to let my toddler eat as much fruit as he wants?

[ikeaismylocal]

When I was a child we always had a fruit bowel and we were allowed to help ourselves to fruit, there wasn't much money to spare so it was seasonal, cheap fruit.

Ds is 16 months old, he's started to help himself from the fruit bowel ( asking us for help if the fruit needs peeling) he eats a vast amount of fruit. Yesterday he ate strawberries with his breakfast, an apple and 3 apricots for his snack, a nectarine after lunch, a banana a a couple of handfuls of grapes whilst shopping some strawberries after dinner.

He has recently cut down on breastfeeds drastically and he seems much hungrier, he eats well at meal times.

Aibu to give him unlimited access to fruit? I'm sure I never ate so much fruit even though I was allowed as much as I wanted.

[Burren]

Doesn't sound excessive to me.

Fruit BOWL, by the way. If he gets 'fruit bowel', you might need to rethink his consumption .

[Beehatch]

There's a lot of sugar and fibre in fruit, so be prepared for what comes out the other end. Plus being high glycemic index he will be getting lots of sugar rush and not much to sustain him, so you might want to balance it with access to breadsticks or rice cakes. And typo much snacking might set up patterns that are hard to break.

That said fruit consumption is not to be discouraged!

[ilovepowerhoop]

too much might give him the runs so look out for that. All that sugar adds up too so make sure his teeth get brushed well before bed.

[ThePinkOcelot]

Doesn't sound excessive to me either. Take advantage while you can! My dd used to be like that and now won't touch it.

[Silvercatowner]

When my son was that age he developed a icing for cucumber. I did have to limit it - he got though buckets of it and it had a terrible effect on his bowels. So I don't really know - too much fruit could cause nappy explosions and I suppose it's a judgement call as to whether that is OK or not.

[Silvercatowner]

Liking. Not icing. Sorry.

[ballinacup]

As long as his teeth are well brushed he should be fine. It sounds like he got his ten portions yesterday, which can't be a bad thing!

[Lonecatwithkitten]

Constantly snacking on fruits is really bad for tooth enamel as it maintains an acid environment around them. A tiny piece of cheese after the fruit will neutralise the acid.

[bronya]

I would put less in there, or mix it with some rice cakes perhaps, so he's not always eating fruit. Either that or up his meal portions! My son gets fruit whenever he says he's hungry between meals - it's rarely more than 3 portions a day, as he eats well at meal times.

[ikeaismylocal]

I live in a country where the kids seem to constantly eat like hobbits! They have breakfast, morning snack, lunch, afternoon snack, possibly coffee and cake ( juice for thekids if they are visiting a friend, dinner and then porridge in a bottle before bed. Ds goes to nursery and the day is structured around snacks/lunch so he's usedto lots of eating.

Thanks for the cheese tip, ds loves goats cheese, I'll give him a little bit after his fruit.

His nappies are quite full, more so than a couple of months ago but I think thats more to do with the reduction of breastmilk.

I think we'll carry on with the fruit but possibly buy only a couple of sorts of fruit at a time.

[hjwhjw]

Be careful, two bananas have as much sugar as a can of coke.

[Shockers]

Substitute some of the fruit for raw veg if he's able to eat it. Whole fruit is far better than fruit juices, but is still packed with sugars.

[Thenapoleonofcrime]

I don't think large quantities of fruit are that healthy, given the tooth enamel thing, they are just sugar with a little fibre. Having five a day as fruit is not healthy compared with five a day vegetables. Unfortunately as obviously children prefer sugary fruit!

[bouncinbean]

I don't think you need to restrict the food but I would try to keep it to mealtimes from the acid/tooth decay aspect. Maybe check with your dentist for definitive advice as I know some children are 'snackers' rather than a 3 meals a day type of eater.

[DurhamDurham]

I think it sounds like a lot for a toddler to consume, that's if he ears this amount on a daily basis. I would be tempted to replace some of the fruit with veg. Carrot and cucumber sticks, sweetcorn, peppers etc. I agree that there are definitely worse things he could be eating and he'll never get scurvy

[Sirzy]

That sounds a lot. Perhaps just put 2 or 3 pieces into the bowl he can reach each day that he can help himself too rather than having complete free reign? We had to do that with DS when he was starting to eat too much.

[LemonSquares]

DS tooth enamel is weak - as we don't have anything but milk or water only thing the dentist could think it was the huge amount of fruit he had.

When they were slightly younger we had to hide the fruit and couldn't have a fruit bowl out.

Child centres and school seemed to push fruit eating as so many DC apparently don't like fruit - never got that at all.


So I'd be careful or just aware of the sugar and fruit acid.

[elvenbread]

Sugar sugar sugar. Maybe have some veg sticks and cucumber sticks available too which are less carby and sugary.

[Marcelinewhyareyousomean]

Sounds fine but I'd add in vegetables. Ds has unlimited access to the vegetable sticks we keep ready in the fridge. Cucumber, carrot, peppers, mini corn, mange tout etc. Ds has fruit with meals and veggies for snacks.

[Gobbolinothewitchscat]

My 17 month old DS eats a lot if fruit

My DH is a dentist and not overly bothered as DS only eats fruit at mealtimes. We don't do snacks - he has some milk morning and afternoon

Agree that (as far as I've been told by DH), the issue round decay tends to be the number of intakes across the day. That said, DH gets more bothered about fruit juice and dried fruit - particularly raisins.

[andsmile]

Ive been wondering this my DD can easily eat 5 portions of fruit a day. I have been thinking this is just too much.

She ate three small apples one morning, bananas barely touch the sides, she will eat any fruit.

I noticed she enjoyed some cucumber recently which she hadnt had for a while. Im going to start putting veg sticks out mid morning instead.

I also going to keep the fruit out of site, I sometimes think she just asks for a banana because she sees it and not because she is really hungry.

I dont think eating 5 small meals a day is a problem, my older DS is the same and it is supposed to be better for maintaining blood sugar levels.

[Thurlow]

It's not cake or biscuits. I'm happy with my toddle eating as much fruit as she wants. We clean her teeth well. There are a hell of a lot worse things she could be eating. And bear in mind I'm sure we'll all get to the stage where we desperately wish they would eat some fruit as opposed to insisting they can only eat three beige things...

[Feminine]

It still sugar, and it can make some children hyper.

I'd mix in some veg also, oat cakes maybe?

[ikeaismylocal]

The veg sticks is a good idea, I'll chop some up and put them in a sealable tub. He loves veg aswel. The thing we have trouble encouraging him to eat is carbs, he's happy if it's pasta but potatos are always rejected even chips, rice is sometimes ok as long as it is risotto with lots of peas. He's a funny boy, I'm convinced he is part monkey.

[Gobbolinothewitchscat]

Don't clean teeth for at least 30 mins after having fruit or fruit juice - the exam is temporarily softened by the acid and brushing so soon after can damage it fun dental fact of the day