Best Baby Cereals Of 2023, According To Experts

The Forbes Health Editorial team partnered with a panel of three nutrition experts and Forbes Health Advisory Board members to come up with a list of the top six baby cereals of 2023, analyzing factors such as price, availability, amount of iron and sugar per serving and ingredient transparency. All ratings were made solely by the editorial team.

According to the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), the exact time your baby will be ready for more solid foods can vary—although there are a few milestones to look out for:

• Your baby can sit in a high chair and hold their head up
• Your baby opens up their mouth for food when it comes their way
• Your baby can move food from a spoon into their throat, i.e., they don’t just push it out of their mouth immediately
• Your baby is approximately double their birth weight

The AAP also states that your baby’s first foods are up to you; whether you choose baby cereal or homemade pureed foods, there is no one recommended type of food to start with. However, the AAP cautions parents to make sure all first foods are soft and/or pureed to prevent choking. They also urge parents to introduce one “single-ingredient” new food from any food group every three to five days.

When it comes to baby cereal in particular, the AAP recommends that whatever brand parents or caregivers choose, it should be iron-fortified.

When considering the brand of baby cereal that’s right for you, you may want to think about personal preferences such as price, ingredient integrity, sugar content and additional vitamins provided.

Rice Cereal: Should You Worry About Arsenic?

Rice cereal has long been the go-to for many families when it comes to introducing a baby to solid foods. Some of the reasons behind its popularity include:

• It’s easy to digest
• It does not tend to trigger an allergic reaction as gluten or wheat can
• It’s typically well tolerated by babies who are transitioning from breast milk or formula to solid food.

However, there has been some scrutiny around rice cereal as of late,

While research suggests fortified rice cereal is the most commonly introduced solid food during infancy, experts now recommend exercising caution. “While fortified rice cereal provides iron—a critical micronutrient for overall growth and for the development of the brain and immune system, and a micronutrient nearly one in five infants is deficient in—fortified rice cereal has also been found to contain up to six times as much inorganic arsenic as other grain-based cereals,” explains Malkani.

“Heavy metals are ubiquitous in the environment and in our soil, but because of the way rice is grown, it absorbs about ten times as much inorganic arsenic as other grains,” continues Malkani. “Given that babies have small bodies and high nutrient needs, and that excessive early exposure to arsenic is associated with lower IQ, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), and a higher risk of some cancers, it’s wise to choose alternatives to infant rice cereal that are less likely to contain excessive amounts of arsenic, including fortified cereals made from buckwheat, millet, barley, quinoa, oats and wheat.”

While choosing the right baby cereal may feel a little overwhelming for parents given the amount of choices that do contain rice, it’s important to note that in most cases, the amount of arsenic from rice food products is small and should not cause any symptoms in children.

Introducing your child to a varied diet as soon as they are able to eat solid foods is a great way to keep them as healthy as possible.