Getting our 26 month old to eat breakfast?!!
Our 26 month old will not eat breakfast.
She often nurses just before she fully wakes up, and so I understand that she's probably not really hungry.
The problem is that when she then does get hungry, she won't eat. We try sitting her at the table with cereal, toast, a waffle, cheese, yogurt or anything. Nope.
She wants to nurse about every 30 minutes (there isn't that much milk), and worse, she's CRANKY the whole morning until we can actually get her to eat something. This morning we finally got some mac 'n cheese into her at 10:30 -- after 2 1/2 very very cranky hours (and 3 nursing sessions).
I WOH, and so on the days when I'm gone, she's cranky, won't eat and is driving dh nuts. And I'll admit, when I am at home, that the constant morning nursing is getting to me. Our 5 year old needs me, I'm not a morning person, and I can't even sit down to breakfast or get a shower without a tantrum.
Any ideas?
^_^:
Have you tried maybe some sort of a smoothie or something? Some fruit with a bit of protein in it (tofu, powder, yogurt, whatever you choose) might go down better than solid food, and she'll still be getting her nutrition in.
My dd is the exact opposite.. breakfast is her biggest meal. She slacks a bit on lunch, then by dinner I can't get her to eat anything :lol But sometimes I can get her to just eat a piece of fruit or something, or I'll put some kefir in a bottle for her and just let her drink that.
Personally I'm not a breakfast eater and I never was. My mom used to make me eat something before I went to school (and I can understand why of course) but I often got an upset stomach because I just wasn't hungry... lots of times as I got older I'd just take the food with me and *say* I was eating it but I never did. Now I ate just fine for lunch and dinner, and snacks too, but I just wasn't a breakfast eater. Even now, I'll just grab a piece of fruit or a yogurt or something very small... and I don't really get hungry until lunchtime.
I hear you about the crankiness... My dd gets super cranky around 5 because she seems hungry she just won't eat anything. I've tried and tried, but I feel like she's getting enough since she eats fairly well the rest of the day.. and I figure she'll eat if she's hungry too. I recently read a book called "how to get your child to eat but not too much" I can't think of the author's name... but it really helped me to back off of food and realize that a lot of the problem was mine and not hers :lol
^_^:
We had the same problem around the same age. It resolved when my milk supply started dropping off due to pregnancy.
IME, timing is everything when it comes to these cycles (don't eat, get hungry & cranky so won't eat!). The best advice I can give you is experiment, experiment, experiment until you find a good time to offer food. Maybe start with 30 minutes after waking and increase by 30 minutes each day until you find the right time.
Or find a super tempting food that she never passes up! Maybe make popsicles out of smoothies?
^_^:
My dd will not eat anything that looks like a meal in the morning. She nurses for a long time as she wakes up, so she's tanked up on milk too. What works for us is a snack as SOON as we go downstairs in the morning. Something fun and easy to eat- dry cereal, crackers, a cereal bar, a banana- whatever is a hit and most likely to get eaten. Then she's good to go. Once she STARTS eating, she's more willing to eat more if that makes any sense. And it has to be on the go- not sitting in the highchair/boosterseat/her little table....
-Angela
^_^:
And it has to be on the go- not sitting in the highchair/boosterseat/her little table....
-Angela
Yep... forgot to add that! My dd is the exact same way with breakfast! She wants to be walking around and exploring since she's been asleep all night. She is afraid she has missed something :lol Pretty much any meal I try to give her in her table booster seat is a disaster, but I'm not real worried about that right now. My main goal is for her to eat.
I like what the pp said about experimenting. Maybe let her pick out something (reasonably healthy) at the store that she might eat, like a granola or cereal bar?
^_^:
thanks everyone -- I'll try some yogurt smoothies tomorrow. And perhaps some less traditional breakfast fare - cheese and crackers might work. She's not into cereal bars or granola bars. She's not that fond of cereal most days. Sometimes she'll eat toast, but mostly she wants to lick the butter off. (Gee could I feed her butter and get away with it ?- that is probably her one true 'passion' -- she'd eat it with a spoon if I let her!)
Part of the problem is that when she's full, she's full. I could offer her chocolate chips and she wouldn't eat them! I don't want to mess with the fact that she's attuned to the fact that she's full. So, timing is everything. If she's full, she won't eat. If she's too hungry, she won't eat, and she's not too attuned to when her body is hungry (like dh is - he can go for hours and hours without eating and not feel any effects).
We don't insist she sit and eat, though some choices (cereal with milk) are obviously better eaten that way. But yogurt smoothies are liquid (which she prefers in the morning), reasonably healthy, and quick and can be eaten on the run.
Actually another 'solution' is to get out of bed before she wakes up! She woke up after I did this morning and came down and asked for a bowl of cereal (her brother and I were both eating one)!
^_^:
Some peopele are just not hungry in the morning...kids included.
I don't eat anything until around 4 pm, so I guess I can't expect my kidlets to be hungry in the morning. :)
S/he won't starve I promise.
love, penelope
^_^:
DS is 23 months and also not too hungry in the morning except for milk. However, he is more inclined to eat a little something if DH offers some of his breakfast to DS. Somehow, if it comes off of DH's plate, it just tastes better :lol
I prefer for DS to eat seated in his chair because I personally can't deal with cleaning up all over the place.
^_^:
AH, yes, I am happy to hear that others have this issue too...DD is not a big breakfast eater...she nurses in the AM, so I know she is getting the good stuff...and I am very rarely hungry in the morning. BUT I have noticed that if I sit her down with DH, she will eat.
*sigh* it is a toss up, eh? I want DD to be in touch with her body and not eat if she isn't hungry...and I WILL NOT force her to eat as I was when I was little :irked: but of course I worry that she isn't eating enough...which is stupid because she is growing and doing FINE :lol
Hang in there, and keep trying! We had mac-n-cheese for breakfast one day and eggs for dinner that night...food is food, right :lol
^_^:
S/he won't starve I promise. Oh, I'm not worried about that - she's my 30 lb linebacker right now. :lol
I'd be perfectly content if she just wasn't so darned CRANKY. But then again, maybe it's teething. She's got 3 molars coming in, and I saw them all poking through (finally) 2 days ago. She was definitely more cheerful this morning. Maybe there is light at the end of the tunnel!
More Topical:
She often nurses just before she fully wakes up, and so I understand that she's probably not really hungry.
The problem is that when she then does get hungry, she won't eat. We try sitting her at the table with cereal, toast, a waffle, cheese, yogurt or anything. Nope.
She wants to nurse about every 30 minutes (there isn't that much milk), and worse, she's CRANKY the whole morning until we can actually get her to eat something. This morning we finally got some mac 'n cheese into her at 10:30 -- after 2 1/2 very very cranky hours (and 3 nursing sessions).
I WOH, and so on the days when I'm gone, she's cranky, won't eat and is driving dh nuts. And I'll admit, when I am at home, that the constant morning nursing is getting to me. Our 5 year old needs me, I'm not a morning person, and I can't even sit down to breakfast or get a shower without a tantrum.
Any ideas?
^_^:
Have you tried maybe some sort of a smoothie or something? Some fruit with a bit of protein in it (tofu, powder, yogurt, whatever you choose) might go down better than solid food, and she'll still be getting her nutrition in.
My dd is the exact opposite.. breakfast is her biggest meal. She slacks a bit on lunch, then by dinner I can't get her to eat anything :lol But sometimes I can get her to just eat a piece of fruit or something, or I'll put some kefir in a bottle for her and just let her drink that.
Personally I'm not a breakfast eater and I never was. My mom used to make me eat something before I went to school (and I can understand why of course) but I often got an upset stomach because I just wasn't hungry... lots of times as I got older I'd just take the food with me and *say* I was eating it but I never did. Now I ate just fine for lunch and dinner, and snacks too, but I just wasn't a breakfast eater. Even now, I'll just grab a piece of fruit or a yogurt or something very small... and I don't really get hungry until lunchtime.
I hear you about the crankiness... My dd gets super cranky around 5 because she seems hungry she just won't eat anything. I've tried and tried, but I feel like she's getting enough since she eats fairly well the rest of the day.. and I figure she'll eat if she's hungry too. I recently read a book called "how to get your child to eat but not too much" I can't think of the author's name... but it really helped me to back off of food and realize that a lot of the problem was mine and not hers :lol
^_^:
We had the same problem around the same age. It resolved when my milk supply started dropping off due to pregnancy.
IME, timing is everything when it comes to these cycles (don't eat, get hungry & cranky so won't eat!). The best advice I can give you is experiment, experiment, experiment until you find a good time to offer food. Maybe start with 30 minutes after waking and increase by 30 minutes each day until you find the right time.
Or find a super tempting food that she never passes up! Maybe make popsicles out of smoothies?
^_^:
My dd will not eat anything that looks like a meal in the morning. She nurses for a long time as she wakes up, so she's tanked up on milk too. What works for us is a snack as SOON as we go downstairs in the morning. Something fun and easy to eat- dry cereal, crackers, a cereal bar, a banana- whatever is a hit and most likely to get eaten. Then she's good to go. Once she STARTS eating, she's more willing to eat more if that makes any sense. And it has to be on the go- not sitting in the highchair/boosterseat/her little table....
-Angela
^_^:
And it has to be on the go- not sitting in the highchair/boosterseat/her little table....
-Angela
Yep... forgot to add that! My dd is the exact same way with breakfast! She wants to be walking around and exploring since she's been asleep all night. She is afraid she has missed something :lol Pretty much any meal I try to give her in her table booster seat is a disaster, but I'm not real worried about that right now. My main goal is for her to eat.
I like what the pp said about experimenting. Maybe let her pick out something (reasonably healthy) at the store that she might eat, like a granola or cereal bar?
^_^:
thanks everyone -- I'll try some yogurt smoothies tomorrow. And perhaps some less traditional breakfast fare - cheese and crackers might work. She's not into cereal bars or granola bars. She's not that fond of cereal most days. Sometimes she'll eat toast, but mostly she wants to lick the butter off. (Gee could I feed her butter and get away with it ?- that is probably her one true 'passion' -- she'd eat it with a spoon if I let her!)
Part of the problem is that when she's full, she's full. I could offer her chocolate chips and she wouldn't eat them! I don't want to mess with the fact that she's attuned to the fact that she's full. So, timing is everything. If she's full, she won't eat. If she's too hungry, she won't eat, and she's not too attuned to when her body is hungry (like dh is - he can go for hours and hours without eating and not feel any effects).
We don't insist she sit and eat, though some choices (cereal with milk) are obviously better eaten that way. But yogurt smoothies are liquid (which she prefers in the morning), reasonably healthy, and quick and can be eaten on the run.
Actually another 'solution' is to get out of bed before she wakes up! She woke up after I did this morning and came down and asked for a bowl of cereal (her brother and I were both eating one)!
^_^:
Some peopele are just not hungry in the morning...kids included.
I don't eat anything until around 4 pm, so I guess I can't expect my kidlets to be hungry in the morning. :)
S/he won't starve I promise.
love, penelope
^_^:
DS is 23 months and also not too hungry in the morning except for milk. However, he is more inclined to eat a little something if DH offers some of his breakfast to DS. Somehow, if it comes off of DH's plate, it just tastes better :lol
I prefer for DS to eat seated in his chair because I personally can't deal with cleaning up all over the place.
^_^:
AH, yes, I am happy to hear that others have this issue too...DD is not a big breakfast eater...she nurses in the AM, so I know she is getting the good stuff...and I am very rarely hungry in the morning. BUT I have noticed that if I sit her down with DH, she will eat.
*sigh* it is a toss up, eh? I want DD to be in touch with her body and not eat if she isn't hungry...and I WILL NOT force her to eat as I was when I was little :irked: but of course I worry that she isn't eating enough...which is stupid because she is growing and doing FINE :lol
Hang in there, and keep trying! We had mac-n-cheese for breakfast one day and eggs for dinner that night...food is food, right :lol
^_^:
S/he won't starve I promise. Oh, I'm not worried about that - she's my 30 lb linebacker right now. :lol
I'd be perfectly content if she just wasn't so darned CRANKY. But then again, maybe it's teething. She's got 3 molars coming in, and I saw them all poking through (finally) 2 days ago. She was definitely more cheerful this morning. Maybe there is light at the end of the tunnel!
More Topical: