthier digestive tract. Each child needs roughly 1 gram worth of fiber per serving. This is more than enough to meet their daily needs.
- Brands: There are several different brands available on the market, all of which produce excellent products within this category. Here are some of the leading brands available: Gerber, Nestle, Arrowhead, Whatsup Baby, Earth’s Best, Happy Baby, Healthy Times, and Biokinetics. Anything you purchase from one of these manufacturers is likely to lead to optimum satisfaction thanks to the quality standards they adhere to.
Top 5 Best Baby Cereals
1. Gerber Single-Grain Oatmeal Baby Cereal Review
Key Features
- Single grain for maximum purity, the only ingredient is oatmeal plus vitamins C, E
- Gerber is the number one paediatrician recommended brand
- 2 servings gives 90% of your baby's daily iron needs
- Used by hundreds of thousands of satisfied parents
We Like
- Great value 6-pack
- A large array of additional vitamins and minerals are included
- Recommended for total peace of mind
- Created by a well-trusted, highly reputable brand
We Don’t Like
- Some products feature a higher vitamin and mineral content
One of the most renowned and trusted brands on the market, Gerber offer an all-encompassing product here that’s going to satisfy the needs of any parents. Featuring a single grain structure, there is no filler material here to interfere with the digestive tract of your infant. The only additional ingredients included, in fact, come in the form of vitamins C and E, zinc, and an array of 6 B vitamins.
Because this product is also the number one selling paediatrician recommended item of its type, this also means that you can relax knowing that your child is only taking in bona fide, safe ingredients, of the type that a medical professional would support. With the caliber of ingredients on offer here and the wide array of benefits plus the diverse base of thousands of satisfied customers who are already using Single Grain Oatmeal to a high level of satisfaction, there’s not a great deal more that anyone could ask for from this product.
2. Healthy Times Organic Whole Grain Barley Baby Cereal Review
Key Features
- Made with USDA certified organic and non GMO ingredients
- Barley makes for a perfect, soft first solid food choice
- Added vitamins and minerals including zinc, iron, and B vitamins plus vitamin E
- Reliable purity for maximum safety
We Like
- An excellent all organic option
- Fortified with a wealth of additional health benefits in the form of vitamins and minerals
- USDA certified for maximum safety and peace of mind
- Barley is more easily chewed and digested by some babies
We Don’t Like
- No mention of added vitamins and minerals on packaging could lead to confusion
- Not as cheap as other options
For those looking for a safe and reliable organic single grain option, this heavily fortified barley-based cereal from Healthy Times is almost definitely going to completely satisfy you while satisfying your baby’s every developmental needs. The base ingredient is all natural organic barley. This is a great grain choice because it’s incredibly soft, making it the perfect first choice solid food type for your baby to explore chewing with. Without any unnecessary additives, it’s also going to be easily digested.
There are a host of additional vitamins and minerals here, too. Everything from vitamin E, vitamin B12, and folic acid to iron and zinc are included for maximum development of your child. As a highly effective, nutrient-packed alternative to organic baby oatmeal or rice products, this option definitely isn’t going to disappoint on any level.
3. Earth’s Best Organic Infant Cereal, Whole Grain Oatmeal Review
Key Features
- Twelve 8oz boxes per pack
- USDA certified organic
- Iron fortified for infant growth
- Diverse vitamin base boosts every area of your baby's health
We Like
- Excellent iron content
- A wide array of additional vitamins and minerals
- Safe, organic ingredients
- Made by a highly reputable and trusted brand
We Don’t Like
- No vitamin C
- More expensive than other options
For anyone looking for the best baby cereal with organic ingredients, the 30 year track record of Earth’s Best should provide any parent with adequate reassurance that they’re making the right choice for their baby’s health. This formula offers enough iron to deliver 45% of your baby’s daily needs per serving and 25% of many other vitamins and minerals including vitamin B, zinc, and vitamin E. Overall, this is a very well put together offering delivering a wide array of health benefits.
Everything here has been USDA certified for total peace of mind and the organic ingredients mean that there’s absolutely no filler material that could lead your child to any potential harm or internal upset. Overall, this is a highly reliable formula. Additional vitamin C and a higher content per serving would have been desirable, however.
4. Happy Baby Organic Probiotic Baby Cereal with Choline Multi-Grain Review
Key Features
- Made with premium grade organic ingredients
- Recipe contains three ancient highly digestible grains
- Each pack contains 6-7-ounce canisters
- High digestibility due to added probiotics
We Like
- Vitamin and mineral content is excellent
- One of the only products of this type with additional probiotics
- High grade organic ingredients
- The best option for those who want the "gold standard" in ingredient quality
We Don’t Like
- One of the more expensive options on the market
- Low vitamin C content versus others included
When it comes to premium options, this is almost definitely one of if not the best products available to give your baby everything it needs with a one source solution for maximum safe development. It all starts with the all-organic ingredients, which are massively embellished thanks to the addition of an abundance of vitamins and minerals, all dosed to an incredibly high 60% of your infant’s daily allowance.
The multi grain base of this product consists of three ancient grains (amaranth, quinoa, and chia) that are highly digestible and easy to chew. The digestion process is made much easier, too, thanks to the star of the show, which is the addition of probiotics for enhanced gut functionality. There isn’t much else on the market that can compare for ingredient quality and the density of the vitamin and mineral content. The manufacturer’s name isn’t as well-known as some others, so this may put people off what is an absolutely fantastic all-around great value option.
5. Nestle Cerelac Wheat with Milk Review
Key Features
- A highly nutritious instant cereal option
- Suitable for baby's who can't rely solely on breast milk or formulas
- For babies from 6 months or above
- Formula includes vitamins C, A and B12 plus Iron
We Like
- Additional vitamins and minerals for enhanced development
- An excellent supplementary product for boosting the effectiveness of breast milk or formula
- A more affordable product versus other options
- Works incredibly well alongside breast milk formula
We Don’t Like
- Not as abundant in vitamins and minerals as other options
- Not intended as a main food source
For those in need of a supplementary product for babies 6 months old or above, this option from Nestle provides an excellent wheat-based option with additional vital vitamins and minerals to ensure optimum safe development. This item is designed to work hand in hand with breast milk or formula and is engineered for infants who can’t rely on these elements alone to cater for their nutritional needs beyond the initial stages of their development.
Included here in conjunction with the all wheat foundation is a host of vitamins and minerals including iron, vitamins C, A and B12. This will ensure that not only are your child’s energy demands met, but other aspects of their functionality are catered for, too. The only downsides here are that this product doesn’t contain organic ingredients and other additional vitamins and minerals, as per some of the other products in this category.
Frequently Asked Questions
In this section, we’re going to present you with some of the most common questions asked by parents who are interested in using baby cereal as their infant’s first solid food choice, along with the answers to provide you with total peace of mind before making a purchase.
There have been very low levels of arsenic associated with rice-based cereal options. Though the levels are almost too low to pose any risk, it’s still wise to only provide your child with one rice-based meal per day at the most to minimize the potential of any negative issues arising. There are no additional dangers associated with other varieties, save for potential allergens, which are specific to your baby. Always research the list of ingredients first.
Yes! Though rice-based cereal ingested just before your child sleeps may lead to digestive discomfort at night, it’s ok to include one of these meal options during the evening, but ideally not the last thing at night unless advised by a medical professional.
You absolutely can, but bear in mind that many of these cereals have been formulated to provide your baby with a wide array of vitamins and minerals. This means that a combined approach can be best as opposed to choosing one over the other as it provides maximal nutrient uptake.
Though this varies from child to child, usually, most babies will start to come off of baby food once they reach 12 months or above.
There isn’t necessarily a one size fits all answer for this question because your child’s individual digestive tract and tastes may mean that they can only process one type of grain effectively. It’s worth going with one option and seeing how your child takes to it before trying others if the first choice doesn’t prove successful. Never give your child a certain cereal type if it will interfere with underlying genetic issues, as advised by a paediatrician.
Conclusion
Though this is a subject that many parents approach with apprehension, we hope that we’ve now helped to get rid of any anxiety you may have had relating to the right solid food cereal types for your baby and how to choose the right product. There are many options out there, but ultimately, the list of key areas to compare when shopping will absolutely help you to immediately hone in on the items that are going to be the most effective and safe.
You don’t even have to take the time comparing, either, thanks to our best product list. Any of the items featured here are going to provide everything your baby needs while giving you the freedom to breathe easy knowing that you’ve made a healthy and effective first solid food choice. It’s time to help your infant to take the next step in their development safely by giving them one of our top five baby cereal choices today.