Breakfast Ideas for Baby

French toast cut into little bites or strips is nice, and a little syrup to dip it in. I make regular oatmeal as the weather gets cooler. There are fun shaped healthy cereals- Smiths has one I love to buy called Heart to Heart- it has little heart shaped pieces with o's. Different cold cereals have different crunches and that is fun for them. Different flavors of jam on toast. Summer fruit is wonderful mashed for them. Super Baby Food has tons of recipes for little ones- it's a great book.

My son (who granted, is now 22 months) loves vegetarian suasage & bacon (morningstar farms) and waffles (with jelly and sometimes syrup, although when we want less mess we just add some butter). When he was 9 - 18 mos he ate frozen blueberries and loved them! We got the idea from someone at daycare who said they are great for teething (any fruit will do). good luck!

Actually, eggs are a great baby food - I wonder why you don't want to give her one every day? They have a bad rap for cholesterol, etc. but babies actually need a lot of *healthy* fat and cholesterol in their diet - it is essential for proper neurological development. I always grated veggies in my daughter's scrambled eggs, like carrots, zucchini, or mushrooms, or added finely chopped spinach or parsley. She loved it, and now she loves her veggies as well.

We like regular oatmeal w/ honey & raisins or blueberries.... however, our absolute favorite is called baked oatmeal...
4 1/2 c. oatmeal
1/2 c. honey
3/4 c. olive oil
1 c. water
3 t. cinnamon
3 t. baking powder
a dash of salt
2 eggs
Mix all these ingrediets together & then add raisins, peaches, strawberries (I use the frozen ones from Costco), or if you want a treat put chocolate chips in. Put into 8" by 11" pan. Bake at 350 for about 20-25 min. Serve hot w/ milk or cold w/ or w/out milk.

I make this the night before I need a quick breakfast.... I made the mistake of using chocolate chips & that is the only way we like it now...... strawberries are good too though. Hope this is a good idea for you. :)

Hi S.,

One of my son's favorites is crock pot oatmeal. I make many variations.
Mix in crock pot:
-1 cup mixed whole grains/legumes (some suggestions to mix: eg. millet, steel cut oats, quinoa, amaranth, barley, brown rice, lentils, etc.)
-5 cups water (made need to add more later on depending on crock pot)
-2 cups chopped apple
-1/2 dried fruit, chopped

Turn on low & let cook for 6-8 hrs.
It's extremely easy & healthy. I freeze in ice cube trays & my son eats 5 cubes (= 1 oz. each) warmed up for breakfast. The fruit gives it a slight sweetness & it's very tasty.

I agree with not giving eggs everyday, or any food consistently everyday. There is nutritional benefit to variation. Further, some doctors do not suggest eggs until 1 year.

Hope this helps,
L. L. Kwan, ND
Naturopathic Physician

Kwan Naturopathic
1250 E Baseline Rd., Suite 104
Tempe, AZ 85283
Ph: ###-###-####
Fax: ###-###-####
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http://www.KwanNaturopathic.com

there is a great cookbook out there for little one's called Mommy made and Daddy too Home cooking for a Healthy baby and Toddler. By Martha and David Kimmel.

My girls still like some of the recipes, although I don't have to puree or chop anything fine anymore.

I have used this book through both of my girls and plan to use with my son when he is born.

Good Luck.

I have a 10 month old, 2 teeth on the bottom. She has pretty much whatever I fix for all the other kids. We had regular oatmeal this morning, little brown sugar to sweeten it and I fix it with raisins and mash hers up really good, sometimes I stir in a little baby fruit. She eats pancakes, bagels, toast (butter and low sugar jam (yummy), tiny cantaloupe, watermelon, peaches, tiny grapes, berries, cereal, french toast (loves it!), sausage gravy and a biscuit (ok), breakfast potatoes, anything she can feed herself she LOVES! She also is having less of a taste for her baby boxed cereal and enjoys eating whatever we eat. If she has cereal in the morning, like cheerios or yesterday we had cookie crisp, I let it get soggy in the milk for a bit and then she has an easier time gumming it. Good luck and remember that they go through non-eating times as well and maybe her pickiness is just that. Silly babies!

i baby sit my grandson and he has been on solid food since he was 5 months, acutally started baby food at 4 months due to low weight. he was 3 lbs at birth. he didnt like baby food so i made him whatever i was eating and blended itin the blender. she he has been eating table food since then. i have to eat 6 -10 times a day due to a mecdical condition. i eat small meals and he eats with me. he usually share a bananna first thing when he gets here. later we may have some peanut butter an dhoney toast. later either and egg or two ( he too loves eggs and will eat as many as i will give him) or some hot cereal. later we will have fresh fruit such as cut up melon strawberries,he relly loves blueberries and raspeberries that he can pick up and play with before he eats. it also helps with hand eye coordiantion. sometimes we will have a cheese crisp, i also have my own garden and we go out and pick grape tomatoes or fresh peas. he loves opnining up the pod and eating the peas. we pcik lettuce andspinach and eat it outside. also lots of juices. one of our favoorites is watermelon pieces with ice in the blender. sometimes i will put a few sprigs of cilantro in ther befroe blending. i also make these smoothies with pineapple, cantalope, berries, bananas or any fruit that is on sale. he has learned to eat all kinds of foods this way. his daddy was alwaysvery picky( still is) so i am happy that he likes all foods. the only thing we found that he doesnt like is packaged macaroni and cheese. he will eat the homemade stuff but none from a package

S.,
Sometimes I give my kids sausage for breakfast with a piece of toast and banana. I have tried both the heat and serve as well as regular breakfast sausage (which is frequently on sale) and they love both equally; and they are both either microwave or stove-top friendly. I just cut them up into baby bite-sized pieces for my 10 month old; and a little larger for my 2 year old. I quarter the toast and they share a whole piece between the two; and half a banana each.

If you simply don't want to have to cook the eggs every day, try hard boiled eggs. My son eats a HB egg almost every day with a smoothie (he is 3), such a great source of protien for his growing body. Or you can just cook them differntly each day so they are not the same thing (scrambled/sunny side up). Sometimes we like to cut a whole in a piece of toast and cook the egg in the middle of it....then eat it all together.

Could also try cottage cheese (with or without fruit in it), oatmeal, farina cereal (malt-o-meal/cream of wheat), waffles or crepes (without syrup - or very little) - could dip in yogurt. If you have the time you could make fresh juice (with a juicer) to include some veggies (apple/carrot/celery - and sometimes beet is our favorite). Bananas cut into quarters or fifths and dipped in yogurt (or honey after your child is 1).

Good luck and have fun trying new things.

Cheerios! They are fun and healthy and make great finger food in and out of milk. My kids also loved the flavored oatmeals. Waffles and pancakes are winners w/my kids, too, as is yogurt. My kids always loved munching on a banana, too. A whole one - they got to take it apart.

Here are some thoughts:
Oatmeal (use the plain quick oats - not sweetened - you can mix in a little ground flax or bran for extra nutrition and also fruit;
French toast (you can mash banana into the egg mixture for a twist)

My kids loved oatmeal at that age. You can add fruit or a little maple syrup to change up the flavor for variety. I have 3 girls- and they all loved it!

Grind 3 T. millet or 1/4 c. brown rice in a blender for 2 min. Heat 1 cup of water to boiling. Slowly stir in the ground grain. Turn heat down, stir occasionally, and cook for about 10 min. If it gets too thick, add a little water.
SErve with milk like you would any cereal. You can mix fruit in it, too. The two boys in my care eat this 5 days a week. If she likes it less ground, dont grind it as long.

At that age and beyond, my son loved to eat oatmeal. I would add pureed baby food fruit that I had made for some sweetness without adding bad sugars like I like to eat oatmeal with! Even smooshing up some banana is good in it. He lapped it up. It was the perfect thickness that he was able to help feed himself without it falling off of the spoon. Hope this helps!

Grilled Cheese is a hit, but if your like me.... itty bitty peices. frozen peas or 1/4 cut frozen grapes...really really small cut and then freeze them for fun ? or hard boiled eggs cutt small... toast with butter cut small , but it is squishy for bitting. If I think of more, I will edit

Hi S. -

I'm not why but my ped told me to old off eggs until 1 year at my daughters 9 month check. From what I've found by researching online, babies should only get egg yolks until 12 or 13 months. You may already be doing this...but thought I would put this out there as a heads up just in case. Also, you can check with your ped on what their recommendations are as well =)

you could try plain applesauce, or real oatmeal or malt-o-meal with a little brown sugar or real maple syrup, if you are still spoon-feeding her, but she will probably like to feed herself Cheerios or Kix cereals (they don't have too much as far as ingredients to be careful of and they mush in the mouth very quickly so choking is less of a hazard) - good yogurt is excellent (stay away from the ones with high fructose corn syrup in them) - and eggs are great - even every day - especially if you get good ones (organic free-range but NOT vegetarian fed) - the cholesterol hype in the media about eggs was unfounded and fabricated by pharmaceutical companies to sell experimental anti-cholesterol drugs - plus if you are worried about cholesterol the addition of Cheerios or oatmeal will be of benefit in challenging that - you could try toast with butter (not margarine) - jelly can be sometimes too sweet for babies plus a little messy - and cut up bananas are good finger foods too - the more you offer her the wider your range of choices will be and as long as it's good food (not overly processed or preserved) she will get the right nutrition

I used to make instant oatmeal for my son and he loved it. I would make it a little bit thicker and then add some yogurt, baby food or mashed bananas to it. He would often eat two packets! You don't have to make the instant kind, I just thought it was easier.

Here are a few other ideas: french toast cut into strips, strips of toast(I do it with just a tad of butter or a tad of jelly-not even a tsp. worth), any fruit cut up into little tiny pieces(my son loved whole bananas, I just had to monitor his bites), pancakes are hit here, and waffles cut into strips (I give them about a tsp. of syrup to dip their pancakes and waffles in and that seems to make them happy.) It seems like children respond better to the way they are served food. My son didn't think he was a baby anymore at that age, so if your daughter has teeth, go for giving her larger pieces of food that she can hold in her hand and munch on.

I used to take frozen waffles and cut them in sticks. I let them dip them in applesauce. When they got bigger, they just stacked the waffles with the applesauce on top and in between. Mini bagels are fun, too. They can be cut into manageable pieces.

First, I've got to mention that eggs are really healthy - one of the healthiest foods for you baby. I give my baby eggs every day (when I remember it), and I would totally encourage anyone to do so as well.

Here are foods that work for us:

- Cubed cheese
- Sliced all-natural lunchmeat
- Sliced melon (cantelope, watermelon, casava)
- Sliced banana
- Cheese & whole-wheat crackers
- Whole-wheat tortilla with all-natural peanut butter and honey, wrapped up and sliced
- Sandwich, cut into small pieces
- Other fruits, cut small
- Dinner leftovers
- Oatmeal

For babies & toddlers, I haven't found it necessary to follow the cultural rules we have for "correct" foods (i.e. breakfast foods for breakfast, dinner foods for dinner, etc.). It's totally fine to have eggs for dinner and a sandwich for breakfast.

Blessings!