Your Tot Will Gobble Up These 12 Tasty (and Healthy!) Baby Cereals

When you and your pediatrician decide that it's the right time to introduce solid foods to your baby, tried-and-true baby cereal might be your first choice.

The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) recommends breast milk or formula as the sole source of your baby's diet for the first 6 months of their life. After that, there are a few guidelines that parents should follow before deciding if their baby is ready for solids: The baby must be able to hold their head up properly with no assistance, open their mouth automatically when food comes their way, and finally, be able to move food from their mouth to their throat. And while many parents choose to introduce bland veggies like avocado or sweet potato as their baby's first food, whole-grain or barley cereal can be an excellent aid if your baby is suffering from constipation, according to Longwood Pediatrics. It's also a really convenient diaper bag food.

However, we should note that if your baby has only had formula or breast milk up until now, you need to make sure that they can swallow foods of thicker consistency. This is another reason why baby cereal is a great transitional meal — it can be made with breast milk or formula, so you can adjust the thickness as you please.

You might be leery of cereal if you've read the news lately, though: You've probably heard that there is some concern over heavy metals in baby foods, specifically rice cereal. For this reason, our list contains only rice-free cereals to calm any concerns that parents might have.

We also spoke with two nutritionists about the cereals that they'd recommend for parents to buy. Nutritionist Heather Hanks says that she likes to “buy oatmeal baby cereal instead of rice cereal to reduce exposure to arsenic and boost baby’s fiber content.” She also says that “oatmeal is a good source of a type of soluble fiber called beta-glucans that have been shown to boost immunity.” Dietitian Summer Yule adds that fortified barley cereal is another great option, as it may not absorb arsenic as readily as rice crops do.

How We Chose

For this baby cereal guide, we used our experts' recommendations and paired them with parental reviews, taking taste and texture into consideration. Learn more about the best baby cereals that are both parent- and baby-approved. We're sure you’ll find one here that your little one will absolutely love.