Breakfast Ideas - Fort Collins,CO

My children love breakfast and I love to change things up instead of having the same thing every morning. I know if any of these ideas have already been said, but I just recently discovered toad in the hole-the kids love them. Put a hole in the middle of a piece of bread and fry it in a pan with an egg cooking in the middle, then flip. My kids like to dip the cut out circle piece in the egg and then they eat the rest. I also cut pancakes and french toast in strips so they can dip their slices in syrup. If she likes yogurt maybe throw some granola on top. Make shapes when cooking pancakes and maybe lay out some toppings and let her top them herself. Giver her a tortilla and have her fill it with what she wants, eggs, hashbrowns, cheese, bacon etc.
Hopefully some of these help. When they help make it they seem to want to eat it.

S.--

Do you eat breakfast? If not, try starting. Children will model your behavior and if you aren't eating it your daughter might be thinking "why should I?"

From the beginning our daugther has had all meals at home with us-- we eat breakfast, lunch, and dinner together. She gets irritated if we aren't there to eat with her. This not only shows her the importance of good, healthy meals but also the importance of family time.

For me, family meals are not negotiable. If we are home together, we eat together.

Just a thought-- maybe you do eat breakfast with her! If so, I would try not to worry too much. Kids know when they're hungry. Will she eat non-breakfast foods for breakfast? Leftover pizza or pasta or something?

Just some thoughts. Good luck!

I like to make extra slices of french toast on the weekend and then have my son eat them during hte week. Every morning, I cut up one slice into small pieces and put it in a bowl for him. He will eat it while watching cartoons or on his way to day care.

It could be that she is just not ready to eat first thing when she gets up, give her awhile to play and get used to being awake before you offer her breakfast, this worked with my daughter, although now that she is in school it is not an option anymore, but she is old enough now to reaize that she has to eat breakfast before seh leaves for school because lunch time is will nto be for hours! Good luck!

HI S.,
I have 5 children and the 4 oldest have all gone through this and the 4th is still going through this. My experience is that from about 2yrs old til about 4yrs they quit eating, well at least eating well. It seems like they're little pigs and then all of the sudden they just won't eat! Instead of serving meals for the kids in that stage I let them graze. So my 3yr old for breakfast will start out with a cup of milk, adding the instant breakfast is a great idea but it may fill her up so don't expect too much eating after that. Later she'll have a cup of yogurt and I put it in a tumbler cup and let her "drink" it with a straw, sometimes I'll make her a smoothie (recipie at the end) she really likes them. For lunch again its more milk and maybe half a peanut butter sandwhich or just a slice of cheese. She'll have a snack the afternoon like a banana or carrots and celery or peanuts or more yogurt. One thing I do insist on is she sit at the table with the rest of the family and "eat" dinner, mostly she'll eat one thing on her plate then tell knock knock jokes the rest of the time LOL! I know fresh and organic is the way to go but my kids LOVE canned veggies and will eat them over frozen or fresh, so I'll usually load her plate up with cut green beans because I know she'll eat them. Then for bed she'll have more milk. This has been going on since she turned 2 and I don't expect it to stop til she turns 4.

Smoothie Recipie:
1/2C milk or juice
1/2C yogurt(any flavor)
1/2 to 1C of fresh fruit cut up

Blend all ingrediants together in a blender until smooth enough to drink through a straw.

we like to use milk, strawberry banana yogurt and fresh strawberries or peach yogurt and fresh peaches.

Good luck, have fun!
C. C.

If you just ignore it, she may get over it within a few months. She probably enjoys the attention she gets. Another substitute you could try is to give her Ensure"

hello there,
I don't know what she likes and doesn't, children's tastebuds can be so fickle, but you could try getting creative with the presentation of different items. For example: My dad would make us mickey mouse pancakes (you could use a wheat mix), and you could try alternative toppings like fruit and powdered sugar or, yogurt; just try some different shapes, and if she gets to help make the shapes, like maybe have her use a cookie cutter or something she might get excited about eating it. You could put a hard boiled egg in a creative dish, or make a smoothie with a funky straw. I also used to love it when my mom would draw shapes on my toast. I loved toast and peanut butter and my mom would write a message or draw a picture in it with a knife, like my name or a heart. I am not a mom myself yet, I am expecting, but I am the oldest of eight, and my little sister is still five. I help my mom out a couple times a week in the mornings, and getting my litle sister to eat breakfast is like pulling teeth. She will not eat if she is left to eat by herself, and sometimes she won't eat unless I eat with her. So sometimes the best way to get her to eat is if i eat the same thing she is eating, or close to it and stay with her to keep her on task of eating. This can take up to an hour, most of the time at least twenty minutues. She cannot eat if she feels rushed. Also she loves cottage cheese or vanilla yogurt, but she has to use a long thin spoon to eat with. If she uises a plate it has to be a flower plate. If she uses a cup she wants it to be pink. Now not all the time but some mornings it's either fight about it or just plan on finding that spoon. She also likes to use little tiny ouduerve(I do not know how to spell that:) forks. When she eats ceareal she like to lok at the back of the box, even though she can't really read it, but its what her older brothers do so she likes to. But if I am there to talk with her she will eat better too. So to sum up, just try getting creative with the presentation of items that she will eat, and use creative dishes and utensils and see if that helps. Also just try some different items. My sister went through a phase where all she wanted to eat was meat, like eggs and cheese. Then she went into a phase where she didn't want to eat meat at all. So just experiment and try to make it fun. Good luck!

It doesn't have to be typical breakfast food if she doesn't care for that. What does she like the rest of the day? Does she like things such as cheese, Nutrigrain bars, etc? Also, if you ask her what she wants will she tell you? If it's a reasonable item, go for it. Once when my son was about 2, he asked for cooked carrots with ketchup for breakfast. That's what he got, along with a glass of milk for protein. He ate every bite, because he was in the mood for it. My kids have had everything from leftover fishsticks to mac-n-cheese to grilled cheese sandwiches for breakfast. It all works! Good luck!

My 3 year old has gone through phases - sometimes she is hungry early and wants to eat breakfast, and other times - for weeks or longer - she just isn't hungry in the morning. A lot of the time she wants to eat mid morning instead of early. She does drink a lot of milk. I have been going with the flow and it hasn't been a problem - she's growing well and is healthy.
Is your daughter having any health or growing problems? If not, you may just do a trial period and see what happens - she may go back to her normal routine in short order. You can always check with your pediatrician too, of course.

Other ideas for foods though - maybe she'd like a smoothie if you make one with yogurt and fruit?

Good luck - S.

My kids like to eat cottage cheese with fresh fruit (usually strawberries) in it. They also like yogurt with granola. On Sunday, I make pancakes or muffins, or bacon, eggs and potatoes but I do things like that once a week because I like them to get into healthy eating habits, but want to show them that it's okay to indulge once in a while. Don't worry though. Your daughter won't starve herself. Just offer her snacks throughout the day.

You may have already tried this - but have you tried non-breakfasty foods? Sometimes my kids want pizza (we make our own with sauce and bread and cheese) or cheese and crackers. My daughter likes sandwiches (ham and cheese). Smoothies are also often a hit - puree frozen bananas, berries, yogurt and honey.

I have a son that wants to eat the second he gets up, however I have a daughter that has to really wake up , it can be a half hour to hour before she feels like she wants to eat something, which can prove challenging if she is headed to school.
One thing is to make sure you give her time to wake up, if she is eating at least within an hour of waking up, that may be what she needs to do. Have her drink water too as all night without liquids they can feel hydrated.

Try offering bagels, yogurt, mini pancakes, waffles or a variety of cereal and have her help you prepare it. That makes them more willing sometimes to eat what they actually cooked. Just offer it, leave it out and tell her she needs to eat breakfast or no snacks before lunchtime. That typically works here.

Kids vary with their appeitites due to growth spurts and whatever else and it changes a bunch over the next few years...hang in there! :) She will eat breakfast again.

Hi S. - We have a 3.5 yr old daugther who has done this too - some days ravenous, others just a complete waste to worry - send stuff with her to school - she will eat when she is ready.
We also always have around things like fruit, granola bars, tube yogurts, tube cheese, dry cereal, dried fruits, yogurt smoothie drinks, toast is easy, peanut butter is super good source of protein if she will eat toast. Every once in a while our daughter wants oatmeal but that is not too often. Sometimes she wants milk, but usually juice (we dilute it) too. I don't feel like a buffet but I let her know what options are there and she lets me know when she is hungry and for what.
Good luck

Hi S.,

We too have struggled over the years with breakfast. I keep a variety of things on hand and then give them 3 choices for the day. One of those choices is bound to tickle their fancy. That way, it can also be what you want to fix. My kids like frozen waffles(Belgian style sometimes), instant oatmeal(brown sugar and maple), breakfast sandwiches on English muffins with egg and ham, sausage, bacon, and/or cheese. Or just the English muffin with butter and jam. Bagels with regular or flavored cream cheese(broken up). Regular rolled oats with raisins, brown sugar, and milk. Morning star farms veggie(sausage) patties on toast with cream cheese. Or breakfast goulash which consists of hash browns, eggs, cheese, and sausage with whole grain toast. Any type of fruit and yogurt, cottage cheese and fruit. I could go on and on. All my kids have one thing in common, they like a variety of foods to choose from. Since your daughter is so young, try starting with 2 choices, hold them up and ask, if she can't choose, help her choose. Good luck.

I'm going through the same thing with my 2 year old Daughter right now. Some days she will eat breakfast and other days she won't. It's really irritating. I just keep trying different things. Some of the things she will eat once in a while are: scrambled eggs with cheese, and yogurt smoothies (they come in kid flavors like cotton candy so she really likes them). She used to eat oatmeal a lot but now she hates it. sometimes she will eat dry cereal with a sippy cup of milk. but I know what your going through. I guess they will eat if there hungry enough. I just always offer something.

Have you tried frozen gogurts? My kids love them and think it is a treat. Good luck.

Hello S.,
For breakfast I offer my kids bread, veggie patties(Morning star brand "Grillers Prime or Grillers Original are the best)if they don't like eggs and sausage, a fruit(Usually bananas, strawberries, blueberries, grape fruits because these are their favorites). Plus, they get a glass of milk 3 to 4 times a day. We always have waffles or pancakes on hand so I can microwave or if you have time to make it yourself. Sometimes they get yogurt as a choice. You may see if she likes oatmeal. My daughter loves it and can eat a whole package by herself. It's about giving options and offer a little bit at a time. Then you offer a snack in between breakfast and lunch and it should give your kids nutrition all through the day. Don't forget a snack in between lunch and dinner.
You try to offer them things that you eat in small portions. They may not always like it but they may surprise you and eat the things that you offer them. I just have to modify by cutting up the food in bite size pieces. Good luck.
N.