During the 1920s and ‘30s, almost every Dutch baby was fed on a rice cereal called Molenaar’s Kindermeel and it remained familiar product in many Dutch households for decades. The cereal was created by Pieter Molenaar in Westzaan in 1888; his establishment of a new steam-powered factory in 1911 and the introduction of an automatic-packaging system in 1920 meant that in the years before and after World War II, the company was able to produce 4–5 million packages of the cereal each year. The illustrated image of a cheerful infant raising its arms in a cabbage patch next to a box of the cereal was one of numerous posters that the family used for three generations to promote it to mothers and doctors, both in the Netherlands and, after around 1905, abroad too. The firm also created attractive packaging and offered special gift items, like baby dishes and spoons, bearing the company name. In 1969, facing competition from other international baby food brands, Molenaar’s Kindermeel was taken over by a series of other operations and has not been seen on Dutch shelves since 2009.