Cereals for children: types, recommendations, and benefits

What do cereals provide for my little one?

Cereals and tubers provide your baby with important carbohydrates to have energy during growth. Some of the cereals they can eat are: rice, pasta, unsalted bread, quinoa, corn, millet, oats, couscous, rice cakes, homemade desserts, or bagged cereals without added sugar.

But… how can you do it?

With whole wheat bread, dishes like cooked rice balls with cooked vegetables, oatmeal porridge, cooked pasta accompanied by a jar as a sauce, mashed potatoes or sweet potatoes, cereal purees, and many more!

Something you might worry about is arsenic. Here’s what you need to know!

Arsenic is related to rice, but don’t worry! Because contaminant limits are extremely regulated, especially in baby food. Even more so if they are organic.

There are maximum arsenic limits that cannot be exceeded. That’s why with our products you have nothing to worry about.

However, at home it can be different. The origin of the rice, the variety, or the way it’s cooked can mean higher or lower arsenic content. At SMILEAT, we recommend that if the rice is from outside Spain, wash it several times before cooking it with plenty of water.

And remember! Don’t give rice cakes or rice drinks until after 6 years old.

Are bagged cereals recommended?

Breakfast cereals are another option to introduce cereals into our little ones’ diet. To make them a healthy choice, we should keep some things in mind:

        1. Sugar content: ideally, they should not exceed 8g of sugar per 100g of product and should not contain added sugar in their ingredients. For example, our TRIBOO cereals contain only 3.1% sugar, which is naturally present in the cereals and legumes we use.

        2. Fiber content: it is recommended that they contain bran, legumes, and ingredients that provide at least a high fiber content. This means more than 6g of fiber per 100g of product. Our cereals contain 12%, wow!

        3. The ingredient list should be clear, clean, and short. It should not contain added sugar or unnecessary additives.

        4. They should not be hydrolyzed, as is the case with many purees. Our purees do not undergo this process because we want to maintain the natural structure of the cereal.