Baby Won't Eat Baby Cereal Anymore

Updated on January 30, 2009
C.M. asks from Omaha, NE
22 answers

My 13-month refuses his baby cereal in the morning. My understand is that babies are supposed to eat this until about 18 months for the iron. Any sugggestions on a good alternative to get the amount of iron he needs? I've tried mixing everything with the cereal to camoflauge the taste but does not work.

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A.K.

answers from Duluth on

When my daughter started to refuse her baby cereal, I started scrambling an egg for her every morning. I found cooking an egg takes the same amount of time as cooking baby cereal. I'll add some fruit or a slice of whole wheat toast.

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J.L.

answers from Davenport on

Does you baby have any teeth? Mine is 15 months now and did the same thing. We started giving him cheerios mixed with a little baby cereal and whole milk. It gave him something to sink he teeth into, and he still goes for it. We do the consistency as just enough to stick to the cheerios, but not so thick to make it pasty. Any cereal with low sugar that gets soggy relatively easily works well. Regular Life is another good one, you just have to let the milk soak a little so it softens the corners. Good Luck!

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T.S.

answers from Duluth on

long as you give your baby a vitiman such as in a dropper it is okay that they change.. alot of kids grow out of that stage alot faster latey. my daughter is 8 months and she don't like baby cereal anymore.. she still gets her bottles with her vitimans though.. she likes to eat what we eat accept that it is blended for her..

i'm a mother of a 3...2...1.. and my 8 month old and there is no problems with any of them.. they are all heathly

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E.I.

answers from Duluth on

um ive never heard anything about requiring cereal until 18 months.
heres what you do; you serve fruits veggies WHOLE GRAINS (not whole grain bread, bread that actually says whole grain in the ingredients) water and legumes (beans, split peas whatever)
anything else is extra, any meats served as a side, veggies and fruits as the main meal.
you cant go wrong!

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S.K.

answers from Minneapolis on

C.,

Because this is your third, you are going to see a lot of "babyish" things end earlier. Why would anyone agree to baby food when older siblings get Cheerioes? I would just find a regular cereal that is high in iron and couple it with iron fortified milk.

There is a benefit to all of this "I want to be big, too." My third child (boy) potty trained in four hours at age 27 months. My 19 month old pees and poops on the potty daily, although not potty trained yet. They are very independent and responsible and so much they just picked up from their older siblings.

Good luck,
S.

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B.L.

answers from Milwaukee on

The same thing happened to us! We began to give our son cheerios, and that worked woderfully:) Because they have the hole in the middle, they are not as much a choking hazard! Your little one is just ready to move up the food ladder, now. Congratulations - it's rather freeing:)

B.

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D.J.

answers from Des Moines on

I put the cereal in everything. Put it in his mashed potatoes. You can also make pancakes out of it. I would mix it with applesause and yogurt and let them feed themselves. If you make him spaghetti, make it a little saucy and mix some in. If he is eating enough meat, he will be getting more iron from that too. Sometimes you just have to be sneaky. Good Luck!

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J.L.

answers from Milwaukee on

Actually, any kind of cereal is just fine. My son wouldn't eat baby cereal after 9m, but loves oatmeal, so we just make sure it's iron fortified. Cheerios or Kix are another fine choice. As long as he's getting iron from somewhere it really doesn't matter where it comes from. You can also serve it with foods high in vitamin C to help with the iron absorption. Besides, baby cereal isn't very appealing--especially when you're starting to eat "big kid" foods :)

J.

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C.K.

answers from Minneapolis on

My son is 13 months old, and he hasn't eaten commercial "baby oatmeal" in several months, and we only fed it to him sparingly. We treated it more as a "fast food" when time was tight or we had a babysitter.

Baby cereal *is* nasty (IMHO!) and I've also never heard the recommendation that babies should eat it until they are 18 months old. This sounds like something the Gerber Corp. would recommend. ;-)

There are "whole" foods that have iron in them, and I think those are better options then a food that has had iron "injected" into it: egg yolks, red meats, spinach, raisins, prunes, dates, apricots, beans, broccoli, and black strap molasses.

For breakfast, we give our son regular oatmeal, eggs, bread, or fruit.

If you want to keep giving him the baby oatmeal, you could try mixing it with juice or applesauce instead of milk or water.

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B.F.

answers from Duluth on

My little guy would NEVER eat baby cereal! You can use Polyvisol liquid vitamin drops with Iron in them if you are really worried, but they taste terrible! I tried that for a short time, but we are on WIC, and they test my baby's Hemoglobin and Iron several times a year, and even without the cereal or the frops, his levels have always been great! Good luck! :D

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B.B.

answers from Davenport on

My son started eating multi grain cheerios at 7 months. You can also ask your Ped. about an iron suppliment that he can prescribe. I belive that Similac also makes an iron vitamin suppliment.

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C.D.

answers from La Crosse on

You don't have to rely on baby cereal for iron. He can get all the iron he needs naturally, from milk and beans and real rice. Scrambled eggs are wonderful for a little one this age. There is a ton of information on the Internet if you want to look for the variety of foods appropriate for any 13 month-old. I do believe it's time to retire your baby cereal to the compost bin. It sounds like your little one's taste buds have matured and he is developing likes and dislikes...which is a very good thing!

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J.S.

answers from Green Bay on

Does he eat meat? My daughter loves her meat! (Still working on the veggies though. :) She still eats cereal at 11 months, though not every day. I saw a recipe on the back of her cereal box for using it for mini-meatloaves that I've been thinking of trying. We haven't been using much cereal anymore, so I'm looking for a way to use up what's in the cupboard before it gets stale. My normal recipe for meatloaf uses oatmeal anyway, so I figured I'd try substituing with the baby cereal. Would get iron from the meat anyway, but the cereal would give it a little more boost and it's something the whole family can eat as well.

A.H.

answers from Lincoln on

My son is the same way. The only way he will still eat the cereal is if I mix it with mashed potatoes or cream of wheat. WIC told me that if he likes Cherrios to give them as a dry snack so that he can get all of the iron. And they also told me that milk will coat the iron so dry is better for the absorbtion of iron. Hope this helps.

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P.P.

answers from Minneapolis on

I know you say you've tried everything but I found applesauce worked wonders. My mother-in-law also used to mix the cereal with a little ice cream and my kids loved that as well. If you are bottlefeeding at all, you could sneak some in there too.

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J.F.

answers from Minneapolis on

My daughter also started a strike towards baby cereal and all purees around 12 months. She only wanted the food we were eating. I used to feed her a mix of baby cereal, a scoop or two of formula and some natural applesauce. I now give her cream of wheat (sorry the box is in the bottom of the recycling bucket or I would look for the iron content). Sometimes I mix in a no sugar added applesauce or fresh bananas. She also eats Kashi's oatmeal and reduced sugar Quaker oatmeal.

I plan on using my left-over cereal to make baby cereal cookies for her. Let me know if you want the recipe.

Good luck!

B.W.

answers from Minneapolis on

My kids never ate the baby rice cereal. By the time they were 9mos old (started solids at 6mos, only homemade baby food) they were eating totally table foods.

If he wont' eat it, its not a big deal. offer meats, dairy, fruits and veggies to round out his diet.

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H.H.

answers from Milwaukee on

C.,

It definitely is a challenge to help kids eat the right things sometimes. However, my friends and I have found a great product for our kids called "Reliv NOW for Kids". It has extra brain food and everything else they need to be healthy. Not only does it taste great but it keeps my boys healthy.

Just let me know if you would like to hear all about it. You can e:mail me at ____@____.com.

Blessings, H.

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M.W.

answers from St. Cloud on

I did daycare for 5 years and the recomendation was only tilll 12 months.... I've personally never heard anything about going till 18 months.

Most kids won't even eat it till 12 months. Once they taste real food, they tend to refuse most baby food. Especailly cereal! Have you ever accidently licked your finger with that on?? IT"S AWFUL!

My son was strickly breastfed till 9 months when we started baby and regular foods. We went through 1 box of cereal and only about 6 jars of baby food. Then we switched to 100% table food. We fed him EVERYTHING we ate. Including salad, meat, and fruits and veges. Just make sure that everything is cut up very small. We took our childs lead. If he grabbed for our cups, he would get a sip of either milk or water (that is all we drink....) If he reached for our fork, he would get a bite of whatever he was leaning towards.

Don't stress. Take your baby's cues. If he doesn't want it anymore, do not force feed him or meal times will become a power struggle. Just feed him table foods. He will be fine!

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B.W.

answers from Minneapolis on

my daughter stopped eating it around that age also. I think she disliked the texture. After that my mom who watches her everyday began feeding her Malt o meal. Not sure about the iron content though? I do know that cream of wheat has alot of iron. I was instructed to eat a serving per day when I was pregnant because my iron was pretty low. I think it comes in differnt flavors.

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E.B.

answers from Duluth on

My baby quit being interested in cereal around 9 months. We mixed it with yogurt, then, and he ate it fine. Around a year our doc gave us her blessing to quit the cereal, but he still doesn't eat much meat (the texture is an issue) and when they tested his iron levels at 12 mos, he was low, so he's on PolyViSol with iron. Try mixing the cereal with other foods. For my baby, it was almost a "this is BABY food; I want what YOU are eating" thing. When we presented it to him in applesauce or yogurt, it was fine.

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J.S.

answers from Minneapolis on

There is lots of iron in veggies, and sandwich meat. You don't have to keep giving that stuff to him. Even some cereals have iron in them. Our son stopped that stuff at 6 months. It tastes terrible. So, don't worry about him eating that stuff. As long as he is eating a well rounded diet he will be fine.

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