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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Is this too much food??

297 replies

Nightgardenisodd · 04/08/2021 18:43

Toddler Dd, 3, her dinner today. Very hot where we are, lots of salads etc. We made bread today, so possibly a bit more than normal here, with the bread included.
My mum says I feed her too much food and no wonder she doesn’t eat it all. I don’t expect her to eat it all, but like to give her a varied choice in the hope she chooses parts and eats something, which she does.
Dd is a normal weight etc.
Aibu or is this an okay amount of food for her for dinner?

OP posts:
DappledThings · 05/08/2021 20:49

Cancel the tuna

Theninetieswerethepeak · 05/08/2021 20:57

Op said there’s no tuna! 😅🤣

DappledThings · 05/08/2021 21:02

@Theninetieswerethepeak

Op said there’s no tuna! 😅🤣
Exactly!
LoveFall · 05/08/2021 21:26

Yes, exactly. I was trying to make the point that it didn't even look like tuna to me. Obviously badly.

Pogostemon · 05/08/2021 21:33

My three year old wouldn’t eat all that in one sitting.

StrangeLookingParasite · 05/08/2021 21:36

Looks fine, except for the presence of Satan (a.k.a cucumber). I'm glad she enjoyed it, and I think keeping her away from her grandmother's unfotunate weight obsession would be a good thing.
I also grew up with a mother who equated weight (or the lack of it) with value.

pommepommefrites · 05/08/2021 21:53

Looks like a lovely little meal and so varied! It must be a stealth brag 😭 but yabu for putting mayo on cheese

Nearly47 · 05/08/2021 22:11

For a 3 years it is too much

MadKittenWoman · 05/08/2021 22:31

Looks absolutely fine to me. It's proper food and she stopped when she was full.

Beforeim40 · 05/08/2021 22:39

@olympicsrock

This is a stealth boast to be honest OP.....
ThisHmm
goodwinter · 05/08/2021 23:03

@Lifeisaminestrone

I will probably be criticised by my comment but I am in agreement with your DM - I think it is too much.

I would give one protein choice, I think three protein choices is excessive not from a health perspective but from an entitlement- picking and choosing seems wrong to me when there are so many children without food (thinking of the Rashford campaign here).

Maybe your DM probably remembers family members talking of rationing, and with my family emigrating to avoid death camps I’m afraid I can’t tolerate children thinking waste is ok. I don’t mind children not eating everything but I don’t agree with picking and choosing.

I also don’t agree with the argument the parents will nibble afterwards as that then creates a hierarchy of food. Food should be shared.

Anyway I’m sure I will face a lot of abuse but think worth having another point of view!

Where are you seeing 3 proteins? Egg, cheese, and....?
Maggiesfarm · 05/08/2021 23:29

@Nearly47

For a 3 years it is too much
No it isn't. Mine used to eat fairly big meals at that age and were not fat. Egg, cheese and salad with a bit of nice bread is fine. Amazing the child will eat salad!
Maggiesfarm · 05/08/2021 23:30

goodwinter, there is no 'three proteins' on that plate.

Maggiesfarm · 05/08/2021 23:32

@pommepommefrites

Looks like a lovely little meal and so varied! It must be a stealth brag 😭 but yabu for putting mayo on cheese
I'd have thought the mayo was for the salad and the egg, not the cheese. The op said it was for dipping.

What is the 'stealth brag' about this? I can't see it. It's a perfectly normal meal, a nice one too.

MakeMathsFun · 06/08/2021 00:13

Does the toddler use the adult size knife and fork?

Mothership4two · 06/08/2021 00:36

Looks absolutely fine OP and healthy - it sounds like you are doing all the right things. The boiled egg would have been lobbed by my mine though!

I had a, similar to you, "eat everything on the plate or you can't get up" upbringing, which I did not want for my children. So when they were very little I would put bits in front of them and they could pick what they wanted and put it on their plates. We also had the rule that they had to try everything, but if they didn't like it they didn't have to eat it. I tried to have a laid back attitude to their diets as I knew so many parents who got really wound up about it. It worked really well. I now have two enormous ds's (17 & 22) who eat well and healthily (most of the time), are fit and healthy, and have a healthy attitude to food.

Sometimes you have to let "helpful" advise wash over you and just get on with doing what you are doing.

BastardMonkfish · 06/08/2021 00:52

Where are you seeing 3 proteins? Egg, cheese, and....?

TUNAAA

BadNomad · 06/08/2021 01:20

Needs some organic free-range humus.

I love that wooden serving plate.

olidora63 · 06/08/2021 01:24

@BadNomad

Needs some organic free-range humus.

I love that wooden serving plate.

I love the serving plate🤨
Saoirse82 · 06/08/2021 01:39

I'm pregnant and always looking for something that i really want to eat and most things don't sound appealing. Can you make me that? I just went downstairs in the middle of the night rummaging through our kitchen to see of I can replicate it! It looks so yummy!

BadNomad · 06/08/2021 01:49

@olidora63

I love the serving plate🤨

I'll fight you for it!

Wineywoman · 06/08/2021 04:52

There are very few calories in the salad items, so the rest makes up for it. How much did she leave?

Chris08 · 06/08/2021 06:44

Looks delicious

Benjispruce5 · 06/08/2021 08:04

@BastardMonkfish it’s bread.

Original poster
Nightgardenisodd · 06/08/2021 09:00

@MakeMathsFun They’re plastic kids cutlery from IKEA?

OP posts: