Is DS’ diet really that bad?

[enuquer]

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?

I don't think it's that bad.

Also he is only 2 you've got years ahead for him to develop tastes and widen the palette.

I was the smug parent of my first weaning baby who would eat anything and then I got put in my place when she hit 2 and refused most things.

All I would do is tweak and offer small amounts of new things now and again.

In my experience mine haven't had the interest in food and would rather be doing other things. I keep mine active so at least if they eat crap they are burning it off

I'm not judging about the dinners as I would only eat nuggets and fish fingers as a kid!

Chocolate and ice cream every day really isn't necessary though, I'd ditch that.

Yoghurt is fine. I'm struggling to understand the yoghurt hate

I was thinking the same, I guess people are assuming it’s the super sugary peppa pig type ones but the OP doesn’t actually say that.

We use loads of yoghurt but it’s either the natural stuff or the plain Greek yoghurt, either in cooking or mixed with fruit/ seeds. I also mix it with berries and freeze it in lolly moulds which might be an idea for an alternative snack OP ?

Processed, sugary food is habit-forming. Once you're used to chocolate etc, things like fruit aren't as appealing. Ultimately, if you (or your dp) hadn't got your ds used to expecting regular chocolate, ice cream and crisps, he might not be refusing proper food at meal times. Your dp sounds like a really bad influence in this respect tbh.

Yoghurt is fine. I'm struggling to understand the yoghurt hate

Plain yogurt, fine. Fruit/flavoured yogurt has 10g, 12g, 15g or even more sugar in a small pot, which for a young child is way too much.

I get that, mine loved a Frube, or a frozen Frube or even...a Petit Filous! But for them it was a gateway to Greek yoghurt with other stuff in, honey, fruit, grains etc as PP said.

Also plain yoghurt is a weird flavour for a baby/toddler.

I understand the focus on healthy eating for kids, and the habit-forming possibilities, however I was raised on shite food and choose not to eat like that now, my kids were raised on a shite/not so shite diet and they now also make their own food choices, which on the whole are OK.

I also now want some wotsits.

I have a 2.5 year old and he eats all the things you've listed! I don't think it's terrible, but if you could get more fruit and veg into him it would balance out the treat foods.

I make a veg pasta sauce which is just a tin of tomatoes and whatever veg is going soft in the fridge and some paprika and herbs, all blitzed up and frozen in portions. Then if DS just wants pasta and sauce I don't feel bad cause there's loads of veggies in it!

Add fruit to his breakfast. Cherry tomatoes are a firm favourite here too and I give him a portion of them most lunchtimes. Breadsticks and hummus, apple slices dipped in peanut butter, homemade baked beans instead of bought, all easy ways to increase fruit and veg.

Of course your 2-year-old will choose the treat food your DP is tucking into rather than the healthier stuff you’ve made. Your DP needs to eat separately from DC, or have the same as DC is having.

Can you start each meal with a vegetable or salad plate? Offer them to DC when he’s hungry and he’s more likely to try them. So if you’re having (eg) cottage pie, put the carrots out first and eat it “like a fancy restaurant whilst the pie finishes cooking”. Make it a fun treat then the next time suggest “ooh, let’s have Fancy Restaurant Salad whilst we’re waiting for the lasagne”. Pretend to be french waiter (bad accent!) or whatever to make it seem fun. Then keep doing it (having the veg as a pretend starter, not the accent), until it just becomes normal to have veg to start with. Once he eats a decent range of veg, then you can go back to just serving it alongside the main meal. Unless you’re very hard working, just stick to the portions of veg you’d like to be serving anyway.

The biscuits, chocolate and ice cream need to go back to being an occasional treat, too. Could you try stewed fruit (frozen berries are way cheaper than fresh), or tinned fruit if he wont have fresh?

DD was picky and ate very little, but those things worked for me (some of the time anyway).

Hmm. I have heard of worse diets. That’s a lot of sugar though. We don’t do “dessert” as such. Occasionally we have an ice lolly or a pudding but less than once a week, and chocolate is not a “snack” in our house. It’s an occasional treat.
My daughter is vegan and as a toddler she ate porridge or toasted bagel for breakfast, pasta or rice with red beans, lentils or chickpeas, green beans, baby corn and vegan cheese for lunch, and maybe potato waffles with a vegan sausage, lettuce and carrot for dinner. Snack was fruit or crackers, but never chocolate or sweets. She was a very fussy eater and refused any sauces, but the actual food was and still is healthy healthy.

He’s going to eat what his parents eat, generally speaking, so it doesn’t matter if you’re (sometimes) making home cooked meals but your DP has decided to eat something more beige and fun. DS will see beige fun food and of course he will decide that must be an option, so he will hold out for that.

I’m not being judgemental, we do have fun food a couple of times a week, but it’s always accompanied by vegetables (peas, broccoli) and we do all eat vegetables regularly. Also, chocolate isn’t a snack really, snack should be something a bit more substantial, protein (like a cheese or yogurt) or fruit.

It’s setting him up for a lifetime of poor eating habits. How often is he eating with you and getting a wider variety of proper food?

Pretty similar to my very fussy 5 year old although we don't offer ice cream, chocolate or juice at home. She will eat fresh chicken, beef or lamb provided no sauce though. Have you offered these instead of frozen alternatives?

Her older and younger siblings eat very well so I'm hoping she grows out of it.

Personally I'd ditch the treats and juice right away as they are the worst for teeth etc. An active child should be able to cope on pasta and ham sandwiches in the short term.

It's tough getting them to eat veggies but do keep trying. My 2 year old would only eat peas and sweetcorn, but now, aged nearly 4 she will eat a lot more veggies. We always have a green vegetable with our evening meal and she usually has some salad veg (a few cherry tomatoes and cucumber, normally) with lunch. She is less keen on the evening veg so I serve it to her before the rest of her dinner, as she will usually eat it that way. Unfortunately you just have to keep plugging away - the more they are exposed to veg, the more likely they will be to eat it.

The book series Supertato is very helpful. Kids love it and you can remind them that they need their superveggies to get big and strong.

In terms of treats I only allow one artificially sugary treat (which would include a flavoured yogurt, but exclude Greek / plain yogurt) a day. So if she has a cake during the day, no ice cream for pudding. Otherwise she would just eat sweet sugary things all the time. No juice allowed in my house although she is occasionally allowed one of those smoothie box things (maybe once or twice a week).

@lannistunut

Yoghurt is fine. I'm struggling to understand the yoghurt hate

Plain yogurt, fine. Fruit/flavoured yogurt has 10g, 12g, 15g or even more sugar in a small pot, which for a young child is way too much.

Where do you get this from? I just checked. A 47g pot of Petit Filous has 5.6g of sugar. Even there Peppa pig ones are the same.

A Yeo valley little Yeo fruit yoghurt (90g) has 7.3g of sugar and even a fairly grim-sounding Munch bunch double up strawberry and vanilla flavour yoghurt (85g) has 9.4g.

Yeo valley do a no added sugar 47g mango and vanilla pot that contains 2.6g.
The collective Apple & blackcurrant 100g “suckie”- 7.6g.
Tesco own strawberry FF pouch (80g) 6.1g sugar.

An adult 120g Yeo Valley fruit yoghurt contains 11.1g of sugar but OP unlikely to be feeding that to her 2 year old.

We have the stonyfield yoghurts which have 4g of added sugar in a 99g portion of yoghurt.

That’s not bad at all. My 14 year old ears no vegetables (except corn on the cob) or fruit (except orange juice) . We’ve tried everything.

I think you could cut back on the snacks or replace with healthier ones though.

I don’t think it’s that bad, bit too much chocolate but nothing too hard to fix!

Does he like fish as well as fish fingers? My youngest likes the lightly dusted lemon sole from aldi!
what about a roast dinner?
curry with hidden veg?
stir fry?
Don’t beat yourself up OP, at this age when they’re in a fussy phase sometimes it’s just lucky they’ve actually eaten! I’m jealous of you with the ham sandwiches for lunch mind, none of mine ever liked a sandwich x

It sounds like there are two factors at play. Firstly at two kids do go through a phase of being fussy. It's a developmental stage to be suspicious of new things so they don't eat anything poisonous. The advice is generally to just keep offering, let everyone serve themselves, and make sure there is a safe food that you know they will est available.

The second and bigger problem is your DP. He is showing your child that it is ok to not eat what is on offer and to choose something really unhealthy instead. I think you need to have a chat with him about all eating the same. If he still wants the pizza he can eat it when you kid can't see but you all sit down and eat the same meals together. Yeah there will probably be some pushback from your child but he's just resting limits.

My kids who are older are allowed one sweet snack a day. Biscuits on return from school or a dessert. They are allowed one savoury....eg crisps, small sausage roll, cheese string, pepperami etc. I think other than the extra chips and extra sweet thing it's fine. One of my kids will not drink water only milk and squash. The other two will not drink milk!

He is fed and happy but maybe just try and divert the treat foods a bit maybe. He is small and he will start to try more as he gets older if you are offering

@HaveringWavering about the yogurt. Munch bunch....this is quite a bit bigger than the small pots you mentioned previously so there is going to be more sugar! No matter how grim you think it sounds

I'm comparing the petit filous and munch bunch but I'm still in agreeable about why is yogurt so frowned upon. Some make it sound like crack for kids

[quote BackBoiler]@HaveringWavering about the yogurt. Munch bunch....this is quite a bit bigger than the small pots you mentioned previously so there is going to be more sugar! No matter how grim you think it sounds [/quote]
Yes I realised that. My point was that even a bigger pot had less sugar in it than that poster said was in a small pot of fruit youghurt. I just thought that the flavour sounded a bit artificial, my point was that even the ones that sound quite unhealthy are not as unhealthy as that poster claimed.

I am pro yoghurt!

I have a very small family, but my own dd was a very picky eater as a child, so OP and other parents have my sympathies. However my dgd is the complete opposite and eats a wonderful range of healthy food, so the sweeping criticism of the advocates of feeding children healthy food are very jarring.