To think nurseries' lunches should be fairly healthy

[Shimbo]

I am not sure if IABU or not as I am fairly new to the whole nursery thing as my 2.5y old daughter has just started a few weeks ago. She does a couple of mornings a week and stays for lunch. At home she eats pretty healthily, I try and limit sugar given she is still quite young and has a 1y old sister who wants whatever she is having. So I felt a bit miffed when I picked her up from nursery today to see the kids with chocolate ice cream and fruit shoots. Aren't fruit shoots laden with sugar?

At home they usually have yoghurt or fruit for pud and never sugary drinks, mostly water and a bit of diluted fruit juice. She does have ice cream/cake/crisps/biscuits but very occasionally, usually at someone's house or at parties.

And how would I go about telling the nursery that I'd rather she just had water to drink - and no icecream, which would be awful if all the others were having it!

You're clearly keen on your children eating healthily - so why didn't you ask for a copy of the menu and ask whay their healthy eating policies are, before you chose that nursery?

Good question MsVestibule, I didn't. Maybe I should have :/ I guess I should relax a little more perhaps.

How would a nursery afford fruitshoots??

3/10 and a jam sandwich.

My response may have come across a bit harsher than I intended . There's a lot to think about when choosing a nursery, and perhaps you just assumed that, given the government's "encouragement" of healthy eating, nurseries wouldn't be providing sugar laden snacks and drinks. FWIW, I do think you should ask the nursery manager for a copy of the menu (our nursery gives me a copy every time it changes, and it's a hell of a lot better than they eat at home!) and maybe you'll see that the rest of it is well balanced.

oh gawd.. here we go again...

Is that the time.... Greggs might have some pasties left..

Do they serve jam sandwiches?
That is the most important question.

Actually, this surprised me at our nursery too.

And I did ask about it at each of the nurseries I visited when looking for DS.

Response at our nursery was that there is no added sugar or salt, everything cooked fresh on site. We evidently have a different definition of 'cooked fresh'.

Menus for the week are displayed in the entrance and look good.

I was really impressed until the day I picked DS up and he had a rash around his mouth, at the time he had a minor allergy to tomatoes (about 10 months old at the time). Asked if he'd had tomatoes that day and transpired that potato wedges and dips = oven wedges and ASDA tomato ketchup.

More sugary puddings and processed food than I would have expected and chocolate or sweet treats. Cordial.

None of it is the end of the world and I haven't mentioned it but yes - I was disappointed and no, I don't think YABU.

PS depending on which type of fruitshoot it was, I wouldn't be happy at all.

Is it nursery food week?

Two lunches a week, I would relax about it.

Fruit shoots aren't crap due to sugar IMO it's the sweetners. Am surprised a nursery would give them. I would say something.

Yeap, I have just seen the other posts re. nursery food. Funnily enough a jam sandwich would not annoy me as much as a fruitshoot and ice cream! Thanks for your replies....I will be having a chat with them and get a copy of their menu.

Bloody hell. Don't you women ASK the nursery what they're feeding your children? Our's has a menu in the entrance stating exactly what they will eat each day, maybe suggest they put one up for parents too?
TBH, I wouldn't be overjoyed with a fruitshoot either but only because I know it makes DD hyper.

Oh yes, I did go a couple of times at DD's nursery. Frigging baked beans on toast, which = sugar and salt on salt.

And a pudding after each lunch. I opted out of that. Seriously, I would be squeezing my arse through the door if I ate a pudding after each lunch.

My DD's nursery have a pudding after each lunch...it normally consists of an orange, pear or other fruit. DD thought an orange was called a pudding up until about 2 years

are baked beans on toast bad now?
My DD doesn't have sweet things at Nursery yet as she is only 11months old and they are luckily quite strict in the baby room. DS has a hot pudding every day at school which worried me for a while but he eats well at home (or so I thought, beans? really?) and we can't keep weight on the boy so i have chilled out. I would not be happy about the Fruit Shoots at all though or the ice cream if it was more than very occasionally, it seems a bit much for a 2.5 year old

why are people so anal about fruit shoots

Well, have a look at the ingredients/ nutritional value of baked beans. High in carbohydrates (sugar) and high in salt. Of course you can sift through different brands and find the best option but I somehow doubt the buyer for the nursery does that. It would never ever occur to me pre- and post-baby that it's considered healthy baby food. Their USP is that the are cheap and filling, which is fine for an adult, I have them myself once a week as I'm on a tight budget. But not for a tiny baby.

oops! I wouldn't call them baby food either but DD has had them on occasion. When My PFB was tiny i mad my own in homemade sauce with wilted spinach blitzed into the sauce. But i didn't have anything better to do back then [hsmile]

Re: Fruitshoots. i don't like sweetners especially for my young DC

I wish we could have a topic entitled 'Nursery Food Snobs' then I could hide it and stop these ridiculous threads taking over my active convos.

Tin of Tesco Value beans from my cupboard - half a can - 9.5g of sugar and 1.3g of salt. Babies' salt allowance - max. 1g per day and more importantly throughtout the day so not in one hit. So give a baby half a can and they have more salt than their kidney can take.

BTW - Heizn are even worse offenders, although not by much that's why I bought value. 10g of sugar and 1.4g of salt per half a tin.

Oh and toast - a lot of salt in a slice. Again have a look at the packaging of your loaf. To provide DD with wheat I make pancakes. Of course bread is good but not everyday twice a day (I am talking about babies and even toddlers).

Sorry, i'm finished now, it's just a pet hate of mine - loads of crap is hidden in everyday foods, esp. sugar and salt, even where you wouldn't expect them.

I'm not a food snob . I don't mind that they serve them a slice of pizza every couple of weeks . And MrBloomsNursery - unfortunately I mean puddings. OK they are home made, etc, no one is saying they are fried Mars but still. They have fruit for snacks and DD has hers after meals too. Are you saying that the nursery staff don't love me behind my back?

BTW I'm joking re: pizza - a bit of cheese and tomato hasn't killed anyone.

My DD couldn't eat half a tin of beans . I do keep her an eye on her salt intake and check the amounts in things. She has no more than one slice of bread a day (a considerable amount still ends up on the floor anyway) and not even everyday. Good, I can relax again... a quarter of a tin of beans once a week or so fits with my dubious child rearing standards[hgrin]. I shared a Lasagne with her when we went out for lunch the other day and that was salty, I was concerned for her poor little kidneys then... I wonder how BLWers get on when eating out?