Breakfast Problem

I love what the mom said about her child eating well at school/daycare but not at home. My daughter did the same thing and I was shocked too. Food issues like this are actually control battles between parents and children, and a wise mom once told me that you will never win a battle over food. At school, they know they won't get away with being picky, so they eat what's served. At home we have a tendency (I'm guilty too) of bending to their little whims and making excuses for their poor eating habits or offering things like chicken nuggets all the time because we think they'll starve... So, while we can't force them to eat, we can alter our own habits. Just this week I decided to be firm with my 3 1/2 yr olds eating habits and by golly it worked (I've made this resolution before, but usually fall back into old habits quickly). I did like the books say and put a healthy meal in front of her. If she only ate one item on her plate, I didn't say a word or try to coax/bribe her to eat the other things. Or if she chose not to eat, she didn't get anything else until the next meal. She ate breakfast well, but opted out for lunch. When I put dinner in front of her she still picked at it. I said "that's fine, maybe you'll be hungry at breakfast." She asked for a bed time snack and we gave her a drink of water instead. She slept fine. In the morning, the first words out of her mouth were "Where's my breakfast?" She ate every bite -- I gave her vanilla yogurt and let her top it herself with fresh blueberries and granola cereal. She even ate some of her brother's eggs (he's allergic to milk, so no yogurt for him). She scarfed her lunch too. She didn't eat much dinner, but for her to eat two full meals in one day is quite an improvement! There have been some days I wonder how she survives! Just remember, you don't have control over WHETHER she eats or not, but you do have control over WHAT she eats - or at least what's on her plate.

My daughter is not a morning person. She is really not ready to eat before we leave for preschool so I make her a smoothie to drink in the car. Good luck!

My son is the same way. He is 5 now, and still does not like to eat breakfast. He is always hungry for donuts though. I started to just give him carnation instant breakfast. It seems to fill him up and he likes the chocolate flavor...... He still have a problem with texture problem, will not eat any fruits,but will eat applesauce and yogurt sometimes. My dentist said that he is also have a sensitive gag reflex. Although gagging while he is eating is a lot better now.

Good luck with this... I have a 2 year old picky eater but thank GOD for bread or he'd just starve! LOL... I'll be interested in hearing what everyone says.

I'm thinking about putting him in O.T. through Cooks Childrens outpatient program in Hurst... just to help me get him to eat more.... he quit eating about 1/2 of what he was eating.... i'm sick of being a short order cook.

Hi! my son also has issues with certain textures. When he was two all he would eat were chicken nuggets w/ ketchup and a side of yogurt... breakfast, lunch, and dinner! I started mixing greenbeans in his yogurt (blended it up) and that worked for a while... but then he caught me doing that one day and then all he would eat were chicken nuggets!!! So... I poured some blended greenbeans in the ketchup bottle while he was asleep one night to try and sneak in the veggies!

Obviously, this wasn't the best, but it was better than nothing. Then, I started making him smoothies. First, I started mixing things he already liked (ice cream and yogurt) and hid frozen veggies in them. Gradually, I started taking out the ice cream and yogurt and putting in mandarin oranges and rice cereal or wheat germ to help thicken it up a bit. Now he has a smoothie (mandarin oranges (1 can, 5oz), 1/3 cup mixed frozen fruit-blueberries, pinapples, rasberries usually, and 1 cup mixed veggies--carrots, greenbeans, corn, peas) and he sucks them down faster than I can make them! He's five now, so it's been a process, but the different tastes and textures in the smoothies have gotten him to be more acceptable of solid foods with various tastes and textures. He now eats regular foods like everyone else, but if he does refuse something, I don't have to worry or fight with him because he still drinks about 2 or 3 smoothies per day!

We also give him and my daughter Carnation Instant Breakfast. Breakfast is a hard meal to eat sometimes. I know I'm not ready for breakfast until about 10:00 and my parents gave my Instant Breakfast as a teenager and it worked great. My kids loveit too and, again, I don't have to worry about whether or not they actually eat.
Good luck!

What type of "texture issues" does she have?

Mine is picky too. He likes (store bought) whole grain pancakes, waffles, and cereal. He doesn't even need the syrup or even milk in his cereal. I can hand him a waffle in a napkin or a bowl of dry cereal, he will just walk around eating it dry or in the car on the way to were ever we are going. He likes yogurt (or Gogurts) too. He just discovered that he likes peaches, nectarines and sometimes bananas. He also likes Toaster Scrambles (in the breakfast frozen section) with eggs, chz, and sausage. They make them with bacon too. I let him choice between 3 different options at breakfast and lunch. Hes good at refusing what you make for him if I don't let him pick.

He is going to day care (we call it school) part-time and they give him breakfast at 8:00. They tell me he eats all his food, breakfast lunch and snack. Im always surprised at the food he will eat when Im not around. Things like fish sticks or salad or pineapple. I sometimes wonder if they look under his chair or if some other kid is eating his food. I even asked the teacher in a constructive way about it and she seemed surprised that he is a picky eater at home. All the money we pay for him to go is so worth it. Its like therapy for the little guy.

Good luck an don't worry, if she doesn't eat her breakfast she will be hungry for lunch. Give her a good healthy snack when she gets home. Ovaltin was a good idea.

SAHM of 2 1/2 boy T. Lee