Breakfast Ideas for 18mth old

[meanmum]

I'm wondering if anyone can tell me what they give to their children for breakfast. I don't want to give ds the majority of cereals on offer due to the high sugar content and low vitamin content. At the moment we alternate between Weetabix, Apricot Bites (those little shredded wheats filled with Apricots), scrambled eggs and spaghetti hoops, porridge (in winter)

As you can see I'm not too hung up on it being natural, organic and no sugar. Ideally I want some healthy options that are obviously quick and easy.

Thanks.

Meanmum ... I don't think you are doing a bad job AT ALL!! Your ds eats a greater variety than my DS does ...... and to be honest do you eat a different thing every day for breakfast?
My son has either Weetabix ... or toast with marmite followed by toast with jam both usually followed by fruit.
At weekends he will have boiled eggs with toast ...

Weetabix, rice crispies, cornflakes, toast, yoghurt,eggs, fresh fruit and honey (not all at the same time though!).

Hi meanmum

I, too, worry about what to give our ds for breakfast. He was on a Weetabix mashed up with a banana and made sloppy with milk for AGES, but finally seemed to tire of it, after which we moved to Shreddies, made more palatable by an unfeasibly large amount of raisins (we've found a big pack by Whitworths, which are nice and juicy). But I just know sooner or later he's going to tire of that, too, and then I'll be panicking.

He's gone off toast (how can anyone go off toast???!) and is never interested in having a yogurt in a morning. Trouble is, I put a lot of store by cereal for breakfast because ds won't drink milk on its own.

I seem to have elevated worrying to an art form since becoming a mother - and I was bad enough beforehand! I think if your ds has scrambled eggs, you're laughing. I read one nutritionist saying that eggs are such a fantastic, all-round food that kids can get away with eating them and not much else for ages. I always have a warm glow and a brief worry-respite when ds has eaten anything with an egg in it!

dd has weetabix etc (or baby cereal when I forget to go to the big supermarket - weetabix is unnaccountably hard to get here! )

But I've been getting into the habit of giving her a little bit of fruit with it or afterwards. This is great because it means she gets more vitamins and natural stuff and its easier to give her a variety. this morning she had little bits of guava, cherry, strawberry and date - and it became half an hour's worth of entertainment too.

But menamum, i agree that your ds's breakfasts sound perfectly nutritious to me!

DS2 adores toast for breakfast. He has wholemeal multigrain toast, none of that white stuff

ds (2) eats Shreddies followed by Shreddies then some toast! Every single day. Until we run out of Shreddies. Then he has Weetabix followed by Weetabix then some toast.

He doesn't think it's boring, so that's okay

DS and DD have cornflakes or weetabix nearly EVERY day! I'm not very creative. However dh and I have a fry up on a weekend and dd piles into that even after her cornflakes. Have tried to put fruit with cereal but you would think I was mudering them, they eat it at playgroup anyway. What about Ready brek that is also really low in sugar and additives.

My dds vary from, on school and nursery days-cereal (shreddies/rice crispies/corn flakes) followed by toast/muffin/crumpet with juice to, on easy days-bacon sandwiches/boiled eggs or, as dh is Japanese, rice and seaweed/noodles. They like hot dog sausages and egg too,oh and croissants and jam (dd2 has it with Marmite-yuk!!)HTH.

Meanmum - consider yourself lucky that your child/children are happy to eat several fairly healthy options and just try the odd variety such as homemade muesli or boiled egg and soldiers etc. if you really feel the need. i would be delighted if my little faddy dd would eat that selection. After 18 months of delightful eating - tidy and wide variety of food happily (greedily) eaten up, she has spent the last 6 months developing faddy tastes presently breakfast (if I let her) would ideally consist of two tweenies yoghurt a babybel and maybe some of the cat biscuits. (She doesn?t get this but would dearly love me to let her!)

Meanmum - sounds like a variety anyway!

In addition to that type of thing, Dd also likes toast (at the moment she loves it with marmite) or yoghurt and honey, or fruit.

Apart from what you're doing already, we do yoghurt, buttered crumpets, or even toasted teacackes. For a change you can mix natural yoghurt (or even flavoured yoghurt come to that) with milk in a blender and pour that over cereals instead of milk. It's also relatively easy to make up your own muesli, with your own choice of ingredients if you have one of those "buy by the scoop" places to get the raw materials from. Gets round the "no nuts" problem and lets you load it with thinks they do like like banana, raisins and apricots.

Talking of things liek that does anyone knwo where you can buy freeze dried raspberries (like the ones they put in the Jordans cereals)?

DS has weetabix (which he calls porridge) with raisins. If he eats all that I ask if he would like anything else. He invariably asks for chocolate cake and then follows this up with something more reasonable such as yoghurt or grapes. And thats everyday...

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dd loves her porrideg and will happily eat it every day, followed by some kiwi or other fruit. Now it's so hot I can't bear giving her hot brekkie every day, so sometimes do organic rice pops or 'cold' porridge / muesli: soak porridge oats in milk over night with few raisins in, then add grated apple in morning and optional yoghurt to serve. Yum.

He gets a combination of one or two of the following; Yoghurt with banana & honey, toast with honey/jam/marmite, fruit (strawberry/banana/orange, dried apricots), milk or chocolate milk sometimes. Readybrek or weetabix, or an organix cereal bar. Depends on his tastes and appetite that day. (20months).

Thanks everyone. I thought I was being boring and unimaginative which is why I asked for help. I'm going to go with the cold porridge/muesli ideas as an added extra. I did forget to say he eats toast as well. He generally eats mine after he's finished his breakfast.

Can I make up the cold porridge and then freeze it in portions or would that not work? I don't operate well in the morning until I've had a couple of coffees so easy is best and if I can freeze portions and then get them out the night before to defrost in the fridge that will be fantastic.

You've all made me realise that I have a great recipe for Swiss Muesli (as it was called by the lady I got the recipe off). It sounds similar to the soaking overnight in milk with lots of different fruit breakfast that has been mentioned so I might make that up and then freeze that in portions.

I give ds porridge - well actually hot oat cereal (fortified) and I mix in some pureed fruit and a bit of milk. He also has a glass of fruit juice.

You could try egg bread too or French toast as it is also called.

You can make up Readybrek really easily in the microwave or make a little bit hot in the microwave then top up with cold milk. It's very, very easy.

Porridge is really easy if you have a microwave - I do organic porridge oats covered with milk for 4 minutes at the lowest power your microwave has - it's just like simmering them. Then mush up a banana into it. DH has a smoothie every morning, made with fresh apple juice blended with various berries and yogurt and dd has started having some of that too. If you use bought juice it's quite easy

At home DS has porridge (Golden Syrup flavour Oatso Simple made in microwave) or rice krispies or cornflakes or cheerios or weetabix most often followed by yogurt.

Second breakfast at nursery is cereal (more of same above) followed by toast.

they love cereal, though, I find as long as you have a variety and they get to choose what they have they are happy. our cereal shelf has apricot wheats, raisin wheats, miniweetabix with fruit and nut, miniweetabix with honey, fruit and fibre and oatsosimple porridge variety pack (golden syrup, apple and something else). They love to choose and don't get too bored. They do toast and honey/jam/marmite occasionally, and pancakes and maple syrup when I'm feeling festive on a weekend.

I was brought up in canada and had waffles soaked in about a half a pint maple syrup for breakfast every day for approximately 6 years - no variation at all - and I seemed to survive although I'd never let my children do it now!

Muellerrice is a more filling alternative to yoghurt and is also really quick and I think quite nutritious and it's got obviously loads of calcium in it which is good if yours, like mine, won't drink milk on its own anymore. Can you get that there? Here in Germany you can get it in loads of different flavours, exactly like yoghurt.

I think you can freeze Porridge at least I used to batch coom Baby Organix Prune and Oatmeal and freeze it and I didn't manage to poison anyone! One word of warning though, you would not believe how much milk it takes and then when you defrost it you need to add more, although that might have just been the prunes sucking it up.

cook not coom

I often give my daughter a banana and a pitta bread - not usual I know but she likes it - I don't see how pitta bread is that different to white toast - although it does not have jam and butter on it!