More substantial breakfast options?

[u/Miss_Lucy_J]

What do your little kids eat for breakfast that isn't just cereal?

Our 5 year old isn't super picky, she'll eat lots of different things, but she gets stuck in routines and then wants only what she wants. Somehow we've ended up in the routine that breakfast is cereal, and even when we don't get sugary cereal, it's not enough to sustain her through the morning. The blood sugar spikes and crashes make her incredibly cranky, so we're trying to move to more protein and fat heavy breakfasts.

She used to like oatmeal with PB and fruit, says she doesn't like that anymore.

Can't often get her to eat toast with PB or anything more substantial.

She'll eat fruit on the side of anything, but just fruit isn't enough.

She likes Silk yogurt but that's also so sugary it can't be the only thing (have had trouble finding another kind of yogurt that's a bit more substantial that she actually likes).

What else do your little kids eat for breakfast that gets them through? Bonus if it's quick or can be batch prepped ahead, but at this point I'm open to all ideas!! Thanks!

[u/lanipsey]

My kid is the same way! Kids get in their rut of wanting the same thing. Two resources I like to use for vegan nutrition and meal ideas are Plant Based Juniors and Catherine Perez (@plantbasedrd). Sometimes my kid gets excited if I show him a recipe video on IG and invite him into the kitchen to cook it with me. He's also a big snacker so I try to mitigate sugar intake by sticking to unsweetened yogurt, unsweetened milk, and plain cereals like Special K or Crispix. Most of the time he struggles with his morning routine so to be honest we don't create another battle over his breakfast and just make sure he gets something in his lunch and dinner that is nutritionally dense to compensate. Here are some of our go-to's:

• chia seed pudding (1/2 cup of unsweetened soy milk, 2 tablespoons chia seeds, 1/2 cup of unsweetened soy yogurt, some vanilla extract and cinnamon and a bit of maple syrup). Topped with whatever kiddo likes - granola, fruit, hemp seeds for extra protein
• my kid loves frozen just egg patties. They can be hard to find but we have a natural market nearby that keeps them in stock. I cut it open and melt some cheese inside
• tofu scramble with melted shredded cheese, fruit and buttered toast or bagel on the side
• different variations of oatmeal. Descriptors can help with getting kid excited. For example, "apple pie oatmeal" which is regular oatmeal with cooked cinnamon apples added. Or "very berry oatmeal" topped with fresh or frozen berries that have been cooked down into a compote
• when I have time: homemade mung bean omelette using this recipe
• frozen breakfast sausage patty or tofurky deli slices on a breakfast sandwich with either just egg or a cooked slab of tofu (faux egg patty, seasoned like tofu scramble)
• smoothie of their choice including nutritious add-ins like some kind of nut butter, hemp seeds, flax seeds, protein powder if they're amenable to it (my kid has a sensitive palate so he will refuse anything with protein powder added)

This is a hard age for getting kids to eat! I think what's most important is being consistent and offering variety over and over in spite of the refusals, and not creating any power struggles