Don’t let your preferred slice thickness be the first thing you consider. For a baby just starting to eat bread, the Netherlands Nutrition Centre recommends brown bread or wheat bread without seeds as a starting choice after 6 months. If your child already eats bread and you’d like to cut a wider strip yourself, a whole multigrain loaf can be practical. Just check the ingredients, allergens and texture of the variety you choose.
If your baby is still getting used to bread, start by looking at its ingredients and texture. After 6 months, the Netherlands Nutrition Centre recommends brown bread or wheat bread without seeds as a starting choice, rather than multigrain bread filled with seeds.
If your child already eats bread, an unsliced loaf lets you choose the shape yourself. First check whether it contains seeds: a firm crust or a wide strip doesn’t tell you anything about the ingredients.
If you’re packing bread for nursery or school, you’ll need to check the allergens on the exact packaging. Also ask about the venue’s policies before packing it.
First, consider whether the bread is right for the stage your child is at in learning to eat bread. Then compare the ingredients, and only after that decide between slicing it yourself and buying pre-sliced bread.
| What to consider | What to check when buying | Who it matters to |
|---|---|---|
| Bread texture and eating stage | Consider whether your child is already used to bread and coarser textures. For their first taste of bread, check in particular that it contains no seeds. | If my baby is only just trying bread, I want the ingredients to matter more than a firm, thick strip. This is the top priority for around 34% of consumers. |
| Ingredients and allergens | Read the ingredients and allergen information on the exact packaging, paying particular attention to cereals containing gluten, sesame, seeds and kernels. | If allergens or a specific dietary requirement determine my choice, I don’t want to rely on the word ‘multigrain’. Around 33% of consumers put the ingredients first. |
| Slicing it yourself or buying it pre-sliced | Check that the loaf is actually unsliced if you want to choose the shape yourself; if it’s pre-sliced, look at the slices themselves. | If my child is already used to bread, I want to choose between cutting a wider strip myself and quickly grabbing a pre-sliced piece. For around 20% of consumers, this practical choice is the deciding factor. |
| Where to buy it and taking it with you | Check which variety you’re buying and ask the nursery or school about its allergen policies. | If I need to pack bread for lunch, I want to know which variety I can buy and what the venue allows. For around 13% of consumers, this planning matters most. |
A shop’s description of the texture doesn’t tell you whether a loaf is right for a baby just starting out. For a first taste, the Netherlands Nutrition Centre recommends brown bread or wheat bread without seeds.
Prioritise the stage your child is at in learning to eat bread and the ingredients over your preferred shape.
Ingredients vary from product to product. Albert Heijn lists cereals containing gluten and sesame seeds, among other ingredients, in AH Liefde & Passie Meergranen gesneden.
Check the allergen information on the exact packaging every time you buy it, especially if you have a known allergy or coeliac disease.
‘Whole’, ‘hearth-baked’ and ‘firm’ don’t tell you how thick the slices are in a pre-sliced variety. A loaf described as ‘whole sliced’ may already be cut into slices.
Look at the slices themselves, or choose a genuinely unsliced loaf if you want to control the thickness.
The fact that AH Liefde & Passie Meergranen gesneden lists iodised salt tells you nothing about the label on another variety.
If iodised salt matters to your choice, read the ingredients on the specific loaf.
Offers varieties including AH Liefde & Passie Meergranen gesneden and AH OerDesem donker meergranen heel gesneden.
Offers several multigrain breads, including Stevig Meergranen, wholemeal varieties and half loaves.
Describes its multigrain bread as a firm loaf made with a mixture of grains and seeds.
Offers luxe vloerbrood meergranen and boeren volkoren meergranen.
Offers varieties including PLUS Korenlanders Desem Meergranen Boekweit, as well as other multigrain breads.
Offers varieties including Bakkers meergranenbrood, Multikorn and vloerbrood meergranen.
This round multigrain loaf is an option if you want to cut your own shape and your child is already used to bread. For their first taste, the ingredients matter more than your preferred thickness.
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A 550 g round multigrain loaf for anyone who wants to cut a strip once their child is used to bread.
Allow time to defrost, bake and cool before slicing. The listed sunflower seeds, linseed and sesame mean this isn’t an obvious choice for a first taste of bread. Also check the latest allergen information on the packaging.
According to the Netherlands Nutrition Centre, a baby aged between 4 and 6 months can try a piece of bread without the crust if they’re already used to practising with purées and some coarser textures. After 6 months, the Netherlands Nutrition Centre recommends brown bread or wheat bread without seeds as a starting choice. From 7 months, you can offer bread with the crust to help your baby learn to chew.
The name ‘multigrain’ doesn’t tell you which allergens the bread contains. Albert Heijn lists cereals containing gluten in the AH multigrain breads mentioned here, so check the allergen information on the exact packaging, especially if you have coeliac disease or a known allergy.
Check the ingredients on the specific packaging. Albert Heijn lists iodised salt in AH Liefde & Passie Meergranen gesneden, but that doesn’t tell you anything about the ingredients in other breads.
