To serve this portion size to my children (pic inc)

[Blondeandinept]

My son is on the 75 centile for height , 20 for weight. My daughter is 50 for height, 25 for weight.
As a family we are very very slim (in 5'7 and weigh just under 8 stone). We're very fit, gym, sport etc

My mil saw this and was appalled. Said it was way way too much. My children would be peckish an hour later if they didn't have this kind of lunch (it's the weekend, hence all the breaded items!).

My son is 6, my daughter 3.5

"a 9 ounce bottle with 4 rusks in it"

Rusks in the milk?

So my post saying "carbs are essential for growing children" is nonsense, okaaay

I'll leave you all to it

NicknameUsed

Yip. In. The. Milk

(rusks here are about a third of the size of rusks at home and DD likes them in her milk so that's the way she takes them in the morning)

Amalfi that's an enormous amount for a 20 month old and she's not even done for the day.

Amalfimamma your little daughter sounds an absolute joy to feed. Two of mine were the same at that age and couldn't get the food in their mouths fast enough

After DD1, a determined food refuser, it was such a relief to have DCs with huge healthy appetites.

And they're all slim adults now.

BakeOff: They eat carbs. I am asking you why children who, according to the OP, are perfectly healthy and at a normal weight, need more carbs than she has decided to give them. And you have no answer, as I expected.

For a healthy balanced diet usually children needs foods from all food groups - protein, fats, fruit and vegetables, dairy and carbohydrate.

I used the word usually to cover myself because I realise that some children are intolerant to dairy.

We don't mean the carbs in fruit, veg etc, we mean starchy carbs eg. bread, rice, pasta, potatoes but altogether it looks alright.

Wow you're right BakeOff, I'd never looked at the ingredient list before! I wonder how hard they are to make from scratch? Amazing the amount of crap that gets put into such a simple food!

For a 6 year old it looks fine but I must admit, either of those plates looks overfilled for a 3 year old to me. I think if you upped the veg and reduced the protein it may be more balanced.

My children all eat adult portions and they are all very slim. YANBU

Looks like how much I would give mine really. 3.5 and 2. However they don't always eat it all...BUT if I make smaller portions sods law says they wolf it all down and then ask for more.

We have DSC here on a weekend and they get maybe double that. They are 8, 11 and 13.

amal

Bloody hell that's a weeks worth of food...

Are you sure the dog isn't eating it?

Amalfi You might want to watch your toddler's intake, that's a pretty extraordinary volume of good for a 20-month old to get through in a day.

Amelie10

She's been eating a plate of pasta and then meat/fish/legume plus veg since she was 10 months. It's the normal Italian diet here.
She doesn't eat sweets, chocolate or any heavily processed foods, all meat and veg are organic, pasta mostly homemade and extra virgin olive oil from our groves is used.

ExcuseMyEyebrows She is, and she loves her food but is on the go from morning to night so is in no way overwieght.

I do think that children should be allowed to grow, fill out, eat as much as they want (and be encouraged to eat more if they eat too little) and if they become a little chubby who cares. They have their whole lives to diet and be bombarded with false body images in the media and, at times, from family and friends.

MyShiny, they are really straightforward to make from scratch. Literally flour, oil, water and salt. A tortilla press helps but they can also be rolled or flattened with a big heavy pan.

www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/2902681/flour-tortillas

Giles 100% sure.

I don't have a dog

Sail It's actually the diet given to her from her pediatrician. Normal intake here. (obviously child portions and not adult ones)

From what I have read, every meal for a child should be 50% carbs. Yes of course it balances out over the day, but I wouldn't have served that meal to my child because there aren't enough carbs in that particular meal.

Looks fine to me! My very skinny 7yo would polish that off! Ignore the MIL.

In the UK it is really discouraged to put rusks in milk. It can be a choking hazard and it sweetens the milk which isn't a good idea.

OP - that looks like the same amount I would put on my 5 yo daughter's plate although she probably wouldn't eat all of it. It looks pretty much right to me though.

I know you weren't asking about carbs but for those people worrying, there is approximately 20-25g carb on that plate and depending on what's in the fruit salad, probably another 20-25g more. That's fine. If you follow the guidelines on nutrition for kids that age they need around 1400 calories a day and it's recommended they get at least 45% of those from carbs, which works out at a minimum of around 150 carbs a day. So 40g per meal, plus another 30g from snacks/milk is perfectly right. Whether kids ACTUALLY need that 150g is a different question, but that's what the healthy eating guidelines say they need.

amalfi It's comments like "if they become a little chubby, who cares" that a few years down the line turn into "we got a letter from the school saying that my child is obese. I can't understand why, when she plays netball/dances/does some activity that is not at all remarkable in terms of calorie consumption." It's because child has been conditioned to overeat. Organic, homemade food is not calorie-free.

Amalfi It may well be pediatrician-directed. I still say it's an extraordinary amount of food for a toddler.

NicknameUsed

I know. Here it's encouraged from weaning. It seems that here they are made purposely for that and do actually "melt" in the milk.

I suppose it's preparing them for the Italian "sweet" breakfast while at home we have a "savoury" one

Thanks Kittens I might have a go at those later. DS is pretty handy with a rolling pin, I'll rope him in!