Parents Adjusting to early morning practice

[PRY9]

Looking for suggestions. Practices have mostly been afterschool or afternoons.
Her new summer schedule is 8-1 four days/week. Her school doesn't start until 9:05 so 8:00 is very early for her. She doesn't feel like eating anything - but they practice for over 3 hours before they break for a snack. She has been complaining that her stomach hurts & she's dizzy at practice.

 

[raenndrops]

Wake her up a little earlier each day (and to bed a little earlier at night). Ideally, she will be awake in time to be hungry enough to eat a little something.
OR… Force her to eat yogurt and a banana or something.

 

[duyetanh]

OR… Force her to eat yogurt and a banana or something.

This. I play mean mommy. No eating means no going to gym, plain and simple. She knows i mean it....so she eats. I view it as a safety issue honestly, and have told her as much. Doing those heinous skills with no good could lead to a scary mistake out there.

 

[Madden3]

Hi, we are going through something similar with my 13 year old son although we are used to these changes as they happen every school break, not just summer, so by now we know the drill.

I agree, you will want to try to readjust her entire sleep/wake schedule, and keep to it even on nights before and mornings of no practice days. If you are firm about the earlier bedtimes her body will most likely adjust very quickly, as we are only talking an hour difference. You can take it in 15-20 minute increments if jumping bedtime ahead one whole hour at once is not working. If falling asleep a little earlier is hard for her there are several things you can try to help that situation.

If she eats no breakfast, I would suggest send her with extra snacks and a note to the coach (or alert the coach another way) requesting she have enough breaktime to eat the snack in the first half of practice. Or tell your daughter to go eat in the bathroom if the coach is going to be unreasonable about snacks. A dizzy-with-hunger gymnast is an unsafe situation!

Make sure she is hydrating in the morning at the very least.

 

[l.c.o]

First, I completely agree with @raenndrops. If she pushes back, I'd say "no food? No practice." Explain that her body needs the nutrients in order to be safe.

To go further, try to get more calorie-dense foods in her if she isn't eating much.

My DD used to be in a similar boat to your DD (practice immediately after school, wasn't hungry enough for a meal + slow eater). She got headaches a couple hours into a 4-hr practice. We ended up trying some diluted Gatorade for practice, and it helped to a degree. Alternatively, dilute a (real) fruit juice - likely healthier.

We also have resorted to cutting up protein bars and tossing a few chunks into a homemade nut-free trail mix for snack. And she also went through a phase where she drank a "High Protein" Boost ("meal replacement") during snack break.

Note: these suggestions helped my DD with her headaches when we were at our wit's end. I'm not promoting them as healthy, necessarily. A well-balanced meal is generally much healthier.

 

[Seeker]

Smoothie in the car?

 

[MILgymFAM]

My DD was in a similar position. Practice was much earlier than she usually got up and she said she couldn't eat. At first I forced the issue but making her eat anything did cause her to get sick at gym and the coach would kick her out because of it, at least for awhile. Eventually we settled on a green smoothie and an extra snack.

 

[Deleted member 18037]

Smoothies. Eat in the car.

 

[thefellowsmom]

Yes! Our whole carpool eats in the car on the way to gym for morning practices. Fruit and a few bites of a protein bar. Smoothies are awesome. Put a scoop of good quality protein powder in their or Greek yogurt for protein. I even make fruit only smoothies with unflavored bone broth and then freeze it and it is like sorbet. All the girls love it. A granola fruit and yogurt parfait. Bananas are great! Even just a banana and a handful of nuts. I make these protein pancakes and my dd puts a little jam on it and rolls it up and eats it in the car. You could even wrap it around a sausage. I know that when I do morning workouts for myself a piece of whole grain bread folded in half over a smear of peanut butter gets me through.

My dd doesn't want to eat that early either, but it is absolutely required. Crashing in the middle of the first rotation isn't safe and feels totally crappy.

My dd is pretty food energy sensitive so the other thing we do is she takes trail mix (dried fruit and nuts) or a protein bar and between rotations she runs to her bag/locker and grabs a handful or takes a bite or two and then eats mostly fruit at break. I have discussed this with her coaches and over nine years and multiple gyms and countless coaches never had one balk at that. The ones that have seen her crash know this is not even a question important for her.

 

[kitkat]

I agree with everyone. A good healthy breakfast will set the tone of practice. A hungry girl will not be a productive girl. Starting at 8 is early but still manageable.

Suggestions:

• Fresh fruit + small tub of yoghurt.
• Breakfast cereal with milk or yoghurt.
• Toast with peanut butter or banana.
• Peanut butter sandwiches (she has this everyday on the drive from school to gym - never seems to get old)
• Eggs (this is what my dd eats every morning)

Good luck and stay healthy

 

[Amanda]

Right now my daughter just has early practices on Saturdays so I will try to bake a relatively healthy muffin or bread (she likes oatmeal chocolate chip, banana, pumpkin chocolate chip) and she will drink milk. It's not perfect, but better than going on an empty stomach.

 

[gymgal]

coming from someone who gets sick if I eat breakfast within 2 hours of getting up - please don't force her to eat. Don't use "not breakfast, no practice" either. Neither will not end well. Parents who have no problem eating first thing in the morning often don't get it and think it is just stubbornness or fatigue. It can be that but more likely it is metabolism that needs time to "wake up".

Talk with her about foods or drinks that appeal to her in the morning and adapt them to have a better balance of protein/carbs/ fats. And give her time to consume it over the course of 20-30 minutes, not chugging it down. People often can tolerate drinks better than foods, but I would be careful about the amount of dairy you put in as it can really turn the stomach. Protein powder (which is broken down) usually is fine though. Using powdered egg whites can add some protein as can the powdered peanut butter - pb2 fit, I think it is called.

You could also talk with her coach to explain the situation. Maybe she can eat something nutrient packed after first rotation, without being too bulky

 

[2gymkids]

My DD has been having similar issues with new Saturday morning practices. She gets carsick and the gym is an hour away so that doesn't help her not wanting to eat (this will change next week- we are in the middle of a move). My rule is she has to eat before practice or she doesn't go. I don't care if it's before we leave, in the car, or in the parking lot, though. She's resorted to choking down some peanut butter crackers once we get there and are in the parking lot. It's not ideal, but it's something. Maybe she'd be more into if it was something that felt more munchy/snacky than a full meal?

 

[Deleted member 18037]

She gets carsick and the gym is an hour away so that doesn't help her not wanting to eat (this will change next week- we are in the middle of a move). My rule is she has to eat before practice or she doesn't go. I don't care if it's before we leave, in the car, or in the parking lot, though. She's resorted to choking down some peanut butter crackers once we get there and are in the parking lot. It's not ideal, but it's something. Maybe she'd be more into if it was something that felt more munchy/snacky than a full meal?

Have you tried sea bands for the motion sickness? My kid uses them...............

 

[2gymkids]

Have you tried sea bands for the motion sickness? My kid uses them...............

Yes, with varying success. I think in this specific case it's a combo of nerves (still a relatively new gym/new teammates), early morning, and the motion sickness because she typically feels much better on the drive home. She has the same issue on early meet mornings. But yes, we do often pull them out for drives longer than 30 minutes or so and always have a pair in the car.

 

[Flyaway]

I make these protein pancakes and my dd puts a little jam on it and rolls it up and eats it in the car. You could even wrap it around a sausage. I know that when I do morning workouts for myself a piece of whole grain bread folded in half over a smear of peanut butter gets me through.

Would you share your recipe for protein pancakes please? Are they something that could be made ahead and frozen?

 

[thefellowsmom]

Yes! They freeze great. I use a mix called Kodak cakes protein cakes. I buy it by the big box at costco. It is a whole grain baking mix.

For pancakes and waffles I add egg and milk and mix to the consistency I like. it comes with the recipe on the box. You can do it with just water or with just milk or add and egg and milk or really any combo of above. I have yet to screw them up.

I make pancakes and waffles in large batches and then freeze them flat on a baking pan. Then I put them in a freezer bag and they don't stick. Then you can just pull them out in the number you need for fast morning.

I also make really great banana muffins using the mix and we recently tried a cranberry muffin that was pretty good too. There are lots of recipes online on how to use this mix to make protein packed baked goods.

 

[klv8]

When I was a teenager, eating really early in the morning made me feel extremely queasy. For several years I just ate plain buttered toast. Other things that worked: cold leftover pizza, fruit crisp dessert, sausage, plain oatmeal with chocolate chips on top, (no milk or sugar.) Not very conventional for breakfast, but those things have, at times, worked better than regular breakfast foods for me. And they are all things that can be easily eaten in the car, too!