to be surprised at how many people give crisps to their young toddlers?

[lowrib]

I'm not a food fascist by any means, but when DS is so small (21 months) he can only eat what we give him. And too much salt is bad, right? So why would you want to give your toddler crisps? I don't get it! They have no nutritional value, and they're bad for you, right?

This week I saw my mate and her DS (21 months) and he was munching a whole bag of whotsits. And my mate yesterday gave her DS (16 months) a bag of those teddy bear crisps.

DS has had chocolate as an occasional treat when bought for him by relatives, and I let him have the crisp that was offered to him yesterday, to join in. I expect he'll have crisps at parties etc when he's a little older.

But why would you buy them regularly for such young children? I don't get it

I don't believe the line below about raisins being pure sugar either.
IIRC they have iron in them, and there is definitely fibre.
And yes they do stick to your teeth in a way that makes dentists despair but that is not the same as them being no different from Haribo.

YANBU
a packet of salt and vinegar crisps has the equivilent of 1gram of salt. Given that a 2 year old should only have 2 grams in a day that is too much.

I'm also concerned with the saturated fats.

The amount of kids in my area that start nursery overweight is upsetting. (1 in 10 ).

so why give it to them why there are so many alternatives.

With mine I never 'banned' them just never bought them. (still don't apart from parties, but wouldnt give them a whole bag.)

It can be ignorance, DS1's friend mum started her son on pack lunches this week and told me she struggled finding things that weren't crisps, she didn't think he would eat his mini cheddars as he doesn't eat healthy food.

YABU. I think a bit of chocolate at times and a bit of crisps at times are fine. DD sometimes has both, but usually only when we are on holiday. I wouldn't judge a friend for giving her child crisps.

our walkers salt and vinegar crisps have 0.48g of salt per bag which is around the same as a slice of our bread.

Ooh, now I fancy a bag of cheesy wotsits and some dairy milk :o

YANBU I honestly don't get it when you see the huge array of healthy snacks that are out there.

My dc are 6,6 and 5 and I still limit salt/trash intake.

It's not just the salt but the colourings and other shite too-why? You don't have to.

It makes a mockery if this whole anti formula crap.I know soooooo many mothers who smugly proclaim how healthy their kids are due to breastmilk who then feed their young toddlers utter shite.

Good eating habbits should start early. If you get children used to healthy snacks, that is what they will want.
We don't live in the UK, but went recently on holiday to visit family and was really amazed and sad to see so many overwreight children and fat people.

YABU. The odd packet doesn't do them any harm. Obviously crisps as a diet staple is not good but the odd pack to get them round the shops, or if an older sibling is eating them imo is fine.

FWIW I know a 20 year old who having left home eats burgers most days. She didn't eat her first one until she left home when she was 18! What you feed them as children often has little bearing on what they choose to eat as adults. Thank god (child of the 70/80s who ate far too many microwave meals).

YANBU.

So the answer to my question is that people don't take salt intake very seriously, which surprises me TBH. I thought it was common knowledge that salt is bad for you?

The recommended intake for a toddler is 2g a day. I'd rather that was coming from wholemeal bread for example than crisps!

Here's some stuff from the web

"In a statement on the FSA website the organisation's chairman Sir John Krebbs says: ?There are important health benefits from reducing salt intake. We are urging all food manufacturers and retailers to set targets for reductions in levels of salt in all processed foods.?

Too much salt in a child's diet can increase their risk of developing conditions such as high blood pressure, osteoporosis stomach cancer at some point their lives.

Salt watchdog charity, Consensus Action on Salt and Health (CASH) warns that parents should keep a close eye on the salt content of prepared food they choose for their children and say: "It can be surprising which foods contribute the most salt to our diets. Always read the label. The salt content of the same product will vary across different manufactured brands."

From this page

YADBU if you think you can surmise that giving a toddler one bag of crisps is not taking salt content seriously.

I actually think foods such as crisps, which taste salty, are far better than food that contains the same or more salt but which you'd be completely unaware of if you didn't read the ingredients list.

Well, IMO people who are complete facists about what their children eat tend to end up with children with food-relate issues.

My mum banned us from anything with sugar in it, now I struggle with binge eating disorder.

Unless children are eating crisps with every meal, and those meals also contain added salt, it's hardly going to do them any harm.

Oooh - ds has crisps - don't see the issue.

If you cook pasta properly it's needs as much salt - what's the difference?

My ds at that age pretty much lived on fruit - nice on the one hand but not great for his teeth.

seona -they don't. They have 0.48 grams of sodium. Salt is made up of NaCl (Sodium Chloride), thus the actual amount of salt is double the amount of sodium.
god that has reminded me of chemistry A-level many years ago.

I disagree the more salt you eat the more you get a taste for it-fact. All food tastes too bland.

The op was talking about toddlers,if they're eating such highly salted foods at that age they'll expect it later.I'm no facist but my babies were not eating Wotsits at that age.

Funnily enough we were out today and as a treat my dc had one of those boxes in a cafe with a sandwich,fruit and crisps.The crisps were Wotsits, my 5 year old dd only ate half the packet as they were too salty. I can't eat crisps that are too salty for the same reason. It's not the salt it's the other shite in them too, they're luminous orange for gods sake.

There are plenty of treats a toddler could have ie the Organix range and Kettle crisps which do a lovely salt free bag.

When kids are older the odd treat doesn't hurt but toddlers form their childhood eating habits very early which is why mine also didn't have fizzy drinks/squash until only recently(they cried the first time they tried Coke as weren't used to the fizz). Yes they like the odd coke twice a year but they never nag for it.2 of mine don't like squash as they're not used to it either.

They have home made cakes/biscuits and chocolate as treats and sweets once or twice a month so nothing is forbidden and nothing is nagged for but this was only after healthy eating habits had been established.

Flyinginthecloudds - the Walkers ready salted packet of crisps I'm looking at says 0.5 g salt, not sodium.

'I'm not judging, I'm mystified'

Okaaayyy.

FlyingInTheClouds, my packet says 0.48g is the salt content not the sodium one and I know how to convert sodium to salt (multiply by 2.5)

ours are the smaller 25g multi-pack bags though

AnnieLobesder, I agree with you wholeheartedly!

A friend was an extreme food faschist with her Ds, no choc, no crisps, no ice cream and he's now the most picky eater at 9!
People go far too overboard sometimes.

You are being controlling and judgey.

Is it your first child?

What would you do if your second child (aged 20 months) saw your five year old eating Quavers and wanted to try them??

I was precious about my first born - once the second came along, I got some perspective.

the smugness on this thread is stifling.

"What would you do if your second child (aged 20 months) saw your five year old eating Quavers and wanted to try them??" I would let him have one.

In the example in my OP, my DS was offered a crisp and I let him have it. In moderation (e.g. a crisp or two!) I don't see the problem. They're not poison!

But like MilaMae says, "the more salt you eat the more you get a taste for it-fact. All food tastes too bland.
The op was talking about toddlers,if they're eating such highly salted foods at that age they'll expect it later."

I'm surprised to see my mates buying crisps regularly for their really young children.

I don't get this argument that there's salt in other foods, so crisps can't be too bad.

If a child can only have 2g of salt a day, and a lot of food has salt in it, isn't it better that that comes from nutritious food than crisps? Although I'd be surprised if people are actually saying "Oh my DD had crisps today, she'd better not have pasta / spaghetti hoops / bread". It seems to me that it's just one of those things that people don't take that seriously, and that surprises me.

What happens when your children can get evil crips and chocolates by themselves? Finally they can get their hands on the now very desirable evil foods and what you have are chubby kids. I give my DS chocolate, crisps and other unmentionables. He knows that they are treats. He rarely finishes an entire packet of crips or all the chocolate. He eats until he's had enough. Whilst I acknowledge that these foods are not healthy, I would much rather that he learns to have a healthy attitude towards food.