'Pre'-breakfast for toddler?

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My 3 yr old has a full breakfast at nursery, but when he first gets up he's always hungry and wants something before we leave. Most mornings he tends to have a banana, which is great because it's quick, healthy etc. But, I want a bit of variety for him.

Most quick things (cereal bars etc) that would be suitable are full of sugar, so I'm looking for ideas for what I can give him.

Any advice, recommendations?

Toast with nut butter?

We give ours either toast/pancake/bread with butter on it. Then they can take a piece of fruit with them if they are still hungry.

They get up at 5am and nursery breakfast is a 8am so its quite a wait for them.

DD is usually up between 5 and 6 and doesn't get breakfast till 8 at nursery so we usually do one of these

Yoghurt (real stuff not low fat full of sugar)
Fruit
An egg - boiled or scrambled in the microwave
Bread n butter or toast
Rice cake with peanut butter

Both me and DH eat porridge in the morning before he goes to work, DD likes a little bowl of that. Probably not worth the faff of making on its own (it’s literally about six mouthfuls) but tides her over for a few hours until nursery breakfast.

Thanks everyone.

I wake my little boy up around 6.30/6.45, then he's in nursery by 7.30 so it's always a tight window, but if I wake him any earlier he's really grumpy - he really loves his sleep! On a weekend he won't wake up until gone 8.

At nursery he'll have toast and cereal so it seemed silly doing toast at home as well.

You can make up egg muffins, just mix eggs with cheese and chopped up veg, pour into a lightly greased muffin tin then cook for 20-30 mins till they're not runny anymore. You can keep then in the fridge for a couple of days or freeze and just take a couple out the night before.

My DD eats them cold.

Ooh, they sound nice Katescurious

Sorry, autocorrect- katescurios

The River Cottage toddler cookbook has a great recipe for apple and oat muffins. They're full of healthy ingredients (just a little sugar) and you can freeze them and just take one out the night before. I just had a google and found the recipe here:

www.google.de/amp/s/thehoblog.wordpress.com/2013/11/16/apple-and-oat-muffins/amp/

Thanks for the link Chloe, and I'll check out the cookbook too.

Why don’t you wake him up later so he has less time to wait before breakfast? I’d wake him up as you were about to leave if he’s still asleep, quick nappy change and get dressed then off you go.

Mine usually has a crumpet at home, but sometimes porridge, if I’ve made some the night before, as pp, only really if I’m having it.
Or a banana, sometimes a cup of milk, piece of cheese, depends a bit how hungry she is.
Occasionally she has had a crumpet and porridge and some banana and then gone and had breakfast at nursery . But some days, she’s just hungrier.

Tinsel - I don't like to wake him any later because then he wouldn't spend any of his day with us. He's in nursery full time, and they're long old days, 7.30 - 6.15. He's in bed by 7.30 at night. Waking him and take him straight out of the door would make me even sadder that I have to work so much 😕

We make a big batch of blueberry pancakes and keep them in the freezer. One minute in the toaster, bang some maple syrup on and it's the quickest breakfast ever.

Does he like berries? I often give DD a little pot of raspberries or blueberries before proper breakfast. Grapes are good for this too. Very little prep with either so good for when there are time constraints

Why not just give him a proper breakfast at home? My son (3 next week) has been in nursery since he was 9 months and he always has breakfast at home with me at about 7am. He then gets a snack at 9.20ish at nursery.

Mine is 4 and has always had breakfast at home (with snack at nursery or school about 9:30), but in the mornings she always still has a cup of milk when she first wakes up. Does he still have milk in the mornings? I would go for milk and fruit or something high in protein like rice cakes with nut butter or a boiled egg as he's getting plenty of carbs at nursery.

My toddler loves to have a little bowl of dry cereal to eat with his fingers. He likes the Bear brand alphabet cereal best. It's something he can eat on his own without needing supervision or making a huge mess when I'm trying to get everyone ready for the day.

Small bowl of plain Cheerios (not the honey nut ones) worked for us in similar circumstances

My DD has the same routine as your DS. Sadly we have got into the habit of eating a digestive biscuit in the car. Sometimes accompanied by a milky tea . In my defence I have a long commute and drink my tea on the way so she is just mimicking me.

It hasnt killed her and she eats lots of fruit when she comes home.

A small bowl of dry cornflakes or low sugar cheerios is what DD wanted when she was 2-3. I've seen a recipe for cheesy flapjacks that looks good. No sugar, just oats, butter, cheese and egg.

I've just made a batch of frozen sheet pancakes for this purpose!

Just take some pancake batter and put it in a baking tray in the oven (put parchment paper down first). I add toppings before I bake it, like blueberries, St Dalfour jam, banana and peanut butter. Then slice and freeze. Much quicker than individual pancakes