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Nurseries

Find nursery advice from other Mumsnetters on our Nursery forum. For more guidance on early years development, sign up for Mumsnet Ages & Stages emails.

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Original poster

Toddler refusing all breakast

58 replies

Seashell83 · 08/09/2023 11:40

I know I've shot myself in the foot (I'm a FTM) with my 2.5 DS and his eating habits. But it's really upsetting me. So, he loves his weetabix for breakfast... and in the past I've tried giving him a variety which just refuses. All was fine at nursery because weetabix was always an option. But from the last 2months they've stopped giving it, apparently due to the high sugar content, which is clearly BS since diabetics can eat it! I look at DS nursery food diary and I always see "breakfast refused". It's sad because they provide a good variety (minus the weetabix!) and I just feel awful for my baby! I've tried laying out a variety of things at home for him to get used to but I am having ZERO luck. What do I do???! I am so stuck. DS will eat the other things offered to him lunch...but breakfast is meant to be the most important meal of the day. I've thought about complaining to the Nursery but at the same time I want my DS to try different foods. Any advice on how I can get him to eat? I have a very stubborn child!! 😣

OP posts:

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luckylavender · 10/09/2023 19:18

Probably doesn't help but my DC was always a nightmare at breakfast. Never wanted food. Never a really fussy eater but still not a breakfast person. All grown up & 27 now, very healthy, very sporty. Never eats breakfast.

Doone21 · 10/09/2023 19:43

Give him brekkie before he goes

letloz · 10/09/2023 20:28

Don't feel guilty, i offered both mine a variety and they're still both fussy as he'll! Have a look at 'getting the little blighters to eat' and 'My fussy eater' for some ideas- basic premise is just to provide disliked foods with no pressure to try them.

letloz · 10/09/2023 20:29

As a side, I'd give him breakfast before he goes, then if he wants to Tey anything new there it's a bonus

Baba197 · 10/09/2023 22:08

If you can give him it before nursery then just let them try different things there? In the nicest way you are worrying too much, is he healthy, gaining weight etc? Then stop making it an issue, he Will pick up on you stressing over it. My son has quite a limited diet but since starting school he has tried different things and has more variety, I don’t worry about it. As a nanny for 30 yrs ive had fussy eaters, good eaters, baby led, puree fed and I can honestly say they all good eaters as adults and it’s just not worth the worry

Duechristmas · 10/09/2023 22:22

I've eaten the same breakfast, marmite on toast, for the best part of 48 years. Most foods make me gag in the morning.

diddl · 10/09/2023 22:26

If he likes weetabix I can see how he might not fancy the other things that are on offer.

Shredded wheat is a very different consistency.

Perhaps just give him a small amount before he goes so that you know he has had something but he won't be too full to try something else if he wants to?

Fixyourself · 10/09/2023 22:29

If you liked weetabix and ate it every day would it be an issue?
A lot of people eat the same breakfast every day!

dreamersdown · 10/09/2023 22:54

@Seashell83 id recommend the Haliborange vitamins for kids - my 3 year old loves the Mr Men ones.

ttcat37 · 10/09/2023 23:14

Could you start by mixing in a tiny bit of shredded wheat with his weetabix and gradually increase the sw and reduce the weetabix until it’s sw?

Beautiful3 · 11/09/2023 07:31

I'd actually complain to the nursery and say that your child will only eat weetabix, as a result he hasn't had breakfast there for x days. I bet they reinstate it. I'd understand removing coco pops/frosties, but not weetabix!

Beautiful3 · 11/09/2023 07:32

I used to feed mine breakfast (toast) before she went, then she was free to try their cereals.

Mrsjayy · 11/09/2023 07:36

Give him weetabix at home he eats fine at all other meals/food , the weetabix Is probably just familiar and comforting for him 2 year olds don't have much say in their lives so they will pick something that they can control and with your son its weetabix.

GoldenSpangles · 11/09/2023 07:47

My 2 year old ate about four things - for the life of me I can't remember what they were although I think tomato sauce figured somewhere in it. I never tried to force him to eat other foods. Gradually, as he got older, he became a wildly adventurous vegetarian and is now a couple of years off qualifying as a doctor. I just never made food an issue.

Kwasi · 11/09/2023 08:37

GoldenSpangles · 11/09/2023 07:47

I wish I hadn’t made food an issue. My 5yo eats very few things and he also seems to lack the energy of other kids, although he could just be lazy. Having a bought of very uncomfortable constipation got him eating a fibrous breakfast, though, so he at least knows the importance of that.

Eskimal · 11/09/2023 09:54

I have 3 kids. All breastfed and weaned on healthy food. As a family we eat together and we eat paying attention to nutrition.
the eldest two eat healthily and will try anything. Literally anything…. the youngest prefers simple food. He is fussy and I can count the names of the fruit and veg he will eat on one hand. He veers towards sugar. I used to worry but I just live in hope his palette will mature. There is some nuerodiversity in our family and I am conscious that this might be the root cause so I don’t make a fuss.
the whole sugar and diabetic thing… I won’t get started on…
Almost all cereal is high in sugar. It isn’t a very good breakfast choice (it’s one of the only things my youngest eats).
however, I don’t know if a nursery can dictate what your child eats to that extent? If you’re paying high nursery fees I’d put your foot down.

MissusS · 11/09/2023 11:58

Weetabix is one of the lowest sugar containing cereals (as are the other options at your nursery), so I’d be questioning their rationale. NHS vitamin drops will be spot on for required supplementation - no need to buy into the advertising hype of any others on the market.

Maybe87 · 11/09/2023 13:56

a children’s dietician told me the best approach is to put in the same plate something he likes and eats every time, something he eats most of the time and something he hasn’t tried it yet. Do that for 2-3 days (the days he doesn’t go to nursery and weekend) and he eventually will try the unknown but he needs to be able to have in front of him his safe choice (weetabix). I would recommend a weetabix mushed in milk, a fruit next to eat and a boiled egg maybe? Good luck!

Arjay71 · 11/09/2023 14:22

Don’t beat yourself up about what you did/didn’t give him as a baby. I gave my daughter a wide variety of foods, which she enjoyed until mid-toddlerhood. Now at 7 she is very picky, to the extent the school begged us not to send her to school dinners!

In the meantime could you feed him at home before nursery? Or send him in with his own? I have no idea where they’re getting the “high sugar content” thing from, the sugar content’s actually very low - less than 1/2 teaspoon per 2 biscuits (I’ve just looked at a box we have here). Crazy!

Sennelier1 · 11/09/2023 19:16

I go with the idea of giving him the Weetabix before you bring him to daycare but also offer something else. You,could take it a tiny bit further byngiving a bit less of Wheetabix day by day and at the same time presenting the "new" item as something very attracting. For my grandchildren I use dinosaur cookie-cutters to make cheese-dinosaurs 😅(I'm in Belgium, a slice of bread with butter/margarine and cheese, occasionally some jam, is a perfectly normal breakfast here, at home and in nurseries.)

Mumofthreeplus1 · 11/09/2023 21:03

first off, you’re doing a great job! If he is only stuck in his ways on breakfast don’t stress!
secondly take the weetabix in.
thirdly, when at home with his weetabix, eat with him and offer a little fruit and maybe shreddies along side (similar taste)
and if he doesn’t eat his breakfast like others have said he will be fine x

Princespea · 12/09/2023 16:36

Diabetics can not eat weetabix. Its pure carbs, which turn into sugar. Dangerous information

Johnnybegood2 · 13/09/2023 08:26

Was talking to my childminder about food other day. The government has brought out new guidelines and OFSTED are apparently being really hot on it. They're only allowed to give them one snack a day now and they have to show how they are reducing sugars etc.

Personally, I don't like when schools get involved with eating but I can also see why they do when there are some children who won't be getting anything nutritional at home.

Wanttobekind · 13/09/2023 09:14

Mine had weetabix every day till she was 2.5 and wouldn’t even contemplate toast or other options, then my bloody husband bought a box of Cheerios. Now she won’t even look at a weetabix and wants the high sugar low fibre replacement. Obviously. They change, the fickle little monsters. Usually when you least expect it! He will be totally fine, you haven’t broken him. From one permanently self critical mother of a toddler to another.

WhatWouldMrMannersSay · 13/09/2023 09:20

I'd speak to the nursery about it first.

Second I'd chill out. My nearly 2yo asks for crisps (and throws an almighty tantrum) every morning. She eventually relents and might eat some fruit or dry cereal after being awake for a few hours. Sometimes she has the crisps.

My 5yo has one particular cereal or Nutella on white bread with the crusts cut off. Nothing else, ever.

My 7yo eats anything placed in front of him.

Kids are fussy and strange about food. As long as they're getting a variety during the day they'll be fine, don't stress about breakfast. Honestly I haven't eaten breakfast since about 1989 and I'm ok.

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