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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

Aibu to give my dc 3 weetabix?

148 replies

Mumof3xox · 13/07/2014 07:32

Following on from the thread about a 3 year old weighing a little too much where several people have commented it's "crazy" to let a 3 year old eat 2.5 weetabix, and how they themselves as an adult would only eat one

I am now wondering Aibu to let my 5&6 year olds eat 3 each? Sometimes they follow it with a piece of toast or fruit

They are both healthy weights and tbh, in the past they have eaten 4/5 each. I have actually cut them down to three as it was costing a bomb!

Actually. Aibu that my 15 month old eats 2 weetabix sometimes?

OP posts:

tobysmum77 · 14/07/2014 20:44

I think we should turn it into a competition - how many weetabix can your dc eat?

8 weetabix really? Its hardly balanced is it?

And whether children are overweight or not good eating habits are important. These 'skinny' or actually normal weight children will mostly be oversight once they are adults. 2/3 of current adults are. ....

HavanaSlife · 14/07/2014 20:57

I can't eat any, think they are repulsive

ThatBloodyWoman · 14/07/2014 21:05

I think its a shame they stopped all those cereals with little sweeties in them.

Now I add broken up refreshers and some golden syrup to their sugar puffs just as a little sweetener.

I get opaque water bottles for school too so the teachers can't see the coke.

newrecruit · 14/07/2014 22:16

My DS can get through an entire bag of brioche thingies at pickup and still eat a full dinner.

How on earth can you tell he's going to be overweight as an adult and not an award winning triathlete?

Aberchips · 14/07/2014 22:33

3 weetabix is much better than a great deal of other things they could be eating!
I used to eat 3 weetabix for breakfast when I was 5/6 - but not much else during the day. Think my mother encouraged me on the basis that I was getting some nourishment from it.

YANBU.

Loopylala7 · 14/07/2014 23:19

So long as they're a healthy weight who cares how many weetabix they eat?! Worse foods are available...

WorraLiberty · 14/07/2014 23:33

When I was growing up, 2 Weetabix seemed to be standard for a child and maybe 3 for an adult.

Same with Shredded Wheat. In fact there was an advert in the 80s with the slogan "Bet you can't eat 3", and actually most people I knew couldn't eat 3.

I think portion sizes have changed over the years for just about everything.

Each to their own but I never wanted to pack too much food into my kids during one sitting. After they'd eaten two, I would remove them from their highchairs and just play with them/distract them.

If I'd offered them more food instead, they probably would have eaten it but they certainly wouldn't have needed to. A lot of babies/young kids will eat the amount offered just because it's offered IYSWIM?

As an adult, I still cant eat more than two. My 22yr old DS would probably eat 3 but he wouldn't be eating toast/bananas etc as well.

I think if you pack it in from an early age, it's going to take more to fill you as you get older.

ThatBloodyWoman · 14/07/2014 23:37

I do think there's a lot to be said for saying to your dc's that what they've had is plenty and they need to wait for it to go to their tummies.

memememum · 15/07/2014 01:46

My 2.5 yr old has recently told me that he when it's his turn to have a party (he and his sister have been to a spate of them lately) he wants his to be a 'weetabix party' (other themes mentioned have been 'blue' and 'train').

He has 2.5 for breakfast and is extremely slim, very tall and endlessly physically active.

bragmatic · 15/07/2014 05:53

Sometimes my 7 year old doesn't finish the two he is served. Other days he has 4. My daughter eats like a bird at breakfast. My other daughter will polish off two pieces of toast topped with avocado or banana, or egg.

I'm more concerned my kids stop when they've had enough, rather than the actual amount on any given day.

MrsKoala · 15/07/2014 07:53

Worra - That's interesting. I'm exactly the opposite. I feed DS till he's full (i wouldn't start with lots but if he asks for more he can have it) just like DH and i would eat.

How on earth does a 22yo man get all his calories in a day if he only has a 200 calorie breakfast? (Genuinely question, i am always struggling to meet our calorific needs)

I asked upthread but no one answered - how do you get 12-1400 calories a day into your 2-3yo on only a 200 cal breakfast?

Trazzletoes · 15/07/2014 08:55

Koala I count my own calories but not the DCs. I just watch their body shape to see if they are eating too much/ too little. DS has food issues anyway so is supplemented by an NG tube feed. I can always put extra calories (it looks like liquid lard) down his tube if he's been a bit light. DD tends to eat most of what she's given so I size portions appropriately.

WorraLiberty · 15/07/2014 08:57

I don't know MrsKoala. Never in my life have I counted calories for me or the kids. We just eat fairly healthy food until we're full and by not eating huge amounts in one sitting, I guess it takes less to make us full?

I'm guessing if he has breakfast around around 7.30am, he'll have a banana/yogurt at his 11am tea break as he takes them to work.

My Mum had 5 of us and I can't say I ever remember her thinking about calories or recommendations either. We just ate fresh, home cooked food and snacked on fruit if we were hungry in between.

HavanaSlife · 15/07/2014 09:05

I never thought of calorie counting what the dc eat either, lots of people have said their dc eat a big breakfast but not much lunch so the same could be asked of them.

I wouldnt count calories for the dc unless I thought they looked under/over weight possibly not even then

MrsKoala · 15/07/2014 09:12

I know i'm a bit anxious insane about it. But DS has never really drank milk (stopped most of it at 4mo and then never drank a drop again after 8mo) so i have had to make sure he gets all his nutrition and calories from food. He's now 22mo and i am just used to making sure he gets 400 cals with each meal (we don't snack either - well, only biscuits occasionally).

DH has about 3300 cals a day and i have 2400 - I found we were hungry after eating 'normal' portions and worked out our expenditure and it seemed we needed more. i think if you don't snack then it's hard to get it all in in one go.

Lovex3 · 26/03/2018 23:03

Mine eat them every morning. Are they better than other cereals or do we just think they are. Can’t tell. Maybe move to porrige?

Mumto2two · 26/03/2018 23:43

3 weetabix makes a huge meal?? Not on my plate! Both myself and my kids happily eat 4, and more besides. And we are all very thin!

TheDowagerCuntess · 27/03/2018 23:44

This thread is 4 years old...

GhoulWithADragonTattoo · 28/03/2018 00:11

It would interesting to know the waistlines of the people who eat more than 2 (maybe 3) Stredded Wheat at a sitting are like now...

Serena1985 · 28/03/2018 00:42

See this baffles me.

My daughter is three and she eats 1.5 weetabix with a cup of semi skimmed milk every morning (I don’t know why. It looks and tastes like wet cardboard to me 🤷🏻‍♀️).

I might give her some fruit later as a snack. She’ll have something small like a sandwich for lunch and doesn’t eat much of it at all. She’ll have a snack and some milk in the afternoon (a biscuit or a small cake or rice cakes or whatever) and will eat a decent tea (pasta, sausage and mash, fish and potato wedges, spaghetti etc).

She never ever complains about being hungry. Even if she is hungry. So to be honest I couldn’t tell you if she eats enough or what.

She isn’t fat, but she isn’t so skinny that I can see her ribs either. She’s as active as I can make her but she’s not an enthusiastic running-around kind of child.

notfromstepford · 28/03/2018 11:43

My two year old will eat 2 with a banana chopped in quite happily some days, other days he'll leave half. 6 year old will eat 2 and then 2 more if he's still hungry. I think it's fine and it keeps them going till lunchtime most of the time (although 2 year old loves mid morning snack!) So 3 each for 5&6 year old perfectly reasonable in my book.

SDTGisAnEvilWolefGenius · 28/03/2018 12:38

When ds1 was around 2, he was normally having 1.5 weetabix for his breakfast - and then one day, he ate this, and asked for more - so I gave him another one. He ate it, and asked for more again - so I gave him another, and he still wanted more! In the end he ate 5.5 weetabix for his breakfast that day!

I have to confess, I was fascinated to see how many he could actually eat at one go.

He didn't need any lunch that day, though!

Babybearsporij · 28/03/2018 13:05

My DC1 went through a phase of having 3 (starting with one, eating that one, asking for another, eating that one, then asking for another) at about 1 year of age. I didn't see a problem and gave the weetabix as requested. Not had 3 since, it's been back to one and saying they're full for a good few years now.

DC2 has only ever had one, but will have fruit afterwards.

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