To ask how much sugar your 3 year old eats?

[Myfriendanxiety]

I know this is Mumsnet and there will be people that say their 3 year old only eats avocado and quinoa- but I’m after some real opinions please.

My 3 year old has just said his tooth hurts when he was eating lunch. I’m now in mass panic he could have tooth decay so am worrying about his diet!

He drinks weakly diluted squash, only eats sweets at a birthday party so rarely, doesn’t really eat chocolate- maybe once a fortnight. He does eat a lot of fruit (apples, grapes, strawberries, blueberries) and he has a small glass (maybe 50ml) of orange juice with breakfast.

He does eat biscuits (maybe 2/3 custard creams most days) which I will cut out and usually has one small yogurt every day which I buy the lowest sugar one available. 3/4 times a week he has an ice lolly after dinner which is possibly too much so I will cut that down too.

Can anyone let me know diets for their 3 year olds along with any suggestions of lower sugar treats than custard creams and ice lollies I would much appreciate it!

You can also make little egg muffins (veg, cheese and egg all baked in a muffin case). These freeze well and make a good healthy snack.

Frequency. Not quantity. If you're worried about teeth... smashing a bag of haribo in one sitting is better than 12 dried raisins 10 times a day.

@tealandteal unfortunately he won’t eat egg in any form.

Op I could've written this thread. My DD is the same at the moment. Eating lots of carby/sugary snacks through the day. She's never eaten eggs and is reluctant to have cheese recently too. I'm really trying to get her to eat raw veg - carrot sticks, cucumber, peppers, mange tout with dip or hummus. I find that if she had a hot lunch she tends to snack less in the afternoon and is happy with a cold dinner if not eating with us. Another success has been Greek yoghurt with peanut butter mixed in.

Interested to hear other ideas.

My DC has a lot of sugar, she doesn't really eat meals other than ham sandwiches due to behaviour problems.

She is nearly 4 and has perfect teeth we use an oral b sugar defence tooth paste xx

Thank you.

I think his diet is far better than some of his friends who won’t eat vegetables or fruit so I wasn’t overly worried- until he mentioned his tooth and I started googling sugar consuming!

The orange juice I am definitely going to stop, and I’ve looked at the sugar content of some of the ice creams he likes and o know which ones to buy in the future as some of them have half the amount of sugar as others so that’s an easy change to make.

I think with us being in at the minute and not being able to get hold of fresh food as easily it’s been more difficult to rely on processed food as well.

We call a soreen "a little cake" and make it into a treat. Otherwise raisins are a good snack, plain Greek yogurt, cheese and crackers
I agree that the soreen would be considered a desert here, however raisins are one of the worst things for tooth decay. Unfortunately, often marketed at children, they are not a good snack at all.

Cut out the juice and squash for starters. They don’t need any of that. Nor biscuits.

Moderate fruit is ok, but sweets and chocolate can be avoided easily at 3.

I don’t know why people start giving this stuff so early tbh. It’s so easy to avoid and they don’t miss it if they’ve never had it

Good cereals would be things like porridge, weetabix, shredded wheat and plain unbranded corn flakes (kellogs add more sugar).
Children usually enjoy plain yogurt when they aren't used to the sugary ones.
Some low in sugar snacks could be vegetable sticks with houmous, plain crisps, greek yogurt, wholegrain breadsticks, nuts.

Fruit i wouldnt worry about, i do think its unlikely a child gets tooth decay from fresh fruit. Dry fruit i would.

Its a lot of sugar attacks. Pre lunch you are basically just feeding him sugar. Its not unhealthy food as such but you wsnt to be limiting to exposures his teeth have to sugar

For his snacks really they need to be sugar free. Things like cheese, egg, plain yogurt, carrots and hummus, toast and peanut better/celery peanut butter etc. Even bits of chicken/ham.

At meal time I wouldnt worry about a bit of sugar, so if he wants a biscuit have it with his lunch.

Mine eat a lot of fruit, but some fruit has more sugar in that others. For instance strawberries are a lower sugar option.

Can you swap biscuits for crackers? Custard creams make my teeth hurt! So weird!

Orange juice has a lot of sugar in. Switch for milk maybe?

We have either an ice lolly OR a yoghurt, but our yoghurts are higher sugar than the ones you have.

Raisins are a rare treat as I think they are bad for teeth as they stick.
Mine does have diluted squash too.

If you generally cook from scratch I wouldn't worry too much about it.

@TheWordmeister DS goes to a childminder, preschool and parent and toddler groups- all of these give biscuits as a snack!

I don't give raisons as I know they are as bad as sweets.

I will try and swap the biscuits for crackers and swap morning snack for something savoury, then if he wants a biscuit he can have it with his lunch.

Mine eats a lot of fruit so a fair bit of sugar there. Then OJ on weekends, and a fruit yoghurt maybe 3 or 4 times a week. Biscuits/chocolate are an occasional thing, maybe once or twice a week, although more often than usual at the moment! Ice creams as and when in the Summer (if it's hot and we feel like one).

My 4 year olds daily diet

Porridge
Snack- chopped fruit/cheese/nuts/homemade pancakes sweetened with banana/ protein balls
Lunch- I buy a high protein bread as she won’t eat meat in her sandwich
Afternoon snack- chopped carrot/seaweed snacks/ dried fava beans or chickpeas
Dinner- tonight chicken snitzel with salad

My kids eat plenty of fruit, but I don’t give juice. We don’t eat regular dessert/biscuits but will have treats for special occasions eg ice cream at the beach, birthday party food, holiday treats etc

I don’t think you need to make drastic changes, just cut back and substitute with healthier options

I wouldn’t worry too much about the cereal, if you’re changing other things. It’s not the best option but it’s not the worst either.

How about oat crackers, the cheese ones are yum and very filling, whilst not being alarmingly different to a biscuit

Sounds like a fairly typical diet to me. My just turned 4 year old DS eats a bit too much sugar I know. Like a precious poster I’m doing him a daily snack box at the moment to stop him asking constantly. It contains 2 pieces of fruit, one cheese (baby bel or cubes of cheese), one savoury (couple of mini sausages or crackers) and one sweet (small biscuit or chocolate covered rice cakes or similar). He also gets yoghurt for pudding which is plain with a dash of honey. Breakfast is usually Cheerios which probably are quite sugary. He only drinks water.

He too complained of toothache recently and I took him to the dentist, absolutely terrified that he’d need a filling and I’d be lambasted for being an awful parent. Well, he did need a small filling, but the dentist assured me that he had no signs of decay and it was actually that one of his back molars had grown with next to no enamel on it at all. The dentist said it was probably something to do with me being ill when I was pregnant or DS being ill as a baby. The others all look unaffected, thankfully. No dentist services available at the moment unfortunately but if he continues to complain, do take him to be checked when this is all over just in case he has a similar issue.

@Dinogreen how did they do the filling in a child so young? Is done in hospital?

From a different angle - how’s his tooth brushing?

I wouldn’t give my 2.7yr old marshmallows or chewy sweets. She has a milk lolly once a week, 1 party ring every day. Usually a bag of rice cakes a day, toast and jam or peanut butter for breakfast. I dilute orange juice for breakfast as I read it helps them absorb vit c. I’d cut the biscuits for sure- I don’t think it’s a shocking diet by any means

TheWordmeister because sugary foods are nice. I don't need biscuits or chocolate but I eat them every day because I like them. We don't have to just eat things we need.

@Myfriendanxiety luckily it was only a small filling required (essentially putting a coating on the tooth to replace the enamel that should’ve been there) and there was no decay so the dentist did not need to drill anything out. My DS is very calm and able to sit very still so the dentist said he would try and do it there and then and DS was good as gold bless him. The dentist said he’d never had a child so young sit so beautifully still, I was so proud!

If it had been a bigger job with drilling etc required, or if the child can’t sit still then I believe that they do have to be put under a general anaesthetic and therefore have it done in hospital.

For mine it’s mainly fruit as a source of sugar.

Breakfast is toast or shreddies / cornflakes with oat milk, sometimes banana too
Snacks: rice cakes and breadsticks usually
Lunch: pitta bread, banana, strawberry, grapes
Snack: more rice cakes
Dinner: fish fingers and potato waffles with peas as that’s all we have left til we can shop!

I did make a banana loaf this week so they’ve been eating their way through that. DT2 is allergic to egg so I’ve been advised to give him baked eggs in things like cakes regularly as he can tolerate them.

One of them will occasionally have weak sugar free squash but it’s usually just oat milk or water

However, DT2 has blood sugar issues so he needs limited sugar, and plenty of carbs to keep him stable. They are both allergic to dairy which limits options for treats, plus they are both autistic so are very rigid when it comes to food. They eat a lot more processed food than I’d like but at the same time I have to weigh that up against DT2’s medical need to eat frequently.

Their teeth are perfect according to our SN dentist (which is a relief as they detest tooth brushing but I do my best - she did say best to avoid dried fruits wherever possible) and their weight is proportionate so for now I’m just doing my best to broaden their food horizons without giving them a complex!

Hi op I dont think it's terrible but I guess there are a few sugary things and it adds up. My little boy Is older hes 6 but I only give one pudding a day after lunch. If we have baked it will be that ( cake, flapjack ect) it might be a little yeo yoghurt , 2 chocolate oatcakes ( the flavoured ones are quiet nice') or 1 biscuit. If we are out for the day he might have an ice cream ect but I do try to limit it. He eats lots of fruit aswell but also will have savoury snacks eg breadsticks and cheese, carrot sticks. He also likes the childrens rice cakes ( these are one of his favourite snacks ). I would try just water to drink, one sweet thing a day and more savoury snacks. Fingers crossed his tooth is ok.

I would cut out the orange juice. That's an easy one to do - milk or water with breakfast is fine.

In terms of snacks I usually only let DD have one sweet snack a day- so custard creams OR malt loaf not both. Savoury snack options - breadsticks, cracker and cheese, babybel, cooked chicken or ham, veg sticks and hummus, toast

Also one of the issues with those malt loaves and also dried fruit is that they're sticky so stick to their teeth. I quite often Brush DDs teeth after she has a malt loaf as I can see bits stuck in her teeth.

It’s a lot of sugar frequently for a three year old.
Mine are long past that but it used to be breakfast of boiled egg and toast, eggy bread (as a treat), cereal or toast and good quality peanut butter.
Nothing until lunchtime then maybe -
pitta or plain pasta, cheese cubes, cherry tomatoes, pepper, carrots, cucumber.
Fish finger roll and salad
Macaroni cheese with peas and sweetcorn
Thick soup with toast dippers
Beans on toast
Homemade pizza fingers

Then whatever we had for supper the night before served for tea.

No sweets during the week. A banana after nursery.
Ice cream maximum once a week in summer.
Pudding only if we were eating out.

@DinoGreen unfortunately I’ve never managed to get him to sit and open his mouth for a check up so a filling out be impossible!

It takes 2 of us to pin him down for a hair cut! He has sensory issues and doesn’t like unknown people near him.