toddler won't eat breakfast

[strangerthanfiction]

Hi, my dd (20 months) won't eat breakfast. When she was younger she'd have one of those mushy baby breakfast cereals and a bottle of milk. Now I'm lucky if she'll eat 5 or 6 dry cheerios and a tiny bit of milk. She doesn't make it up mid-morning either, will usually finish her milk but that's it. Lunch is pretty small too but then she snacks a bit in the afternoon and usually has a decent dinner. Any ideas of things I can try? She likes feeding herself, won't eat fruit, toast and hates yoghurts. Probably doesn't leave many options does it?!

What about an egg? You could do boiled egg and dip bread in it. I have an extremely fussy 3 year old, and when he refuses his cereal, changing it often helps - weetabix, shreddies, bran flakes and rice krispies are on a rotation I think! Bread and cheese? Croissant?

well, stf your toddler sounds like mine, dd (18 months) is also terrible at breakfast. She drinks her bottle and then will only have a couple of spoonfuls of cereal. She really wanted to do it all herself and is happier with some dry cheerios or a bit of toast to munch, but I really worry that she is missing out on the most important meal of the day. What can we do ???

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musica, will try an egg tomorrow. I do change cereals regularly and have resorted to choccy/ sugary ones in desperation.

Hi musica, thanks. I've tried scrambled egg which was rejected outright but haven't tried a boiled egg so will give that a go, and will try a croissant but she's so anti-bread I'm not sure that'll work. Occasionally she will sit on dp's knee and nick some shreddies from his bowl though has never eaten her own bowl.

she loves pitta bread and humous- but for breakfast?

It's a pain, mouli, isn't it? Dd gets very tired mid-morning and it's hard keeping her going til lunchtime for her nap and I'm sure it's because she hasn't eaten anything.

ds2 has a ham sandwich

What about NOT giving her a bottle of milk when she wakes up and make her hungry. My ds was a pain at about the same age and it is worrying but he was growing fine and now he eats croissants, dippy eggs, eggy bread, cereal, fruit etc It is probably just a phase. I worried that he wasnt eating enough fruit and bought him the baby jars to make sure he was getting at least one jar per day and now he tucks into everything!

My DS was exactly the same. I stopped the milk and tried to give breakfast a bit later. He also discovered Oats So Simple (his dad's fave) and has had that or Ready Brek and Jam just about every morning for the last 18 months. He went for months just having dry cereal from a bowl picked at for the morning. If she is having a good dinner then at least that is something - I'm sure it will get better as she gets older.

My dd was the same, we cut down the milk and gave her breakfast a bit later. We also only gave her a tiny bit of breakfast since she seemed overwhelmed by a 'normal' amount. It's really picked up since then, sometimes she will have 2 weetabix now, or a bowl of dry cheerios, sometimes she will only nibble a spoon of ours and that's all that she wants. Another ploy has been to let her butter her own toast and pour our her own milk (with assistance I add). I think it's made her more interested, but I honestly don't think that she's that hungry and that she finds it all a bit boring.

A ham sandwich?! Organic I'm sure ...

Actually I never give her her milk first. It's even a struggle getting that down her. Maybe I could try giving breakfast much later in general though ...

try leaving her, don't offer her breakfast until she's been up an hour or so

sorry, not very good if you have to get to work

mummysurfer, only work 2 days and shes with dp then so could do that.

i'm a childminder and i used to look after a 3 year old who just couldn't manage breakfast early. we'd do the school run, come back then she'd really tuck in and enjoy her breakfast at about 9.15

So, I tried the delay tactic this morning and it was better. She was up at 6.45 (groan ...), and at 8am asked for some milk so I gave her a bowl of cheerios with milk which she wolfed, then half a toasted crumpet which she melched and mostly spat out but she then drank a good cup of milk. So a vast improvement. Thanks everyone!

Oh good to hear! My DD - now 2y 2m - won't eat breakfast first thing and eats lots more after an hour or so of waking up.

If she likes eggs - have you also tried her with eggy bread - DD loves this. And omelletes. DD isn't keen on boiled eggs at all though.

Thanks Hulababy, will try eggy bread. She's so anti bread in general I haven't tried it yet but anything's worth a go.

hello ,
my baby is 14 months old...i think i have been terrible since the early age i have been really terrible with him i have only breastfed him ...given him his formula milk together wih my breast and i believe that he was weaned v late(6 months)but he was never hungry ....
now he wont sleep eats a little ...he sleeps during the day and wakes up till 2 in the morning.....HELP ...I FEEL SO GUILTY I KNOW I HAVE BEEN TERRIBLE WITH HIM ...NO BED ROUTINE NO READING BOOKS BUT I LIVE OUTSIDE MY COUNTRY AND I AM DISCOVERING MOTHERHOOD WITH HIM AS WELL....I HAVE NO FRIENDS WHO HAVE KIDS TOO???
what should i do with his breakfast ?he just eats little cereal,with a struggle ofcourse...drinks him milk...have a decent dinner...but he is not an eater!!!

what about sleeping rountine?is it too late now to control him???pleaseeeeeeeeeeee help....pleaseeee

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