For Parents Good Breakfast for Early Competition Time

[Empowered]

So we finally got the group times for the meet this weekend and my daughter is in 8am Sunday morning group. This mean she needs to be up at 6:00am to give her time to eat, shower and do her hair.

First for order so I can make a plan: Is it better to feed her right when I wake her up before shower and hair so the food settles? Or let the shower wake her up and feed her afterward?

Also, I am looking for is something fool proof I can feed her that will give her energy, but has no chance of upsetting her stomach. My daughter normally practices late afternoons/evenings so morning gymnastics is all new to us.

Thanks in advance for any good tips!

 

[mariposa]

Here were some suggestions in some old threads.
http://www.chalkbucket.com/forums/parent-forum/16877-food-before-meets.html
http://www.chalkbucket.com/forums/question-answer/15367-what-eat-before-meet.html

My daughter is not a morning person OR a morning eater. She usually will eat:

-half a bagel with cream cheese/glass of milk
-banana and a glass of milk
-toast with peanut butter and a glass of milk
-pancakes if it is close and we don't have an hour drive
-Cliff Zbar and glass of milk.

I always pack her snacks for the meet as well, just in case, to have in her gym bag. Usually another Zbar/granola bar OR the other half of that bagel with cream cheese.

We sometimes put Carnation instant breakfast in her milk, that gives some extra stuff in there. Add a banana/ice, blend and it is all in one glass.

I would feed her as soon as she gets up if she can eat that early. If not, just keep it light and make sure she has snacks in her bag.

 

[mariposa]

I forgot, Good luck to her at her first meet!!!!! I hope it is fun and memorable.

 

[MdGymMom01]

I would suggest showering first (to wake her up) then eat some breakfast. Dani would always have 8am report times to meets last year, so I would make sure she ate something around 7am before we left the house. She is not a big breakfast eater so packing a banana or a granola bar in the gym bag is always a good idea as well. I would usually make her waffles, or a bagel with cream cheese so that she would have at least something in her stomach.

Good luck at the meet!!!!

 

[NotAMom]

IMHO, any non-fattening low sugar breakfast will do. Oatmeal, eggs/omelettes, fruits, low sugar cereal or whatever. I would also have her to skip tea (if she is a tea drinker) unless it's decaffenated. If she doesn't normally eat breakfast, insist on her eating something.

For us, all but one of our meets are out of town, so for a early morning stretch time, we choose to stay over at a hotel the night before. We also try our best to get a place that serves breakfast, even if the hotel and/or breakfast are mediocre. The benefit of being able to eat on site saves tons of time and hassle. It also leaves many more options for what to do first (to answer you other question). You can also afford to sleep in a bit more.

 

[gym-mom-fla]

Hi! My dd's favorite early meet day breakfast is a hard boiled egg, a piece of 12 grain bread with peanut butter and orange juice. She gets her protein and carbs and sugars from the juice. She doesn't get hungry for hours and it doesn't sit heavy on her stomach. Good luck at the meet!

 

[nevertooold]

I know this is not the main point of your question, but for early start times I have my 2 girls shower and do hair the night before. We gel/hairspray it WELL and they sleep on it. Depending upon the style it is either competition ready in the AM or it is well set and we can touch it up quickly. Spider webs or french braids sleep well if you use plenty of hairspray. Buns or pony/pig tails just need to be "refreshed" in the am.

For breakfast I have one who nibbles at a bagel or a little cold cereal in a cup on the way to the meet, the other prefers a big greasy fast food breakfast complete with sausage, eggs, the works. Kids are just different. Neither of mine has ever had an upset stomach going into a morning meet regardless of what they ate. But the one who eats the big, filling, greasy breakfast doesn't get hungry as quickly as the nibbler.

 

[Empowered]

Oh how I wish I could do her hair the night before... and wish we could do a fun style. Their team hairstyle is a high bun and there are no pony tails for competition until they hit level 7 so we have at least 3 years of buns ahead of us. It is such a difficult style for the girls with longer, thicker hair. We have to put it up wet and use a hairnet to hold the bun in... along with ridiculous amounts of hairspray.

Thank you all though for your great ideas. The little one likes the waffles idea the best with no syrup... Couldn't see the bagel idea for the life of me. I'll make sure to send snacks too

 

[gymmomntc2e6]

Every one of DD's meets last year was 8am !
We showered and did most of her hair the night before. She was also required to have a bun. I would put a lot of gel in her hair, I did the spider web design then pulled into a ponytail. She slept that way, in the morning all I had to do was twist the pony into a bun.
As for food, bagel with cream cheese, banana, apple juice is my DD's meal of choice

 

[canadiangymmom]

Great thread for finding ideas!

Bean has had 8am start times for about 3/4 of her meets. Some of her favourite breakfasts have been:

Waffles, sliced into fingers and dipped into yogurt
Peanut butter and banana toast
Banana, dipped into yogurt, then dipped into crushed cereal (usually rice crispies, but any unsweetened cereal works well, and is fun to put into a baggie and crush!)
Sliced fruit and trail mix
French toast and apple sauce

She hasn't ever eaten a lot before a morning meet, she's not really hungry that early. I also pack a few snacks in her meet bag such as, granola bar, crackers and cheese, banana, frozen yogurt tube.. just to ensure she has something to nibble if need be.

GOOD LUCK AT THE MEET!!!!!!!!!

 

[gym law mom]

Great ideas from all as to breakfast stuff. We also do hair/shower the night before.

Couple of ideas---make sure she has a water bottle along with the snacks for the meet. Make sure its not colored sports drink----1 spill on a leo=disaster.

Have a great time and best wishes for her 1st meet!

 

[bogwoppit]

We too do the shower the night before. With my youngest I also do the spider web the night before. Otherwise I do a bun in the am, it never takes too long. When we have an early meet they eat in the car or we stop at Tim HOrtons for bagels and fruit/yogourt. Though our meets are at least an hour away so they have tons of time to eat and digest.

Definitely pack healthy snacks and water for the meet, sometimes mine aren't hungry in the morning but then become revenous once they hit the gym. Often meets only sell sugary junk and that is best avoided.

A really good dinner the night before is something to consider as well.

Best of luck at the meet.

Has she set her meet goal yet? My youngests fav last year was to stick her beam cartwheel, when she did it you could see her shine with joy! A goal helps take the pressure of "winning" off them too.

 

[mariposa]

Oh how I wish I could do her hair the night before... and wish we could do a fun style. Their team hairstyle is a high bun and there are no pony tails for competition until they hit level 7 so we have at least 3 years of buns ahead of us. It is such a difficult style for the girls with longer, thicker hair. We have to put it up wet and use a hairnet to hold the bun in... along with ridiculous amounts of hairspray.

Thank you all though for your great ideas. The little one likes the waffles idea the best with no syrup... Couldn't see the bagel idea for the life of me. I'll make sure to send snacks too

My DD has to have a bun as well. I do it the night before. Lots of Ion Spray Gel (from Sallys) and hair glue. I "sew" the bun in as well. In the morning, I put more spray gel and tuck in the flyaways, put on the hairnet and then the scrunchy. I use 4 u-shaped pins to hold on the scrunchy, then I only have to loop it once and it doesn't make the bun get too tall.

 

[kristilyn73]

We travel about 2 hours to all of our meets. And we have gotten that dreaded 8 am start time many many times.

I have DD Shower First, then eat when I do her hair ( I have also had breakfast on the road before). DD Loves to have a yogurt parfeit of sorts.. Vanilla yogourt, Ganola and some fruit. Also some toast.

Lots of water to keep hydrated and a snack for her gym bag. She always brings beef jerkey (yes even the early morning meets) and then a sugar snack (just incase blood sugar runs low)

Good Luck! I cant wait to hear how she does!

 

[thnkGd4kds]

DD has a hard time eating in the hours before a morning meet (actually, before any meet, no matter the time), so she eats something like cold cereal, yogurt and fruit, toast and a little bit of egg (which she doesn't really like, but will eat b/c of the protein and nutritional value). Sometimes she'll eat 1/2 a banana closer to her meet (again, a food she doesn't love, but will eat b/c she knows how good of an energy food it is). We also pack protein bars or a k-bar and water, but she rarely touches them during the meet, unfortunately. One meet last year, I could literally see her get fatigued before the last 2 events, and I wished that I could tell her to go eat some of her snack and drink water! She still did well on the last events, but she crashed after that meet. This led to a good discussion on supplying our bodies with the food they need, especially when one places such high demands on one's body. Now, she usually grazes frequently before meets since she doesn't usually feel like eating regular meals on meet days. That seems to work well for her. We also make sure that her food intake the week before a meet is substantial and full of quality foods, especially the day before. (A steak or chock-full lasagna is often part of her night-before dinner.)

 

[NotAMom]

then a sugar snack (just incase blood sugar runs low)

Is there a reason for this for her?

Just wondering because there should already be plenty of carbs between the toasts and fruits.

One meet last year, I could literally see her get fatigued before the last 2 events, and I wished that I could tell her to go eat some of her snack and drink water!

This is a generic issue with kids. They don't drink/eat because they either don't feel like doing it or they just don't think they need it. My older one used to not drink much for the same reason (but she always had a good appetite for food) so she got dehydrated a lot. Now that she's a bit older (and wiser???), she goes through at least 2 bottles of drinks through any practice/meet.

 

[kristilyn73]

Is there a reason for this for her?

Just wondering because there should already be plenty of carbs between the toasts and fruits.


No specific reason, we live at 2 - 3 hours away from all these meets. So her breakfast is at about 5 am. Of which she probably only ate half, since like a previous poster - she doesnt eat much in the mornings Halfway through the meet is 5 hours from when she last ate. Then she breaks out the treat. Last year her favorite was trail mix (mostly the chocolate pieces were gone ).

 

[FoxCitiesTwister]

I also have a meet next weekend that starts at 8:00. We live about 3 hours away so we have to leave by 5 at the latest. I am planning on making a smoothie the night before, (with protien powder of course). When I wake up I will have some Kashi oatmeal, then bring the smoothie to drink in the car. I am going to shower the night before, and then put my hair in a pony with curlers and leave the curlers in on the way to the meet and take them out when we get there. I'll probably pack some breakfast cookies and and banana to eat during the meet and a bottle of Propel.

 

[Gymnasticsgirl521]

Our breakfast of champions are drinkable yogart and beagal fuls. They are begal strips with the cream cheese in them. Super fast and light but kept DD full enough to practice 4 hours a day in the summer. So I have a feeling that will be our meal for meet mornings too. Good luck

 

[mariposa]

Just bumping this up to add Abby's new favorite pre-meet breakfast. Rice pancakes! They are an old family recipe, but she really likes them on meet days. They sound weird, but seriously, give them a try. Everyone I have ever made it for LOVES them. I usually make them when I have leftover white rice, but before a meet I make up rice in the rice cooker the night before just to have these yummy rice cakes!

Ingredients:

Cooked rice
Eggs (1 per cup of rice-not packed just approx measure of rice)
salt to taste (I usually use 3 cups of rice and put in 1/2 tsp of salt for that )

In large bowl, mix together rice and eggs. I use one egg per cup of rice. Mix until well combined. The rice should all hold together nicely, kind of like oatmeal consistency.



Heat some oil in a frying pan, just like you would for eggs or pancakes. You cook these just like you would pancakes, but I usually like them just a little thicker than a pancake would be. I cook until golden brown on one side, flip and when it is golden brown on the other side, it is done. Usually I flatten it till it is about 1/2" thick or a little more.



Serve with butter and syrup. Enjoy!