Help! My daughter won't eat breakfast

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My youngest child is a nightmare when it comes to breakfast. She doesn't like milk, oats, toast or a cooked breakfast. I struggle to get her to eat anything before school. I would be so very grateful for any suggestions or recipes

I didn't eat breakfast as a kid and still don't now. DTs tend to grab a brioche on the way out and eat it at break time.

I don't like breakfast foods and eat leftovers from the night before like curry or savoury foods like falafels.
It is normal for children to feel hungry after school. She will feel hungry then even of she eats breakfast.

Just feed her the foods she does like then. It's quite simple. Breakfast doesn't need to be specific 'breakfast' foods.

DD has all kinds of things for breakfast, often not breakfast themed. Her current favourites are:

• hot fruit - just get berries and chopped apple then microwave for 1 and a half minutes, no sugar or anything, it goes juicy and jammy like pie filling.
• Greek flat bread warmed in the frying pan, with fried egg whites (she doesn't like yolk for some reason at the moment)
• toast and spaghetti hoops
• scrambled egg
• weetabix with warm milk or sometimes just dry depending on mood
• eggy bread
• leftovers from last nights dinner warmed through, particularly if it's lasagna or mac n cheese

Dd1is like this, also 9. She will eat buttered crackers or slices of buttered baguette. She is happy with just fruit juice though. I've stopped pushing it as I remember being the same and mum used to buy me pop tarts when they first came out over here or those jam filled 'breakfast' bars when I was a teen. I ate them as they were so sweet but I think nothing and eat something better when hungry is preferable to so much sugar first thing.

DD15 has never been a big breakfast eater.
She's fit and healthy and loves her food....just not At breakfast time!

Croissant with cheese?
Yoghurt with berries?
Pancakes (can make in advance and freeze)
French toast (can also be frozen)
Crumpets
Breakfast muffins

Any chance of her making her own smoothie/shake? Even just a banana and some milk to make a milkshake?

Failing that I guess some options may help, the mini packs of cereal so she can pick on the day, some individual wrapped croissants/pancakes/waffles. More likely to be tempted by having a few options? Or would that be overwhelming?

Mine will always breakfast refuse, I do tend to say it's quite important to have a breakfast (I also know he won't have a mid morn snack at school and loses concentration) and I just ask him to pick his own.. sometimes it's a slice of bread, sometimes it's toast, sometimes a waffle, sometimes some fruit - occasionally still ends up being nothing. It's never substantial but manage to get something in via having a few things to pick between and I try to go for single packs with long dates just to avoid waste

We do smoothies and shakes more often than breakfasts

I had one child like this. Tried everything but (rather like me) not really a morning person and doesn't feel well if eating very soon after getting up. Used to give some milk to drink and with a croissant or similar in hand for the walk to school, told the school that something at break out of her lunchbox might well be needed, which I used to make sure had plenty of nutritious but also calorific food in it. No problem. (This was before primary schools became the food police of course... .)

DD is 9 and she doesn't like to eat before 12 ish on a day so I do her a smoothie in the morning, I bulk it out with greek yogurt, oats and chia seeds so it fills her up until lunch. Is this an option?

A friend of mine used to have a snack at break of 2 slices of toast with marmite and cream cheese. She hated eating breakfast so had this at morning break

Involve her in it. She may be a non-breakfast child. We've been sold the nonsense about the most important meal by cereal companies!

Try engaging her in cooking and preparing food. Smoothies taste like milkshakes and can be done in a second. Yogurt drink?

DD likes a croissant. Light, not sicky so it sits OK on her stomach. With some fruit.

Get her up earlier.

A cup of cocoa made with milk might appeal.

Otherwise:
Small yogurt
Small fruit smoothie or experiment with yogurt plus fruit, etc
Protein shake
String cheese
Small breakfast muffin - egg, cheese, diced ham, mashed broccoli (bake, freeze, reheat in microwave)
Precooked sausages dipped in whatever she prefers
Fish fingers
Frozen pancakes or waffles with jam or syrup
Cheese toastie
Leftover pizza

Don't get hung up on sugar.

Chat and listen -
Does she feel anxious in the mornings?
Is her lateness caused by misgivings about school?
Does she feel a knot in her stomach?
Is the school over strict?
Is she afraid of getting in trouble?
Why no backpacks?
Are uniform requirements very strict?
Does she like her classmates?
Anyone she doesn't like - why?
Any teacher she doesn't like - why?
What is the classroom experience like for her?
What is the playground experience like?

If she's anxious, she could try some centering exercises where she identifies or names her feelings, maybe breathes mindfully, maybe does some small physical motions (stretching, pushing against a wall, releasing tension in her neck by rolling her head around), then on to focus on her physical reality, and engaging with the job at hand. It's important to acknowledge anxiety, sit with it, get through it, and not try to deal with it by an externalised response.

Daughter ate chicken nuggets for breakfast for about a year. Not at all ideal but she would eat them without fuss, they weren’t as spillable as milk on the way to nursery and she otherwise had a very varied diet. You do what you need to do.

Maybe she just doesn't like eating breakfast foods - or anything at all? I hated it, everything made me feel sick and sluggish.

I can’t eat breakfast. I feel sick for a few hours and then I’m starving by 11am. I haven’t eaten breakfast since I was 7-8.

My body likes to eat brunch type meals at about 3pm and then a good dinner at about 9pm if it has free choice. Today I ate fruit at about 3.30 and am yet to cook dinner. That would fit with being hungry after school. Everyone is different. I have one dc same as me and the others have four breakfasts if I’d let them.

Something savoury - like the remnants from last night’s dinner. There’s no rule to say you can’t have a helping of spag bol for breakfast. Or cheese sandwich.

Yoghurt?
Ds would only eat Muller corner for breakfast at that age. Would rather have nothing than that.

Happy to chow down on bacon sarnies at the weekend though but we usually had those later than weekday breakfasts.

Funnily enough,when he started going to breakfast club due to change in my shift pattern they told me he ate loads! I think 5 boiled eggs was his record 😳

Agree with this. My DCs would eat leftover pasta/pizza/shepherds pie etc, to make a change from cereal / toast.

Try a few different things like cheese, crackers & grapes. Banana and a glass of milk would be better than nothing. Egg mayo sandwiches are a big breakfast fave of mine - boil eggs the night before.
Try cereal like cheerios dry, eaten like sweeties with a glass of milk

We're still working on this but it's not easy. She has a set bedtime and is woke with plenty of time however getting ready for a day at school fills her with worry. She also procrastinates which I'm sure you can arrange is a different quality to overcome, even as an adult. I did wonder if this might be way she isn't hungry, however she's the same on days where we don't need to be up and ready

Unfortunately school is not for her. Although she tries very hard and works to her best abilities, the education system is not a good fit for her. I didn't initially feel this might be a reason to not want food however even on lazy days she doesn't have breakfast

Fruit salad. Yoghurt
Fruit bread

It genuinely might be she has to be awake for a long time before getting hungry. Can you send in a sandwich for breaktime?

I really rate 'what mummy makes' cook book, it's got a breakfast section. You could go through the book with her and let her pick out some recipes.
It's so easy and such a good cook book for kids