Friday July 4th, 2008
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Doing The Cheerio Thing
Posted by Kim Steckler on February 21, 2007 - 6:45am.
As a baby, a kitchen floor sprinkled with Cheerios was all it took to keep my husband occupied long enough for his mom to cook dinner. And while you'd probably never want to eat off of our floors, this image was cute enough to keep my pregnant brain daydreaming for months of when I, too, could feed our baby Cheerios. Or, rather, let her feed them to herself. Now that Hayden's here, I've discovered few things cuter than watching her self-feed with that dainty pincer grip. She sits in her "Cheerio fort" (a.k.a. the floor of her Exersaucer) for large blocks of time, gumming happily away at her magically-dissolving cereal. As an added bonus, they're fortified with iron, something I've been worrying about my vegetarian daughter getting enough of. Both practically and nostalgically speaking, Cheerios are a babyhood rite of passage that's just not to be missed.
Organically speaking, there are plenty of alternate o-type cereals out there, and we've certainly considered them. Many even have the benefit of being wheat-free, in addition to being made without genetically-modified ingredients or tripotassium phosphate (TSP), a component found in both Cheerios and wallpaper stripper. But few are fortified with all of the vitamins and minerals that Cheerios possess. And most importantly, the disappointing word on the new mom street is that none of these organic versions dissolve as quickly as the classic Cheerio, due to their harder and thicker consistency.
What's a new mom to do? Do the pros of the Cheerio outweigh the cons? Generations of kids have been raised on Cheerios, and have clearly turned out, as my mom would say, okay. Organic is important, but is it all-important? For the time being, we've decided to stick with Cheerios. Once Hayden's old enough to chew her cereal, and won't depend on it dissolving as quickly, we'll make the switch to organic. Sometimes you just have to compromise.
Resources
Children at an increased risk of type 1 diabetes who were fed cereals between the ages of 0 and 3 months and at age 7 months or older had an increased risk of developing type 1 diabetes later in life. The results suggest that exposing susceptible children to cereal during certain ages increases their risk of type 1 diabetes. Do your child a favor and give her veggies rather than cereal. If you still prefer to stay with cereal, at least get Organic one. There are plenty of Organic cereals out there. Please go to Whole Foods and get the cereals specifically made for children. They dissolve without any problems. As to this generation turning out OK, just look at the increase in obesity, cancer rates, heart disease and diabetes.
I've been thinking about changing to organic too but money usually stops me from doing this. The other day I went to amazon.com though and found some organic cereal I could buy in bulk and save money. I dont know what it tastes like yet, but I'm hoping its good. I know your situation wasn't about the money but more about the nutrional values of regular cereal versus the organic and I agree, sometimes you have to make a compromise.
www.americaninventorspot.com/gloriacampos
TSP wasn't always in Cheerios. I know this because I had happily fed it to my two children - now in their twenties - for years before it suddenly appeared on the list of ingredients. I stopped buying the cereal and when my daughter found out why something she really loved had disappeared, she was really angry at General Mills. So... I had her write to the company, asking why her cereal had been adulterated in such a way that her mother would no longer purchase the product. I shared the concerns about a chemical that comes from a hardware store and that is labelled as being poisonous, caustic and requiring a respirator to be worn when used being in any food!
We got a response, which essentially said that the ingredient was being used to keep the cereal crisp - perhaps the "soggy in milk" thing had become problematic - but that it wasn't present in "harmful levels". We still don't buy Cheerios; I figure that TSP just does not belong in my food. That doesn't address the present problems, though.
If your daughter is still nursing, the iron isn't a problem. Although breast milk doesn't contain high levels of iron, all of that iron is bioavailable to your baby. It used to be thought that babies would become iron deficient once their prenatal iron stores were depleted; we now know that it isn't true. As a vegetarian, you are, no doubt, aware of how to make sure that your own vitamin and mineral needs are met and your milk will ensure that for your daughter. As for the consistency issue, perhaps a cereal that is more hearty could be softened with fruit juice or soy milk before your daughter eats them.
Watching babies "hoover" Cheerios is something that, I think, we all treasure. I hope you find a way to fix the problem. Maybe if enough people write to General Mills, they will take the TSP out of the cereal; it wasn't always there.
Blessings,
Jane
It is stressful enough to parent in this day and age (perhaps it is in any day and age), but it feels like things are way too complicated and sometimes the degree of diligence that has to be done to simply feed a family is overwhleming.
For isntance, my daughter loves strawberries, and in an effort to get her organic strawberries I sometimes drive to 2 or 3 groceries before I find some. If there aren't any to be found, I struggle with the issue of giving her conventionally grown ones vs. none at all (usualy opting for none).
I really feel like our government has failed when it comes to regulating foods.
That said, thank you all for this conversational thread. I've found it to be informative and comforting.
Wow -- thank you for this! As it turns out, I was at a playgroup where a mom was feeding her daughter some organic Cascadian Farm Purely O's. I tried them, and was amazed (and very excited!) at how texturely close to Cheerios they are (minus the TSP). So we've made the switch.
We are still nursing (around 5 x/day), but I was told that I should still be sure to feed her some iron-rich foods starting around 9 months. I've successfully worked spinach and beans into her diet about 3x/week, but the iron-fortification of the O's is always a reassuring back-up. (I do still take my organic prenatal multi-vitamins, though.)
As a mother of two, I realize the dissolving problem with the O's, although I did not realize the TSP in Cheerios brand. Yuck! Just realize that the dissolving thing will be a non-issue real quick so don't sweat it. Another tip -- try the Whole Foods Kids brand of O's -- they are most like Cheerios in "dissolvability" and are a good price. I am so glad we are getting past the choking point, I will admit it is nerve racking. Good luck!
hi, i find it no problem at all to keep sugar away from my daughter, she loves fruit and i have not heard that fruit will give them a taste for sugar? also how would a baby even know what sugar is unless they were introduced to it and told it was sugar and that it DOES taste good but is NOT good. (ARTIFICIAL SWEETENERS ARE JUST AS BAD IF NOT WORSE BY THE WAY!)
i visited my nan the other day and had my cousins 5 year old with me and she gave her a chocolate bar and then said 'oh the poor poor baby (meaning my daughter) is not alowed any chocolate' so i said that i would consider her a poor poror baby if she had sugar!
my daughter loves organic dried fruit - cranberries, apples, figs, raisins etc and she also has organic biscuits that are NATURALLY sweetend with grape juice, as well as organic crisps that contain no GM, flavourings etc and have natural carrot/tomato flavouring for instance. if you live in the UK you may be familiar with ORGANIX? here is the website and i buy most of these products, and i eat them too! i love them http://www.organix.com/.
another tip, i give my daughter no sweet drinks or milk (i am in fact still breasfeeding at 18 months and i dont know when we will stop! 3 years is probably the limit!). she loves water and also warm herbal teas (organic of course!). i also give them to her cold. inbetween she has some fruit juice.
my daughter does have non organics inbetween, for instance when we eat out. i dont find organics that expensive to be honest. and if they were, i would STILL get them!
am i overdoing it? not in my eyes! i just want to give her the best start in life.
best wishes to all
Cheerios are swamped in sugar. Just out of "convenience" I wouldn't give my baby something unhealthy. There are many other alternative, organic food items a baby can have. I have had 5 children, the oldest 29 and the youngest 15 now, but even in 'my day' I would only give them raw vegetables such as carrot sticks, cucumber chunks etc or fruit. I would have been to 'worried' about the 'dangers' of sugar and I am NOT only talking about rotting the teeth. Now I have 4 grandchildren and they all enjoy carrot sticks and cucumber, as well as organic apple rings, organic crisps and organic biscuits ALL ORGANIC, sugar and additive free fee...check out www.organix.com
Regards
viola www.dare2baware.com www.shamanicjourney.com www.home-schooling-uk.com www.fun-tavels.com