Is Your Child Hungry in the Morning?

If you have to be up and out, get her up earlier. Kids really need something to kick start the day. Not a good idea to go without.

We eat about 60-90 minutes after we get up, unless we sleep late. So yes, unless its close to 8-830, my kids have no interest in food, and they usually wake around 7:15-730.

I was never a breakfast person. My mom used to chase me out of the house with pop tarts, waffles, cereal in a bag...I just couldn't eat first thing. Still don't. When I worked in an office I kept food in my desk for a mid morning snack.

My DD can easily go til 10AM without breakfast. She'll drink some juice and just doesn't want anything. I try to get her to eat some fruit and pack her a good lunch. I do want her to eat but I also understand that if she is like me, it will give her an upset stomach half the morning. So at least she gets juice and IF she wants more, I'll give her more.

When I was a kid, I NEVER ate breakfast...even as an adult I didn't eat breakfast until I was pregnant. I grew up just fine and had no problem waiting until lunch. I did wonderful in school and I can't say that eating in the morning would have changed anything. Food almost made me nauseated in the morning.

My dd rarely eats it either. Thankfully her school allows a morning snack, so I try to pack something with protein. I think all of the hype about breakfast is unnecessary, but for those who eat it...I'm sure it's helpful.

Generally my son isn't hungry right after he wakes up, BUT he is hungry within 30 minutes. I'm the same way, in that I want to wait at least 30min-1 hour after I wake up before eating.

Our girl is ready to eat around 1 or 2 pm. The boy wakes up starving and needs to eat within minutes of crawling out of bed.

I am never hungry until later in the day.

Yes. My older child loves breakfast. My younger child doesn't want to eat until she has been up and moving for a few hours.

My youngest doesn't eat solid food until lunch. When he wakes up at 7 a.m. though, he automatically will ask for chocolate milk. What I do is give him give him Carnation Instant Breakfast drink with 2% milk. It keeps him satisfied, provides essential nutrition, and he's a healthy weight, so it's not all bad:)

Not all kids are hungry first thing in the morning.

Growing up, I'd eat breakfast but my sister couldn't stomach it till later.
She did that for over 40 years.

Some people are just hardwired differently.
Offer up some easy choices 30-60 mins after waking up (esp if they don't
have to go to school) like 1/2 banana, cereal even if they only want it dry

I have one that wakes up starving every morning and one that isn't hungry until noon. I make the one who isn't hungry eat something small for breakfast, and he will eat a good lunch.

My kids don't usually like breakfast right away. Since I don't really want to wake them earlier than necessary, I often give them Carnation Breakfast Essentials. They've never complained to me that they are super hungry before lunch, so I think it keeps them full.

Mine starts his day with a sippy of milk. on some mornings, he'll eat as much as a quarter of a bagel, others its a dozen cheerios, others 1/2 a banana or 1/2 a granola bar. some days its nothing at all. Not sure about your kid, but mine gets presented with the option to eat every 3 hours or so, between snacks and meals. If he doesn't eat at one offering, he can make it up at the next slot.

Good luck to you and yours,
F. B.

My son is, but I'm not.

No.. Our daughter has never been a morning eater.

She had to be in elementary school in her seat by 7:40am.

So I woke her up at 6:00 am and let her take her time waking up and getting ready. On the weekends we would talk about the next weeks breakfasts. Sometimes she said a smoothie. So I froze fresh fruit chunks and threw them in the blender. each morning with juice, then poured it in a small cup..she would ask for crackers with cheese. So I would give her a couple of crackers and tiny cubes of cheese. IF she ate all of it, I gave her a little more.

Cereal, oatmeal, or she may want some dry toast. I do not think she ever ate all of it. But she made an effort. In college she said she still could not eat breakfast so she had peanut butter crackers or a small apple for morning classes.

She still is not a traditional Breakfast food person.

When I was young I liked soup, grilled cheese, a flour tortilla with butter. Left over pizza.. I was not a traditional breakfast eater that early in the morning.

And no, you cannot force them, but you can just offer tiny bites of things.

I finally this past year gave up trying to get my daughter to eat breakfast - she's 11 yrs old and the most she would do would be eat 3 grapes, or two bites of cereal, complaining the whole time. Even through 5th grade they still had a mid-morning snack and she never wanted to eat anything until then. Don't know what will happen when she starts middle school this year - she agrees that if she has the late lunch she may have to try to eat.

Personally, I do not like to eat breakfast for about an hour after I have woken up. My son on the other hand never stops eating from the moment he wakes up.

I have two girls and one boy. My girls are (nearly) 14, and the other is 10. My 14 yr. old never has had a big appetite in the a.m., and my 10 yr. old is opposite - always "starving" in the a.m.

When she was young, I would just have things like fresh fruit, tasty crackers, nuts, etc.. set out and she would kinda just come along and snack here and there until lunch time. It was nearly impossible to make her sit down and eat breakfast.

My kids are both grazers. The younger one has no appetite when she first wakes and is ravenous an hour later. I keep little yogurt smoothies. seedless green grapes, and other "snackies" for her to grab if I am moving too slowly in breakfast preparations. I'm constantly nauseated in the morning so big morning meals don't occur. I make oatmeal or an egg and toast for them. They can fill any gaps in with fresh or canned fruit, a slice of cheese, or even the occasional veggie sausage link.

"Is your child hungry in the morning?" Let me rephrase that to, "Is your family hungry in the morning?" No. I'm the only one that is starving in the morning. I also believe in breakfast as being a must have, since I'm from the country and my father became a diabetic late in life. It was always stress that you had to have something for breakfast, because you might get hungry later on and might not be able to eat at that time. In my father's case it was to keep his blood sugar at a steady level. MIL on the other hand is one of those people that say,"Don't eat unless you're hungry." The problem with that attitude is that you wind up eating more than you should, if you wait until you're hungry. Waiting until you're hungry is too late. Now, studies have come out that thin people eat breakfast and not eating breakfast puts you at a risk for obesity. MIL and DH eat breakfast, because they get hungry when they see and smell my breakfast, so I make breakfast for everyone.

You need to tell her that you know she isn't hungry, but really should eat at least a little something since breakfast is a very important meal. Find something that she can't resist for breakfast or at least something small to eat. A little breakfast is better than no breakfast. I see you offer choices,but are they ones she's really interested in. Maybe she's just not a cereal eater. No on in my family is. She might be interested in a simple bowl of fresh fruit like berries with whipped cream, apple slices with peanut butter, (If she's not allergic to nuts.) bananas and oranges with milk and a little sugar, 1/2 grapefruit, cantalope, watermellon, strawberries on one of those little sponge cakes with whipped cream, etc. (You have to make it look good and not just offer it verbally, because sometimes it's a matter of sight and smell that makes them think, "I want that.") How about baking fresh cresent rolls or biscuits in the morning? You can cheat and get those ones from the dairy case. (They're quick and easy.) What about waffles or pancakes and try to shape them like Mikey Mouse? Then there's the toaster pastries, just make sure they cool a little so she doesn't get burnt. Theres dippy/yolky eggs. (Eggs over easy with toast to dunk.) The main thing is to get her to at least eat a few mouth fulls. She doesn't have to clean her plate, but she does have to have breakfast. Also, let her see you eat breakfast and really act like it's the best thing on Earth.

Neither one of my kids are interested in eating the minute they get up. Really never have been. So, on school days (they are 8 and 10 1/2) I get them up early enough (45 minutes before the bus) because they know they have to eat something before school. This past year, my older son didn't get lunch until almost 1 PM - he needed to eat in the morning! During the summer (unless they are in all day camps) I'm not quite as forceful.

HTH

One of my sons almost always eats breakfast and the other usually does not. I leave it up to them to eat or not. I'm not an early breakfast eater either. I never push the issue because I know how miserable it is to start your day off feeling queasy.

Yes, although my son is much older. He is almost 14. He has sensory issues and can't eat first thing in the morning. It was fine when he was in preschool and elementary school because school didn't start until 9:30. It allowed him to have some time between getting up and having breakfast and I could usually get him to eat at least a small breakfast. Now with the middle school bus coming at 7:30 a.m. it's impossible to get him to eat. I make him hot chocolate using milk to get some protein into him and he is usually able to drink a cup of that.

I don't know if this applies to children too or mainly adults, I think I heard it in the context of adults, but I just heard a professor from a respected university claim that breakfast is not the most important meal of the day and that much of that information and those studies have come from cereal manufacturers. That said, I am a breakfast person and I would prefer my son eat breakfast, but like you said it's hard to force it if they aren't hungry or can't eat in the morning.

Yes. My GD is not hungry in the mornings either. Sometimes she will eat breakfast, but not often. I ask her every morning and if she says she doesn't want breakfast, I leave it alone. She does, however, then get hungry by first recess. I always make sure there is something in her lunch that she can eat for a snack at recess.

Neither of my kids are hungry first thing in the morning. On school days, If feel like I am force feeding them just to get something in their stomachs. On weekends, they are usually ready to eat about 1-2 hours after waking up.
I guess I can't say much about it- I skip breakfast most mornings. I just have NO appetite in the morning.

Yes.
My kids/me/my Husband are typically NOT hungry, as SOON as we wake up.
Its not just with kids.
My kids are 6 and 10.
They are both in school.
The day starts early.
I don't force them eating something before school. GASP!
But I also have easily eaten things that they can have in the morning... ie: yogurt, smoothies, cereal. That is what they will eat.
In my house, "breakfast" is not a huge production. It is not a "we all sit at the table and eat breakfast and chat" sort of thing. We are all busy, in the morning, each getting ready for school and work.
It is hectic. THUS, my kids know that as long as they have something, like the yogurt or a banana or cereal or smoothie, its fine. I don't expect them to eat a huge meal. Not at all. It is mostly things they can grab and eat. And they do. Or sometimes they just drink a cup of orange juice or milk. Fine.
And in school, they have a snack in their backpack.

If a person is not hungry in the morning, its real hard to force eating.
Even for me, as an adult.
But by now as an adult, I "can" force myself to eat say a banana, because I know the next time I do have time to eat, may be hours later.
But for kids, they don't think that far in advance.
Your kiddo is in Preschool. Thus, they must have snack time or go to school with a snack?
Most preschools have snacks. Or give your child something she can eat easily in the morning.... with her hand.

No one, in my family, are big breakfast eaters.
We just nibble.
None of our tummies are that awake in the morning before we have to leave the house.
AND many times, if a kid is rushed in the morning, the last thing they think about is, eating, breakfast.
So if that is an issue, make sure there is PLENTY of time, from when your child wakes up in the morning, to when you have to actually leave the house. So the kiddo does not have to rush around.