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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

AIBU and PFB about custard?

43 replies

DappledThings · 07/02/2017 13:20

DS is 1 in a week. Started BLW at 6 months which went he took to brilliantly. Dare I say we may have been just a touch smug about him eating rabbit stew and all sorts of vegetables on holiday at 8 months. Anyway he's long been walking down pretty much everything.

Started nursery 3 weeks ago where it turns out they give them custard for pudding at every lunch time. A week after he started he started rejecting everything we've been offering. Last couple of days he's started taking a few mouthfuls of chicken and pasta but rejecting all veg. Picked him up yesterday and they said he refused his salmon and pasta but wolfed down the custard.

Is there any chance this is just a phase or is he really now just obsessed with custard and won't eat anything savoury again?! WIBU to ask nursery to not let him have the pudding unless he's had the main? I know he's too young to understand cause and effect but I don't want him just hanging out for custard.

Or am I being a total tit about it and and should just accept he'll get more sugar now and will eventually come back round to other foods. He is in nursery 2 days for now and 3 from mid-March

OP posts:
ShelteredLifeMe · 07/02/2017 13:26

I'd ask them not to give anymore, or just on a friday. Custard every day is a bit excessive.

Also, both my dc were blw from 6months and both had a phase of being crap eaters between aged 3-5. Ds is 7 now and is great, dd is 3 and hates everythinf despite liking it a month ago!

ShelteredLifeMe · 07/02/2017 13:27

Sorry, just read that he's only there for 2days. I'd ask them not to give any at all

livingthegoodlife · 07/02/2017 13:27

A little bit unreasonable....

All babies eat everything! So sadly smugness regarding his rabbit stew is misplaced.

No harm in asking nursery to persevere with the main course a bit more before custard. Although I doubt the going off food generally has anything to do with the baby having custard.

They seem to get pickier as they get older then they turn another corner and eat everything again!

sirfredfredgeorge · 07/02/2017 13:28

This happened to my cousin, ended up living on nothing but custard until he was 37.

Original poster
DappledThings · 07/02/2017 13:30

Living that's pretty much what I was hoping to hear, that's it likely just a phase.

OP posts:
TheCraicDealer · 07/02/2017 13:31

I don't want him just hanging out for custard

Grin I have zero advice but your DS has great taste!

Original poster
DappledThings · 07/02/2017 13:31

sirfred Darn. I'd better take out some shares in Bird's then

OP posts:
BarbarianMum · 07/02/2017 13:31

Just keep offering what you are offering at home (no custard) and let him get on with it. Let nursery get on with it too. He won't survive a whole week on 2 bowls of custard so will eat other foods at other times.

And yes, getting babies to eat a wide variety of foods is easy. Keeping your nerve in the face of a toddler who appears to live only on fresh air, yogurt and buttercups is another. Smile

Rainydayspending · 07/02/2017 13:32

I think he's probably just testing some boundaries and that includes food. When they're small they all eat anything. Then they start to notice other people don't / people react differently. Also they start to prefer stuff and "hold out" for it.
My DS is 1 in 2 weeks. He used to eat anything and everything put in front of him. Now it's much more experimental with throwing and dropping etc. I just let him get on with it. (I never followed blw because of the structure of it, just gave him the baby acceptable bits of my meals etc).

Bubblysqueak · 07/02/2017 13:33

Sorry to burst your bubble but both our DC were the same. Up until about a year possibly 18 months our DC are everything. We had baby led weaning down to an art form. Ds1 are chilli, curry , full roast dinners , everything we ate he ate. I even had to sign a waiver at nursery which stated that I wanted DS to eat what the preschoolers were eating as he refused chopped up or puréed food.

And then it stopped. Just stopped. He decided that actually he could choose not to eat it if he wanted to. They were both about 2.5 when they started eating everything again.

Chocwocdoodah · 07/02/2017 13:34

I don't understand why nurseries give sugar to babies. They know no different, it's no good for them, why introduce them to it?

YANBU

MotherOfHallions · 07/02/2017 13:34

Just a phase!

Obviously you serve a wide variety of healthy food at home and this is what he will grow up with.

Just eating custard for a few days is not going to ruin him!

Honestly, don't worry. The more you get anxious, the more it'll become a thing!

And then he'll go to school and will be filling his face with Haribo like every other child, no matter what you do!!!

Original poster
DappledThings · 07/02/2017 13:35

Thanks Rainyday. I did think it might be about testing boundaries too as part of adapting to being at nursery.

The nursery is at the hospital where DH works and the catering comes from the hospital kitchen. Custard must be easy to prepare and keep in huge batches!

OP posts:
xStefx · 07/02/2017 13:36

Lol sidfred, that made me giggle :-)

Yeah OP kids he may well be hanging out for the desert, I would ask nursery not to let him have any unless a fair bit of dinner is eaten. Why are they giving him custard everyday in nursery anyway, do they offer something different instead?

GinIsIn · 07/02/2017 13:37

My DH is 34 and would happily live off custard - he can eat a whole pot quite happily. Grin

I think the custard is a red herring - judging by my nieces and nephews they all eat everything until about that age, then the picky phase kicks in. They all grew out of it!

Original poster
DappledThings · 07/02/2017 13:37

Bubbly Chilli is on offer for tea at home tonight so we will see how that goes. Thanks for the reality check!

OP posts:
NickyEds · 07/02/2017 13:37

My ds would also eat everything between 6 and 18 months. They all do! Then they almost all become more picky. Or at least every toddler I know has. Tbh I wouldn't be keen on custard (or any other pudding really) after lunch- mine don't get pudding as a matter of course- but probably wouldn't make a big deal of it if I was really happy with the nursery in general.

Equimum · 07/02/2017 13:39

It probably is just a phase. DS2 is now 17 months and will quite often eat nothing but tomatoes and blueberries for a couple of days. He'll happily reject everything, but if he sees these items, he'll devour them. When he was smaller, he ate everything.

DS1 was also BLW and ate everything. He continues until he was about 2.5, but now refuses eggs, 'spicy food', onions, garlic, melted cheese, flavoured yoghurt, unflavoured milk, bananas......all of which were previously loved.

Just keep doing what you are and he'll get over it at some stage. Good luck!

Littleballerina · 07/02/2017 13:40

Have you tasted hospital custard? Mmmm
My youngest had no sweet food until he started nursery and was the same. It's like a drug!
Just ask them not to offer it to him.

Introvertedbuthappy · 07/02/2017 13:46

All babies go through this fussiness phase from about 12-18 months until about 3ish. It's a hangover from hunter gatherer times when toddlers became more independent with gathering and thus more likely to poison themselves by accidentally eating the wrong thing as a result of being more independent. Therefore toddlers who were fussy at these ages became more likely to survive (and as poisonous seeds/fungi etc have a bitter taste will have a predilection for sweet foods).

Don't sweat it, it's a phase - it'll be over soon. By all means ask them to encourage the savoury more, but I really wouldn't worry.

Noodledoodledoo · 07/02/2017 13:47

My 2 year old has fussy stages, but overall is a good eater - I often get a 'All across the board' when they let me know about what food she has had at nursery.

We did a kind of BLW (didn't stick to all the rules but it was more like BLW than traditional) - I have no expectation this will make her a better eater at all.

I persoanlly (and with no evidence to back this up) think parent attitude makes a bigger difference - ie stressing about them eating/not eating turns into a power struggle. I have always let her just eat what she wants from her plate as long as she has had a reasonable amount of something to eat then I am ok with it. At lunchtimes I put sweet and savoury on the same plate and let her just graze.

I read this www.huffingtonpost.com/the-mid/6-words-that-will-end-picky-eating_b_7139710.html early on when I was weaning and it makes sense in my head.

2 days a week I would let it go, or ask them to see if there is an alternative (must be for non dairy). I would say its a boundary pushing thing as well.

SantasLittleMonkeyButler · 07/02/2017 13:51

Oh, it's hospital food? No wonder he's only eating the custard then Grin.

Seriously though, all babies/toddlers/children/teenagers go through fussy eating phases. I'm sure DS won't be on a custard only diet for long.

RB68 · 07/02/2017 13:55

Peas is all I am saying - DD used to enjoy a trayful on her high chair, playing picking and eating. Now she refuses them she is 11 and everytime she says I don't like peas I remind her....she is being a pain as she will eat mange tout and sugar snaps...

Lariflete · 07/02/2017 13:57

Our nursery weren't allowed to not offer desserts if they wouldn't eat the main as they said it was classed as 'withholding' food.

If it's any consolation, both DC went through a food refusal phase but now eat pretty much everything.

OhhBetty · 07/02/2017 14:06

I'm wondering why anyone would be smug about their childs eating habits. That aside, my ds is two. I put his food on his plate and let him eat what he eats until he's full. He'll try anything, if he doesn't like it I wouldn’t force him to eat it but luckily there isn't much he doesn't like. I believe in moderation and balance but custard every day doesn't sound like that! Do they have an alternative option? If not could you send something in for him? Natural yogurt or something like that which he could eat out of a bowl like the other children maybe.
It will just be a phase I'm sure, I know it's hard not to stress but try not to. Stressing about food won't send a good message.