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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

to ask you what are the feeding rules for a 2 year old?

53 replies

Cailinsalach · 04/08/2013 14:25

I am very excited (tena lady emocion). My dgd is coming to visit me for a week. It will be the first time on our own since she was a few months old.
So what should I feed her? Or rather, what should I avoid?
I often see disparaging remarks about Fruit Shoots. Is weak squash ok? Milk? Fizzy pop is out, I know that one.
I thought dinners like cottage pie, pasta, lots of vegetables and lean meat. Fruit for pudding, occasional ice cream for a treat.
Is tinned tuna ok? Fish fingers?(I worry about bones you see). Where do we stand on cheese and yoghurts?
Lord, I hope she survives! My lovely DIL is so good to let me have her and I would hate to hand her back in less than perfect condition.
So what do you think? What are the unobvious no nos?

OP posts:
Beastofburden · 04/08/2013 15:53

Have a lovely lovely time and wash her hands after the chickens.... Best to ask your dil, but if you think (choking and sugar/ salt) avoidance, you can't go far wrong.

HorryIsUpduffed · 04/08/2013 15:58

What everyone said about cutting up choking hazards and no added salt, and checking if she has any particular fads or preferences.

Two year olds just eat food in my house Grin but in surprising quantities Hmm and not always neatly.

Cailinsalach · 04/08/2013 16:02

Course you can Mrs TerryP!(Disclaimer: I am in the arsehole of the countryside. Nearest shop is a mile and a half away. Lots of country air and associated country smells. My social life is determined by the death announcements after the 10 o'clock morning news on the local radio.)
I have sent DIL a text for a list of foods, she replied that she thinks dgd will like all of my cooking.
Thanks everyone, much appreciated.

OP posts:
MrsTerryPratchett · 04/08/2013 16:10

Hooray. I'm packing my bags right now. I'll sneak out while DD is sleeping.

Honestly, you sound lovely and I'm sure DGD will love it there.

SoldAtAuction · 04/08/2013 16:11

You sound like the nicest grandmother Smile I am sure you will have a great time with your grandchild!

Beastofburden · 04/08/2013 16:18

A lovely gm but also a very nice mother in law... You have years of happy family life ahead of you, with your respectful attitude to your dil and your care to do the right thing by your GC. Enjoy!

BornToFolk · 04/08/2013 16:24

Ah, you sound lovely! I'm sure your DGD will have a great time.

Don't forget about snacks if you are spending all day out and about. It's well worth keeping a few things that travel well (apple, boxes of raisins, oat cakes, biscuits etc) in your bag in case the need arises. Nothing worse than a hungry grumpy toddler!

Wholetthedogin · 04/08/2013 16:27

has any one said yogurts? A that age DD had them daily - several if I allowed her!

have a great time

DiseasesOfTheSheep · 04/08/2013 17:08

You're adorable, I fancy coming to visit too! Grin

Can't advise you myself as children are "the undiscovered country" for me (scary wee devils, if sometimes very loveable, makes you wonder what I'm doing on here really!) but good luck and I hope you have a lovely time. What a lucky dgd Smile

Catsize · 04/08/2013 17:57

How lovely. Wish mine had such keen grandparents! Mum lives six miles away and has babysat once in 19mths! For 90mins during the day. Under duress! Grin Other grandparents not much further and have yet to babysit.
Re:yoghurts, Plum do some very nice sugar-free petit filous type things. If parents are funny about sugar. We are a bit, but are getting more lazy relaxed.
Enjoy! It is exhausting. Dextrose on stand-by...

Catsize · 04/08/2013 17:57

Dextrose for you obviously. Goodness knows what would happen to a 2yr old on energy sweets! Shock

lillibet1 · 04/08/2013 22:15

i take it this is a joke which is very good

if not I have a 2 year old he eats what we do except less salt sugar and no booze

at 2 you so not need to cut grapes ( i haven't since he was a year) or tomatoes

seeds are fine and the whole nuts thing is they are a good eater I also would not worry to much.

I am sure I am about to get flamed and that my DS will choke him self but there you go

stopgap · 04/08/2013 22:32

lillibet my friend feeds her 2-year-old DD whole nuts, toomarcona almonds, mostly but I'm too much of a nervous nelly. My DS had grilled calamari for the first time yesterday, and I even cut that up quite a bit, as I worried about the "rubbery" texture and it getting stuck in his throat Blush

Yes, most two-year-olds are fussy when it comes to food. Mine will devour all sorts of strong-flavoured foods, such as olives, sardines, kale with garlic, capers etc., but no way will he eat potatoes in any form other than chips. So do check. Your menu sounds great, though. As others have said, make sure you have plenty of snacks on hand.

noblegiraffe · 04/08/2013 22:38

NHS recommends no whole nuts to under fives. Most children choking deaths involve food. Grapes, nuts, and hot dog sausages are big culprits.

RNJ3007 · 04/08/2013 22:51

Can I clone you to replace my MIL?! Sounds like you DGD will be in very capable hands! Enjoy!

My DD would absolutely adore your food ideas and plans!

monkeymamma · 04/08/2013 23:03

Reading this with interest as my ds is on his way to being 2. (OP you sound lovely btw, hope u have fun with dgd!)

I have a question re salt. Everyone seems to advocate no salt in cooking, which I observe religiously, and this is no problem as I wouldn't normally add it anyway. However I do normally use stock cubes which I've replaced with Heinz baby stock or Kallo very low salt stock cubes. But I just want to gauge how strict you lot are with this. For instance someone up thread mentioned frankfurters which I would have imagined to be much more salty than slightly salted cooking iyswim. Cheese, olives, hummus are all salty but seem to get okayed as toddler food. Ditto most cereals (eg rice crispies Cheerios, etc) have pretty high salt content but people feed them to toddlers. Any thoughts?! (Sorry, know I should put this in a different section but I thought, well, while we're on the subject...)

noblegiraffe · 04/08/2013 23:07

No salt in cooking for babies. One they are one, the maximum amount of salt they can have doubles from 1g to 2g. When they're 4 it's 3g. So people tend to relax a bit.

HorryIsUpduffed · 04/08/2013 23:29

The general point is that many foods are naturally salty even if you don't taste the salt (including breast milk) so you should never add salt to other foods, either during cooking or at the table.

Mind you, that's good advice for most adults too!

gordyslovesheep · 04/08/2013 23:36

feeding rules for a two year old...make sure you do. full stop. end of Grin

xylem8 · 04/08/2013 23:39

Full fat diet at that age too.

hamab · 05/08/2013 00:22

They have quite small tummies so tend to eat small portions with a small snack in between meals - e.g. a plain biscuit or some fruit or a few cubes of cheese.

I used stock cubes in cooking but I wouldn't give something that's obviously laden in salt like a bag of crisps.

Think about the size of treats in proportion to her body size and don't give them just before a meal.

With fish, i just fork through it to make sure there are no bones e.g. with a bit of salmon. Fish fingers are usually fine i think.

Soft food like tender meat, fish, pasta, cottage pie - all sound good. I wouldn't give mine a lump of steak for example because she'd give up on chewing it.

Just get some childrens' yoghurts in and a small amount of mild cheddar would probably go down well.

Drinks- maybe ask what she usually has because it varies a lot with people. Mine had watered down squash but a lot of people don't like their dc having it. Some just have water or milk or watered down fruit juice.

I wouldn't give any dc that wasn't mine nuts - just in case. Allergies can start at any age and the nuts one can be very serious. Although unlikely I just wouldn't take the risk.

And just be aware of the choking hazzard. Chop food up small, just to be on the safe side. We were asked at pre-school age from 3 to 5 to still halve grapes and cherry tomatoes.

Get in the habit of having all food and drink including snacks at the table as even a dry biscuit will get mushed into your furniture otherwise.

The sort of thing mine ate at that age was jacket potato, spaghetti bolognaise, risotto with just a bit of chicken and a few peas, omlette, macaroni cheese, casserole and mashed potato, salmon and veg, cottage pie. Perhaps a sandwich for lunch. Puddings would be a petit filou type yoghurt, jelly with fruit, or just fruit or perhaps some custard.

I hope you have a lovely time. I'm sure she'll let you know if she doesn't like something.

Canidae · 05/08/2013 00:41

No advice but I hope you both have a wonderful time together!

Beastofburden · 05/08/2013 11:24

lillibet2, its your own kid so I guess you can take choking risks if you want to. I think what you do is at the very brave end of normal. The OP wants to be super-careful, so I wouldnt advise her to follow your advice about grapes etc.

monkeymamma, agree with you on salt levels in cereals, cheese, etc. I think sometimes people are shocked when they eventually read the labels, to see what is in these foods. Cereals are difficult IMHO. Apart from weetabix, they all have disadvantages- and what kid eats weetabix? Porridge was my solution to that one.

DanceParty · 05/08/2013 11:26

I'd try asking her mother before I attempted to feed her anything!!

Turry · 05/08/2013 12:53

Oh my god, please, please can I clone you too OP?! You are the gm I dream of for my dd!

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