Ask The Expert is a weekly column on Littlestomaks.com. The idea is to have a reader-submitted question answered by a nutrition expert or a pediatrician. Feel free to submit your question in the comments section below.
This week, Registered Dietitian Jodi Greebel offers a few quick breakfast ideas for your toddler.
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Jodi Greebel, MS, RD
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Question: What are some quick breakfast ideas for my toddler?
Answer:
As you probably have heard a million times, breakfast is the most important meal of the day. Breakfast provides the energy your child needs after many hours of not eating. Kids who eat breakfast are at a healthier weight, are sick less frequently, are happier and are more likely to get all the nutrients they need in their diets. Unfortunately, it’s easy to skimp on breakfast with the typical chaotic mornings which never seem to be long enough. With these quick ideas, there’s no longer a reason to give a less than healthy breakfast or worse, have your toddler skip breakfast. Whether you are looking for something easy to feed your toddler while you are getting ready or something convenient to grab and go when you are on your way out the door to school or daycare, try out some of our suggestions:
- Drinkable yogurt with a clementine
- Portable pureed fruit (such as Plum Tots Organic Mish Mash sold at many supermarkets and on diapers.com) with mini box of Cheerios
- Whole wheat English muffin with 1 slice melted cheese (just pop in the toaster) and banana
- Healthy muffin such as our Cranberry Zucchini mini muffins from DinDins
- Mini cottage cheese and box of raisins
- Applesauce (or other flavor such as mango/peach) and mozzarella string cheese
- Thomas’ Whole Wheat Bagel Thin with veggie cream cheese and lettuce
- Kozy Shack Original Rice Pudding (also available with no sugar added) with raisins
- Cereal such as Kashi Mighty Bites plus handful blueberries in a resealable bag (cut blueberries in half if your child is not old enough to eat whole ones)
- Instant oatmeal such as Arrowhead Mills with dried cherries (make night before and store in microwaveable container). Reheat in morning, grab spoon and go
- Fage Greek Yogurt with Strawberry or better yet, add your own fruit to Greek yogurt
Please remember to avoid serving low-fat/nonfat dairy products until your child is over 2 years old.
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Disclaimer – Information provided in Ask The Expert column on Littlestomaks.com is intended to give you general guidance on a question related to toddler nutrition. It is not meant to be treated as medical advice. You are welcome to contact this expert for a detailed consultation on your specific situation to determine what actions, if any, you should take regarding nutrition and health of your toddlers. We do not recommend you to take any action based solely on the information presented in this column. Experts have agreed to provide their professional opinion on toddler nutrition related questions on a voluntary basis and no compensation is offered to them by Littlestomaks.com.
