Ideas for more substantial breakfast for teenage boy?

[RedSkyLastNight]

DS (14) has told me that he's started feeling faint and light headed while he's at school - always during the same lesson (lesson 2: 9.30-10.30)

I suspect that this might be caused by his blood sugar dropping (he generally eats a portion of his lunch at break, immediately after lesson 2 after which he says he is fine).

He currently generally eats a large (I mean large) bowl of cereal at about 7am. Anyone any ideas as to what he could eat first thing to keep him going for longer? I'd prefer not to start cooking in the morning (and he definitely won't!) but guess I cook if it was something quick and easy.

DS2 is currently very keen on bagels with cream cheese and salmon, or cream cheese and ham. The salmon is admittedly quite expensive, but he also likes bagels with tinned fish - tuna or mackerel or sardines on toast (he likes the tinned fish with different sauces like curry and Mexican). Sometimes boiled eggs and toast or beans on toast.

I cook eggs using an egg ring and then chill themdown with a slice of cheese in a grilled muffin in the fridge for next morning. 20-30 secs in microwave and it's warm enough to eat but not hot enough to burn sleepy teen's mouth!
I make them twice a week and they'll keep wrapped in cling film in the fridge for a few days.

Porridge oats , soaked overnight in fridge in full fat milk with added dried fruit and nuts .

I sometimes make a Spanish omelette on top of whatever I’m making for dinner the night before and my children will often eat a portion of that cold for breakfast.

Most cereal is bad news for your blood sugar levels! Your son needs fewer carbohydrates (particularly sugar) and more protein and fat. How about these ideas?
Omelette, tomatoes and mushrooms.
Scrambled eggs with smoked salmon and cheese.
Avocado with poached eggs or salmon.
Cheese, rye bread and tomatoes.

I'd get him to the doctors. He might be anaemic. Kids go to school with no breakfast and don't start feeling faint.

Mine likes 3or 4 scrambled eggs and a slice of brown toast or avocado on 2 slices of brown toast, sometimes with a poached egg or an omelette. As people have said he needs some good protein in there. Eggs are easy enough to cook in the morning.

He needs protein and fat to keep him going.

Also, I would make sure he is getting enough to drink and continues to get drinks throughout the day. Mine never wants to drink anything at school because she doesn't like to have to squeeze in a bathroom break. And then she gets dizzy and wonders why.

A packet of peanuts & a banana for snacks should see him through until lunch time OP

Both of them he can take in his bag & are quick on the go snacks.

Have cream on the muesli instead of semi-skim.

I dunno. DS was junior soldier in the Army & sometimes they had to skip meals & still do PT, they didn't faint. Anemia makes more sense to me than low blood sugar.

He shouldn’t be feeling feint and dizzy at 9.30 after eating at 7am, no matter what he has for breakfast. Hungry maybe, not not feint. Get him to the GP!

Cereal doesn't work.

He needs more protein : a pp recommended bagel, cheese and an egg. That sounds good. Maybe a mid morning snack too : flapjack etc.

The lad needs calories!

Teenage metabolisms.. mine has a bowl of Shreddies, cut of tea, 2 slices of toast and 2 boiled eggs and still starving by lunchtime. He's skinny as a rake.

Beans on toast with Marmite on the toast.Bacon rolls, cook extra sausages the day before and have cold in the beans, or heated up in a sandwich. Porridge.

Ds still won't eat eggs (at 22 years of age), so that limited breakfast possibilities when he was a teenager.

you can make up a big pan of hash browns and just warm up a portion each day with eggs or sausage.
avoid anything sugary.

Going to secondary school and I was a fainter - didn't know I had a condition that was causing it at the time and because my MH problems appeared at the same time scale it was put down to that oh and hormones

I went thru a battery of tests at the time and the condition which was causing it wasn't picked up on but having sat down with consultants years later and gone back over history and got notes from the earlier hospitals it all makes sense now

This went on for over 3 years and then I left school and it slowed down a bit, it hit again in my late 20s and was finally diagnosed for what it is in mid-30s

On school mornings, I had 2/3 sausages, 2/3 slices of bacon, potato farl, fried egg, 1/2 tin of beans and about 4 slices of toast, washed down with about a litre of orange juice with it -

This was the late 1980s so the microwave was in full use - while I had my evening meal on Sunday evening and enough was cooked to do until Wednesday morning and on Wednesday evening, while I had evening meal I repeated the process for Thursday / Friday

The sausages were cooked on Sunday / Wednesday evening - the bacon the same - the potato farls were popped in the toaster while the breakfast was on the plate in the microwave - the fried egg for Mon/Tues/Wed morning was cooked on Sunday evening and was fine - prick with a fork and onto plate in microwave - 1/2 tin of beans onto plate as well,

The rest went into Tupperware (something useful from the party years) which was what was used to separate all the bits in the fridge - while it all was in the microwave for 5 mins, the potato farls took 2 mins and the other slots of the toaster was used for toast, while micro was on and toaster going I set the table and got a glass out and sat down and ate

Despite me definitely not being hungry and still having a snack for morning break (usually home-baked bread with ham/cheese) and a packed lunch and money to get chips if I wanted, I was still fainting here there and everywhere. My whole year all were excellent at putting me in the recovery position or helping move me out of a packed corridor or occasionally being a buffer between me and something as I went down.

If I made it to school it was a good day as often I didn't as friends would pick me up from the ground while on way to bus, on the bus, in assembly, in class, falling up and down the stairs (it was a 3 storey building and crossing the road to the other campus) - I was taken to the office and mum was phoned to collect me once it had happened 4 times in the day

it didn't make any difference re sugar levels, what I ate, I tried not eating as well to see if there was a difference, there wasn't

So would say a trip to the GP to rule out any conditions that are underlying and go from there - good luck

My 11 year old has

Toasted cheese or ham/chicken bagel
Piece of fruit such as a chopped apple or kiwi fruit
Handful of mixed nuts

Keeps him going

Egg bread is popular here, or an egg hunt. Go on then, what’s an egg hunt?

Does he drink full fat Cows Milk with his breakfast OP? My DS is 14 and I don’t like cooking in the morning either. He has cereal for breakfast and a large glass of full fat milk. I try to put a bar of something in his school bag for the walk to school or break.

If I ate breakfast at 7am and didn’t eat again until lunch I think I would actually pass out.

Mine is like this. He often has avocado on toast. Bread in toaster, lump of cheese in microwave. He then spreads the melted cheese on the toast and mashes the avocado on top. Takes a couple of minutes max.

Or scrambled eggs? Again, takes about 2 mins in the microwave ( you need to do it in short bursts and stir it frequently though).

Also, adding seeds and nuts to muesli (toasted pumpkins seeds, flaked almonds, dessicated coconut) with help with the protein side of things.

Ds is only 9 but super active and super skinny. He’s stopped wanting cereal and he likes tins of beans and sausages, beans on toast or cheese on toast. Sometimes he will have porridge and he always has a banana or two.

i would have him tested

My 7 and 9 year old has two eggs (scrambled or omelette) with a slice of toast and jam every morning and a cup of chocolate milk made with full fat milk. They didn’t cope on less than that, weetabix didn’t do the job. 9 year old went off eggs for a while, then he had full fat greek yog with berries (frozen berries cooked for 5 mins in microwave) and chopped nuts. Now back on eggs. He does a lot of sport though.

What was the cause then smurfy2015?

Before you rush off to get him tested, try cutting his carbs back and increasing the protein and fat he's getting.

I know you said you didn't want to cook, but something like an omelette or scrambled eggs really doesn't take that long. Make sure they're cooked with plenty of butter, and add a good handful of cheese. Slice of wholemeal toast and some full fat milk will all add good fat and protein as well as carbs.

Mine likes smoked salmon and scrambled eggs, or a bacon batch. I've tried unsuccessfully to bring porridge into his repertoire, because it's cheaper and I could make it in the slow cooker overnight, but he isn't keen. He also likes crumpets with marmite.