If your child has a sweet tooth, or is used to having the same breakfast each day, it might not be easy at first to get them to swap to a healthy breakfast. Here are some handy tips that should help make changing to a healthier, lower sugar breakfast easier.
Mix a little of their usual cereal into a bowl of lower sugar cereal
To make the swap from sugary cereal to low sugar cereal easier, you can try mixing some of their favourite cereal into a bowl of low sugar cereal. If you mix in less and less each day they might not even notice the difference and you could then move to the low sugar cereals!
Try reducing sugar in stages
The journey from high sugar to low sugar doesn’t have to be done in one go, so long as you start making steps to reduce the sugar in your child’s diet. If you can’t get them to swap to a healthier breakfast option straight away then why not swap from a high sugar to a medium sugar cereal and then to a healthier option?
Shop for wholegrain cereals
When you’re shopping try to stick to cereals that are wholegrain and are lower in sugar, salt and fat levels. You could also try skimmed or semi skimmed milk to make it even healthier. (Remember children under 2 should have full fat milk and skimmed milk is not suitable for children under five years old.)
Talk about sugary cereals with your child
Taking the time to explain to your children how sugar is bad for their health and their teeth is a really good idea. This helps them understand why swapping is a good thing and encourages them to take an interest in the food they’re eating.
Lead by example
Most children want to be like their parents, so starting to eat healthier breakfasts together with your child will help them get used to the idea of swapping to lower sugar breakfasts.
