Breakfast for toddlers
Breakfast is the most vital meal of the day. Children who eat breakfast regularly are more likely to have a higher intake of total carbohydrate, dietary fibre, macronutrients and micronutrients compared with children who skip breakfast. Hence, it is essential to ensure that your child has a healthy and wholesome breakfast every morning.
As a parent, you have to do a little homework on finding breakfast options for your toddler. It has been seen that regular consumption of breakfast will help in healthy weight gain, improve cognitive, behavioural and academic performance of the child.
It is important to teach your child healthy eating habits and coming up with creative breakfast ideas for kids so that they enjoy meal times. To start their day on a brighter note, a healthy breakfast for a child shapes how their entire day would look like.
Did You Know?
- Children who regularly have breakfast have better memory, concentration, learning ability and problem-solving capacity.
- Children also feel more positive after consuming a healthy breakfast.
What is a nutrient dense healthy breakfast?
It does not matter whether your child’s breakfast is elaborate or simple. What matters the most is that it is a nutritious meal. Breakfast must be a balanced meal which should include a variety of nutrients like carbohydrates, proteins and fat. Since most toddlers are likely to be fussy eaters and have a small stomach size, it is necessary that nutrient-dense foods be offered to them. Nutrient-dense food is the one which provides large amounts of one or more nutrients along with the calories required. Dairy products, eggs, whole grains, fruits and vegetables are a few examples of nutrient-dense foods. These foods are generally a better choice as they are packed with nutrients and help in maintaining the child’s health and keep them energetic and active.
Children’s breakfast ideas with nutrition tips
- Combine different varieties of fruits and vegetables to make your child’s breakfast more colorful and interesting.
- When considering bread for breakfast, choose whole grain or multi-grain bread.
- Include non-starchy vegetables like carrots, broccoli, mushrooms and tomatoes as they contain more nutrients than the starchy vegetables like potatoes
- Do not limit your child’s breakfast to eggs and milk. With the help of easy breakfast ideas, surprise your child with a variety of foods (fresh toast with fruits, cereals with nuts and fruits, etc.) to make his breakfast both healthy and tasty.
