Nutella for toddler breakfast

[FanofLeaves]

This is not a food bashing thread, I don’t care who wants to eat Nutella for breakfast in their own households 🤣

More just to canvas opinion.

Currently have a 3.5 year old who is pretty much refusing to eat meals. Nothing wrong with his appetite if offered crisps and biscuits, naturally, but I’m getting really stressed out that he’s not being adequately nourished. Seems to eat ok at nursery but he’s only there three days a week and they probably give them pigeon portions and almost certainly say he’s eaten more than I suspect he has. At home it’s mostly a shit show, I can’t seem to get anything proper into him. I’m trying so hard and doing everything I can think of and it’s really getting me down.

anyway so I’m having a crack down. Today we were supposed to be going out, nothing special just a trip out to the woods to mess about with his toy dinosaurs and an ice cream on the way home but it’s a beautiful day.

He should have woken up ravenous as he ate about 5 pieces of pasta for tea last night, so I asked him what he wanted for breakfast. Egg on toast, great. Make it for him and he won’t even look at it. I take it away, give him half an hour and try again. Same. So I’ve says until he eats either that or cereal or natural yogurt and fruit for breakfast we are not going anywhere. So he’s flinging himself about on the sofa sighing but refusing any offers of breakfast.

DH gets up, I briefly fill him in. Come back to him offering DS Nutella on toast which I have said no to and DS is now crying because he wants that. On the one hand, great, it’s food and we can crack on with the day but on the other, it just proves my point that he’s happy to eat what I regard as ‘treat’ breakfast items (and have no problem with but not in place of adequate nutrition) and is refusing regular food.

So would you just give in and make the bleeding Nutella on toast 🤣 I’m sticking to my guns but just interested.

And yeah it’s not a very exciting thread, but I have time on my hands now we are in a stand off trapped inside 😅

To get out of these battles I remind myself there's no nourishment in pom bears / biscuits anyway. So even if he has something like Nutella on toast he's not really getting anything great. Makes me feel better about saying 'here's breakfast!' and if he doesn't want it then 🤷 he can't be that hungry. I feel so guilt ridden otherwise!

Also, I agree if it's in the house just let him have it and start again tomorrow, don't ruin your sunny day over it 😅

Its not significantly different nutrition wise

I cant believe posters are referring to Nutella on here like its some sort of poison or like crack or something

Its eaten by lots of children all over the world in societies where children's health and weight is a lot better than ours. Putting nutella in a baguette or even slices of chocolate is a well known French thing for kids, not unusual at all.

OP doesnt need to make sure its not in the house, what next she doesnt buy alcohol and have that in the house?

Its 'better' to try to have some protein based food at breakfast time but then not everyone thrives on that, we're all different

Having been offered the nutella by dad i wouldnt have contradicted that because its there already, but equally if you dont want him to have it then agree between you want lengths you want to go to, to ensure he has the breakfast you want. So start again tomorrow

Equally I never know why 'healthy' pancakes (no such thing as a healthy or unhealthy food) with bananas are seen as better than nutella on toast.

And fruit with yoghurt has to be the least satiating thing ever, cold and wet, rugh who wants that before a big day out at the woods.

Totally agree with this. I think this concept has been invented by the food industry to make people buy and eat more

I would avoid Nutella too, there are enough options for stuff to put on toast!

Our eldest is obsessed with chocolate though, so a good option we've found for breakfast is to allow dark chocolate chips in porridge or Weetabix. That works a treat!

That's standard after school snack lol, easy to carry around to the park etc. That's also what primary school used to give us: a mini baguette with either "pate de fruit" (a very sweet fruit paste) or chocolate.

A few different issues here:

1. your husband shouldn't have gone directly against what you'd already told your child. He's setting you all up for failure there

2. but actually, wholegrain toast with a scrape of Nutella, teeth brushed straight afterwards - honestly I'd be happy with this as part of a balanced day. I find people are weird about Nutella in a way they're not weird about jam/honey, and they get hung up about breakfast in a way they don't about dinner (my kids often have Cheerios for breakfast, but we never have pudding after tea🤷‍♀️)

3. maybe your expectations of how much a child "should" be eating are not quite accurate? Nursery portions are usually a sensible size for the age of the child. Some toddler go through a massive growth spurt age 2-3 then slow down a bit.

So? Maybe he wasn’t hungry, maybe he didn’t fancy what was on offer.

Do you deprive yourself of a treat when you don’t eat breakfast? What an odd attitude.

Don’t brush teeth straight after eating! You are brushing the enamel off them when they’re at their softest
Eat a piece of cheese or something with xylitol but don’t brush

Just let him have Nutella. My DS used to have Nutella wrap for his lunch everyday at primary school as it was the only thing he would eat. He’s a super healthy 24 year old now so it didn’t do him any harm.

I learned with mine that the more fuss you make over food, the more they dig their heels in. My brother had fish fingers and smiley faces for dinner for 6 months (this was the 80’s!) He runs marathons now and east very healthily.

@soupyspoon - do you eat proper full fat Greek yogurt? It’s basically solid almost, and really filling. If I eat Greek yogurt with fruit/ granola/ seeds I’m full for ages compared to porridge

Like people say, don't get too emotionally invested in this.

I get it, because it is such a shit feeling when your kid won't eat the food you've prepared for them. But it's not worth it. You won't look back in 20 years and be glad you made a fuss about Nutella.

No its behavioural stand your ground

Agree with offering cheese. It's also a useful distraction technique on children to offer a piece of cheese.

Nothing wrong with Nutella for breakfast. Everything wrong with a husband who undermines what you have said. Child will learn to play you off against each other to get their own way pretty quickly.

Yes I like greek yoghurt and I only eat full fat products in any case. I cant eat yoghurt unfortunately due to acid reflux but its not a fulfilling breakfast with fruit in my view

I'm in a similar position only I wouldn't give the Nutella on toast purely because my son would never eat toast again without Nutella on it..
Once in an attempt to get him to eat porridge I gave him some chocolate buttons mixed in the porridge and now he won't ever eat porridge without demanding chocolate in it.
If he woke up and wasn't starving I would not force him to eat. I would pack a healthy bag of breakfast/lunch and explain that is all he will be offered. We had to explain to my son that because he barely eats anything it means what he does eat needs to be healthier. Such a tricky situation x

But are you thinking of our type of portions, as adults? When my daughter was that age I used to have to regularly remind myself if the pirton sizes that toddlers generally need - it's a lot less than I thought.

I think you’re right to think this is important and to start as you mean to go on. Nutella on toast occasionally is fine. I really wouldn’t worry about him not eating before you go out. He won’t starve himself. Just take some good choices out with you and he’ll ask when hungry. If you have ‘treats’ in the house and he knows it, he will play you.

It’s more than dust, air and five pieces of pasta though 🤣

I haven’t said this as it just makes me look like an idiot- I’ve worked in the early years sector in one form or another for 15 years. I know a lot about toddler nutrition, portion sizes and behaviour around mealtimes etc etc. in a nursery, I know a lot of the time things get put down as ‘ate some’ when they’ve done no more than poke their tongue out to taste a morsel on a fork.

Just a total different kettle of fish when it’s YOUR child 😭

Anyway. We are back. He ate half a piece of chicken and two blueberries. And whinged about walking (he’s such a sunny, chatty boy at heart and always on the go, but strangely enough his legs didn’t work due to lack of energy 🤦🏻‍♀️)

He did not get an ice cream. No, I didn’t have one either, I’m not a monster 🤣

I once looked after my nephew and his mum said to carry this big back of snacks when we went out. She also said he’s picky over meals. Well, I left the bag of snacks at home and offered a banana when he started to be grumpy. He refused it so I put up with the grumps in the pushchair and when we got home he ate all of his lunch and fruit. Same thing in afternoon and he ate all of his dinner. He knew she carried rustling bags of snacks so would eat all day and not be hungry at mealtimes.

OP I found it helpful to think about how much he eats over a week rather than a day. Mine would have hungry days and other days when they weren’t bothered.

You can't ask a picky eater what they want to eat as they can't be trusted to know in my experience. Just offer a limited range of items for a meal and let them pick through what they like.

If my 3.5 refuses breakfast, I offer it again half hour later. If she still refuses, we just get on with our day! If she’s hungry later on I’ll offer some fruit/veggies with houmous or whatever. Breakfast doesn’t have to be ‘breakfast’ food. Sometimes she asks for pasta for breakfast (I always have homemade tomato sauce in fridge) and I just give it to her! Just need to pick your battles I think. Yes, it would be great if she ate breakfast every morning but sometimes I don’t fancy eating when I first get up or whatever! Sometimes she refuses breakfast on preschool days and I get worried about that, but I let them know and they offer her something either when she arrives or a little later on.

Try not making a plate of food. Just put out a few cubes of things he can select from- cheese, hard boiled egg, veg sticks, bread.