To ask your opinion on sending babies to nursery without having breakfast?

[Babybunny88]

I work in a day nursery with babies and am astounded by the number of patents who say their baby has been up from 6am (or before) and are starving, please give them breakfast .

We open at 7.30 and sometimes even have parents bring their babies in at 9am with no breakfast or even a bottle before hand. One little girl was brought in at 9.10am and had nothing to eat or drink apart from a bottle that she got at 4am . Another little girl is put into her high chair every morning with nothing while
Her parents sit beside her at the table eat breakfast. One time apparently she grabbed a piece of toast of her dads plate and he wasn't very happy as it was his breakfast and she had to wait until she for to nursery before having hers!

I think my DD would be going into the kitchen and making her own breakfast if I didn't give her any! Really is there any need not to feed your baby before nursery? Is it laziness? Opinions please.

Depends on timings really. DS gets up at 6.45 - quick bottle or cup of milk (he's 19 months) and is at nursery for about 7.50 and has breakfast there. I usually take snacks for the journey (cheese and cucumber or something) just incase but tbh he usually eats that on the way home. He likes having breakfast with his pals.

My son's nursery provides a full breakfast. We give him a bottle of milk before he goes and he gets there at 8.15am.

If I felt he needed breakfast I most certainly would give it to him....we're neither lazy nor neglectful.... but why give him two breakfasts??

Fair enough if they don't want it but what if they are starving and thy have to wait until they get to nursery before having anything? That is the point I'm making!

I have to send DDs breakfast in with her. She is not an early riser and we have a 45-50 minute journey to nursery so i leave her in bed as long as possible (have to leave by 7.15). She wont eat until she's been up for an hour or so so i'm certainly not going to get her up at 6am just so she can have some breakfast when she'd rather be asleep.

Mine isn't a baby anymore but he's never been hungry when he wakes up, it takes him a good 40mins to even think about food and another 30 mins to pick at something very slowly. So I'm very happy that nurseries include breakfast. Hes much more hungry for it too as the other children eating kind of gets him in the mood. I don't think that equates to starving or neglect!

DS2 also has breakfast at 9 at the nursery. He wolfs down his porridge at 9 at home and I expect he does so at nursery! He is 7 months.

He still doesn't need two breakfasts.

He has a milk feed at 7/8

Still not seeing the issue here.

My so only goes to nursery occasionally but when he does he probably eats earlier than at home. I wake around 7 and get dressed, then wake and dress him at 7.15. Out the door at 7.30. 30 min drive to nursery and he has breakfast there at 8. On home days he wakes later and we faff upstairs playing for ages before breakfast. That said if he woke at 6am and was at nursery at 9am I would have fed him. Sometimes I give a snack before he goes. Do you really know exactly what time they got up, what they had to eat etc. my nursery certainly wouldn't.

How do you know they haven't eaten or drunk anything for x number of hours? How do you know whether or not the child wanted anything before they got to nursery?
If any of you at the nursery are concerned that 1 or is it 2 of the children at the nursery are genuinely not being properly fed, then you have a duty to raise this. Otherwise - their parenting is not what you would do, but probably good enough.

Having breakfast at nursery perfectly normal isn't it? DS2 gets up at 7, then gets dressed and ready, has a banana then gets to nursery at around 7.40 where he has breakfast. They have a range of cereals, fruit and bread. He prefers nursery breakfast because he likes the jam!

I don't think it's neglect either( never even mentioned it ) I just think its mean when the child is starving, especially if they are up early as babies tend to be, to make them wait until they get to nursey before eating. Really, there's no need for people to jump down my throat I'm only asking your opinions!

I know what you mean bunny

Must be distressing having all these starving babies dropped on you. They must be in a right state. I cannot imagine leaving my baby hungry just because nursery provide food. My dds could wait now they are older but at four months when she woke she wanted a bottle. No way would I leave it to a nursery if she was starving before hand.

I used to have an hour's commute door to door 7.30-8.30 to get my little boy to nusery when he was a baby. Of course he had toast and a banana on the way. The nursery staff then used to moan because he wouldn't eat his breakfast there. Can't win!

If they have a bottle or bf it is probably fine. I bf ds 5 times ish per night and never fed breakfast before he went to his minder because he quite simply would not eat as he was not hungry. Up until 1 milk is the main food I would be surprised if anyone got away with giving a baby nothing babies tend to make their hunger presence felt.

not there was no need for that post! I did not say they weren't being fed properly, I said they were hungry for their breakfasts! That was a very OTT post!

All 3 of my DC have attended nursery (DS full time until 3 then a nanny), DD1 from 18 months until 4.5, but only 2 days a week, DD2 also 2 days a week from 3.5 months.

My kids wake up slowly. Some days I struggle to get breakfast into the older 2 before school. DD2 loves having her breakfast at nursery. Sometimes she has some thing at home and then more at nursery, it depends how she feels, she will often come and ask for my toast, which I will always give if asked. She is lactose intolerant so I take a container of her milk to nursery for her breakfast. She may ask if I have her milk in her bag, but knows her breakfast comes at nursery (10 minutes drive from home)

Would you think more of me if I force fed her at home rather than having her breakfast with her friends?

Excuse me fuckwittry I didn't say anything about neglect stop putting words in mouth! And I know what the babies have eaten and when because I have to ask the parents as part of my job.

I spent months trying to get DS to eat when he got up. Finally figured out that he is just like me and needs to wait an hour or so before he's remotely interested in breakfast. At 19 months he knows how to tell me whether he wants toast, fruit or milk (or anything else he wants). He's usually at day care within about 45 minutes of getting out of bed, and they provide toast, cereal, fruit and milk. Some mornings he'll ask for milk and will drink a sippy cup full on the way to daycare, but otherwise, he's happy to wait. I don't think it's a big deal, humans aren't all the same, not everyone wants to stuff their face within minutes of falling out of bed.

I would guess most parents would give milk as soon as the child wakes up, especially for a baby. I don't think there's anything wrong in taking a child to nursery for their breakfast however. Obviously you use your judgment if the child is very hungry but the nursery is being paid to give the child breakfast to save the parent time when they are rushing to get to work.

It has been standard in the nurseries I've used that they have breakfast at about 9 and they've never asked me what either DS has had at home.

Unless its been unusual in that perhaps they've been off food and I ask the nursery to keep an eye on that then I don't see why you would have to.

I don't think it's that outrageous to be honest, if they would have nothing until lunchtime then perhaps so.

I wish people would read the posts properly fair enough if they don't want any breakfast in the morning but what about the ones who are hungry!

How do you know they are starving?