5.8 DS refusing to eat breakfast, but no snacks allowed at morning break.

[nappyaddict]

Anyone else in the same boat?

He will sometimes eat fruit or yoghurt. If not he can sometimes be persuaded to drink a smoothie or glass of milk.

Also we are told to get doctors notes by the school.The doctors and HV at the practise think the fruit only policy is wrong.

really NA, life's too short to argue about breakfast. Anything is better than nothing at all.

MrsH What time do they eat breakfast?

How is he by lunchtime? My ds (now 12) does not eat breakfast until he has been up for a few hours. He has never taken a morning snack to school (is more interested in playing). He copes fine. dd and I on the other hand NEED breakfast and get very grumpy without it. ds takes after dh who does not bother with breakfast either. If he is coping OK, just let him go without.

School haven't mentioned anything.

They have to eat at 7am as I work.Sometimes I can push it back until 7.30. Seriously a doctor would have no qualms re giving a note,several parents have got them at our school and the 2 doctors I've seen were incredulous re fruit only and extremely supportive.

We live in a fairly rural area with no obesity and it's a very sporty school so absolutely no need to make kids eat as if on a diet and actually given the amount of activity they do(in the summer they swim X weekly,2X PE lessons and often have lunch time/after school sports clubs,our school dinner portions are famously small) sorry I think it's cruel.

Only you know your own child op. Personally I think concentration,weight gain and feeling well are far more important than taking up 10 minutes of a doctors time because you are given no other choice.

I think if school haven't mentioned it and he is a healthy weight, then you could maybe mention it to teacher / TA, ask them if they think it's a problem, if not try to just ease off on the breakfast issue. Offer but don't get too involved. By the time he hits puberty he'll probably eat half a loaf of bread for breakfast!

Yes if he's not low weight,hasn't complained of feeling dizzy/hungry and you're confident re his concentration then you could just let them know.

I agree, haggisaggis, I can't do without breakfast but DS3 never ate it and he wouldn't have wasted playing time on a morning snack. If the DC chooses not to have it he will survive! If it is a problem to him he would eat something.

When will he eat something?

Some kids just can't eat that early in the morning wether it's a problem several hours later or not.

Mine just ate at lunch. He survived! He is still the same now.

This may have already been mentioned but do they have the opportunity to have milk at morning break? They do at our school. Would that be better than nothing?

would he eat a sandwich.

My dd2 4yrs quite often won't eat breakfast food but will eat a ham sandwich.

Great Exotic but not all kids are the same as your son. Kids have completely different bodies and needs which is why a healthy food policy that ignores all food groups bar one is madness.

The school fruit/veg scheme for infants is not something concocted by schools, but imposed by the government. Nowhere here does it mention anything about concentration or energy levels, it's all about attempting to correct the perceived or actual deficiencies in the food they get at home.

Yeah, damn that government giving kids something that they might nt need but that's good for them

i think having fruit as a snack in the morning's bad too.
they should have something like cheese on crackers - something with carbs that's slow to digest. what is wrong with schools that they get basics so wrong?

My point is that it is not the schools getting the "basics so wrong"...they are only implementing a scheme, they didn't design it.

But not all schools follow it,many use common sense. Nowhere on that link does it say no other healthy food groups should be included in mid morning snacks.

I'm talking about KS2 children too,some of these kids are very tall,rapidly growing active young people.An apple just isn't enough.

I applaud free fruit/veg (although snacking on dried fruit is dreadful for teeth ) but it is not the only healthy food group and implying it is isn't educating young people properly in healthy eating.Surely kids should know/experience the benefits of slow release carbs particularly since many kids need them mid morning.

Anyhow the op's child doesn't seem to be allowed anything either way.

As was said previously if he doesn't complain op then it's not an issue however I would let the school know so they can keep an eye on him.I'd also just ensure he doesn't complain of hunger,dizziness to you and you don't get weight loss/concentration issues-you'll soon know so I wouldn't panic.

Write to the govenors...see if you can get some other parents with you on this...it's a silly rule! Poor DS...one of my DDs is the same...but she's in preschool and they have fruit mid morning...she eats that I know.

I also agree that the DC should be allowed some cheese or similar instead of fruit if they don't wnat it but fruit is better than nothing.

Why cant he have a cereal bar on the minibus nappyaddict - ours are allowed that - mind you ours are allowed to take snacks in if they want, especially past reception age.

If ds was consistantly refusing breakfast though and after we had expermented with all sorts of breakfasts - ready made pancakes, eggs, ham and cheese etc then I would just shrug and think 'you'll be hungry come lunchtime'.

I lean towards the "still full from last night" idea.

Kids (and adults) will eat anything if they're hungry enough.

Maybe something that digests easily in the evening, carbs or salad sandwich, not cheese or meat? And not a great deal, keep him off cakes, biscs, sweets, full-fat milk after tea? (usually easiest if there is simply none in the house). Plenty of juice and drinks though.

I'm with Colditz anything is better than nothing. Mostly my DS (7) will have toast or cereal. Some mornings when he's really tired (Fridays!) he'll just have no interest in dressing, playing or eating - so glass of milk, digestive biscuits with phili or cheese, yoghurt or whatever are a better option.

If he goes by minibus is it the distance to school? Could he take something to eat when he gets to school whilst waiting to go in?

I also agree nothing until lunch is a long time but my DS is juniors now so fruit/ veg snack allowed for morning - but my DS would rather play!

Back in the dark ages when I was at primary school no one ever had snacks. We were all healthy. We had morning milk, but I hate milk so I didn't. We all had to either have school dinner or go home, packed lunches were not allowed. It really is a non issue. He won't starve! He will be ready for lunch.

I would just make him sit at the breakfast table with everyone else. He would probably eat out of boredom!

Funnily enough due to a forces childhood I went to many schools all of which allowed snacks of choice.I rem bartering my cheese and crackers,we also had milk and in Scotland a tuck shop.