Baby breakfast ideas--breakfast ideas for your little one under 12 months. Baby food recipes stage 2. Don't miss my baby food ebook for even more ideas for baby food purees 6 months and up.
When it comes to feeding my almost-11-month old, variety is becoming a thing. I'd rather have Camille eat a few bites of many foods than an entire bowl of the same thing. Exposing her to food that varies in taste, texture, and temperature is key to avoiding a picky eater, in my opinion.
Camille has not reached the lovely age of 2 when kids start refusing all new foods, but I have hope we can sail through the brief phase quickly. Right now, I'm building her 'food bank' with a huge variety of foods to help deal with future eating problems--at least that's what I'm telling myself.
And as luck would have it (maybe), she will only eat a few bites of the same food a few times, before wanting something new. In most cases, I can revisit the original thing she was eating, but not without a few bites of something else. A girl likes variety!
For feeding my baby, I always start with the thing I want her to eat the most of (like, protein), and then move to a side dish for a few bites, and hopefully swing back around to the protein for 2-3 more bites. I finish with fruit or plain yogurt, both of which she loves. I do have concerns that I'm setting her up to always crave sweets at the end of a meal, because I usually give her fruit after lunch and dinner. But, aren't we supposed to get 3-5 servings a fruit a day? How am I supposed to deal? I'm 100% positive these are things you only worry about with the first kid.
I'm also worried she's eating way too much, because she doesn't seem to have an off switch.
Last night for dinner, she had: 2 cubes of baby Bolognese with spaghetti squash, grass-fed cheese chunks, a few florets of curried cauliflower, a few bites of pear, a few spoonfusl of plain (grass-fed) yogurt, and a chopped date. She also grabbed a few chickpeas off my plate. Today for lunch, she had a sweet potato-grain bowl ( I shared the recipe on instagram), banana slices, pineapple cubes, cheese chunks, and a (low-salt) brown rice cake with a smear of peanut butter. (Thank you, Jesus for giving me a baby without nut allergies!)
I remember when she was 6 months old and first getting into solid foods, and I felt so frustrated by the 'wait 3 days and see' before introducing a new food. That was torture for me. I wanted to give her the world of tastes! Fast forward to today, and this kid happily eats her dinner plus as many bites of ours as we give her. In the beginning, it was always fruit puree in oatmeal for Camille for breakfast. Now, she can have anything she wants with these baby breakfast ideas!
These are her top 3 favorite breakfasts lately. I hope they inspire you! I eat the same thing right along side her. Have you ever seen this?:
I've been living by it lately, and I've been feeling so much better! I put a lot of effort into making sure Camille eats healthy, balanced meals, but then I was eating frozen hash browns and gulping black tea with tons of cream. No wonder I felt exhausted! Now, I eat almost the same thing she eats (though, a lot more of it!), and drink tons more water! When I fill her sippy cup, I fill my glass water bottle. These baby breakfast ideas are great for Moms and Dads, too.
Top baby breakfast ideas for busy mornings:
1. Scrambled Egg + Vegetable
Most commonly, I stir in finely chopped spinach or kale. Once, I used leftover steamed artichoke hearts from dinner. While it was incredibly delicious, artichokes make eggs grey. I'm lucky she ate it (but probably because she saw me gulping my serving down!). Another combination we love is scrambled eggs with sauerkraut.
I read somewhere on the internet that you shouldn't give egg whites to babies younger than 1 year. I asked my pediatrician, and she pointed out that many of the articles on food allergies on the internet are several years old. The new paradigm for feeding kids is to expose them to everything with abandon (except honey). So, I got the green light for scrambled eggs, and picked up some local eggs from pastured chickens.
Let's talk about raw vegetables. I feel a little funny about raw greens for baby, since they are a common source of food-borne illness, so I always add them when the butter melts to saute before the eggs go in. Maybe I'm paranoid, but I also have a Master's degree in vegetable production and have spent a fair amount of time in spinach fields. ;)
More finickiness: there is only one brand of store-bought sliced bread that I deem acceptable for anyone on earth. It's called Ezekiel bread, but it also has other monikers, like 'sprouted grain bread.' The only ingredients are sprouted grains, yeast and water. I am so disgusted when I read labels on sliced bread at the grocery store. But Ezekiel/ sprouted grain bread is made of real ingredients. (I'm definitely not being paid to promote them; I just believe so much in it). I toast one slice, slice it into soldiers and she gnaws on it. She usually only eats 1-2 sticks.
I generously spread her toast with grass-fed butter or coconut oil, whatever we're in the mood for.
2. Coconut Oatmeal + Fruit
Oh, Camille loves a good bowl of oatmeal. I make it with full-fat coconut milk from the can and seasonal fruit. Sometimes stir in chia or hemp seeds for fun. I usually finish with a small dollop of coconut oil on top. She laps this up! Of course, the day I made the bowl you see pictured, she sucked all the oats off the strawberries, spit them out, and ate the berries only. But, hey, it was a weird day for her, because she normally gulps down her oatmeal.
3. Ricotta Breakfast Bowl
This is my favorite discovery yet! I was getting a little bored with our breakfasts, and found a lovely little tub of local ricotta. Heidi's latest cookbook has a recipe for a breakfast ricotta bowl, and I took it and ran with it. This one has cherry-beet puree, a sprinkle of chia seeds for crunch, and a handful of cereal O's. I'm working up the nerve to replace the cereal with finely chopped walnuts. Do you think that's asking too much for a kid with zero teeth?
The cherry beet puree is something I make quite often, and the recipe can be found in my Baby Food Ebook. I always have a giant bag of frozen cherries in the freezer, and we always seem to have a few straw beets in the crisper from making juices. These vegetable-hybrid apple sauces are something I make quite often and keep on hand for her: kale-applesauce, carrot-applesauce, cherry-beet sauce--they're all winners.
I love when we do ricotta breakfast bowls, because Mama's breakfast bowl gets the works! I add a chunk of honey comb, bee pollen, cacao nibs, and sliced bananas to mine. Have I told you how much Camille loves bananas? After eating her giant lunch, the kid will take down an entire banana. She's in the 5oth percentile for weight...I thought I'd just throw that out there. My kid eats a lot.
So, tell me: what does your babe eat for breakfast? And are you eating something healthy right along with baby?
Rachel says
My twin nine month-olds also LOVE to eat. They are big boys. They also love Ezekiel bread. I make them egg muffins filled with veggies and baked oatmeal for weekend meal prep. I was going to tell you that you should try chia pudding but then I remembered you already posted about it! I make it for breakfast with banana, almond butter and Greek yogurt stired in. Thanks for the ideas! I love your blog.
Jessica G says
That ricotta bowl looks amazing! Maybe if you grind the nuts finely, more of an almond meal consistency, that would be okay for a kid with no teeth?
And don't worry about how much she eats! Kids are born with the ability to eat the right amount, it's adults trying to regulate it for them (taking food away while they're still hungry, forcing them to clear their plate...) that messes it up. If she's eating a lot she probably needs it for growing right now! My kid is nearly four and he alternates between periods of eating everything in sight and periods of just grazing. Check out dietitian Ellyn Satter's books for good tips about kids and eating, she has some great stuff.
Kayle (The Cooking Actress) says
love these baby breakfasts! And what a good little eater Camille is! I def am intending to give my kiddos lots of variety early on so they won't be picky like me!
Victoria says
Seriously, I am loving these posts!! Looks like this is going to be my go to place when I'm at this stage :) I keep hearing about Ezekiel bread, I think it's time I give it a try!
Anastasia Kristina says
question: do you know the derivation for the term "soldiers" for pieces of bread to dip in things? for some reason I thought it was only said in great Britain. but here you are! do you know about where it came from? lol <3
Christina Lane says
Hah, I do not! I would love to know, though!
Jessica says
Love all these baby food posts! Question - how much oatmeal do you make for her serving? Just starting to get into baby food research (my LO is almost 5 mo), and can't wait to try purees!
Christina Lane says
So, Camille is 11 months, and she eats 2.5 tablespoons of oatmeal. Sometimes, I think she could eat more, and then sometimes, she doesn't finish it. Start with 2 tablespoons? :)
Nicholle Montalvo says
Love these ideas! Ayden goes through periods of eating like a football player for a while and then times where I'm pretty sure he's surviving on air and water. I fret and fret and worry that he's starving himself, but it always evens out. Usually he is either a) teething or b) coming out of a growth spurt. He also goes through periods of loving new foods and will eat anything I give him, and then will decide he hates all foods except for string cheese and avocado. Stinkers, these kids. At the end of the day we can only do so much. As long as I at least make the effort of offering a variety I know I have done my part, and I make it a point not to force anything on him. I want mealtime to be associated with good memories, not of him being made to sit in his chair until he chokes down every last bite. He has made it well known that he will eat when and what he likes. And he's always known to gulp down a smoothie that I mayyyyyyy have packed full of spinach :D LOL!
Linda says
Hi Christina,
You're right about things you do with the first darling that you don't with subsequent ones. My oldest son would have been 52 last year, and my "baby" is 32. There are 5 more in between them. I learned the hard way (without guidance)about how babies eat. Sean, the oldest, was still eating Gerber's Junior Food when he was 13 months old. He was eating other things, too. I wasn't able to nurse him after a day or two, because I had no one to give me advice (breastfeeding was out of style in 1965). I was having trouble, I was young and stupid(18) but wanted to nurse him. He cried, I cried, I thought he would starve, so I gave up and gave him formula. He started solids later because that was the norm then. The second one was eating nothing but solid food when he was about 11 months old, including meat, and he didn't get any teeth until 2 days before his birthday. I won't even go into how long I sterilized(glass)bottles for Sean and how that length of time got smaller and smaller with the others....lol
I also learned that when they were having a growth spurt, they ate like starving animals, and when they weren't, they only grazed a little. I have always loved all vegetables (except turnips, which my mother used to try to sneak into beef stew) and gave my kids vegetables as soon as they could eat them. One of mine (#2, who's turning 50 next month)doesn't like tomatoes, one of my twins (they're 40)wouldn't eat raisins with a gun to his head. My baby, who I nursed until she was 3 1/2, will eat anything except mushrooms..... I was lucky with breastfeeding with the younger 4, even the twins. Breastfeeding came back into style in the mid-70s, thank goodness, and hasn't left.
All this blabber is just to say that babies won't starve. They will eat when they are hungry, and not when they're not. The best thing EVER is to not freak out about it. I think that is what turns babies/kids into picky eaters.
Just keep on doing what you're doing now. Love her, eat with her, let her try everything you like, and she will be just fine! 8-)
xo Linda
Christina Lane says
Wow, I'm so honored to receive your Mama advice! 5 kiddos, with twins? That is amazing! I didn't know one could survive such a thing! I hope I have as many as you one day :)
Thanks for writing, Linda! <3
Claire says
I love this post! My son is 15 months old and loves variety as well (Moroccan lentil stew was a huge hit when he was 9 months old). Thanks for the ideas! He loves scrambled eggs with spinach, and he loves oatmeal, but I have yet to try a ricotta bowl! I know what he'll be eating tomorrow :) p.s. these kids and bananas...even in the grocery store my little guy will say "nana" and point at the bananas.
Courtney of Savor Good says
how do you make the hybrid applesauces? thanks for the baby food inpiration!