not to want nursery to feed DS marmite and crisps

YANBU. How can anyone think it is ok to feed children that age crisps . I hope they are something like the organix corn crisps which are carrot flavoured and not a bag of walkers cheese and onion.

Bloody hell, at 7 months, my children had only just graduated onto baby rice & pureed veg.

Salt content aside (though I'm not dismissing that) surely crisps for a child with - say - 1 tooth, is a ridiculously dangerous and stupid food anyway. What were they thinking ?

So, you're not being unreasonable, and if the nursery have implied you're stupid/neurotic/fussy they are being extremely ignorant.

YANBU at all. Our nursery has employed a nutritionist to set a menu (they have a 4 week rotating one) and it is full of nutritious stuff. You don't need this sort of sh*t to make you feel bad about leaving your ds at nursery - thats bad enough anyway!

I agree that I am more relaxed about the sugar thing but was totally neurotic about salt until ds was 1 and am now still very careful to limit what he has. Crisps a def no no but he does have marmite.

Anyway it doesn't matter even if everyone here thinks you're a nutter (which they clearly don't) or the nursery thinks you're neurotis - the important thing is that he is your child and they should give him what you want. WIll they find an alternative for him when the others are having crisps and marmite?

One of my main criteria when picking a nursery/child carer was what they fed my child. I rejected several highly recommended nurseries because they did not serve fresh fruit with every meal. I think you are wasting your time trying to retrain a nursery that thinks that crisps and marmite are ok for a 7 mo. old. Just because they stop with those items, doesn't mean they won't make other unwise choices about diet. Crisps and marmite are not just unhealthy, they are dangerous to feed to a 7 mo old.

i'd move him, not in an over reacting manner but any nursery that thinks crisps are an ok thing to feed a baby is seriously lacking - what else are they up to??

I dont mind giving a little bit of what i'm eating to my 9mo old DS just for him to try, but as a meal? No way.

I think i'd be pretty p*ssed if i found out he'd been given stuff like that for dinner

The crisps could be absolutely fine from a salt point of view. There are salt free ones readily available.

I had a friend take her 9 month old dd out of nursery because when she picked her up one day, they hadn't given her any dinner as "she didn't seem to like the curry"

marmite isn't that bad, lots of people say its a good enough brekkie on toast for babies (though i think the taste is fowl!)

Those foods are so ridiculous for a 7 month old I can't believe the thread is genuine.

you are right to feel annoyed especially with all the publicity trying to encourage parents to feed their children healthy food, crisps are not healthy.
I may be wrong but I thought schools had to provide parents with a menu so am a bit suprised that nurserys dont do the same.
My daughter goes to a nursery here in France and we have to provide her food, they do sometimes have birthday cake and frequently have fruit thats in season they have their own garden and are growing strawberries, raspberries and other stuff so they take the children to pick them, wash them and let them eat them.

I wouldn't feed a baby crisps - very stupid, no nutrition, too salty and choking risk. Wouldn't feed a 7mo marmite either - your nursery have shown they are clueless about food, I wouldn't trust them to only use a scraping. Outrageous.

My nursery also cooks food on the premises and they have the food menu up weekly so you can see what DD is eating. However crisps are not on the menu and I would be absolutely furious if they were.

I don't think you are being unreasonable on the crisps or on wanting to restrict the salt in your ds's diet however I don' think marmite is any where near as bad..

I give my dd toast with a marmite scraping - I restrict salt in virtually everything but here feel the good outweighs the bad.

Marmite website has this to say:-

"Health professional advice about the weaning of infants of less than 12 months is to choose products marked as being low in salt as well as avoiding the addition of salt to foods. However, toast "soldiers" spread with a little Marmite are suggested as 'suitable snacks for young children, aged one year or more, along with fruit and vegetables, and dairy foods like yoghurt.' **"

Contains b vitamins, iron, folic acid, thiamin & riboflavin& niacin

The tiny portion I give my dd contains about 0.1g salt - 10% of her daily recommended max & about 25% of her actual max

marmite nutrition

Plus SHE LOVES IT!

btw, I only put on the mearest scraping of it, and she is nearly 10 mths old. I so think 7 mths is too young for crisps tho, well and marmite actually.

be really clear with your nursery about what you want your DS to be given to eat - definitely ask for a meeting to discuss it. My DS has various allergies as well as dislikes and these are all logged in his record file

They also clearly display the food for the week so parents can see what is on offer

My nursery gives all children 5 portions of fruit and veg per day and no junk - he has had cake once at nursery and that was for someone's birthday (he has been there 6 months)

they do offer marmite on toast for the older children (1 year +)

If you don't get a satisfactory answer you may have to put him in a different nursery

I give marmite sandwiches to dd2 I thought it was good for you

it sounds to me as though your DS is at the wrong nursery

try to find one that cooks fresh (preferably organic) food on the premises and has a grasp of minimum nutritional guidelines

I would personally be livid (and me a marmite snack as well)

Marmite is foul and disgusting.
Right to be concerned, for adults, the recommended amount of salt per day is 6g, it's much less than that for for kiddies and babies (I think it might be 1-2g)!

Our dd's nursery provides a bi weekly menu, (breakfast, lunch and tea) and it includes at least 5 portions of fruit and veg a day, all of it made within the nursery itself, and it's the type of food I would make at home. That said, they do have Marmite on toast sometimes, but this is "baby marmite", a small amount of marmite mixed with butter, then spread on the toast.

But no crisps, and only cake when it is someones birthday.

I would sometimes like to stay for lunch myself when I see it descibed on the blackboard in the morning

Marmite is not entirely un-nutritional (has lots of B vitamins and folic acid, for example) but I agree that it is certainly not suitable for a baby or indeed a younger toddled. As for crisps, words fail me. Like you, the salt would worry me considerably more than the sugar, although jam at that age I would also see as a no-no.

Of course not: Marmite is the devil's food!

and alsok, nursery should follow your requirements, I am sure you are paying them enough for them to provide decent heathy food!

OMG, no not unreasonable at all

my dd's nursery are the other way, everything is annabel karmel recipes and they will not feed her anything unless it is on a list i have made - a few times she has miossed out when she first started, just because I hadn't put silly things on her list. They even rang me at work to ask whether she could have somthing once.

They do give her treats type food too, eg shortbread - homemade, jelly with fruit, icecream with fruit and sponge cake, but they also offer at least 5 portions of fruit and veg a day too.

Your DS needs a balanced diet, and iot should not include marmite or crisps just yet - until you decide you want him to have them

Oh.my.goodness!

No you are most certainly not being unreasonable. So much salt and empty calories for babies possibly barely on solids (two of mine weren't at all at that age...)

Sounds like a nursery with little grasp on basic nutrition- what else do they have little grasp on?

Can you make an appointment with the manager? If not successful, shop them to Ofsted. It's exactly what Ofsted should be there for.

Failing all these, vote with your feet and walk making sure you inform every person (inc potential parents) you can WHY you are leaving. Make sure you tell nursery owner that will certainly NOT be recommending her establishment.