Breakfasts for fussy eaters – the basics
Are you stuck adding variety?
Does your child want the same things over and over?
Do you want proven strategies for adding something new?
If so, you are in the right place!
However, although as a Feeding Advisor, I love talking food with parents of fussy eaters and am constantly looking for ways to add new foods to the diet, I always start advice like this with words of caution.
Yes, the food is important, but it is not about finding the magical recipe that enables your child to finally eat new foods. Instead is is gently and gradually building comfort around the foods you would like your child to eat.
It is also critically important that you do vary what’s on the menu – even if it’s only a teeny, tiny change. If your child eats the same things in the same way every day, it becomes harder and harder to add new things.
So, let’s look at some cool breakfast ideas but also ways you could start making those little changes that are so important, even if your child is not ready to accept anything new yet.
Breakfasts for fussy eaters
Cereals
Many fussy eaters are comfortable with cereal.
Maybe one or maybe a range. Eating with milk or yoghurt is common, but so is eating it dry.
Let’s explore some ways you can make small changes, you can build comfort and you can look at some new foods too!
If your child has more than one cereal they are happy to eat then my advice is to rotate between the two. Yes, they may prefer Cocopops to Rice Bubbles, but if they are able to eat the Rice Bubbles then is refusing them about preference and therefore behavioural rather than ‘fussy’ eating?
If you have a child who is only comfortable eating one cereal then it’s important to look for other options, especially if it’s their only breakfast option. Otherwise, you can be left stranded if they get bored and drop that cereal.
Below are many suggestions. As ideas for one category are often relevant to others, don’t skip reading as you may miss out on the perfect strategy for your child!
Cereal with milk
If your child has cereal with milk. Can you:
1. Let them pour their own milk. Giving autonomy is a great way to increase interaction, the focus on foods and interest. If you have littlies you can make sure you have an oilcloth/plastic tablecloth on the table and put only a tiny amount in a plastic jug (in case of oopsies).
2. Serve warm milk instead of cold. Changes, even small ones are important. In the winter it’s also lovely to put something warm in the tummy.
3. Change the order. Have a bowl of milk and add the cereal to the bowl rather than the other way round. This is great if you have child who doesn’t like soggy cereal, they can have a separate bowl and add a few at a time.
4. Add colour. Using natural food colours to make the milk into a blue ocean – to sail the Weetbix boat on or let the Cheerio life-rings float in. How great would it be if green ‘swamp’ milk lets your child know that eating green is good?
5. Cocoa powder. Adding some cocoa changes the colour and the taste of the cereal. These changes are great for gently showing your child new can be good.
Cocoa powder has no sugar and is a great source of zinc.
You could use this to naturally change the Rice Bubbles to Cocopops (you can always add sweetener, should you wish).
6. Serve fruit. Adding some fruit adds sweetness but also helps with the 5 A Day. If only dried fruit is accepted (like raisins), then that is a good option.
Tinned fruits can be easier as they are sweet and uniform.
My top tip for increasing the amount of fruit eaten is to serve it more often!
Cereal with yoghurt
1. Change the flavour of the yoghurt. I always advise against surprising a child at the table. Instead, gently working towards new flavours can be a great way to bring in change.
2. Have other options to add to the yoghurt/cereal. Often mixing foods is a challenge for picky eaters. It’s therefore important to consistently look for ways to gently teach your child how to do this.
Serving a small bowl of raisins, sprinkles, choc chips or other small things to add to the yoghurt is a great idea. If this is new for a child, they will often be reluctant at the beginning – and that’s normal. You can model to help build comfort levels.
3. A squeezy bottle. Fill the squeezy bottle so your child can make fun shapes in the bowl with the yoghurt. Or squeeze from a yoghurt pouch.
Many of the same suggestions for milk or yoghurt, apply also to porridge.
Dry cereal
1. Adding milk/yoghurt. If your child has either of these at other times, it can be a smaller step to adding to the cereal. I would advise having the tiniest bowl of milk on offer to dip into. Then, show how much fun that is by modelling (but not pushing your child to do it too).
2. Can you mix different cereals? If they have Cocopops, can they add a few Rice Bubbles or Cheerios, for example. Perhaps you can make it into a game. How quickly can you spot the different one?
Remember, new things often take time to be accepted so you can’t add something new once and expect uptake. Adding a few pieces of a new cereal consistently – with no push to eat, would be my advice.
3. Adding extra things to the cereal. For example, jam and peanut butter spread on the Weetbix or dipping the Cheerios in honey.
4. Serve in unusual bowls or containers. Small changes are important for a child as they help to prepare for new.
Toast/bread
Another food that many fussy eaters accept is bread or toast.
1. Varying. If you have a specific sort of bread that you use, are you able to vary this slightly? Sometimes, it works well to have your child involved in picking the new type.
Or can you have 3 squares of one and 1 square of the new one to gradually get used to it?
Remember, anything new may take time to become comfortable with.
2. Can you change the presentation? If you have squares, can you do triangles or strips? Small changes are always valuable.
If your child is very rigid in what they will accept, it is even more important to introduce change (if this is a challenge for you, I offer personalized strategies and plans to help with how to introduce in a gentle manner).
Even if your child is okay with new shapes, it’s still valuable to make changes.
3. Can you add toppings? For children who aren’t comfortable with anything on the toast or bread, dipping can be easier.
4. Can you vary toppings? For example, if you have a peanut butter lover are you able to switch to something else? Perhaps a different nut butter, or maybe adding some jam.
Or, can you have different options to choose from?
Yes, we always take our favourites to begin with, but if we are never offered anything else…
5. French toast. Adding some eggs and milk ups the protein quotient! If your child loves crunchy then you can cook in the oven until dry and crispier rather than on the stove (recipe link here: French toast sticks | The Confident Eater French toast sticks )
Next week we’ll look at other breakfast ideas!
Please share this with family and friends you feel may benefit.
Judith, MA Cantab (Cambridge University), MSc Psychology (first-class honours), is working on a PhD, is an AOTA accredited picky eating advisor and internationally certified nutritional therapist. She works with 100+ families every year resolving fussy eating and returning pleasure and joy to the meal table.
She is also mum to two boys and the author of Creating Confident Eaters and Winner Winner I Eat Dinner. Her dream is that every child is able to approach food from a place of safety and joy, not fear.
Learn more about Judith here: https://theconfidenteater.com/about/