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November 2, 2017

15 Comments

Ensuring your child has a nourishing breakfast every morning pays dividends, as it means their body and brain is fuelled for a day of learning and play, and their body is topped up with nutrients needed for healthy growth and development.

Every parent knows the saying breakfast is the most important meal of the day. The term breakfast means to break the fasting period endured overnight.

Children are creatures of habit so routines created early in life are likely to be carried into adulthood. According to the 2011-12 National Nutrition and Physical Activity Survey, 13.2% of boys and 18.6% of girls skipped breakfast, a habit that increased with age.

Allowing your child to skip breakfast means they are missing out on key nutrients needed for healthy growth.

Recent research from the United Kingdom* revealed that among children (aged 4 – 18 years) who skipped breakfast, 31% did not get the minimum daily amount of iron and 19% did not meet daily calcium targets for strengthening of bones.

On the days that younger children (4-10 years) ate breakfast, they had significantly higher intakes of folate, vitamin C, calcium and iron compared to the days they skipped breakfast, confirming just how important it is for children to establish a routine of eating breakfast from a very young age.

Accredited Practising Dietitian (APD) and founder of Nutrition Speak Vanessa Schuldt says that children who eat breakfast tend to have more nutritious diets as a whole and better eating habits, ensuring they are set up to make lifelong wholesome food choices. Eating a nourishing breakfast every day also helps to improve mental performance and aid your child’s learning”.

Guardian Early Learning Group’s CBD Centres run a breakfast program that invites families to join their children for breakfast at the centre, as part of the daily fee.

Centre Manager Krissy Andrews, from Guardian’s Barangaroo Centre says, “Offering the breakfast program at the centre aims to eliminate the stress for families rushing with the commute. It also creates an opportunity to meet with other families and calmly settle their children into the day, all while ensuring they are not missing the most important meal of the day for growth and development.”

Not only is it important to eat breakfast every day, understanding the food you are feeding your child is just as vital. Choosing a breakfast that combines carbohydrate-rich foods to fuel the brain and protein + fibre-rich foods to help stay full for longer is the key.

Accredited Practising Dietitian Vanessa Schuldt explains why giving your child a healthy breakfast is a must.

• Breakfast helps to replenish energy and nutrient supplies to kick-start the day. Skipping breakfast makes it a struggle for children to get all the nutrients they need for healthy growth and development.
• Breakfast fuels the brain to improve children’s learning capacity. Offering breakfast foods rich in carbohydrates and protein helps to boost your child’s attention span, concentration and memory at preschool/school.
• Children who eat breakfast tend to make better food choices for the rest of the day and eat healthier overall. Filling up in the morning means they are less likely to be hungry for snacks during the day.
• A nutritious breakfast helps keep blood sugars on an even keel, which in turn aids good behaviour. Without a morning refuel, children can feel tired, restless and irritable.

Top breakfast picks for your child:
• High fibre cereal with reduced-fat milk, topped with fresh fruit and reduced fat yoghurt.
• Wholemeal or high fibre toast/crumpets with a healthy topping such as sliced banana and honey, peanut butter, vegemite and avocado, cheese and
vegemite.
• Raisin toast with ricotta and sliced banana.
• Wholemeal English muffins with poached or scrambled eggs.
• Baked beans and wholemeal toast.
• Fresh fruit salad with reduced fat yoghurt.
• Jaffle filled with baked beans or reduced-fat cheese and tomato.
• Porridge with sultanas.
• Bircher muesli.

“Excuses like lack of time or fussy eating issues should not get in the way of your child gaining their essential nutrients for the day. Leading by example and starting the day enjoying breakfast as a family will help set building blocks for healthy eating habits for your child in the long term,” adds Vanessa Schuldt.

What do your kids have for breakfast each day? Does it vary much?

Share your comments below.

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  • All of us always eat breakfast. I myself always skip lunch though.

    Reply

  • Breakfast is such an important meal I don’t think at any age I would be letting them skip it

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  • Ha! I don’t think my kids would let me not give them breakfast! I do have concerns about hubby skipping, I don’t know how anyone survives without it, I’m always starving!

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  • We love breakfast in our house – one of our favourite meals of the day. We eat a range of foods – always hearty fare.

    Reply

  • Your son may not have the conventionsl breeakfast most do but he is having good nourishment in his smoothie.
    I am concerned by the photo above. The child is having plenty of protein but no carbohydrate for energy etc.

    Reply

  • My 2 year old son seems to not like to eat breakfast at the moment… (probably just the age) but to help ensure he gets his nutrition I often make him a smoothie with toddler milk and fruit. At least he’s getting protein, carbs and vitamins. I offer other things too but the smoothie is the only thing that he really enjoys. He eats well throughout the day though too and is thriving so I’m not overly concerned about this phase.

    Reply

  • My children mostly have cereal, but sometimes I will cook scrambled egg on wholegrain toast for them. Nothing fancy here, but my children never skip breakfast!

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  • None of us skip breakfast. My kids eat a variation of breakfasts: overnight soaked oats with raisons / mulberries, greek yoghurt with cinnamon and homemade granola, toasted seeded loaf with crunchy peanut butter & banana or Mayvers chocolate peanutbutter spread, banana quinoa pancakes, sweetpotato apple waffles, rice porridge with almond milk, special toast (dutch recipe, which is bread soaked in milk, sprinkled with cinnamon, fried in ghee, topped with raw honey) etc.


    • Oh and zucchini pancakes which I make with lentil flour and avocado with eggs :)



      • Breakfast looks like a real feast at your place, Ellen! May I come too??? :-)


      • Please….Would love your recipe for zucchini pancakes – thanks. :)

    Reply

  • My kids have a flavoured milk or an up and go as I can’t get anything solid into them before school. I figure it’s better than nothing.

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  • Every-one needs breakfast to give you energy to start the day.

    Reply

  • We do okay, but it’s unhelpful to jst dismiss “fussy eating issues”.

    Reply

  • My daughter always has breakfast. Generally it’s toasted bread with jam or butter. And then some chocolate milk.

    Reply

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