NOW CLOSED: Tell Weetabix about breakfast in your house - you could win a £100 Sainsbury's voucher

[NewGirlHelenMumsnet]

Weetabix would like you to share your top tips for making breakfast time as stress free as possible. What are your top breakfast tips? Can you share your best breakfast stories with them on this thread? For example, do you run round trying to eat and feed the baby at the same time or is it a calm, relaxed affair in your house?

The best tips and stories will feature on their new page on Mumsnet (coming soon).

Everyone who shares a story or tip on this thread will be entered into a prize draw where one lucky winner will receive a £100 Sainsbury's voucher, from Weetabix.

Thanks MNHQ

DC taught from an early age to pour cereal, make toast, pour juice or milk, then stack empties or load into dishwasher.
Leave them to it.
And absolutely NO TV on a school day.

I might make pancakes and maple syrup for them if I'm feeling guilty of neglect indulgent and not dashing out to work.

DH does an Irish fry on a weekend - black and white pudding, the full works. We are in England

My DS has Weetabix every morning for breakfast, it's his favourite! He is only 8 months though. I tend to eat my toast in between feeding him mouthfuls.

My weetabix has to be covered in milk, then sugar. Absolutely no way should milk go on first as it gets washed away and i like the way the milk makes the sugar all syrupy.

DS has two all mashed up.

Husband doesn't like the milk over the weetabix and it has to be poured on carefully around the edge.

We all eat at different times in the morning so it's a bit of a faff.

I like chocolate weetabix for supper (yummy!)

oh and my top tip is a bumbo! DS sits in his eating slowly and can't escape, I then get to relax for half an hour on mumsnet on the sofa

Were we supposed to mention weetabix?

The mini ones are popular - with fruit and nut.
And DS2 likes the big ones spread lavishly with butter and homemade marmalade

My girls are 4 and 2. They like to "help" prepare breakfast with me. They are less inclined to eat if they haven't been involved in the process.

It usually consists of either porridge/weetabix/granola and juice. DH might do eggs for us all at the weekend.

Breakfast is always at the table although assorted stuffed animals tend to join us as a compromise.

I tend to find they eat more if we engage in banter about the day ahead. That way they don't realise they are merrily finishing their breakfast without me having to tell them to.

As DD2 is in afternoon nursery and I work from home I have yet to experience a morning rush. I don't mind admitting that i'm dreading it so I look forward to reading back though this thread.

get coco pops add milk then hot water until they go all squidgy - eat

Mornings are the worst in our house but thats mainly due to ds1 with ADHD.

The rule on a school morning is not too much of a sugary breakfast, mainly weetabix or shredded wheat in this house. You dont get breakfast untill you are dressed.
On weekends we relax a bit more but ds1 still likes his routine so he gets dressed before hand, then its cereals all the way :)

DD and ds2 like theirs either plain with milk or one chocolate one and one plain one. Ds1 like a sprinkling of sugar on his just like me

I have bowls, cereal and spoons in a low down cupboard and let the kids get their own while I sort out me/coffee/baby and then I put the milk in. They love choosing their own and pouring it themselves and it buys me some time(DD 2 and DS 4).

Yes there has been the odd over pouring disaster.

I set aside a low cupboard for cereal and kids crockery/cups. So from a young age they could pour themselves a bowl of cereal, add milk and get going by themselves on breakfast.

breakfast on a weekday is not at home; DS has his cereal and yoghurt at nursery at 7.45am and I have my oatibix at my desk. Has produced some amusing looks when someone goes in the wrong cupboard and finds my breakfast supplies!

At weekends it gets a bit more interesting - all of us sit down to boiled eggs and soldiers one day and a continental style toast/sliced cheeses/meats the other. Still at about 8am but thankfully no drive, just a bit more sleep!

I'm weaning at the mo (DS 7 months) and have been giving him porridge for breakfast and so I'm just having the same as its easier (and prob healthier than my usual buttery toast!) I also put the oats in the pan with the water while I'm making his 6am bottle so by the time it's time for his breakfast (c. 7.30am) it takes no time to cook as they have all swelled up already and then I just stir in some Greek/other yoghurt for bit of flavour and it also cools it to just the right temp (big dollop of golden syrup for me! hmm maybe not so healthy after all!!).

The boys end up getting breakfast twice, most days! On weekdays, DH has a bowl of cereal and the boys, who can be up as early as 5am, have something bready like crumpets, fruit bread, muffins or just plain toast. When I surface at 7am, DH leaves for work and I make cereal for us all. It's never simple because it's always 3 different things, always readybrek for DS2 (with organix fruit purees mixed in because he won't touch fruit, otherwise) and always whatever his fad of the month is for DS1 (both have ASD) and we all have different milk!

Breakfast also inevitably ends up being worn by one or both of the boys, or even me, so no one gets dressed until it's safely out of the way.

Anyone who complains about still being hungry after their 2 breakfasts gets a banana or something to munch on the way to school!

If I'm still hungry, I get to eat my banana in peace, when I get home.

At weekends and in school holidays, I make proper porridge (as proper as it can be with soya milk) for myself and eat it slowly, once the boys are done eating.

Oh, and it's oatibix for me - the bites because the big ones are like polyfilla. DS1 goes through weetabix phases, but it's the cheap Sainsburys basics ones he insists on :o

The only breakfast rules in our house is

If you don't eat breakfast, you will go to school hungry

and

No TV (that applies to most meals times though)

Actually tbh we don't really like Weetabix

I get up at 6.30 and make tea and coffee, and packed lunches, and put porridge in the microwave.
At 7 DD1 gets up at the mention of porridge being ready, eats and gets herself ready for school.
At 7.30 I wake up dd2 and ds.....repeat every few minutes until 8.00.
DS chooses from a limited range of cereal, currently weetabix is top choice with lots of extra sugar)I helpds get ready after he has eaten.
DD2 messes about upstairs for another 15 minutes when I give up offering her breakfast and make a jam sandwich, shout at her to get ready and we leave for school. She eats on the way.

If I am feeling very kind, I make pancakes and ds and dd2 get up at the first call! DD1 still has porridge.

My favourite childhood breakfast was when we visited my grandparents. Grandad gave me buttered weetabix with golden syrup on it.

Dp is Italian so he has an espresso, sometimes something sweet otherwise nothing.

I have porridge, weetabix or a muller light, all of them with fresh or dried fruit and some nuts.

I usually eat in peace when my 4 month old twins are having their morning nap

sometimes on weekends I'll do a big fry up (well a grill up) or boiled eggs and solders

Mummy eats breakfast first. That's our house rule. I can't function without brekkie, and dd1 isn't usually hungry straight away. I have started giving the baby sainsbo's own Weetabix though.

Simple - get up with 30 mins spare before I leave the house, grab a cuppa, get ready say goodbye to everyone, get to work, head straight for the staff canteen and bobs your uncle, a choice of a cooked breakfast, cereal (incl weetabix), yoghurt or toast. The dearest thing is the cooked breakfast at 30p an item

It's all lovely and not only do you get to eat in blissful peace and quiet, you also don't have to wash up

How to make breakfast run smoothly when you have school aged children:

1. No TV in the morning

1. put the cereal in the bowls and put spoons and milk on the table ready before small people wake up - you can put out everything except the milk the night before if it makes things easier. doing it this way will save on arguments about portion sizes

1. children must rinse their bowls. nothing worse than dried on cereal - ESPECIALLY WEETABIX! the bowls might not be cleaned to your standard, but it makes cleaning them easier and you are setting a good standard for the kids.

1. uniform time. I made the children change out of thir uniform and hang it on a hanger every day. this way there is nothing missing in the morning.

Up at about 730
Change baby's nappy and breastfeed
Dh cuddles baby and straps in high chair
Shower for me
750 all try and eat together, toast/fruit/yoghurt/cereal
Watch breakfast news
DH off to work at 830, leaving me with absolute carnage to clear up!
Top tip? decide on baby's brekkie before getting out of bed, otherwise too much dithering leads to toast every single day!

My two are very slow eaters, so I bribe them. Unlike dinner, where they get Brownie points for "eating nicely and taking little bites", at breakfast I will let them watch their favourite show if they finish in time. Not what I had imagined breakfast to be like when I was pregnant, but it works for us. :)

We also have to massively restrict options. My two are very imaginative.

What would you like for breakfast?
Cabbage

What would you like for breakfast?
Cheese

I give the curious toddler half portions of what Dd1 and Dd2 are having - stops her from diving into their breakfast bowls

I love breakfast!

Since my daughter was about 7 she has been able to make her own toast in the toaster, she lives on it!

I always have cereal, and I alternate between Weetabix and Ready Brek for winter and Weetabix and Shreddies warmer months. Used to do Rice Krispies but found the didn't fill me up! Could never eat a fry up for breakfast

I have a special square Weetabix 'bowl' some anniversary special, it is exactly the right size. I always have 3, have done since I was about 4 years old, and they HAVE to be in little pyramid, all even, a nice soaking of milk, not too much, don't want them too soggy, when having hot milk, have to pour very carefully so as not to get a bowl of mush, and a good sprinkle of sugar. I do sometimes feel a bit sorry for my husband if he ever does me breakfast in bed....now he just brings it all in on a tray and lets me put the milk on myself so I know it is right!!

I am always up first, when working about 6am, if I am doing my exercises I eat breakfast about 6.45, if not, I eat breakfast within about five minutes of getting up! Breakfast is always eaten in dressing gowns/pyjamas, don't want school uniform/clothes dirty with breakfast mess or toothpaste mess as it does happen!!

tip, errrm when kids can do it themselves, let them!

agree with cereal bowls getting a quick rinse so it doesn't all dry on making it hard to wash up

I get the kids involved in everything I can - they get their own breakfast cereals, bowls, plates, cutlery etc. I make their breakfast (aged 3 and 4) and then they sit in the front room with it - whilst I do a good impression of a tornado in the kitchen getting ready/sorting lunchboxes etc. No TV - TV takes too much of their attention and things take twice as long.

I also dont offer too many choices - they can have toast or cereal, milk or water. Breakfast is the first thing we do, so its not too rushed, then we get dressed/do teeth.