Breaking the no breakfast habit

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Bean isnt a morning eater. Of course, neither am I really.
I tend to just make a veggie shake, or have some toast or something small.
I want Bean to learn to eat more of a breakfast. She usually wont eat until 11 or 12 basically.. just before she naps.
This isnt a PROBLEM.. because during the course of the day she gets everything she needs.
Her morning ' snacks' are usually some steamed veggies, or avacado, maybe oatmeal, or a fruit. Not all together, it is either one or the other in the morning.
She eats all she needs, but is eating a TON of food before she goes to bed.
Her dinner is made up of several things.
Veggies, tofu, beans, rice, egg, i mean alot.
She can eat about what I would put on MY plate.

I want to try to ease into distributing that amount of food over the day. Starting in the morning.
So what I have tried is -
small finger snacks from the moment she wakes up.
Offering very small amounts of three diffrent things instead of just one

but it isnt working too well. Most of what I make for her for breakfast gets thrown off her tray.
My idea is that if I can introduce small 'snacks' her stomach will, over time , become hungry in the morning and she can eat some breakfast instead of just abottle then some juice.

what do you think?

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I am not hungry until about an hour or so after I get up so maybe wait until then.

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I think that she's probably old enough to start some kind of loose meal schedule. I've just started really clamping this down on my kids since we've moved, so take what I say with a grain of salt. I would start about a half hour to an hour after she wakes up. Serve her a breakfast, whatever you think is healthy. Sit down with her for some set period of time (like 15 minutes). When that time is up, clear the table even if she hasn't eaten. Then follow with a scheduled snack time -- can be what it is now, before nap. Same with lunch and dinner. It might be tough for a few days but kids adjust and soon it will be much easier.

We've recently abolished the after-dinner snack in my house and we've started serving the kids the same things we eat ourselves. It has been tough, but there are no more complaints and I no longer feel like a slave to their cravings. Dinner is at dinner time, it's what they get, when it's over it's over and they go to bed without anything else. This is probably more extreme than what you are trying to accomplish, but it's sort of along the same lines.

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that is right along the lines FD
( hey there !! by the way! Very Happy

how are ya???)

she is still too young to be on a strict feeding time.. BUT i want more emphasis put on eating through OUT the day and not just cramming it before bed time.
She isnt unhealthy, isnt loosing weight.. there are no problems.. I just want to begin teaching all day eating .

Like you Bella, I am not hungry immediatly either and I am sure she isnt. She has an 8 ounce bottle of her formula when she wakes up so I know it takes a while to 'burn that off'.
I have a big cup of coffee in the morning and I know it takes a while for ME to burn that off.

What I am thinking is lowering the amount of formula I give her in the morning..slowly.. so that physical hunger comes on sooner?

FD- I bet it is a relief to just make ONE stinking meal for dinner instead of 3 frickin diffrent meals andHOPE those get eaten. heheheh!!

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Yes! It is a relief. They cried the first few times but now that they know that that's all there is they just pick through, eat what they like and leave the rest. And yeah, they are both healthy so it was just a matter of me trying to teach them better eating habits. To be honest it was my brother's example with his kids that made me decide that enough was enough.

That's a good idea to cut back the morning formula. I bet you're right and that does have a lot to do with it.

(Nice to see you!)

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I never dealt with formula so don't know much about it -- it's certainly "food", though, not the equivalent of water, say. I'm sure it's filling her up, but I'm not sure whether that's a bad thing. Is she supposed to still be having formula, nutrition-wise? If yes, count it as her "breakfast" and leave it at that -- if no, maybe address the formula issue as part of the whole thing.

Sozlet takes a while to get hungry, too. She'll usually have something to drink right off (usually ice water, right now she's in fighting-off-a-cold mode so it's been hot lemon and honey the last few days), then wait half an hour or an hour and then have breakfast-breakfast.

Our schedule is pretty casual, main thing is that she's had enough to eat by 1:00 when preschool starts. Then a snack after preschool, then dinner (all together unless E.G. has specified he'll be late and go ahead), she eats what is served). Then usually a bedtime snack, often yogurt and fruit.

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sozobe wrote:

I never dealt with formula so don't know much about it -- it's certainly "food", though, not the equivalent of water, say. I'm sure it's filling her up, but I'm not sure whether that's a bad thing. Is she supposed to still be having formula, nutrition-wise? If yes, count it as her "breakfast" and leave it at that -- if no, maybe address the formula issue as part of the whole thing.

.

Yes and no.
No- formula isnt a necessity in her diet due to her eating habits and her ability to eat 90% of textures, and almost everything we can eat.
She isnt missing out on anything when it comes to diet.

yes- it is still important.. but .. well.. I guess it isnt important because I cant think of anything to support my yes answer.. Confused

But, understand, when I make her 'formula" it requires 7 scoops ( they have a tiny scoop in this formula can) and I only use 2 per bottle and I add some soy milk to it.
So it isnt the full strength. It is more of a power drink for breakfast if that makes sense..

But I bet that is the underlying problem.
No matter how thin it is, that is still 8 ounces of weight on an already tiny belly.

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Breaking the no breakfast habit

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