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squeezy yoghurts for breakfast?

14 replies

Sugarmagnolia · 22/11/2008 09:08

Ok, i've not posted on here in a long time but this has been bothering me and don't know who else to ask!

DD is 7 1/2 and generally a pretty good eater - eats a good variety of foods including fish, meat, fruit, veg etc and sits nicely with us at family meals usually eating the same as the grown ups and (most of the time) using cutlery properly etc.

Lately, however, breakfast has become a bit of an issue. She frequently says she's not hungry in the mornings and has become more and more fussy about what she will eat. She used to select from a variety of fromage frais, cereals, juices, toast, toasted fruit bread etc. Now, virtually the only thing she will take in the mornings is a fromage frias. I usually buy the squeezy kind in a tube because she likes them best but now it means she just takes one out of the fridge, stands in the kitchen for about the 20 seconds it takes to eat/drink it, puts it in the bin and says she's done with 'breakfast'.

I feel like this is a really bad habit to get into and tried buying only the kind you eat with a spoon so she at least has to sit down at the table for a few minutes but she says she doesn't like those!

I don't know whether I?m making too much of a big deal of this and should just let her have what she wants. I also don't know whether to keep trying to find other things for her to have in the morning - sometimes she will take an innocent smoothie. I even bought a carton of strawberry milk thinking that might be better than nothing and probably not any worse (in terms of sugar content) than the squeezy yoghurts.

I hate the idea of her going to school with absolutely nothing, especially as her mood definitely seems to go way down when she hasn't eaten!

Any insight or advice would be helpful

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Anna8888 · 22/11/2008 09:28

Like you, I have strong feelings about children eating breakfast before school but also about what and how they eat it.

However, I don't want a battle and so I am prepared to be flexible in order to ensure there is something in their tummies to sustain them until lunchtime.

An Innocent Smoothie isn't a bad breakfast - especially the Strawberry-Banana mix as bananas are quite sustaining.

I buy various sorts of liquid yoghurts (but never the individual size, so that I ensure they cannot drink straight from the bottle).

blinks · 22/11/2008 09:32

why don't you ask her to compromise with you by having the yoghurt on top of cereal- it's nice with muesli/nutty type cereals.

kids work well with giving two choices and they can choose... everybody wins then. so either tube yoghurt with cereal OR toast with plain yoghurt maybe?

Sugarmagnolia · 22/11/2008 09:52

blinks I think you're missing the point, I give her plenty of choice. But when she comes back with, 'this is all I want and you can't force me to eat anything else!', what do I do? Do I just let her stand there squeezing yogurt straight into her mouth or do I make a battle of it? I have tried so many different things and there doesn't seem to be a middle ground.

Anna - I agree, the innocent smoothies aren't too bad, she likes the mango and banana one. I guess I'd be ok if she just had that, it's just that I'd stopped buying them because they are so expensive. It's £4 for a pack of 6 and of course she has one then DS has to get one so that's at least 2 packs a week. And again, she says she ONLY likes the individual ones not the bigger cartons poured into a glass! Am very frustrated.

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Anna8888 · 22/11/2008 10:06

I am quite fierce about not buying the individual Smoothies and Thickies, both on grounds of expense and on grounds of table manners. Also agree that once you go down the "individual" route with one child, you have to let all the children do the same.

Can you sit down with your daughter at a time when you are both relaxed and happy and have a conversation about breakfast? Tell her you are happy to buy something she wants to eat as long as it is nutritious (eg Smoothies) but explain the cost implications of the individual portions?

Sugarmagnolia · 22/11/2008 10:18

Anna, I have tried everything - talking, negotiating, explaining about the importance of breakfast. I have stopped buying the squeezy yoghurts and the individual smoothies and the result is she just eats nothing. This is why I am left with the question i stated earlier - do I just let her have what she wants or do I make it a battle? Am so torn because I HATE the idea of fighting about food.

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Anna8888 · 22/11/2008 10:19

How about telling her she isn't allowed to go to school unless she has sat down and had something to eat/drink?

francagoestohollywood · 22/11/2008 10:24

Can I just say that as a child (say from age 8ish), despite having always had a great appetite/good diet/never been fussy etc, I really struggled with breakfast. I woke up without any feeling of hunger whatsoever (mainly I think because I've never been a morning person ) and would only eat very little (enough to keep my mother happy ). Luckily in Italy we had a break at 10.30 and I had a sandwich + fruit then.
I wouldn't make it a battle, if she is a good eater anyway, I'd try to meet her, tbh.

thegirlwiththecurl · 22/11/2008 10:38

I, like you, value a good breakfast for the children, but, funnily enough, i cannot stomach anything until around ten-ish. Does she have milk and toast or fruit at school break? Does your school have a breakfast club that she would like to go to (I know there is a cost issue there so may not be appropriate). Would she like to make her own smoothies or juices in the morning - choose her own ingredients etc?

Sophiale01 · 22/11/2008 18:15

dont buy them. if they're not in the house then she cant have them and hunger should take over after a few days and she'll end up having to eat something more substantial.

Sugarmagnolia · 24/11/2008 07:28

There's no breakfast club at her school but they do get a morning break where she can buy toast or bring a snack - she usually eats something then as far as I know.

I have told her she can't go to school without eating something and she often then ends up in tears saying she's not hungry and I can't force her and she just won't go to school then. It's that word force that upsets me so much - she's right! I don't want her to think I'm forcing-feeding her.

I have tried not buying what she likes - last week I offered only pots of yoghurt/fromage frais (or any of the usual things she used to like like cereal or toast). She sat at the table with a pot of yoghurt and spoon occasionally licking the spoon until after 20 minutes she'd eaten less than half!

We have a blender which we sometimes use to make our own smoothies but I can never find a blend she really likes.

Am debating right now wether to let her have a glass of strawberry milk this morning......

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christywhisty · 24/11/2008 09:21

I am another one who can't stomach breakfast until much later, my DD is the same, so I don't force it. It she finds she is hungry in the morning she ask for snack money.

HSMM · 26/11/2008 10:19

Had to have a giggle at this one, because mine (9 yrs old) had squeezy yoghurts for breakfast this morning! She is just not hungry in the morning. I make toast and one mouthful gets eaten. I can occasionally get her to nibble at dry cereal in the car on the way to school. When we were on holiday she ate loads of healthy breakfast .... but she had more time to wake up there. I would love to get her to eat a healthy carb rich breakfast to set her up for the school day .... but that is a fantasy for me, I think.

Lazycow · 26/11/2008 11:30

Don't fight with her over it. I think she sounds like she is genuinely not hungry at that time. I would try and make sure she can have access to a reasonably filling snack at morning break time like a banana or two. I assume that the school won't let her have the fromage frais or smoothie at break time, if they do, then let her have that and a banana at break if not give her at least two pieces of fruit for break time.

I think this is reasonably common and I know that ds really does not want breakfast before 8.30am at the very earliest and that is often too late for school/nursery etc.

At the moment I take him to nursery a bit late but school is obviously a different matter.

haggisaggis · 26/11/2008 11:33

My ds is the same. He frequently has a glass of milk for breakfast and then nothing until school dinners. At the weekend, he has nothing when he gets up but will eat a cooked breakfast about 1.5 hours later. It is teh way he is. I have stopped stressing about it. dd and I cannot operate without breakfast though!

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