to question nursery as to why they are serving jam sandwiches to babies?

[choceyes]

My DD is 14 months old and goes to nursery 3 days a week.

I won't know whether I am being precious or not, but it annoys me that occassionally she gets given jam sandwiches and also tinned spaghetti hoops on toast for her afternoon snack. I would never give these things to her at home. She always has healthy stuff, no treats at all, cos she is not a big eater, so I don't want to fill her up with junk.

My DS, 3yrs, is also at the same nursery, but there's nothing much I can do to stop him eating jam sarnies, as he would want to eat what his friends eat. and as he eats fairly well most of the time he can afford to have the occassional junk.

The nursery lunches are fine, and they also do fruit, chesse, crackers, tuna sandwiches for afternoon snack , so this probably happens about once a week I guess (i mean she gets either jam sarnies or hoops on toast maybe once a week, the rest of the meals are fine).

I dunno really. I was talking to a friend about it at the weekend and she was appalled at the jam sarnies, so got me thinking maybe I should say something to the manager.

I'm not in anyway a health freak, and against giving kids sugar, but not at 14 months, it's too young for me. And the nursery serves them to kids above 12 months I think.

It's just there is NO nutritional value in jam sarnies. I@d rather they gave her a flapjack or something (and they sometimes for the older ones dessert), which although has sugar, has got good things in it too.

[Sirzy]

It wasn't me, but I dont see the issue with that at all.
Ds is nearly 2 and has those things occaisionally. He has a fantastic diet and the odd bit of chocolate won't change that!

Given a choice between chocolate and fruit 9 times out of 10 he wants fruit. What harm does the chocolate do on the 1 time?

[MrBloomsNursery]

Ugh...is this still going on? Let's go back to your OP, OP:

I won't know whether I am being precious or not..
My Answer: Yes. Yes you are being precious.

...(i mean she gets either jam sarnies or hoops on toast maybe once a week, the rest of the meals are fine).
My Comment: ONCE A BLOODY WEEK. So out of 7 days, she gets ONE jam sandwich or spaghetti hoops.

My DS, 3yrs, is also at the same nursery, but there's nothing much I can do to stop him eating jam sarnies, as he would want to eat what his friends eat. and as he eats fairly well most of the time he can afford to have the occassional junk.
My Comment: Your DS is at the SAME nursery, therefore he eats EXACTLY the same food as your DD. He must have been eating jam sandwiches long before she was born too...did you not think of it as an issue with him? This is why I feel you are being a bad influence on your DD. You are already stopping her from eating certain foods, but allowing your son to eat whatever he wants.

I dunno really. I was talking to a friend about it at the weekend and she was appalled at the jam sarnies, so got me thinking maybe I should say something to the manager.
My Comment: You say "I dunno"...Your FRIEND was appalled. Not you. SHE got you thinking. You have been influenced by someone else into thinking the ONE JAM SANDWICH is affecting your daughter's health. Are you trying to "fit in" to your friend's cliquey ways or something?

It's just there is NO nutritional value in jam sarnies..
My Comment: Ugh...must you use the word sarnie?! Yes, it may not be very healthy, but please refer to the above comment you made: It's ONCE a week!

As far as I am concerned you ARE calorie counting, and trying to plan out your DD's food to a T. It's not going to end very well if you continue to nag her carers or even her as she grows up about the food she's eating. Nip this attitude in the bud now OP.

[carmenelectra]

Oh my gawd! Is choceyes(and few other cronies) still talking shite about spaghetti hoops and jam?

Choceyes I see you seem appalled at another poster who occasionally gave her toddler mini cheddars and quavers.

WEll, sit yourself down love cos listen to this this. All of my children have eaten the same foods as us adults from as soon as they are old enough to sit at the table with us ie at weaning. Yes they have been in smaller quantities, but still the same foods. Even for a child under one, it doesn't take long for them to want a bit of whatever you are eating, if you all eat together(we do). So if we have had pizza, cake a bit of choc, ice cream, i have let them taste it too. They will soon twig that a carrot baton is not a chocolate finger. That is not to say every day that they had these foods, but they still had them.

Now my eldest dc is the most adventurous eater I have ever known. He will, and does try everything. He is a healthy weight and I totally trust him to choose a healthy option most of the time. His lunch bill at school is itemised and he often chooses jacket potatoes whereas I know his friends would pick chips. There is no need for him to pig out cos it is available if he wants it. His favourite meal is something containing fresh fish. Now as a toddler he had jam, crisps, biscuits the full works. Now I am sure someone is going to state that I dont know the long term effects on his health for exposing him to x,y and z. WEll, to be honest I am perfectly happy with the attitude that he has. No hang ups, no neurotic mother complaining to the school blah blah. He understands that junk is bad all of the time AND that neither is it a balanced diet if you eat just fruit and veg(or fun).

And choceyes are you really a scientist? Don't scientists have more important things to do than analyse jam sarnies?

[valiumredhead]

Just looked up St Dalfour website - no sugar but tons of grape juice concentrate which is still sugar unless I am very much mistaken, and some of the jams are only 55 % fruit. Anyone who kids themselves that they are healthy jams are deluded.

Not sure what my point is... Oh yes, I remember! Jam is jam however you like to dress it up

[exoticfruits]

I had to google Dafour to see what it was-I can't say that I saw it as superior. You do however only need a thin scraping.
The moral of the story is that when you view the nursery you ask searching questions about food.

[WeeLors]

Ok,
So dinner is in the oven right now and my 20mth old DS will be having fish fingers with sweet potato wedges (and a liberal dollop of tomato sauce if he has his way). This is not a particularly balanced meal but I'm not concerned.

1. because its occasional
   
2. because he's had porridge and fruit for his breakfast followed by homemade lentil and veg soup with savoury scones (containing potato, spring onion, carrot and broccolli) for his lunch with healthy snacks in between.
   
   I think what I'm trying to say is that if you're happy that your DDs diet on whole (inc what they give her at nursery at other times) is healthy and balanced then there's no need to worry about an occasional jam sandwich or spaghetti hoops.
   
   Although I do think YABU, I also think its a bit crap that people are being so nasty to you

[wordfactory]

A controlling Mum and a nursery will never be a good match.
End of.

[Acekicker]

Was it you that said your 13 month old DD ate chocolate buttons, quavers, mini cheddars, and something else I can't remember very occassionally in the past month? In that case, then all thse foods together very occassionally in a month, adds up to a lot of junk for a 13 month old baby IMO.

Ok - but if we're being 'educated' about this, let's do some maths about your child's nutrition and not that of other posters as if you want to go down that route it starts looking very like you're picking a fight and trying to brag about how fabulous your parenting is:

Assumptions:

• a 14 month old eats 3 meals a day
  
• they are also having snacks say twice a day
  
• 1 snack = 1/4 of a meal therefore in a day a child eats 3.5 meals
  
  Total number of meals eaten by child in a week = 7 x 3.5 = 24.5
  
  If the jam sandwiches are a 'meal' then as a % of a child's weekly food intake:
  
  (1 / 24.5)*100 = 4.1% of their entire week's nutrition is 'junk'
  
  If the sandwiches are a snack and followed later that evening by tea:
  
  (0.25 / 24.5)*100 = 1% of their entire week's nutrition is 'junk'
  
  If you like the nursery and are feeding your child 'not junk' the rest of the time then I'd say let it drop. Is it really that big a deal?

[NoobyNoob]

carmen I love you and want to have your babies.

Spot.

On.

[FontOfAllEvil]

Jam? Jam? JAM!!!!! ARGHHHHH....nooooooooooo not JAM!!!

FFS really? It's jam, not crack.

YABVU

[choceyes]

Carmenelectra - Good for you. Sounds like you have a great eater there in your DS. I have given a bit of cake for DD maybe once or twice since weaning. But my point is that she was given a whole jam sandwich at nurseyr, not a taste. OK maybe I am being precious and I kind of realise that now, but I still FIRMLY believe that there is no need for this kind of junk to be introduced this early even as a snack, a taste yes ofcourse. Last night we went out for dinner and she had a taste of icecream, not a portion of icecream.

I am a scientist. I am also a mother who is concerned about her baby daughter getting junk. Is that not allowed? Because I am a scientist i shouldn't be a mother? what a silly comment.

Mr.Blooks Nursery - When DS started at nursery I told them no sugar at all. They were happy to do that. Infact after a few months of starting, they did a review and took out all the sugary puddings out of their menu for under 2's. The jam sandwich is I think a recent addition to the afternoon snack menu.

Why would I want to count my daughter calories? I'm totally puzzled at that comment. She is a baby. She breastfeeds, who the hell knows of many calories she injests through that?!

Acekicker - thanks for the maths. You are right. I've decided not to say anything to nursery, as you point out it is a small proportion of her diet I guess (BUT I still believe that places like nurseries should not be giving out junk even occassionally...why should they? they have a full time chef...cook FGS, I don't pay them to smear some cheapy jam on a piece of bread)
In all other respects the nursery is great, so I've decided not to fight this particular battle.

[onefatcat]

How much jam can possibly be in a sandwhich?
And about 50% of the jam is pure fruit- full of vitamin c!

[MrBloomsNursery]

choceyes If that was your stance on the matter when DS started nursery, then why not bring it up with them again, before bringing your trials and tribulations about ONE jam sandwich to MN?

FWIW, I'm a Scientist too. Most other Scientists I know and have worked with, wouldn't give two hoots about things like this. I never sterilised my daughter's bottles or eating utensils, because I can't see the benefits of it, and neither did alot of other Scientists I know. Nothing wrong with a few germs to make the immune system stronger...nothing wrong with ONE jam sandwich either.

[choceyes]

not by the time it is made into jam, cooking the fruit destroys most of it's Vit C.

[choceyes]

You never sterilised her milk bottles, even when she was a newborn? I find that hard to believe.

[MrBloomsNursery]

No I never. I washed her bottles in hot soapy water. Bottles become unsterilised the second they hit the air, so what's the point? She wasn't premature, and she wasn't unhealthy, and she was also breastfed aswell, so had enough antibodies from me. I don't see the point of sterilising.

[wigglesrock]

A lot of people don't sterilise bottles anymore especially if they have a dishwasher, recommendations in countries such as USA and Canada I believe have changed. I don't sterilise past about 3 months and I've never sterilised feeding spoons, toys, dummies etc.

[WeeLors]

MrBloomsNursery and Majestic - spot on!! I'm also a "scientist" (there must be a lot of us on MN) and I feed my DS jam sandwiches and don't bother sterilising (if he drops something he's eating on the floor I just pick it up, blow off the fluff and give it back to him - nowt wrong with some good ol' immune building germs). He's not fat/malnourished and he's never been ill either

With all their health warnings the government has got us too scared to fart near our DC in case we make them too fat/too thin/ill/breach their human rights

[bruffin]

Somehow this boy managed to get to over 6ft living on jam sandwiches

Please note this is tongue in cheek and I am not advocating anyone just feeding their child jam sandwiches.

[Moominsarescary]

I'm still sterilising bottles at 7 months! Although ds was prem and it's more to do with dp wanting to sterilise them than me.

I do keep telling him that it makes no difference whatsoever now ds is rolling round the floor licking the carpet but nevermind

[Whatmeworry]

Bruffin - yup, DS1 is now a 6 footer and....(avert your eyes, those of sensitive disposition) ate jam sandwiches as a child, And DS2 plays rugby and did the same.

Deadly stuff, jam sarnies.....

[Whatmeworry]

I do keep telling him that it makes no difference whatsoever now ds is rolling round the floor licking the carpet but nevermind

Essential nutrients :o

(Still recall a c 12 M/O DS1 stuffing a spider in his gob and looking pleased as punch as spider legs flailed)