You know what it is like, another morning where all you want is to sit down over your coffee (or tea) but your brain immediately springs into breakfast mode and what on this earth you are going feed your toddler today.
We had a great weaning journey from 6 months to a year. So far (at 19 months) she eats everything but tomatoes. I used to share weaning content all the time so I thought I would bring myself out of retirement and share with you some ridiculously easy toddler breakfasts to break up the monotony.
Let’s get started with the breakfast ideas
Pancakes
A firm breakfast favourite in our house is pancakes and I have found these brilliant from weaning and beyond. I use a really simple pancake recipe that is very easy to make. As a side note it also makes great Yorkshire Puddings too. We do have the swan pancake maker which does make perfectly sized pancakes for little hands, but you can easily make these in a regular pan too. Pre-1 year old I would always serve up pancakes plain with the addition of fruit with some yogurt as well. Now she is past 1 years old I still do this but I will also have options such as adding honey. Honey is only suitable for children over 1 year – please do your own research on this. Now I usually add honey with lemon or with her strawberries – and she absolutely loves it.
Omelette
We have a joke in our house that weekends equal omelette as that is her dad’s favourite thing to serve her for breakfast and he often gets up with her and does her breakfast at weekends. There are so many options when it comes to making an omelette and we just crack an egg and whisk it and fry it in a pan. You can add anything vegetables you like as well as topping it with cheese. In our house anything with cheese always goes down well.
Baked oat fingers
Baked oat fingers are a great on the go breakfast or something to pop alongside other parts of the breakfast. These are well loved by both us and our toddler, and there are so many different variations you can create. I tend to stick towards fruits such as blueberries, strawberries or raspberries but I have been known to throw in some chocolate chips from time to time when I make some for us. I have the basic recipe here but you can totally make what works for you. Next on my agenda is peanut butter and banana (I will share the recipe when I have it) and I really recommend white chocolate and raspberry. These can be frozen and eaten hot or cold.
Waffle fingers
Like above these are another great recipe that you can serve alone or as part of your toddlers breakfast. I don’t have the waffle recipe written out but there will be so many online that you can use. I know I did lemon and blueberry and they went down a treat. All you need to do is create (or replicate) the recipe, cook the waffles in a waffle maker or square mould and then cut them into fingers. I batch cooked these and then put them into the freezer and bought them out 1 or 2 at a time. You can serve these hot or cold.
Some cereals
I am, in general, against breakfast cereals because the sugar content is so damn high and they offer very little in terms of nutrition. However, we do have a couple of exceptions and she loves them; Cornflakes or plain weetabix. These work brilliantly on days where I just want to get something served up quickly.
Egg muffins
These are a great option any time of day and for adults and toddlers alike. We loved serving these up when we were weaning as they were so simple for H to hold and eat herself. For the recipe, I usually eyeball what I am doing and don’t necessarily follow a strict recipe. I would add a couple of eggs, a dash (or more of milk), some grated cheese and some vegetables. Mix everything together, pour them into a silicone cupcake cases and sprinkle some grated cheese on top. Then cook for about 15 minutes or until well done. These are then stored in the fridge and last a couple of days, if they’ve not been eaten by then.
My daughter has always been weaned using the baby led weaning approach. We waited until the recommended 6 months before trying her first foods. I hope this helps you on your weaning journey. If you are just starting out don’t forget to download my popular 100 foods before 1 checklist – it’s a lot of fun!