to give ill DS who wont eat a McDonalds?

[streakyfalsetan]

thats it really, ear infection, bad cough, high temp. Not eaten properly for nearly a week. Out of desperation I bought him a Happy Meal (usually has them as a treat maybe once a month) in the week and he ate about half of it.

Not really eaten properly since then, am so desperate for him to eat something Im edging towards getting him another McDs today for his dinner. One part of me thinks if he is that hungry he should eat whatever I make him but I keep thinking that when Im ill there are only certain things I fancy so why should a 3 year old be any different?

I wouldnt even eat two in a week but AIBU to do it just this once just so he has eaten something?

Yanbu something is better than nothing.

Fast-food isn't unhealthy unless eaten to excess and to the exclusion of things like fruit and veg. Unless you're planning on putting him on a Happy Meal-only diet ... don't worry.

Slippery slope imo, I would just give him easy to eat things like toast, fruit, yoghurt etc. Or ask him what he would like to eat?

I'd give him a McDonalds. I'm with Rhino and her Mum, give them what they like when they are ill and off their food.

My Mam used to say 'a little bit of what you fancy does you good'. So go for it!

Obviously I'm a very mean mummy...

I'm in Rhino's Mum and Stratters camp. Eat what you fancy when you're ill. I hardly think it's a slippery slope, once mine get their appetite properly back after a bout of illness and mild indulgence they'll eat everything and anything anyway.

Another vote for eat whatever you can eat when ill.

When my children are ill they get given whatever they will actually eat (in their case usually their body weight inyoghurt) and it has never had a negative long term effect on their eating. As soon as they are well again usual rules resume and that is accepted by all.

Go for it.

Mcdonalds isn't that bad really, it's not like you will give him it every day!

Stranded dont get me wrong I love a McDs, I was just a bit at twice in a week for a 3 yo but was thinking along the lines of others in that owt is better than nowt.

Wont be taking him in, will go to the drive thru so we dont have to mix with the general public

feel a bit ill myself actually.....

YABU even to ask - sugary salty energy dense over flavoured food is bang on the money in this situation and it's only a slippery slope if you lack the parenting strength to say "that was a special situation because you needed tempting energy dense food to help you get better" later on.

yanbu - good to be eating if having pain killers etc.

plus sometimes i can go ages without eating but eating something small kick starts my hunger again. hard to explain!

McDonalds beef is organic. It's better than I buy at home... Just don't eat the chicken.

String - I like your reasoning!

Giraffes - yes hes on calpol, nurofen and ABs, not really happy at all that going in without any food to buffer it

Go for it. DD had nothing but McDonalds chips for a week once due to surgery recovery and I was just grateful she was swallowing something.

(She went 24 hours with no fluids or meds or even swallowing spit properly and ended up back in A&E)

He needs something to give him the energy to fight the bugs.

Hope he's better soon.

YANBU - another vote for 'normal rules don't apply' in this kind of situation. DS used to get tonsillitis with alarming regularity and we never had any problems getting him back onto 'normal' eating after indulging the 'anything goes' approach whilst he was ill/recovering.

Go for it. We lived overseas, and DS was fading away from the heat and strange food. He had McD several times a week for the last month and probably goes there twice a year now.

I'm not a parent yet - just to give that caveat first!

But...on the very rare occasions I have a Macdonalds, or BK or KFC or whatever, it makes me physically sick within a couple of hours. As in, I physically throw it all up and my stomach retches and retches until it's all gone, much like your body does when it's trying to expel any other kind of virus/bug/poisonous hangover alcohol.

I'm not judging anyone that eats fastfood but from my experiences with it, if it does that to my body, there's no way I'm going to offer it to my child when he/she is here. I'm not against so-called unhealthy foods - I eat a lot of fry-ups and full fat things and totally reject the low-fat advice given to us for years.

But I know what fastfood does to me, what the crap in it is and does and I just will never give that to my children.

Give it to him.

When DD was sick all the kids on the wards lived on McDs. Lots and lots of calories which is what they needed.
Plus all that salt/sugar/fat is what jaded, poorly tastebuds need.

I always imagined I would be stuffing my child with organic salad and pulses if they ever got seriously ill. Reality is you just want to get food into them.

Bless you betty and fair play for prefacing your experience with I'm not a parent yet, but

hahahahahahhahahahahahhahahahahahhahahahahahhahahahahahhahahahah

As an adult, I know there are certain foods I tend to 'fancy' when I am unwell. And generally speaking, I (or more likely DH) will indulge that fancy because you need to eat something to break the cycle of not eating = feel poorly = not eating = feel worse etc. Sometimes it just takes a couple of 'indulgences' to get there. Why should a child be any different? Let him have what he will eat at the moment. As he gets better you can get back to the healthy stuff.

Hope he feels better soon.

Good luck with that then Betty.