Getting your baby to try new things at an early age is best because the earlier they try things the more likely they will grow up to like the items they are use to eating. However, there are some items that you must wait to have them try for health reasons.
Honey Nut Cheerios is one of them. Children must wait until 12 months of age before having honey products of any kind.
Why honey is bad for babies
As I stated above, it is strongly suggested that children wait until they are at least 1 year of age before having raw honey, food with honey in it, and processed food like honey graham crackers, Honey Nut Cheerios, some bread products, some breakfast bars, and some yogurts just to name a few. The reason is, honey can contain spores, called Clostridium botulinum, that can cause infant botulism. Cases of infant botulism is a rare but potentially fatal illness.
Older kids have a better immune system and their digestive system is more mature which helps move the toxins through the body before causing harm, thus the risk of botulism goes down.
It’s unknown how honey becomes contaminated. It’s thought that bees unintentionally pick up botulism spores, which are commonly found in the environment, and bring it back to the hive. There is also reports of grape molasses containing botulism like in this article found on the National Library of Medicine.
Honey alternatives
If you are cooking and need a good alternatives for honey these three seem the most popular.
- Agave nectar
- Maple syrup
- Simple syrup
In general though it’s a good idea to skip the sweet stuff when it comes to babies. For instance, if you give them pancakes no need for syrup just plain pancakes are a good finger food.
When to start solid food
The suggested time is around 6 months of age. It’s less about age and more about the signs they show in telling you they are ready. Grasping at your food, sitting up on their own, holding their heads up without support, and generally just showing interest in food.
Starting a baby, for the first time, on solid food can be nerve racking for new parents. However, it’s also a lot of fun. The expressions they make when trying new foods are worth all the messes they will make. Heck even the messes make for great videos to look back on.
It’s suggested to only try young babies on 1 new food every 3 to 5 days to give you time to spot any potential allergic reactions to a particular food. Make sure to always check with your child’s pediatrician before starting your baby on any solid foods.
Good intro to solid foods
Baby Cereals
Rice cereal or other infant cereals are a great starter to get babies use to eating. In th beginning they wear more then they eat it’s more of a learning process… For everyone involved. We went this route early with Aaliyah. Because she was under weight and no matter how much breast milk she had, she wasn’t gaining enough so the Doctor suggested we start her on rice cereal early. We started her on this when she was about 3 months old. We mixed it with infant formula for extra nutrients.
Plain Yogurt
Check the label on this to make sure there isn’t honey in it. The best yogurt for babies is full-fat pasteurized plain yogurt.
Why pasteurized? Pasteurization is a process in which milk is heated high enough and long enough to kill disease-causing germs while keeping most of the nutrients within the milk. Pregnant women, babies & young children, elderly, and people with compromised immune systems should avoid road or unpasteurized milk & milk products according the the American Academy of Pediatrics
Puréed Food AKA Baby food
These are great for getting babies to try new food. You can buy them or make your own.Popular ones to start at peas, carrots, sweet potato, bananas, pears, peach, an others. My wife and I didn’t end up making our own as we were working a lot and it felt like a very daunting and I’ll admit slightly intimidating. We always used Gerber, Earth’s Best, plum, and HappyBaby brand as they were a good price at Target and we felt the ingredients were better.
Alternative Finger foods
Original Cheerios
Original Cheerios are a good alternative to Honey Nut Cheerios.
Plain Cheerios are and have always been a great finger food for kids to start learning fine motor skills like pincer grasp. This is the process of using the index finger or middle finger and thumb to pinch or grasp things.
In addition to fine motor skills regular Cheerios have only 6 ingredients and is gluten-free. Primarily made with whole grain oats as well as corn starch, sugar, salt, Tripotassium Phosphate (reduces the acidic nature of food), and Vitamin E, (adde to preserve freshness). Making this a healthy snack as well.
If you are worried about Cheerios being a choking hazard don’t be. Unlike other small foods that can get stuck in a baby’s throat There is no risk of choking on Cheerios. They start dissolving when they get wet so with how wet babies hands are they should start dissolving before it even hit their mouth.
Gerber Puffs
These are a great starter to finger foods and cereal like food. There are melty puffs that There are only few grams of sugar in a serving size. Melty puffs dissolve when wet just like cheerios but are softer to begin with so it’s easier for babies to chew.
Our kids loved these. It was our little bribe to get them in the stroller. Our son use to clime everything just to get to these on a counter and if he got his hands on them then he would devour with whole thing.
When your babies are trying new food their is always a worry about the good thing with Cheerios is is you can just go with their original version and have nothing to worry about or you can try a variety of other breakfast cereals, Gerber puffs, or something you make at home like scrambled eggs. What ever you choose to give them, check for honey, serve it with love and enjoy this fun time if your baby’s life.
If you enjoyed this then check out this article about Eating Out At A Restaurant with a Baby
