Op, a simple solution is coming in a few weeks. Daylight savings means that his 7:30 bedtime will be at 6:30pm and his wake up time will be around 7am. You can start moving it by 10 minutes every few days to adjust it to 7pm and 7:30am so you have time for actual breakfast. Voila!

OP here -- thanks all, this is super helpful! After reflection I've also realized that part of my mental block on this is that I get some really nice morning snuggles while he drinks his formula, and switching to food will probably make that a thing of the past (or I'll be covered in food crumbles ). Thanks again!

My kid was a cheese fiend, and so we'd give her a cheese stick to eat in the morning before daycare breakfast.

Make batches of oatmeal
Greek yogurt with fruit and cereal toppings
Hard boiled eggs
Cereal and milk
Egg muffins

I used to offer yogurt with fruit or bread before daycare. Lately (almost 2yo) she doesn't want anything and seems to have outgrown the need for food first thing after waking.

Is the formula in a cup or bottle? I ask bc mine got a 6oz bottle of formula first thing in the morning and then ate breakfast an hour later. But when we switched to whole milk in a cup, he took way less first thing. I think the bottle was just a comforting thing first thing in the morning and he was used to that first morning feed whether he was hungry or not. Now we just offer a small cup of whole milk (about 3oz) when first up and still do breakfast an hour later. We offered 6oz initially like he’d been getting, but he just wasn’t as interested as guzzling a bottle of formula. So maybe you’ll find the same to be true with yours too - current intake just being out of routine and comfort I mean.

Mine has a cup of milk with cheerios, a banana, or a breakfast bar before daycare. Daycare usually gives water with lunch and milk during breakfast and snack. And unless your pediatrician specifically told you only 16oz of milk per day, usually 16-24oz at that age is fine.

scrambled eggs & toast
baked oatmeal with fruit
oatmeal pancakes with apple, banana, pumpkin etc blended in
quick french toast - dip whole wheat toast in egg & pan fry

My kids ate two breakfasts for a very long time, one at home and one at daycare (then school).

The quick first breakfast (at home or on the way to daycare, depending on how you travel) can be a pouch of or something like a plain waffle, a banana, dry cereal, mini bagel.

Does the daycare only offer milk at meals and at snack? Water at snack would "free up" some of the daily milk amount for breakfast. Yogurt is another good quick first breakfast.

Pancakes freeze and reheat well, and can be eaten on the go

We have been blessed with a good sleeper -- our sweet kiddo is around 14 months and he regularly sleeps until 8am (goes down around 7:30pm). This is absolutely wonderful 99.5% of the time, but I'm having a hard time figuring out what to feed him before daycare. He wakes up hungry, regularly taking down 8oz of formula, but we are going to stop the formula in the next week or so as he's totally okay with milk and this is our last tubof formula. So I know I need to give him something, but don't think it should be milk since they're only supposed to have 16oz day. This is our current schedule:

8am: 7-8oz of formula
9am: breakfast at daycare, incl 4oz of milk
12pm: lunch at daycare, incl 4oz of milk
3pm: snack at daycare, incl 4oz of milk
4:30pm: snack after daycare
6pm: dinner, incl 4oz of milk

Should we just do a pouch before daycare since he eats basically as soon as he gets there? Or give him milk but cut down the amount elsewhere? I'd rather not wake him up earlier just to eat if we can give him something quick. Any suggestions or tips are much appreciated. Thanks!!