Although we’re generally doing baby-led solids around here, once in awhile I enjoy feeding Maia with a spoon, or passing her a spoon and watching her try to feed herself. So when I was contacted with an offer to review Gerber’s 8 Grains & Yogurt Cereal, I decided to give it a try — especially since our family doctor had recently mentioned that I shouldn’t worry about introducing a variety of grains to Maia’s diet.
Within ten days, a package the size of a clothing box had arrived. I was kind of scared — I mean, how dang much cereal must be in that box? As it turns out, three 7 ounce boxes were inside… and this:
(The teddy bear, not the baby!)
Seriously, how awesome is that? Kristin, the PR rep I was in contact with, is super smart for sending along a teddy bear for my little lady to play with, which she’s pretty much guaranteed to love, and she totally gets an immediate thumbs up from me (yes, I’m easy. Yes, I’m pretty sure I’ve mentioned that in every other review so far.) The teddy bear has a bunch of little patches of different colours, shapes, and textures on him, and a rattle inside.
Anyhow, I was asked to review the cereal, not the teddy bear, right? So the next morning, for breakfast, I tossed Maia into her little HO! HO! HO! bib (tis always the season around here) (this was before I learned of the beauty that is plastic bibs with little catchers mitts at the bottom), prepared some of the cereal with water to a fairly lumpy consistency, microwaved it for twenty seconds, and tried it out myself. Why? Because I don’t feed my baby anything that I wouldn’t eat. It tasted bland, but with a subtle fruity aftertaste that I figured she’d like.
At the first bite, she cringed and kind of smacked her lips together in uncertainty… then swallowed and leaned forward with her mouth open, wanting more. After a bite or two, she grabbed for the spoon, and a few minutes later we had this:
The best part? IMMEDIATELY after this picture, that hand with the spoon went straight into her hair. And shortly thereafter, I had her in the bath. Lesson learned: if baby is going to feed herself, KEEP HER HAIR OUT OF HER DAMNED FACE. Right. Obvious. All you other moms out there are totally laughing at me over that one, I know.
Overall, that day, I considered the cereal to be a minor success, nothing great but nothing to toss in the garbage, either. At the very least, she could learn how to use a spoon by eating it.
The next morning, I tossed a tablespoon of orange juice into the cereal and enough lukewarm water to make it a bit more creamy in consistency, and warmed it for only 15 seconds. THIS went over huge! She had no interest in trying to grab the spoon, just kept gobbling the cereal down and leaning forward for more. When the bowl was empty, she was still hungry, so I prepared more!
For the last several mornings now, she’s eaten this cereal for breakfast. Sometimes I feed her, other times she feeds herself; we’ve used orange juice, apple juice, breast milk, and water in various combinations to alter the consistency, and all of them have been really successful. She’s always so happy to see me sit down with the bowl of cereal. I think that when we get through all three boxes, we’ll move on to more “solid” breakfasts like we have for other meals of the day, but I’ll keep a box on hand for those mornings when I have fruit on hand that is begging to be mixed in with hot, creamy cereal.
Gerber 8 Grains & Yogurt cereal is made with 8 natural grains: wheat, barley, rye, corn, sorghum, rice, oat, and millet. We definitely used more than two tablespoons per serving.
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During the 
I appreciated the little checkbox for “Bath”. I know, a silly thing to highlight, but honestly? Sometimes I forget which days Maia’s had a bath and which she hasn’t.
that allows you to track all sorts of stats about your baby (or babies, as the case may be!). Feeding, Diaper Change, Track Other Actions (Spat Up/Burped/Something Else), and Sleep Cycle are your four main options when you first open the app.
