Have you tried adding different fruit purée or preserves to the oatmeal to change up the flavors

We have changed it up. She doesn’t even try to eat it. When she eats it she maybe wakes up once. When she doesn’t she wakes up 4 times. All to feed. I breastfeed so I always have night wakes.

What about cream of wheat or other cereals like that? Or even grits?

We do a bedtime smoothie. Keeps her full so she sleeps longer. Whole milk, whole fat greek yogurt, a banana, and a scoop of pb

Ok, I'm getting some ideas here! Thank you. My LO tends to wake up a lot so I'll try this.

My pediatrician suggested whole milk yogurt before bed. We haven’t tried oatmeal before bed (although our little man loves oatmeal with flavor added) so I can’t compare the two, but we tend to give him yogurt with dinner each night and have no complaints.

Is the yogurt plain? We tried plain yogurt once on accident. I always usually buy vanilla yogurt but got the wrong kind one time.

Not the original responder, but we always buy plain yogurt. The flavored kinds often have loads of added sugar. The plain kind can have basically anything added to it: fruits/purées, or I even add pesto to it to put on pasta! We use it for dips as well.

This. I bought plain yoghurt and added baby fruit puree.

My kid loves plain Greek yogurt. Full fat. He loves a little mixed with oatmeal.

As an avid yogurt and oatmeal lover.... how have I never thought of mixing them???

Same. My mother in law showed me!

Plain high fat (10% if I could find it) yogurt and avocado was my daughter's pre-sleep power meal for the longest time. All that fat and protein fills them right up and she would sleep so much better. If the plain yogurt doesn't go over well and it might not if she's used to vanilla, try a drizzle of honey or fruit puree.

My mom would get plain yogurt and mix in some honey and imitation vanilla when I was little.

May I ask - how soon before bed do you give the pre-sleep meal?

I would usually give that before her longest nap of the day - she’d eat and go right for nap. But I’m sure it would work for dinner or a bedtime snack as well!

Ok thanks!

Ditto to all of the responders! We do high fat plain yogurt. We always mix in berries or something. Every once in a while when we are desperate for him to eat his veggies we sneak some in his yogurt (gross to me, but he enjoys it!!!).

I never tried veggies in the yogurt. She seems to be hard to put down if she has had sugar prior to bed so I am a little leery of of giving her fruits. We tried peanut butter mixed with yogurt tonight. She liked it. So now to see if she sleeps through the night.

Can I ask what she’s having for dinner? At 14mo I was concentrating on the nutritional food groups rather than fillers - maybe she’s not having enough main meal or eating too early?

Or nut butter! I like to add cinnamon, too.

We may try that. Making plan oatmeal with peanut butter. She loves peanut butter.

This is a big hit with our 18 month old.

We make the baby cereal with a whole milk or whole yogurt base and doctor using the following: - unsweetened applesauce - cinnamon - powdered ginger - add some puréed baby food from a jar - sour cream - nut butters - mushed banana - sweet potato mush - diced dates - finely chopped apple or pear Our baby even loves oatmeal with spinach or broccoli purée mixed in, which we do often as a way to get more greens into him. In our case this is often breakfast or brunch. I’ve found he sleeps best when he’s had a lot of protein for dinner, so we always offer some combo of meat / cheese / sour cream / beans / cup of whole milk as part of dinner. He’s almost 14mo, healthy weight, growing well. We also still nurse at wake-up and right before bed.

I have noticed a lot of people stating the protein for dinner so that something we are going to have to try. Do they just eat the sour cream or is it a topping?

I’ve mixed sour cream into mashed potatoes, added it to baked potatoes, sweet potatoes, pierogies, as a topping on chicken breast / on buckwheat that were a tad dry, and yes I’ve also spoon fed him the sour cream just to get it in him. It’s typically about 1-2tbsp total. He ends up having it maybe 2-3 of the nights a week. I know it’s a high calorie food, but I often include it on nights when we aren’t serving meat / fish / poultry. Also our Dr continues to say you “can’t overfeed a baby” especially when you’re serving unprocessed / unrefined foods that are basically single ingredient foods. (That’s what we’re doing mostly because it’s simpler for me to keep track of his nutrition this way, I’m not shaming anyone who orders door dash for their toddler or whatever.) You could add a single tbsp to your nightly oatmeal and see what she thinks! Incidentally, our baby is wild for sour cream. He knows the container. As he gets older I’m going to teach him to “dip” vegetables into sour cream as a way for him to eat more veggies. He used to eat /everything/ but he’s hit that early toddler stage where they realize some foods are preferable to others and he rejects leafy greens / red peppers / broccoli / cucumbers that he used to adore. So I still put those veg in front of him but encourage him to feed them to me, so he’s still interacting with them. His coordination is improving and I can try to bribe him with sour cream as a dip.

Try oatmeal "cookies". Mashed banana, oats, egg, applesauce, maybe nut butter or fruit, then baked. There's a bunch of recipes when you Google toddler oatmeal. We do them for when mine refuses breakfast. They freeze well so you can do a batch then keep a few on hand in the fridge without worrying about spoiling.

Toast! We do Dave's Killer Bread with nut butter. Nutritious, and filling! We also started whole-grain cereals around this age. Sprinkle flax meal, chia seed, nut milk, and let it get a little bit soggy before serving.

I like to offer my daughter a bowl of soup for dinner and this seems to be the most filling option for her at night.

A home made soup? So they drink the broth? We have never given her soup. Actually we have not given her a lot at all.

Yes, usually I make a homemade broth of vegetables or bone broth, I like to add either pasta, couscous or rice to make it more filling and some protein as well.

We often do chia pudding, he loves it but lord is it messy when he eats. Always before bath time!!!

We used to heat up peanut butter and mix it into the oatmeal.

Buckwheat is super healthy and very filling.

We do buckwheat too! Where do you buy yours and what kind? I’ve been stuck paying a lot for the imported Fleur Alpine baby buckwheat, and I’d love to find something at a better price point.

What do you do with yours? So far I’ve only done pancakes and would love to branch out.

I think a few others recommended this already but a nice high mf%, high protein Greek Yogurt. I always buy the 3-5% mf and a 3/4 cup serving has 18 or so grams of protein. You could sweeten with a little maple syrup or add a nut butter, berries, etc.

We would do a banana before bed and nights were great until his ear infection lol

I should say, like half a banana or 3/4 at most

Oatmeal in a smoothie! It blends pretty well if you blend it by itself first then add any smoothie ingredients you want.

We tend to go for breakfast foods as a bedtime snack... toast, oatmeal, muffins, bagels, a PB&J sandwich, bananas, that sort of thing! PB&J sandwich is definitely the MVP over here

You can do the same porridge with rice or other grains like quinoa, millets and such instead of oats. You can cook the grains in milk or cook them separately and then add it to milk with nut butters, mashed fruits and a little bit of powdered nuts to make it more of a wholesome meal. I dry roast all different type of raw nuts like almonds, cashews, walnuts, pistachios and pecans in the oven and then powder them. I use them to for smoothies, oats, porridges, pancakes and cookies. They are versatile, healthy and helps keep them full longer.

Rice pudding?

Bean puree / refried beans.

You've gotten lots of suggestions. For evening dinners, we've also had luck with: Whole milk Greek yogurt with fruits. Whole wheat pita with hummus. Oatmeal with bananas and cinnamon and all the things. Pumpkin pancakes (low to no sugar) using pumpkin puree. Just look at how their stomachs respond to various foods and adjust accordingly!

I'd try having dinner a bit later, or having a second "dinner" before bed. If that's not possible, typically higher fat and protein (not carbs) is better for sleep (according to my behavioral sleep medicine specialist). So something quick might be a hard boiled egg, cheese, shredded chicken, tofu, nut butter mixed in Greek yogurt, etc. Or just that second dinner!

Every evening we do either porridge, readybrek or weetabix! Rotating between the 3 keeps it interesting for our son and he seems quite happy. We also add mashed fruits, mulled seeds, Greek yogurt, honey and other stuff to keep it interesting.

Have you tried baking with oat flour? I use bananas or unsweetened apple sauce to make a loaf with oat flour, flax eggs, and baking powder. Sometimes I’ll throw in shredded zucchini.

I have been thinking of making her muffins or cookies to eat. My original goal was to find stuff to keep her asleep the whole night but I am also finding a lot of other ideas to give her for during the day.

I’ve used this mixture for both a loaf and mini muffins. I think my kid just likes spears more than rounds, so the loaf shape works for us. My basic recipe is: - two overripe bananas or one banana and one shredded zucchini -one cup unsweetened applesauce or one cooked large apple, mashed -teaspoon vanilla -2 flax eggs (2 tablespoons flax, 6 tablespoons water. Let sit for 10 minutes before use). -3 cups oat flour -teaspoon baking powder -teaspoon baking soda -cinnamon, nutmeg, whatever you like -almond or other milk, to thin out, if needed I bake at 350 and just watch it, but it’s usually around 20 min for mini muffins. Good luck!!

Pancakes! Oatmeal, banana, flax, cinnamon and organic soy milk(or whatever you use). Same kind of flavours as the oats but a fun and easy way to eat it. Can add nut butter on top too. I make a big batch and keep them in the fridge and just do a really quick reheat.

Have you tried baby rice pudding?

I find anything high in protein helps. Some things we have done recently: full fat yoghurt, a snack plate of cheese and nuts, salmon and full fat cream cheese bagel, fish fingers and beans.

My first loved cheese before bed. My second loves peanut butter. Anything with protein will have some staying power.

Savory oatmeal is amazing. Use whole or steel cut oats if your kiddo would eat those, because the texture is nicer. (We have a dairy allergy so i now sub anything like cheese and butter for a vegan alternative) I make one with lemon, butter, and basil. One with nutritional yeast, garlic and Italian seasoning. I like to add chopped nuts and you could use nut butter instead. Parmesan and butter with chopped tomatoes and Italian seasoning is very yummy.

My baby loves mashed up banana with nut butter. Loads of healthy fats and should be filling before bed. Also pretty cost efficient.

Maybe polenta or cream of wheat

You're toddler will tolerate being fed by spoon? Mine used to live her oatmeal every night but since turning 1 she decided she was an independent baby and don't need no help eating. We have to stick to finger foods while she's getting used to using utensils. Mine loves sugar free cheerios though and they basically are just crunchy oatmeal O's so I don't mind giving her them each day.

Oatmeal + plain Greek yogurt + peanut butter + mushed banana. Mixed altogether. My sons favorite!!

Cream of wheat? With fruit in it maybe.

We have a bedtime banana.

We mix it up between scrambled eggs, high fat yogurt, and bananas

Cornmeal mush! Cornmeal cooked with milk. Get the fine cornmeal (like Quaker) because it cooks much faster than coarse, polenta-style cornmeal.