Is there such a thing as too much fruit?

[Eminybob]

DS is 13 months old and absolutely loves his fruit but I'm a bit worried he's eating too much of it. I can't get him to eat much veg so I just go with it, thinking it must be healthy. But I know it's full of sugar so is it bad for him?

I don't know if this is a lot but today he has eaten:

4 large strawberries
A large banana
A handful of blueberries
About 10 red grapes
A tangerine

I try and balance everything out, he's also had toast, an egg, pasta with tomato sauce and a yoghurt. Does this sound ok?

[NormHonal]

The list looks ok BUT my fruit-loving DCs are allergic to at least of the two on the list, so just keep your radar up. Strawberries and bananas are particularly known, IIRC, to cause problems.

[moggle]

I hope not as that is about what my 9mo DD eats a day! I did ask the HV as she gets through so much, she said try to vary what they have across a day and a week as some fruits can cause constipation and some looser bowels :-) but other than that just go for it.

[HermioneWeasley]

Sounds fine to me, but unfortunately on MN someone will be along to tell you that fruit is LOADED with sugar and you may as well be injecting crack into your toddler's eyeballs as let them eat a banana

[daisydalrymple]

I think the key is to try to keep them to meal times as much as possible, thinking from a teeth point of view. So, don't let him have a pot of grapes to eat over say 1 hr whilst playing, as this increases the fruit acid/ sugar exposure over a longer period.

[KittyandTeal]

Fruit is full of sugar but it's a very different type of sugar to that in sweets and processed crap.

I hope fruit isn't bad for you because my 3yo has decided to limit what she'll eat to 3 meals. Luckily she'll still scoff fruit so I figure it's better than nothing!

[annatha]

My 10 month old loves fruit and would live off it given half the chance, but an overload can give her a sore bum so just keep an eye out. I wonder about the sugar content too but I feel better about her munching fruit than something processed and full of added sugar.

[Piazzapiola]

I echo what others have said re variety etc. I didn't know that re acidity/sugar and snacking over an hour so that's good to know. It's true that your body processes sugar in exactly the same way whether it comes from coke, chocolate, pasta or fruit so at the end of the day, yes, all sugar is sugar BUT whole fruit contains a LOT of other good stuff that other sugar sources don't so I wouldn't worry too much.
I read somewhere that things like oranges contain less sugar than say berries so maybe give those types of fruits more than others?

[Eminybob]

Thanks for the replies. Good to know I'm not slowly poisoning him. No one told me that motherhood would be a constant stream of worry and guilt!

[BoboChic]

Yes, sadly too much fruit = too much sugar. Think of one portion of fruit as his fist. So one portion = two small strawberries or quarter of an apple. Times that by 5 to get his 5 a day and don't exceed it.

[BIWI]

Well, yes, I'm going to do what HermioneWeasley predicted someone would do, and will say that yes, that's too much fruit.

Fruit is sugar. It does obviously also have fibre and vitamins, but it's also a lot of sugar. The body doesn't discriminate between sugar from fruit or sugar from honey or sugar from potatoes. It's all sugar. And if you're also giving him pasta, that's carbs aka more sugar.

You'd be far better encouraging him to snack on veg if you can - how about sticks of celery, cucumber, pepper?

[Eminybob]

Oh

I've tried with the veg, he's just not feeling it but I do do a couple of hidden veg meals a week, cottage pie etc and omelet with loads of veg. He will eat broccoli if he's in the mood.

Any tips for getting him to eat more snacky veg?

[BoboChic]

There's no need to eat snack veg. Will he eat veg soup?

[BrandNewAndImproved]

My ds was a fruit fiend. As a toddler I had to hide the fruit bowl and I regularly found him munching on lemons. He still loves fruit.now and would prefer nice fruit like mango over chocolate.

Hes now 8 and never had a filling. (for when a poster comes along and chats about sugar and tooth decay with fruit.)

[Buglife]

My DH was looking after 1 year old DS today while I worked. He apparently didn't eat his linch of chicken and herby potatoes but would eat 'about 20 strawberries'! I am awaiting the horrific pooping after that. And gave his teeth an extra scrub. But I don't think it will kill him.

[Forditani]

My dentists have been obsessed with not eating too much fruit especially between meals. (One also discouraged breastfeeding at night) My Dd sadly does have tooth decay and I have never really given her sweets so the dentist said it must be coming from something in her diet.

I try to limit cakes and biscuits but she does have a lot of fruit (grapes v sugary) and I've been advised to restrict it to mealtimes now. Her sister has the same diet but no issue (although she is younger).

[Eminybob]

He is going through a bit of a fussy phase so if he chucks his lunch on the floor as he is often prone to do, then I think we'll, a banana will fill him up if he'll eat nothing else.

He's partial to a sweet potato. I bet there's loads of sugar in those too isn't there?

He is good at having his teeth brushed though.

[annatha]

Does he take a spoon? My dd won't eat veg in finger food form except for carrot but I make veggie mush (cook whatever veggies we have in and then mash them up, I used to puree them but she prefers chunks now) and she'll happily eat loads of that so I try and give her that as part of at least one meal a day so I know she's had a big veg fix. As for snacks, does he like cream cheese or hummus? You could try beg sticks dipped in something to make them more appealing.

[imwithspud]

My nearly 3 year old loves her fruit too. Some days she can have up to four portions of fruit, other days like today she only has two. I have been worrying about her having 'too much' fruit as well. So I've been giving her things like cucumber and peppers as an alternative. Cucumbers are a hit, the peppers not so much. It's a bit of a minefield this sugar malarkey.

[Tillytoes14]

My two eat a lot of fruit, also salad and some vegetables, bit fussier with vegetables though. Although at our last visit to the dentist, I was asked how many sweets/fruit our son has, he doesn't eat many sweets and I was told to encourage him to eat fruit after meals, rather than as snacks. Saying that's he's 9 and has never had a filling, but the sugar and acids in fruit can affect teeth, so I guess it's a good idea not to give them excessive amounts of fruit, also I try to limit fruit juices now to meal times. When I used to give my son certain fruits, when he was a toddler, he used to suffer with nappy rash too from the acids.

[RabbitSaysWoof]

I think dressings are the key sometimes for giving veg, snack veg can be a bit repetitive anyway, I let butter melt into any steamed or boiled veg that's lovely, also any cheesey or tomato based sauces that you would put on pasta, gravy obvs, vinaigrettes or roasted veg.
I'm very teeth conscious because I had to have loads removed as a kid and I remember it still now being really scared, I get a bit when the piss takers make out its somehow neurotic to monitor sugar intake or care about nutrition. I aim for a couple of the 5 a day to be fruit the rest veg.

[Eminybob]

Right, today I'm going to try him with peppers for his snack. He's only had them cooked before so hopefully he'll be able to get his little teeth around them.

[Charis1]

Fruit is full of sugar but it's a very different type of sugar to that in sweets and processed crap

this is rubbish

sugar is sugar is sugar.

Don't get into a panic about it, it isn't poison! but yes, in the long run, cut back on the fruit and build up on the veg.

[WyrdByrd]

Agree it might be an idea to try and introduce some veg - no harm in starting with sweeter/blander ones - baby carrots, cucumber slices, yellow pepper, cherry tomatoes (cut in half).

It may just be me but I found that a lot of my DD's tastes when she was tiny stuck (she'll be 11 next week). I couldn't give her fruit purees when she was weaning as they were too acid and upset her tummy and she's never developed a real taste for fruit - would much rather have carrot sticks etc (or let's face it, a biscuit ).

TBH it's a bit of a pita as it's much less faff to just chuck an apple in a lunch box than faff about cutting veg up!

[Eminybob]

Don't get me wrong, I do put a load of veg on his plate at every dinner time. He will pick at it, like I said mostly the broccoli. The occasional pea. He eats the most veg when I chop a load up and put it in an omelet. I do savoury muffins every now and then with veg in. So he does get some veg, but definitely not as much as the fruit.

We did BLW so I've never sat there spoon feeding him vegetable purée. Maybe that's the problem.

[WyrdByrd]

Yes, I guess purees are a bit old school these days !

Is the fruit mainly snacks? Just wondering if you gave him, for instance, 2 strawberries and 2 cherry tomatoes you might be able to sneak some veg in that way?

DD used to love raw broccoli and would try and eat green pepper like apples (bleurgh) when she was little!