My daughter is 18 months old. She's currently learning how to eat with a spoon.
She has always have yogurt or whole wheat bread for breakfast. For the bread, she does not have an issue since she could use her hands. The yogurt, she's still learning since she needs to use a spoon for that.
Is there any good healthy breakfast that I could serve her that she could eat on her own?
It would be nice to serve her some variety and at the same time, she is able to eat on her own since she has her breakfast at daycare. In the meanwhile, I will continue teaching her to use the spoon but until then, I need your help on any suggestions you have.
Thanks
slice bananas into discs about 1/4" thick, dip in pancake batter, and fry like regular pancakes - voila! perfect fruit-filled toddler-size finger food pancakes, and the banana adds sweetness so no syrup required. Make a bunch and freeze them, then reheat in a toaster oven (I found that mine would stick to the toaster oven tray so I sprinkled a little wheat germ on the tray - no sticking!)
What about muffins (I make pumpkin muffins with whole wheat flour that my kids love), quesadillas, sausage links (I buy the turkey or "lite" varieties). You can even make mini "frittatas" with egg, cheese, ham, etc that you mix up and bake in the muffin tins.
If she has no food allergies, and eats well - toast with peanut butter cut into small pieces so she can pick them up. Very messy but healthy too. My daughter (2 1/2) still has it almost every day. You know how well she does or doesn't eat so this is your call.
My daughter also likes eggs. I scramble them, fry them flat and melt cheese over the top (like an open omelet) and then cut it into pieces, she uses a fork now, but she did use her fingers for a long time.
Good luck!
The simplest is cereal - my daughter loves corn chex and some other crunchy cereals - and since all cereals are enriched w/ vitamins and minerals they are relatively healthy. I do not give her sugar laden kids cereals, and depending on your daughter's teeth (does she have a lot) some cereals may be easier than others to eat.
My son eats scrambled eggs with his hands (I break it into pieces). You can put the egg pieces in a Tupperware to go, kids don't mind eating them cold. He also eats bagel that I cut into small pieces. He also loves to eat fruit that I slice up for him. Also, he can also eat cereal dry and then drink milk in a cup.
Since she's at daycare, I'm guessing that preparation is a big concern. So, items like scrambled eggs are going to be too time-consuming.
My recommendation would be items like fresh fruit, granola bars (Clif makes kid's sized bars that my kids LOVE and can get them at Sam's Club), NutriGrain bars, Danimals yogurt smoothies (our kids drink with a straw, but they're thin enough, they could be in a sippy cup). You could also make smoothies in the morning and have them in a cup for her when they serve the breakfast.
If space isn't a concern, I'd purchase some frozen waffles and sausage. They're not the healthiest, but it provides protein, and the Special K waffles really aren't too bad in terms of carbs/calories.
At her age, the only restrictions in place from the American Academy of Pediatrics are foods with a known family food allergy or those that pose a choking hazard.
Good luck!
I've found that my 12 month old daughter, who does not yet eat with a spoon, enjoys these finger foods for breakfast: cut up fruits of ALL kinds, scrambled egg, cheeses. If I've made banana bread or rhubarb bread, I'll give her some of that. On the weekends she joins us for homemade pancakes. Hope this helps!
We have done a lot of oatmeal- with a spoon. Also, egg omlettes with cheese cut up so she just picks them up. Fresh fruit. If the spoon is tough- the gogurts have improved their ingredient statements. We do pancakes(not exactly the healthiest) cut up for fork or finger food.
This morning my 19 month old daughter brought cheerios and raisins dry in a ziplock to daycare, I send a Horizon milk box for her to drink with it. At home we do oatmeal, its really easy to scoop with a spoon, pancakes, scrambled eggs, banana, mini bagels and cream cheese... I also had an idea to freeze those yogurt tubes (got mine from trader joes) then they might be less messy, but I haven't tried it yet. Good luck, i have the same issue because i hate for her to have the same thing everyday!
My 14 month old LOVES eggs, I just scramble one and put on a plate, he uses a fork, sort o,f but mainly uses his hands. cottage cheese is good too, stays on the spoon easily, how about thick oatmeal
Maybe some muffins? Either the kind with fruit or you could scramble eggs with some veggies and cook them in muffin tins. Both freeze relatively well and you could just defrost them before sending them to daycare.
Muesli or even yogurt mixed with granola....since it would be thicker maybe it would be easier for her to spoon up.
If you get the yogurt sticks, make sure you get the SIMPLY Gogurt ones. The other Gogurts are full of high fructose corn syrup and coloring. My kids love those frozen.
Does it have to be cold since it's packed for daycare? Will they warm up a waffle for her?
Hmmmm....Cut up bananas, grapes, or other fruits, fruit cups, toast/bread triangles with jellies/jams, waffles cut into strips, french toast strips, dry cereal in a baggie, raisins, crackers and cheeses, bagel and cream cheese?
Fruit, cheerios, shredded/crumbled cheese, soft granola (cut granola bars into small pieces or crumble it)
They make little drinkable yogurts that are easy to take with you where ever you are eating and don't require a spoon. They also make yogurt bars or the little gogurts which are yogurt in little tubes that you sqweeze the yogurt out of.
Hi there! I'm always looking for breakfast ideas for toddlers, and one thing my almost 22-month-old son loves (for breakfast or just a snack) are those breakfast cereal bars. I get the generic Target brand, but they are like Nutri-Grain bars. They have fruit & whole grains, are soft, and he loves being able to hold it by himself.
