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Articles > The Truth About Your Kid's Breakfast

What’s Really in Your Toddler’s Breakfast

There is an ancient proverb saying “Eat the breakfast yourself, share the lunch with your friend, and give the dinner to your enemy”. It is true that breakfast is probably the most important meal of the day. This is no less valid for small children. In fact, toddlers and small kids need much more energy to start the day, so eating their breakfast is a must! This is because it affects people’s metabolism. If your toddler misses breakfast, his body has to use stored energy to perform, “telling” his body to store more fat in the cells “in case it needs it later”.

I am sure every parent is aware of the importance of giving breakfast to children, but how aware you are then it comes to ingredients in your toddler’s bowl? Healthy breakfast options containing appropriate for kids level of salt and sugar is what we need to look for. With some expert help, we did a cereal breakfast research, aiming to establish the salt and sugar level in different cereal and porridge brands, and to find out what are really the healthy options. The results were in a way shocking, and often away from the “great for kids” statement in many TV ads of cereal breakfasts.

In her article on breakfasts, written for Channel 4 Dispatches, dietician Sue Lloyd wrote: “Cereals are a prime example of the challenge we face. Salt and added sugar content is high in some breakfast cereals and particularly, surprisingly, high in some of the more popular cereals targeted at the health conscious and at children. Many people are unaware of the high levels of sugar and salt in these cereals… For people trying to make sense of the front of pack information it's useful to know that the guideline daily amounts are often given at the adult levels, and of course children's levels are lower.”

The Better Nursery Food campaign in its research unveiled that “many cereals that appear to be suitable for children – for example, those with cartoon characters on the packet – are very high in sugar. High-fibre cereals such as all bran and bran flakes are not ideal options for this age group, as their high fibre content may fill children up without giving them the necessary energy they need.” Their advice is that only low-sugar cereals should be provided to kids in both daycare or at home. Best options are cereals that contain less than 10g of sugar per 100g.”

So, what’s really in your toddler’s breakfast? –

Kellogg’s Frosties

Not only its name points out the high level of sugar in it! – 37g per 100g product (wow!) is way too high even for adults! When recommended sugar level per 100g products is below 4g, you can imagine how much sugar you actually five your kid if Kellogg’s Frosties is the breakfast he usually has.

Moving to Kellogg’s Coco Pops Coco Rocks and Kellogg’s Coco Pops Moons & Stars, they contain respectively 32g and 37g sugar per 100g products – again! Your little one may seem to enjoy his breakfast, but be aware of tooth decay and sweet tooth developing by having sugary breakfast. Not to mention the potential danger of food obesity and unhealthy weight gain if breakfast with such high sugar level is your child’s breakfast choice. Both options contain above allowed level of salt (1g), fat and saturates.

Then how about some cheerios? –

Nestlé Cheerios are far richer in sugar (21.6g), fat (3.9g) and salt (1.2g) rather than healthy ingredients. Again above the recommended daily allowance even for adults, Nestlé Cheerios seems to be rather inappropriate breakfast option, despite what the TV ads says! And if you buy the Nestlé Cheerios Honey option, than your kid would get 35.1g sugar per each 100g cheerios!

Weetabix Oatibix seems a healthy breakfast option, though (thanks God there are some healthy options out there!). Sugar level is only 3.2g per 100g product, just compare it with the above products – more than 10 times difference! Besides, oats are great grains for kids’ digestive system, providing toddlers with nutritious, healthy and tasty start of the day!

Anyone up for some rice krispies? – They are kids’ favourite, someone would say! Well, be careful here!

Kellogg’s Rice Krispies contain 1.65g salt per every 100g krispies (sodium level differs from salt level, so don’t be mislead: 1g sodium is the amount in 2.5g salt), as well as 10g sugar! The sugar may not be very high, but the salt level is above the allowed daily intake for toddlers. High salt daily intake is damaging the immature kids’ kidneys, leading to high blood pressure in adulthood, for instance. The main ingredient is rice, which is packed with carbohydrates, making it relatively good breakfast choice from this point of view.

One of my daughter’s favourite breakfasts is Weetabix (original).

It is made from nutritious whole grains so it's a great way to start the day if you're looking for a healthy breakfast for your kid with plenty of taste. Weetabix is full of all the good things your toddler needs to stay healthy, including carbohydrate for energy, B vitamins and iron and contains only 4.4g sugar per 100g product.

As well as being good for the kids, Weetabix is also delicious! Why not ring the changes and try Weetabix with hot milk or a fruit smoothie instead of milk, or add chopped fresh or dried fruit for a hint of natural sweetness. You may also try Weetabix Bitesize to add some bitesize fun to your kids morning, still benefiting from same ingredients fortified with vitamins and minerals.

Oatibix Flakes

With the goodness of 100% wholegrain oats Oatibix Flakes are a delicious, nutritious alternative to wheat-based cereals.
Best of all, wholegrain oats are also full of energy so a bowl of Oatibix Flakes will boost your toddlers’ energy just when he needs it most – at the beginning of the day!
It only contains 0.3g salt per 100g flakes, which is great, although sugar amount of 14g is above the recommended level for kids. It contains iron and seven B vitamins.

Ready brek Original

The unprecedented winner for toddler healthy breakfast is Ready brek, our research unveiled. It doesn’t contain any sugar or salt, but is packed with nutritious wholegrain rolled oats (60%) and wholegrain oat flour (39%), so a portion for breakfast will give your kid 108kcal on top of energy from milk you mix the porridge with. It is also fortified with important vitamins and minerals like Calcium (400g per serving, which basically covers 1-3-years olds’ daily need for calcium), Iron, Folic Acid and Vitamin B1,B2, B5, B6 and B12. A 30g-serving will provide your toddler with 3.5g protein, so important for kids’ fast growth, and cell renewal. A portion of Ready Brek porridge also provides 2.4g fibre (not much to bulk his small stomach, but still enough to help digestion), and 2.6g fat, which is source of energy, essential fatty acids and fat-soluble vitamins.

Ready Brek is the perfect way to give your toddler and small kid (and actually the whole family) an energy boost at breakfast. Easy to prepare (just needs hot milk), Ready Brek is delicious on its own or mixed with mashed banana, a teaspoon of hone or a handful of juicy raisins, all that a sprinkle of cinnamon, for instance. Whatever takes your kid fancy, Ready Brek will fuel your imagination!

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