cheerios and sugar...

[Papaya]

coco pops- sugar AND chocolate flavour- but apparently a good choice according to the pack!!!

According to the side of the nutella jar, an example of a balanced breakfast for a growing child is two slices of white bread slathered with nutella, and a glass of milk. Hmmm.

Felicity has porridge for breakfast almost everyday. Occasionally some oaty pancakes, or toast. And always fruit! Will your LO eat rice or pasta with other meals Bec?  What if it's carb offered in a different form - rice cakes, or potato fritters? Pizza (home-made ?

Tbh though, I wouldn't worry too much at this stage, so long as you're offering and he eats some carb some of the time. These LOs are pretty good at knowing what they need and when!

[becj86]

Nope, he'll lick whatever I put on the toast off it and chew the toast, then spit it out (sometimes this happens two or three times to the same piece of toast but he rarely swallows!).
He eats the sauce off pasta (eats the pasta if he doesn't like the sauce and there's nothing else on offer).
He eats corn thins, but only on the odd occasion, mostly just licks toppings off and crumbles up the corn thin and makes a mess.
He's just not into carbs. Every 3-4 days, he'll eat the carb part of a meal along with the other bits...

He will however, eat protein like its the greatest thing... guess he's busy making muscles!
and if I let him, he'd live on banana, nectarines and scrambled eggs.

[*Ali*]

Will he eat meatballs? Perhaps you can hide some carbs like oats or breadcrumbs in there.
Pancakes are a good one for adding pureed fruit or veg to to make healthier.

[Lemonthyme]

I definitely agree on the meatballs front, here's a couple of good recipes:
http://mamacook.blogspot.com/2011/08/meatloaf-for-babies-and-toddlers.html
http://mamacook.blogspot.com/2011/10/mini-meatloaf-recipe-for-babies-and.html

And I add fruit to my pancakes too:
http://mamacook.blogspot.com/2011/03/pancakes-and-toys-returned-to-pram.html

For breakfasts if I'm not giving pancakes I tend to give ready break, weetabix, shreddies or rice krispies.  The first two have no added sugar, the last two have a bit but not a lot.  I was going to give cheerios when he was little but looked at the pack first and put them back down!

[becj86]

How hilarious! I don't have to hide veges... I have to hide carbs! Didn't think of that though, Ali. Thanks I'll give them a go. He's not keen on pancakes but that could be because I'm impatient and I'm rubbish is making them. Maybe get DH onto that one...

Thanks, Lemonthyme. Love your recipes

Oh, and he ate some pasta tonight... maybe he does self-regulate well.

[Papaya]

I add oats to things a lot too - meatballs, fishcakes, vegie patties...

[becj86]

I made some of creations' oat flapjack/cookie things and he hated them (I liked them)... I made them again with rice flakes and he loves them (I think they're revolting!).

Probably getting worried about nothing here, I realise as I think of the carbs I do hide/use in cooking.

[lilisuze]

shreddies? are they OK? they mush up quite good with warmer milk.

how about raisin wheats, DS quite likes these too, I don't think they're too bad

[amayzie]

I don't know about shreddies. I think a good test is if you taste them0 if you think they taste ok they probably have too much salt and sugar for your LO  ... Honestly though- what would people suggest is a good amount of sugar, or something per 100g say that we can look out for? I never know...

[*Ali*]

Sheddies I have are actually 15% sugar which I think is a lot. Kelloggs Raisin Wheats are 13% sugar which is better but still high. However I imagine the sugar in the raisin wheats is from the raisins which are very high in sugar but at least it's not added refined sugar.

I tended to stick to baby cereal like Plum multigrain porridge until DS1 was 18mo since that less than 3% sugar. Plus it tends to be fortified with lots of other vitamins like vit D that can be harder to get into a baby. You can always add some banana or other fruit to sweeten it up while avoiding refined sugar. Or cinnamon and nutmeg are nice too. Weetabix is only 4.5% sugar but relatively high in salt.

Katy I'm not sure what percentage to go for plus I think it is different for an 8mo verses an 18mo yk since the latter will be able to eat other healthy foods more than the LO. Plus I think if a cereal has natural sugar in from fruit or the like then that is more acceptable to me than added sugar which is just empty calories.

[amayzie]

The weetbix 'kids' is much less salt- here sanitarium does weetbix, they are a sevetnth day adventist company and do a lot of wholefoods, so often lower in sugar and salt- you still have to check the box- but are on the whole a lot better.. (I had friends at uni that were SDA- oddly i was essentially in the SDA group, i'm not religious at all!- and they were into clean living clean eating stuff.. )

[*Ali*]

Oh yes actually we can get baby Weetabix here, I think cow and gate make them.

[creations]

I get the cow and gate wheatabix no sugar or salt, he doesn't eat them very often though.
I use the baby muesli or baby porridge to make finger food cereal balls, DS will eat them like that but not as a sloppy bowl of cereal.

I don't think there is a single cereal on the shop shelf worth buying in the UK, apart from the plain muesli or porridge oats.  In fact I think the entire cereal aisle should be linked with the chocolate and sweets aisle, it's the same stuff.
I made the mistake of buying special K once (for me not DS) thinking it would be good for me and being in too much of a hurry that day to read the box.  Only after I'd forced myself to eat the stuff did I realise a bowl of that is about the equivalent of a mars bar.  Give me the mars bar any day.  If I'm going to eat rubbish at least let me know I'm eating rubbish and enjoy it!

I'm pretty sure sweet potato is classed as carbs isn't it?  Not suggesting it for breakfast but if you are concerned about carbs intake but LO loves the vegies then it could be a winner.
Have you tried cous cous or polenta?

[amayzie]

I like how sometimes i've had cereal and had some of the milk left in the bottom separately when the cereall is finished (on a spoon- not in a glass), and it tasted really yummy!! Bad sign!

[Papaya]

I don't think there is a single cereal on the shop shelf worth buying in the UK, apart from the plain muesli or porridge oats.  In fact I think the entire cereal aisle should be linked with the chocolate and sweets aisle, it's the same stuff.

^^^^this^^^^ and

Give me the mars bar any day.  If I'm going to eat rubbish at least let me know I'm eating rubbish and enjoy it!

^^^^this!^^^^

In total agreement! Def here in Thailand, and it is only maaaarginally better in NZ. I'd much rather have my sugar intake for the day in the form of chocolate or dessert, and really enjoy it!