Berkeley Parents Network: Breakfast Battles

Berkeley Parents Network

Breakfast Battles

Berkeley Parents Network > Advice > Eating > Breakfast Battles

Four-year-old Won't eat Breakfast

April 1999

Although my husband and I both believe that food should not be an issue for battles, apparently I'm not very good at putting this principle into practice! While my son (4 years old) is a picky eater in general, breakfast is a particularly difficult challenge, especially on school days when the mornings are often a rush. (He also loves lounging in bed and cuddling, so it's tough just getting him up!) DOES ANYONE HAVE ANY ADVICE FOR ME ???

Though this might seem horrible to some: my problems with my son's breakfast were solved when I started serving him breakfast in bed! (Cringe!) Yes, in bed. I had to leave early in the morning and his father was in charge of getting him to school. To often this meant his father slept until the last minute and then rushed around trying to get my son out of the house in time. It also meant my son was essentially unsupervised until his dad started running around 15 minutes before they had to leave. I started bringing him to our bed in the morning (totally asleep) turning the TV on to some 'educational' program and serving breakfast on a tray. My son would wake up and eat his breakfast at his leisure. After a short while he'd feel the pick me up from the food and he'd be in a great mood! He's 8 now and no longer has breakfast in bed. Sometimes (rarely) I have to carry him to the table he usually just drags himself there - once he's eaten his energy picks up and by the time I'm out of the shower he's dressed, combed, teeth are brushed and he's ready to go.

We have the same issue with our four year old. She suddenly turned off breakfast refusing her once loved dry cereals, eggs, bagels and the like. Its not a power struggle, she just says shes not hungry. But we find she has to eat or she gets horribly moody by mid- morning. We've had a lot of luck with smoothies (yogurt, frozen bananas and strawberries and some apple juice concentrate) and some success with leftovers of favorite dinners. On some days we've had to resort to PowerBars and fruit. I'm fairly certain that if we went towards more sugar, she'd follow but we don't want to go there yet. Good luck!

Take breakfast along--PB&J sandwich, fruit, dry cereal and milk to drink, etc.

Teenager Skips Breakfast

April 1999

Okay, how about this? I have a 12-year-old who has to sleep as much as she can. She spends her entire morning getting ready for school. How do I convince her to eat breakfast without having a knock-down, drag-out fight every morning? And she says that EVERYTHING she eats in the morning gives her an upset stomach. (We've checked out food allergies, taken her to the doctor, etc.) So does anyone have any suggestions?

My daughter often doesn't eat all day until she gets home from school. I don't like breakfast either until after 9:30 or so so I understand. I just make sure she has some sort of nutritious snack with her so she can nibble if she wants to and I make it a non-issue. I don't like to make food an issue, especially for teen girls.

My 14-year-old daughter also takes most of her morning time for getting ready and we used to have the same battles. So I now provide her with Instant Breakfast, something she can drink while she's getting ready or some high protein bars or nutri-grain bars to give her some energy. Those are also something she can eat on the way to school. This worked well for both of us. She got some nutrition and didn't end up with a headache and energy-less later on and I didn't have to worry or argue with her any longer.

if you're still concerned about your kid who won't eat breakfast, here's my two cents -- I never could eat breakfast first thing in the morning, even as a young child, it made me feel sick (still does). I wouldn't worry about her/him not eating if you can't find a food-based solution. I remember getting really hungry at around 10, and then eating something from my lunch. Don't worry, it's like when they were babies -- they're not going to starve.

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