Is DS’ diet really that bad?

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Please be kind.

DS is 2, will be 3 at the end of the year. His daily diet is usually

Breakfast: weetabix or rice krispies/corn flakes

Morning snack: an orange or a yoghurt

Lunch: Ham sandwich with an orange or yoghurt (whatever he doesn't have for snack) and some wotsits or quavers

Afternoon snack: 2 biscuits or a small packet of chocolate buttons

Dinner: pasta/pizza/ sausage and mash with carrots/fish fingers/chicken nuggets/ the occasional McDonald's happy meal (probably once or twice a month)

Dessert: ice cream or a small chocolate bar

Then he sometimes has chips if me and DP have had a takeaway, and he isn't asleep yet.

The only fruit and veg he'll eat are oranges and carrots. During the day he does drink water or apple juice and has a bottle of milk before bed.

We recently stayed at my mum's as my mum said that he shouldn't be eating those foods and his diet is awful.

Is it really that bad?

Yeah I'm with your mum, it's not great at all.

Too much processed food and sugar I'm afraid to say.

I'd try to move on from the ultra processed food if you can. It's not good for any of us.

Do you offer a range of fruit and veg every meal?

I think the meals itself are fine- but I don’t understand why a 3 year old needs to eat biscuits/ice cream/chocolate everyday…

It’s a lot of processed food, salt and sugar

What is your diet like? Will he eat anything you will?

That's not awful at all.

Maybe he could do with more veg but I've not heard of many 2 year olds who eat a wide range of veg. Mine stuck to just carrots and sweetcorn for years but now eat most veg as they got older.

As long as he's eating and happy then don't let others tell you you're wrong.

Less processed food at dinner time would be good, with more vegetables (I would aim for maybe 2 veg at dinner and 3 pieces of fruit during day?) and definitely not a dessert and a sweet snack- one or the other (and then you can switch the other one to fruit or veg)
No need for juice it’s high in sugar, just have water.
Whatever you cook from scratch (it can be very simple, throw in an extra veg and see how he gets on- eg tomato pasta, add some peas or sweetcorn in the sauce)

It's suspect it's pretty similar to what a lot 2-3 years old eat in reality, to be honest.

I know MN toddlers all eat quinoa, couscous, olives, 10 varieties of veg and baked salmon for dinner but in the real world, pasta, ham sandwiches, yoghurt, oranges etc. are pretty normal foods for toddlers.

I don't think he needs biscuits, chocolate bars and buttons every day, though, and I would get rid of the apple juice and just give water or milk.

Breakfast, morning snack and lunch - I'd say that's fine.
Afternoon snack, dinner and pudding - not the best everyday. Occasionally, yes.

It's difficult when they go through a stage of not eating certain things. We make homemade pizza (buy the base) and just stick on passata, a bunch of veggies and some chicken - it's a much healthier alternative and my son loves it. It's really quick band easy too.
Veggie pasta for the evening is a good shout too, with chopped tomatoes and passata for sauce as you can hide the veggies in the sauce.

COuld you maybe try something like this?

It's not awful but a lot of processed food, too much sugar and salt. Offer more fruit and veg, less processed crap.

Ok I’m trying to be kind but sorry it’s not great. Is this the food you eat or do you eat differently? This looks like you don’t cook or enjoy a wide range of foods yourself.

It's not great, but it looks easy to fix!

Can you swap the biscuits or buttons snack for something like rice cakes with cream cheese, or crackers with hummus.

I'd then try to have a less processed dinner - do you cook properly for yourself? If so, just give him the same as you, or save some from the night before if that suits your schedule.

And after that he could have yoghurt or rice pudding (made without sugar), so he's getting something filling and with plenary of dairy, but with less crap.

Cut out either the afternoon or the morning snack, and whichever stays should be the fruit/yoghurt.

An omelette with cheese and lots of veg (peas, peppers, spring onion, broccoli) always goes down well here and is a good way of getting more veg in. Is there veg on the pasta sauce?

It's not great, no. One step at a time though, my ds was super fussy at this age. We started by putting extra types of veg on his plate at meal times, then once they were familiar to him he had to taste them, then finish a tiny portion etc.

There are so many little changes you could make to this that would make a difference

EG ditch the evening chips and move meal times or offer weetabix or yoghurt if he's really hungry.

Only give either the biscuit/chocolate snack or the sugary dessert.... not both.

Experiment with different types of fruit and with hidden veg (cauliflower in with the mash?)
Don't panic just start moving slowly in the right direction!

Loads of 2 year olds eat a wide range of vegetables and if you haven’t come across them you clearly haven’t been to Surrey. Even birthday parties have crudités and hummus.

Stop the quavers / wotsits.

Stop the chocolate.

If he eats pizza he eats a layer of tomato and cheese. Make cheese and tomato on whole meal toast.

Does he eat with you at lunch time? Let him see you eating and enjoying things. Corn on the cob. Slices of apple (maybe to dip in yogurt). Strawberries. Broccoli florets. Cauliflower cheese.

What does he have on his pasta? Bolognaise sauce with hidden veg?

Its not great...

There'll be a lot of people on here that day they never feed their toddlers sugar or they'll have chocolate once a month or something. And good for them. I'm not one of those. My kids eat crisps, and chocolate and chips. But even i think your toddlers diet is a bit rubbish.

We are usyaloy something like:

Breakfast: big bowl of porridge, with some strawberries after.

Snack: fruit - banana or apple often.

Lunch - hummus with breadsticks, cucumber and pepper. Square of cheese, some crisps and a yoghurt for pudding.

Snack - biscuit/cake/naughty snack.

Dinner: varies, but a mix of things like pesto pasta with sweetcorn, pea risotto, sausages and mash with carrots and peas, chicken curry with some sweet potato, carrots and peas thrown in. Sometimes we have fish fingers or pizza, but always some form of veg either on the side or on it, or a corn on the cob in the side. Sometimes there's pudding, sometimes not (depending on what they've eaten for the rest of the day). It might be something like a fruit crumble, or a biscuit, or straight piece of fruit.

All meals contain processed food which is terrible
Have a watch of this op www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000wgcd

Your mum is right. There shouldn't be any biscuits/chocolate/ice cream/crisps etc at his age. As an occasional treat maybe, but not routinely.

Snacks should be the fruit/veg he does eat, cheese, chopped ham etc. Actually food, not processed junk. It's a very formative time for his brain and if it gets used to the processed junk that's hard to change

Watch the BBC documentary "What are we feeding our kids". It's scary.

Have you tried him with meals you eat? What did he eat when at your mum’s?

DS, once passed basic weaning phase, ate many things that we did, we didn’t make basic/bland meals for him

I'd say it's not too bad at all, there's plenty of time to keep introducing a wider range of vegetables and fruit.
My first thing to do would be to immediately cut out the chocolate, biscuits, crisps and ice cream. No need for all that additional sugar, salt and fat.

Maybe have a small snack bowl he can just pick at throughout the day with mixed veg/fruit?

Few cubes of cucumber, sliced grapes, chopped pepper, cubes of cheese, blueberries,shopped up celery, peeled satsuma, anything cheap to start with just to casually encourage the habit of eating fruit and veg. Not make a fuss of it but heap on loads of praise if he tries some.

Mine used to love cauliflower cheese or brocolli cheese, maybe try that?
And I'd hide as much veg as possible in meals. Finely choooed carrots/celery in bolognese. Mash in some cauliflower in with mashed potato.
Mine used to (and still do) love slices or cubes of cheese with grapes or sliced apple/pear

I wouldn't say it's horrendous op but I think I'd like more fruit and veg and dairy in personally.

It started with Weetabix which is ok as cereal goes then progressively got worse. I wouldn't let my DS East your typical day of food other than the yoghurt (unless it was a full of sugar one) orange and Weetabix, pasta depends what you put with it and fish fingers every now and then but usually with peas or broccoli and new potatoes. Children get a taste for processed food because they're given processed food. DS has no idea what a chicken nugget, wotsit or happy meal is and it will stay that way for as long as possible. He will be three in December. I'm not sure why the winky face if I am DS what he wants for dinner he will ask for salmon, he does love couscous and eats a lot of veg. It's all he knows. I am from a very working class background and we weren't raised on Turkey twizzlers and monster munch so I don't think it's a MN snobbery thing, cooking from scratch can be very cheap.

The big thing that stands out to me isn't the amount of chocolate your child is eating I mean that's not great but what stands out is the evening meals. It's like you taking the menu from a children's menu in a pub and have it everyday. I'd be more concerned about the lack of variety.

Yes, I offer him other fruit and veg but he refuses to eat it. I also offer him what I cook for dinner but he won't eat it and cries and DP then gives him a slice of pizza if he has different to me. He doesn't have any sauce on his pasta as he won't eat it if it does.

I eat different fruits and vegetables so DS does see me eating them but DP will only eat a few different vegetables and no fruit.