to think nesquick whole grain cereal, fat free milk and no added sugar juice is relatively healthy for a fussy eater

[twistedsista]

Hi,

My 7 year old Ds is a very fussy eater, tried everything!

I would love it if he would eat kale with cottage cheese on rice cakes for breakfast but get real no child eats perfectly like that.

Today he had a normal sized bowl of whole grain nesquick cereal with skimmed milk.I know it has some sugar in it but its only about the same as a banana and to counter this he has a glass of sugar free orange squash. Both the cereal and juice have added vitamins. Does everyone else agree this is pretty healthy and realistic breakfast?

Thanks

Marie

Why fat-free milk?

I never have cereal. Neither do 3 of my children & I don't like this thread, either. It's a really small issue, no? This belongs in chat or maybe a food topic as an intellectual exploration at most.

Judging by the large double aisles of cereal in UK supermarkets, cereal-loathing is definitely a minority pastime.

Sorry - didn't RTFT. Still think ff milk would be better.

When did the healthy eaters get obsessed with what people ate thousands of years ago? I keep seeing references to this berries and roots crap - I'm pretty certain that nutrition then was shit and malnutrition was rife.

DS1 was one of those toddlers who ate just about everything (except avocado!). It's only as he got older and some foods gave him a tummy ache and the textures of those he wasn't so keen on became more of an issue as his milk teeth came loose fell out and he developed anxiety related eating issues that little problems emerged and became big problems. His repertoire is wide but not particularly deep.

DS2 is in another league altogether. Even getting him interested in food as a baby was a mammoth task. He gagged on purees and wouldn't touch solid foods to feed himself. Without our efforts, he'd have ended up living on toast, chips and biscuits. Breadcrumbs really were a lifesaver, there. Between breadcrumbs and peanut butter, we got some good protein into his brown diet. Now he's 8, he still rejects veg outright and eats minimal fruit (though would eat a whole bag of raisins if we let him) but will at least tuck into meat, fish and eggs and melted cheese. And he still loves peanut butter. He has moved on from oven chips to chips or wedges made in my actifry, or roasties and the occasional baked potato (though not if it's too waxy). He's tried to eat pasta - we've tempted him with the crispy cheesy bits off the top of a bake and we did get him eating pasta based meals, for a while, but he never managed to eat much of it and went right off it again.

Present either boy with a plate full of unacceptable food and they'll leave the room and not come back until they know the coast is clear. DS1 would probably turn some furniture over on the way.

notso yours sounds very similar to my ds3, even the same age.

We do pretty much what you do, some nights things we know he will eat, other nights we know he probably wont.

On the nights its food he wont eat I always put something on their he will eat, eg peas. He is slowely starting to try other foods again

There

But now far can you take that mrs w, how long would you be feeding cucumber? Because that sounds like a blip to me rather than a sustained period.

Every medical professional I have ever spoken to has told me to get calories in him, every one.

I would have been delighted to see DS tucking into a plate of chips at some points.

And of course it's s hell of a lot quicker to make a cereal than cook egg mushroom and beans, if you even want something that heavy first thing in the morning.

Exactly Notso

Fussy DD doesn't like a lot of junk food, loves fish, fruit and salad (she also loves cakes and biscuits, but I don't overindulge her on them). She also loves anchovies and olives, Greek, Indian and Italian food, but she is still fussy. If she slightly doesn't like something she won't eat it.

There is still too much smuggery on here. Bully for the parents who give their children a full cooked breakfast in the morning. Shoving some cereal in a bowl or toasting some bread is less time consuming than cooking breakfast. I need to get ready for work and DD out of the house by 7.35 and I get up early enough.

Littlebearpad A home made pizza is healthier than toast with butter on. OH makes ours completely from scratch so they are low salt and low fat. We always serve salad with pizza so it isn't an unhealthy meal in our house.

Harold - how is an egg and mushroom heavier than say a weetabix?

Sorry but if you haven't 5 mins spare to make decent breakfast then you need to rearrange morning. Even if I did have cereal ie granola it would take 5 mins to pour granola, chop fruit, add yogurt/ milk, crush nuts, get drink etc. eggs you do nothing to, just wait 5 mins. No chopping/ mixing/ crushing

Surely the same can be said for dinner. We all get home around 7pm. We don't then all just eat toast as no time, just eat later than most in uk as cook regular meal

Artandco

Stop being so smug!

I sometimes make my own granola. It takes seconds to put it in the bowl and pour milk over it. None of us fancies fruit first thing in the morning, and tend to stack up the fruit veg intake at lunch and the evening meal.

Bun - hardly being smug. Just can't work out how no one possible has 5 mins etc time. Get up 5 mins earlier if not. It's hardly hours earlier. Feed your family shit if you like, but don't use time as an excuse. We also work 11-12 hr days so this is crap excuse

I think a lot iof mothers on the thread who find other mothers feed their children different foods feel threatened by that. They shouldn't. Most of the nation eats rubbishy foods and 60% are obese and many heading for diabetes and the rest. That is our norm,. Don't beat yourself up over it but don't con yourself that all this junk is good food. We have lost sight of normal good food sadly.

I think it can really help not to be fussing over the child. If you work full time and other people feed the child there is much less chance than if it has a parent whose whole justification/existence is the child as there is less attention on it. If you don't even know if your child has eaten or what it ate then these eating troubles are much less common. Make sure as they get older they cook for themselves too. I am sure my 3 sons (2 teenagers) make al ot of their own meals from scratch is because I have better things to do than fuss over what people eat although we have lots of nice debates about current science on these things. In fact they had a recent project on sugar v fat at school. Good fats nicely won.

I'm really puzzled - I was told by hv that you give full fat up to two years then semi skimmed. From 5 they can have skimmed (although I've stuck with semi).
To be fair I had a healthy lunch and dinner as a child but breakfast was coco pops or chocolate spread on toast. I am slim and healthy. Amazing how I survived judging by this thread!

The HV are about 5 years behind the science. Most parents who read up on these issues know that high good fats are very good for health. It is the reason we've ruined our health in the uK by going for low fat/high sugar/carbs over the last 40 years. It is the worst thing public health has done on this planet, sadly and it will take a generation before many health professionals will be prepared to read the current science and accept their mistake.

wow art I'm impressed, you even have time to post on mn .

what is granola?

how can a nut be both whole and grated?

sorry I see my granola question has been answered. so muesli? with added syrup?

Cereals like Jordans are granola. Basically it is toasted oats with nuts, seeds and dried fruit. It is healthy, but doesn't taste "worthy" or like cardboard.

I make it occasionally when I remember to, otherwise I buy it.

Many of the vitamins in milk are fat soluable - so remove the fat and you remove the vitamins. So semi-skimmed milk is always preferable, at least for children.

I don't give my children artificial sweeteners. I know it is contentious, but I'm not happy with them - google aspartame, have a read and decide for yourself. I think a diluted fruit juice is much more "healthy" or at least 'real'.

These days I try to have a "Don't drink calories" general ethos (with the obvious exception of wine for me of course ) which more generally works out as "don't drink sugar". So we generally stick to drinking water and SS milk (yes I know milk has calories but it's not a sugary drink). The DD's occasionally have some diluted juice in the weekends, and they will have whatever is going, fizzy or otherwise at parties.

My kids eat cereals about 3 times a week - with semi-skimmed and a side of fruit. I try to get the ones on the lower end of the sugar spectrum and find own brands have less sugar in them than the main brands. Bring on the winter when they will have porridge again - they did get a bit porridged out though.

Personally I am a cereal loather, though I do like a natural sugar free nutty muesli sometimes.

We did homemade soups for a while for breakfast. Made thick soup, blitzed it smooth, popped in the fridge. Next day, fill half a cup with soup, top up with boiling water from the kettle and served with buttered bread or crackers. Easiest breakfast eva.

Well no, whole milk is always preferable over semi-skimmed. Even for adults.

This morning mine had x2 boiled eggs, beans and grilled mushrooms. Eggs 5 mins in pan, beans in microwave at same time, baby mushrooms whole under grill. I helped ds2 get dressed, poured milk in glasses, and laid table in that time

Wonderful, bully for you . DD doesn't eat eggs in any form, nor mushrooms (or bacon, tomatoes or hash browns). She also doesn't eat porridge, or fruit toast.

I get up at 0530. I walk the dog until 0630. I get a shower and get dressed, DD gets a shower and gets dressed. I make toast for me, cereal for her and we are in the car by 0745.

I don't have time to make a cooked breakfast (unless I leave the pot/grill dirty all day), nor to chop fruit or grate nuts or whatever.

A bowl of cereal or slice of toast is quick and easy to make, quick and easy to eat and quick and easy to wash up.