If your preschooler has a healthy diet

[chappycamper]

Please Tell me what they typically eat in a day!

My 3 year old is prone to constipation so a load of fruit every day is essential! And will also have 3 portions of vegetables but it's always the same - broccoli, sweet corn and carrots. There isn't much variety...

I always read on here not to give them too much fruit and more veggies but what does this healthy low sugar low salt diet really look like?

We cook everything from scratch so it’s easy to cut out sugar and salt.

2 and 4 year old today will have:

Breakfast- Poached egg on white rice

Lunch - I think they’re having Borsht, which is a beet soup. Probably with a piece of sourdough bread.

Dinner- monkfish and prawn coconut curry with homemade naan.

We don’t do snacks.

Curry will have 5 portions of veg in.

What's your toddlers fluid intake like? Because in my experience lack of fluids is the biggest culprit for constipation.

My children are all big drinkers. I give sugar free squash and my 3 (nearly 4) year old drinks around 3 litres a day. I have 1 litre drinks bottles that I always keep filled and in the fridge.

My toddler will drink about 0.5 litres with breakfast before nursery. Then takes 1 litre to nursery and drinks that in the morning (plus milk). Then has about 0.5 litres with lunch before her nap and around 1 litre in the late afternoon through to evening.

It sounds like your toddler already eats healthily - sometimes constipation isn’t related to diet - it’s the size and makeup of everything inside them which gets better as they grow

I agree push the water (not too much milk tho)

Wow that's a lot of squash! Sugar free doesn't actually mean free of sweeteners though. I used to drink tons of squash when I was younger and it's only now I realise it's not great

I would agree with making sure your dc is getting lots of water. I have the fussiest just-started-schooler ever so would be singing from the mountain tops if she ate 3 types of veg!

Does fruit include a lot of bananas? They can cause constipation in some and the opposite in others. Will they eat dried apricots? Lots of fibre is the other important thing for pooing.

Fate - that almost sounds like too much liquid! Aren’t they always on the loo?! Have u considered diabetes?

3 litres a day . Sounds like a lot of fluid. I don't even drink that!

Water is by far the best drinking option and I'd avoid getting into offering squash if possible. It's questionable whether sweeteners are better than sugar tbh and I've been very disappointed that the industry's response to the sugar tax has been to stuff drinks full of sweeteners instead of lowering the sugar content .

As for my 4yo usual diet:
Breakfast - coco pops (I know) and milk
Lunch - cheese, cucumber, pom bears, yoghurt
Dinner - something like pizza/macaroni cheese/spag bol/saus and mash

Snakcs: cheese, banana, choc, milk

She's very fussy and is restricting her diet more and more also having issues with pooing.

My pre schooler has at least six to eight different types of fruit and vegetables daily.
He has a great diet, with lots of water as well as a daily probiotic and multi vitamin.

Fresh air, plenty of sleep and plenty of hand washing thrown into the mix is crucial too.

THREE litres of squash a day????

That’s crazy. 1 litre of water is plenty!

Sorry should have said my 3 year has the worse fluid intake ever and I spend most of my day forcing her to drink

I know this is my biggest battle! But want to get the diet sorted as well

Boring fact: squash /dilute technically dehydrates you!

chappy you can get liquid in her other ways. Jelly is a great way to get fluids into kids!

Also, you could do things like make porridge with water, or give her smoothies for dessert/mealtimes

Fussy eater here! Hoping it just a phase
(Ds2)

Yesterday

Breakfast - half a cheese spread sandwich
Snack- apple, raisins, digestive
Lunch - few bites of my tuna sandwich, baby bell
More snacks - fruit pouch, fig roll, orange
Dinner - we had veggie sausage, mash & veg, he managed to eat one veggie sausage

Drinks mainly water, the odd cup of milk, has an occasional smoothie.

Refuses to eat any vegetables at the moment

My dd suffered badly from constipation at that age despite plenty of fruit and veg in her diet. The paediatrician told us it is not always caused by diet in younger children.
Dd was prescribed Movicol and it really helped.

Also, does she eat things like watermelon, cucumber, strawberries, melons, peaches etc? There are all around 90% water :)

Yes on the menu today is watermelon, strawberry's, blueberries and orange.

Got a load of pears ripening.

Wondering if swapping the fruit for a laxative may be better for her teeth!!

Fate - that almost sounds like too much liquid!

All my children (I have 4) drink a lot of fluids. So do I. We all do a lot of sports, I should add (except possibly the toddler, who's still young. But she does see the everyday example of the whole family drinking plenty).

My 14, 12 and 9 year olds for example will easily drink 4-5 litres a day. They do a lot of sports every day - at least 1 litre will be taken to sports club with them. I constantly have four filled 1 litre drinks bottles in the fridge and as one is taken and drank I fill another to replace it. They are always encouraged to get themselves a drink from the fridge.

So drinking plenty is something we have encouraged from toddlerhood with all of the children. My toddler will have learnt by example that there's always a drink in the fridge and will see the example of her siblings drinking plenty. I consider it a very healthy habit to have.

Boring fact: squash /dilute technically dehydrates you!

How does this work? (We don't drink squash so not arguing- just genuinely curious as didn't think it was a diuretic)

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Boring fact: squash /dilute technically dehydrates you!

While I get you're trying to help, don't talk bollocks. It isn't helping anyone.

Two of my children are athletes who have paid nutritionalists involved with their high level coaching (one national swimming, one premiere league CAT1 football).

Water plus energy gels might be better got immediate replacement of fluids and energy after heavy exercise. But you demonise squash is utterly ridiculous in an otherwise healthy diet.

Squash dehydrating?! No. Just no.

Sorry should have said my 3 year has the worse fluid intake ever and I spend most of my day forcing her to drink

I know this is my biggest battle! But want to get the diet sorted as well

This probably will be the biggest factor op.

Give your toddler squash! Getting into the habit of drinking plenty is really important. A litre (even half a litre) of water as squash is better than zero water as water.

at the poster who seems pride their kids have 'squash syndrome' look it up. Switch to water.

My 20 month old is my third and boy my obsession with healthy food has dropped dramatically compared to his siblings! They used to have about 10 portions of fruit and veg. On a typical day he has:

Breakfast:
Ready brek (heavily fortified and very very high in calcium) made with fortified soya milk, or a piece of toast/a bagel/hot cross bun and fruit. Either a banana, blueberries, satsuma, raisins, chopped dried apricots. Sometimes 2 or 3 types of fruit. Usually a yoghurt or handful of cheerios while he's waiting for me to make the toast or ready brek.

Lunch: beans on toast, avocado on toast, sandwich, jacket potato with smoked mackerel and peas, houmus with veg sticks and bread sticks, eggy bread, tuna
pasta, omelette, cheese and crackers. Usually served with a handful of olives/cucumber/peppers/gherkins and or fruit.

Dinner: green lentil bolognese pasta, chickpea and spinach korma with rice, fish fingers/guojons or quorn nuggets with carrots/sweet corn/peas/sugar snap peas/green beans/broccoli, Pesto pasta with olives, tuna pasta with sweet corn, vegetable soup, pizza, salmon or veggie sausages with veg and chips.

Fruit: he loves pineapple, melon, strawberries, blueberries (frozen are cheaper but messy-they love them straight from the freezer and also frozen peas straight from the freezer) grapes, blackberries, raspberries, bananas, mini apples, clementines, tinned mandarin and peach, pear, raisins, dried apricots.
Vegetables: cucumber/gherkins, olives (only cheap black ones) bell peppers-give like an apple whole as an east snack, likewise tomato-they seem to prefer them whole, green beans are all the kids favourite, broccoli, cauliflower, carrots, sprouts, none of them will eat mushrooms.

Snacks if he has them are mostly biscuits, crisps this is a big difference between first and third child, as well as him often having sweets and crap from his siblings like an ice lolly etc if they have one.

This has just reminded me of a poster in the parents lounge of my sons coaching facility. There are a series of posters about healthy nutrition for child athletes. One is for a kids version of post-exercise protein drink. It consists of:

• I large glass of milk
• I scoop of chocolate Nesquik

Remommended not more than once a day, after training. High protein and replaces carbs. I might take a photo of the poster when I'm there next week. Imagine the hysteria on Mumsnet in actually recomnending you give your child Nesquik?!

It reminds me of this ridiculous Mumsnet hysteria of focusing in on tiny aspects of what consists of a "healthy diet" without actually seeing the bigger picture.

Fucking demonising squash in a child who bearly drinks anything. It's madness and so small minded.

chappycamper - might be worth considering exercise as a factor affecting constipation too. A run (as in actual running, fast) around the park, game of football, or even just a good walk might help keep things moving "down there".

And plenty of water - find a flavour of squash she likes. For example mine don't like orange squash, are OK with orange and pineapple but LOVE orange and mango flavoured. Drinking is really important.

Ixnayonthehombre - is that face at me?

Must remember to tell my daughters Sport England coachs that @Ixnayonthehombre knows better than they do....

And the onsite chefs who prepare the post-training meals every evening and drinks for the boys in my sons (premiership) football team... oh gosh. They must not know about squash syndrome.

Fate - my children are also very active.
Too much water can be bad for you - google it.
I would try and limit it to 1.5-2litres personally