To think I should have control over what my son eats at nursery?

[booomy]

My 9 month old started nursery this week. There has been a few issues but the food has shocked me! It's a sure start centre with all 1's from ofsted.

The first day I went in, the babies (15 of them) were being spoon fed smushed up chips and pizza! I was really shocked, and the next day had a bit of a to-do with the senior leader about DS not having chips. Pizza is fine as long as its home-made bread with tomato sauce cheese and veggies. No harm in that. But in my mind it's weird to be feeding babies as young as 5months chips, even if they are oven baked!

I also said I didn't want DS having dessert. He soon learnt that after dinner was dessert and started refusing his food, so we cut it out. They made a big fuss about it (example is fruit crumble & custard/ice cream). But after speaking to the head teacher, they just give him bits of fruit from snack time (melon, strawberries etc) that he's fine with!

Fast forward to today (jubilee party). The babies were baking (if you can call it that) when we arrived. I plonked DS in the music area, which he loves and he sat there occupying himself. One of the staff asked if he could make a biscuit with icing and I said no! They were really annoyed at me :( they said before lunch they were having milk and biscuits, and DS would feel left out. I said I really didn't want him to have one. If he felt left out then he could have a small bit of a plain one. DS has never had anything with refined sugar before. if he ate a biscuit with icing then i think he'd either have a headache or be bouncing off the walls!

Would you let a 9 month old have a icing biscuit? An odd treat is okay, but not for babies. If he was 3 or 4 and wanted one its different. Do you think i'm within my rights to ask for him to have fruit instead of a dessert?

I would have no issue with the biscuit but would be unhappy about pizza and chips. I do think though that if you send your child to nursery you need to be more flexible and accept their decisions and choice or else move him.

fre by guiding the childs hands with the adult...by the child mixing their hands in the mixture and feeling it....by adding the ingredients in the childrens hands under guidance....it is actually quite alot of fun and the babies and small children love it....as an over zealous nurwsery nurse i used to go home covered in flour, butter etc but it was worth every minute to see a child have fun:)

If they have a bit of cake at nursery and not at home, does it really matter?
You are being very pfb from what I can see.

Hang on. They were spoon-feeding pureed pizza and chips? Are you absolutely sure???

I was preparing to be all "YABU"

But you aren't as little one is only 9 months old. So YANBU

Ask to see a copy of the menu. My childrens nursery give them out on a rotating 6 week basis. The menus have been planned and approved by peadiatric nutritionists to ensure they are well balanced. If there is genuinely something on their you object to ask for an alternative. That;s what i did (not cos of health reasons, just that kids hated fish so i said no fish)
That said, i personally don;t mind a bit of cake, or bicuits, or puddings etc. I think the key to getting kids to eat well balanced is just that - balanced. Make sure they are given heathly stuff 80% of the time and then the other 20% is not so bad. Also i agree with other posts - i was very uptight with my eldest (now 5) and not at all with my 4 year old - the 5 year old is now very fussy and the 4 year old eats anything - so in my view you need to relax a little. I think if you ban things and make an issue out of every sweet, pudding, biscuit etc it just adds to the attraction of them!
BTW, wait to primary school then you will realise how bad menus are.....

seeker op said it was smushed up...not pureed...there is a difference

Get a childminder instead, or look after him yourself. They have a lot of children to look after and can't change everything based on individual little niggles one parent might have, it would be ridiculous. They are feeding him adequately and he is having fun! If your going to be precious don't hand him over to strangers to be looked after.

and , my 2 used to do lots of 'baking' at nursery even under one. they loved it, icing biscuits, making cakes, decorating things and generally getting stuck in and very messy. I think its great - it encourages them to experiment with tastes and textures and doesn;t have to be all sweet things

Pizza and chips are on a rotational 3 week menu, not just for the jubilee. some of it is better, the rest is average. They are supposedly made up by a nutritionalist. we're veggie so i've looked a lot into DS's nutrition. The reason they gave for chips was carbs, but surely the wholemeal pizza base its a much better source of carbs than the chips? no need for it imo!

i'm glad some people agree that even though an occasional treat isn't too bad, it's not right for a 9 month old!

Doormat- she said "spoon fed". Which implies very mushed up!p

Yes OP, take a chill pill.

seeker doesnt mean it was pureed....mashed and pureed are completely different textures and you can spoon feed mashed food

I was going to say YABU but actually on reflection 9 months is young. DD1 was having those Ella kitchen biscuits or malted milk biscuits at that point and had had some chocolate buttons at xmas but otherwise there was minimal sugar in her diet.

By 18 months baking and eating said biscuits is a great nursery activity!

I retract pureed.

I still find it hard to believe that a nursery would be feeding 5 month old babies mashed pizza and chips.

Sugar highs are a myth. I can't believe you made such a fuss over an iced biscuit!

YABU. Chips are potatoes cooked in the oven and pizza is bread with tomato sauce and cheese. What's wrong with that?

A 9 month old wouldn't really be able to eat much biscuit, it would just be a tiny treat.

If you want to have that level of control over what your baby does during the day then keep him at home with you or send him to a childminder with a packed lunch. Otherwise you have to trust the nursery to do their best.

Pizza every 3 weeks? Hardly worth getting upset about is it. Surely you looked at the menus when looking into nurseries so knew this anyway?

Nurseries can't provide a different meal for everyone, they can do do cater for special dietary requirements but you have to be realistic as to what you expect beyond that.

Some people agree, some don't. You clearly are not looking for your opinion to be changed, just for vindication. Maybe try the baby board/weaning/somewhere where people are in the same boat as you?

By the time you have got to number 3 or 4, or your children have started school and have never bounced off the wall from having a biscuit, you tend to be a bit more laid back.

IMO, an occasional treat is OK, even for a 9mo. But that is just my opinion and you did ask. YABU.

At the nursery my boys both attended, I could see the menu, and give a list of foods I wanted them to avoid. Both were at nursery from 6 months, so were weaning, and it meant that I could introduce food at a controlled pace.

BUT (and it is a big BUT), my ultimate aim was to get them onto a full diet, for social reasons. I come from a from a family with lots of food issues, and I wanted my children to be relaxed and confident at meal times.

In your position, I would read through the menu, ask them to avoid the odd things you really don't like (like the chips with pizza - agree, it is completely pointless!), and just relax about the rest. I actually think that puddings are very important, so would relax about that.

Blimey, um, you sound like a barrel of laughs

I don't get what the problem is with chips and pizza.

I agree with you about the lunch - which is why DS takes a packed lunch to the CM - but I'd have let him have fun with the biscuit :)

pizza and chips - it just seems wrong. Two lots of carbs. Why?

I don't think pizza and chips is appropriate for a 9 month old, but if you've got no alternative child care you're going to become "that fussy mother" that the staff roll their eyes at behind your back, so you're going to have to lower your standards a little.

DD has been in nursery since 12 months and here is an example of their menu:

Shepherds Pie with Mixed Vegetables
Roast Turkey/Chicken/Beef with Roast Potatoes and mixed Vegetables
Sausage Pasta with Vegetables
Spaghetti Bolognese
Stew and Dumplings
Fish with Mashed Potatoes & Baked Beans
Vegetarian Pasta Bake with Vegetables
Mild Curry with Rice
Macaroni Cheese
Lasagne

They do a 20 meals on a 4 weekly rotation which is pinned on the notice board. There's nothing I wouldn't be happy for her to have from this list. They get fruit and/or yoghurt for dessert, but the parents have been asked to take in "party food" for the Jubilee next week and I wouldn't mind if she has cake/biscuits then. Everything in moderation.