Gerber Mixes Three Grains Together for Wholesome Goodness
Written: Apr 15 '06 (Updated May 31 '06)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Easy to serve and mix; Babies love it
Cons: Costs a little more; Pour spout isn't constructed very well.
The Bottom Line: This is a very good product to serve to infant babies.
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| Bryan_Carey's Full Review: Gerber Multigrain Cereal |
Babies like to eat and as they grow older, it is important to slowly wean them off of breast milk or formula and introduce other food products into the diet. Jarred food is usually the first food introduced and what usually follows is cereal. One brand I have used and like is Gerber Mixed Grain Cereal, a multi- grain product for infants.
Basic Facts About This Product:
Gerber Mixed Grain Cereal combines three different grains into one cereal: wheat, rice, and oats. This cereal is fortified with many vitamins and minerals- similar to the fortification usually present in adult cereals.
Gerber Mixed Grain is sold in a box with a pull- out spout for easy dispensing. There is a sticker covering the spout for added protection (helps ensure against tampering- don’t buy if the sticker is removed). The sizes offered are 8 oz (227 grams) and 16 oz. (435 grams).
Gerber precooks this cereal and then dehydrates it, making it user- friendly to prepare. You start by pouring the desired amount of the cereal into a bowl. Then, you stir in liquid until it reaches the desired consistency. The liquid can be breast milk, formula, fruit juice, water, or jarred baby food. The cereal is then ready to serve. It can be served at room temperature or heated up slightly in a microwave.
Ingredients:
This product is made with wheat flour, rice flour, oat flour, tricalcium phosphate, dicalcium phosphate, soy oil lecithin, tocopherols (Vitamin E), electrolytic iron, zinc sulfate, niacinamide, riboflavin, pyridoxine hydrochloride, thiamin, folic acid, and Vitamin B12.
Nutritional Facts:
Each one- quarter cup (15 gram) serving of Gerber Mixed Grain Cereal contains the following:
Calories...........60
Fat................One half gram
Sodium.............0 grams
Potassium..........25 mg
Carbohydrates......12 grams
Dietary Fiber......0 grams
Sugars.............2 grams
Protein............1 gram
Customer Service:
Questions about this product can often be answered by visiting the web site, gerber.com. If you cannot find what you want to know in the web site, then you can call the customer support line at 800-4gerber (800-443-7237)
Final Thoughts:
Gerber Mixed Grain Cereal is a very good product to serve babies between the ages of roughly four months and one year. It is a wholesome grain product, with good nutritional value and it is loaded with eleven essential vitamins and minerals, with a list that includes Calcium, Iron, Vitamin E, Thiamin, Riboflavin, Niacin, Vitamin B6, Folate, Vitamin B12, Phosphorus, and Zinc.
I first tried this product with my little girl when she was about five months old. Her first cereal eating experience took place when she was a little over three months old. The reason I waited before serving her Gerber Mixed Grain Cereal is because I had to make sure to feed her samples of the other grains first. This is an important step that some parents forget. Babies need to be served the individual grains- like wheat, corn, oats, and rice- first, in order to make sure they do not have any allergies to one of the grains. Multi- grain mixtures can then be served, once it is known that your baby doesn’t have any allergies to the individual grains.
Gerber Mixed Grain Cereal has an appearance that is off- white in color and is comprised of tiny flakes. This helps the cereal mix quickly when combined with liquids. You need to mix slowly to make sure you don’t add too much liquid because it will quickly reach a saturation point and beyond this point, you will need to add more cereal to soak up the excess liquid before the cereal can be served. And this could result in more food than your baby can eat, resulting in some food being wasted.
Preparation of this product couldn’t be much easier. The package is designed to make it easy with the built- in pouring spout on the side of the box. You just peel the protective sticker off, pull the spout open, and pour the cereal out. The box is sealed shut by pushing the spout shut. Then, all you do is add the liquid of your choice to the cereal, stir, and serve. The only bad thing about this process is the pour spout itself. It is constructed completely from cardboard and this makes it easy to accidentally tear it when you open it and when you use it each day.
When deciding what liquid to add, I found it best to start with formula. Since babies are already familiar with the taste of formula, they accept the new taste very quickly. Later on, I started to mix other things with the cereal, like jars of Gerber #1 and Gerber #2 baby food. Today, I am mixing jars of Gerber fruit- flavored baby food with the cereal. The combination of fruit and multi grains makes for a good, nutritious breakfast.
Even though this cereal contains a good deal of nutritional benefits, a parent needs to keep in mind that it doesn’t contain every vitamin and mineral. It doesn’t, for example, have any Vitamin A or Vitamin C. It contains a good amount of other vitamins and minerals, however, so this shouldn’t be a deterrent to making a purchase. Gerber Mixed Grain is, after all, cereal so it shouldn’t be expected to contain every known vitamin and mineral. Besides, if you mix other baby food with it, like fruits and vegetables, you will easily get the other vitamins and minerals your baby needs.
Gerber Mixed Grain Cereal is a little more expensive than other brands of similar baby cereal, like Del Monte and Beach Nut, mainly because of the Gerber name. The added cost may discourage some from purchasing, but it won’t matter to those who have grown to know and trust the Gerber name. I am one of them and I will continue to buy Gerber Mixed Grain Cereal even if it does cost a little more. I like the balance of nutrition and it makes a good baby food base for combining with fruit and serving for breakfast.
For More Baby Product Reviews, Be Sure to Click on the Links Below:
Baby Formula:
Similac Advance DHA/ARA
Nestle Good Start Supreme DHA/ARA
Enfamil Lipil with Iron
Similac Advance Soy Formula
Bright Beginnings with DHA/ARA
Baby Diapers:
Huggies Supreme Diapers
LUVS Diapers
Pampers Baby Dry Diapers
Huggies Diapers
Baby Foods:
Gerber Finger Foods
Baby Merchandise:
Graco Snugride Baby Car Seat- Windsor
Kolcraft Cuddle ‘N Care Rocking Bassinet
Cosco Alpha/Omega Elite Baby Car Seat
Graco Open Top Three- Speed Swing
Baby Cleanup:
Johnson’s Bedtime Lotion, Bedtime
Huggies Baby Wipes with Shea Butter
Johnson’s Baby Shampoo
Johnson’s Bedtime Bath
Recommended:
Yes
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