Feeding FAQ: 24+ months – Other

I’m not a breakfast eater and my twins and I often don’t eat until mid-morning. They’ll be starting nursery soon and I’m not sure whether they can still wait for morning tea or really need to start eating breakfast. I have heard breakfast is important later when they go to school. Can you suggest some healthy (and quick) foods to try?

It can be difficult to manage breakfast when you’re not used to eating early, as an adult or as a child. That said, I really would urge you to start getting your twins into the habit as soon as possible (and I would recommend it for you as well), in order to establish it before they start nursery. Young children generally eat their evening meal quite early, and it can be over 12 hours before they refuel at breakfast – longer if you skip or delay this meal. Our brain relies on the glucose or sugar circulating in our blood as its fuel source, so it’s not surprising that the brain’s performance can suffer with long breaks between refuelling pit stops.

Nutrition research puts forward a compelling case for children eating breakfast. It has generally been focussed on older children and the benefits of breakfast on school performance, although there’s no reason this wouldn’t carry through to both younger children and adults. As an example, a study in the scientific journal Appetite in 2003 reported that eating a starchy breakfast cereal helped schoolchildren maintain their attention and memory better throughout the morning than if they had no breakfast or just drank a glucose drink. A recent study in the same journal points to the fact that all breakfast cereals are not created equal. Children who ate a low-GI cereal (All Bran) performed better in tests of mental performance than those who ate a high-GI cereal (Coco Pops). What is this mysterious GI? You may have seen GI or glycaemic index mentioned in magazine articles or on food packets. It simply refers to the speed at which the starch or sugar in a food is released to supply energy to the body. A lower-GI food will release its energy more slowly and over a longer period than a higher GI food. In terms of children’s breakfast, choosing lower-GI breakfast foods appears to sustain children’s mental performance for longer through the morning – this may help them to learn better at school, and has the potential to benefit mood and behaviour.

Gina recommends regularly choosing oat-based breakfast cereals in The Contented Little Baby Book of Weaning, and this is a wise guideline when it comes to sustaining children’s energy levels. Oats are a particularly low-GI food. In terms of breakfast, this makes oat-based muesli or porridge (preferably not the instant types) perfect choices. Other wholegrain breakfast cereals are also good choices, just be sure to check the label to avoid those high in sugar or salt. Do note that All Bran is not recommended for very young children and toddlers – their bodies are not accustomed to this concentrated amount of fibre.

At first you and your twins may find it difficult to eat earlier than you’re used to – drinks can be an easier way to start. Your twins could begin just with milk, which has a low GI; even better, blend fruits such as banana and strawberries with plain yoghurt for a nutritious, delicious smoothie. You could move on to chopped fresh fruit mixed into yoghurt before trying breakfast cereals or toast. Again, you can reap the benefits of oats by looking for bread that includes oats or oat bran; otherwise choose a wholegrain one that leaves the grains as chunky as possible. The less processed the better when it comes to GI.

Research has suggested another benefit to choosing lower-GI breakfast foods – a study published in the September 2007 edition of the British Journal of Nutritionreports that children who ate a lower-GI breakfast tended to consume less calories at lunch than children who ate a higher GI breakfast. This mirrors earlier studies that generally find similar results. We are bombarded with statistics about increasing numbers of overweight children so it’s a bonus to learn that eating a healthy, low-GI breakfast may help our children manage their weight in the future, as well as helping their concentration and performance at school.