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?

Sounds awesome @Meatshake 😊

@Fiddliestofsticks because I’m a plonker and have tagged the wrong person! Oopsy, sorry Red 🤭

Yes it’s not a good diet I would say..
He needs more fruit and veg and less chocolate.
Try adding fruit to his weetabix and cut out the rice crispies- I don’t think they’re filling?

Yoghurt should be a plain natural yogurt not sugar laden one.

Wotsits and quavers are full of salt- try kids crisps .. organix ones for example.

Instead of chocolate buttons he could have home made flap Jack? Save buttons for a treat.

Dinner sounds ok but maybe try home made cottage pie for example with hidden veg and pasta sauce could have hidden veg too?

Dessert is unecessary or again try plain yoghurt with fruit purée?

My son is fussy but I try and make healthy choices.

The veg should not be hidden. What is the point of hiding it? Children should see and get used to different textured food, as long as there are no sensory issues of course.

I'd stop giving him the chocolate and icecream twice a day and you might find he's hungrier for other food after a week. I'd also stop the bottle of milk, it's not good for his teeth before bed.
If the only veg he'll eat is carrots then make sure he's having them every day.

Why is it necessary to hide veg from children as if they are disgusting?

Most children love frozen peas. Full of protein and vitamins, cheap and sweet too.

OK @HaveringWavering, I think this comment You exaggerated the amount of sugar that OP was likely to be giving her child in yoghurts, which came across as judgmental and scaremongering. is just ridiculous.

Not sure why you are so personally upset about the fruit yogurts anyway. Eat as many as you want.

I was not fucking scaremongering, I was talking about how much sugar is in a yogurt. FFS.

I had a work colleague who used to moan on (and on!) about how grapes were so bad as they were so full of sugar. As for pineapple...! You’d practically die on the spot if you over-indulged in that food of the devil. Yes, has more sugar than apples or cabbage or whatever, but in the grand scheme of things it was a silly thing to get her up over.

The jam, honey, cereal, whatever doesn’t matter as much as the chocolate, ice-cream, and biscuits, the beige processed meats, etc.

Yoghurt is so variable- I make my own, my favourite replacing milk with single cream and is full of lovely lemony curd. But mostly I make it to be slightly less likely to induce heart attack.

@DancingCoyote I really believe that the industrialisation of food is impacting young people’s mental health. They aren’t getting the nutrition their bodies need to function properly and that includes brain function.

This thread is bonkers. A few points;

1. Do not hide 'veg' in food, feed your children vegetables and they will eat them when they are ready and when they like them

1. Plain yoghurt is vile no matter what anyone says

1. I have just had my first dunking donut and it was very nice.

In conclusion, lighten up about food everyone. Fish fingers are as good as baked salmon, Mac Donalds every day is obvs not good, chocolate and ice cream will harm no child in moderation, honey is no better than any other sweetener, kale is no better than frozen peas, frozen food as a whole is no worse nutritionally than fresh in fact freezing retains many essential nutrients.

And lots of 'food science' nonsense on this thread by folk who have a little knowledge but not sufficient to be advising an obviously worried young mother about feeding her child.

Appalling diet.
Breakfast could be improved but increasing his protein
Morning snack is fine but yogurt should be natural plain full fat with honey to sweeten etc not sugary yogurts
Lunch is ok
No biscuits or chocolate mid afternoon try oatcakes or crudités and humus
Supper is currently far too processed
if you want ideas look at The Good Stuff by Lucinda Miller

Thanks to whoever suggested yoghurt pizza dough. I may never buy another frozen pizza.

However it did take most of an hour (and that was after I saved 45 minutes by using a shop bought tomato sauce with identical ingredients to the one I was trying to make).

Maybe fruit puddings....not chocolate or ice cream everyday
Carrot or other veggie sticks rather than crisps with lunch
Whiz up frozen fruit ..like ice cream but no sugar or fats

@enuquer

Yes, we do eat dinner together, and I try to give DS what I have, but he refuses and cries and DP ends up giving in and giving him whatever he has.

He only has a bottle before bed as he doesn't drink milk out of a normal cup and he won't drink milk during the day.

Whenever I try and speak to DP about not giving DS whatever he has, he says DS will be fine and he needs to eat.

If he refuses and cries cos he wanted to drink your or daddy's beer or eat your super-spicy chilli your DP would say no, he and you just need to employ similar tactics. DP needs to stop undermining you.

Ideally DP needs to eat the same though, not be tucking into a pizza or nugs while you're trying to feed DS something healthier.

I'd keep offering a wide range fruit and veg even if he doesn't eat it. Just put a little bit on his plate. No pressure to eat it.

In the meantime definitely look at healthier snacks - no chocolate, ice cream, or crisps day to day. One or two biscuits is more than enough sweet stuff.

You could try as better snacks:

Carrot sticks, maybe with hummus
Babybel/ small piece cheese
Plain / low sugar yoghurt
Another orange
Cooked chicken pieces
Cold roast potatoes
Whole wheat cracker with peanut butter
Other fruit he may not have tried yet eg mango, melon

Don't expect him to love it, processed food is addictive and it will take him a while to get used to it.

@FunnysInLaJardin

😂

Thanks for the breath of fresh air.

Are you a food scientist? (I'm not being snarky, I would genuinely find it helpful if people would say, and you sound confident 😊)

@FunnysInLaJardin

This thread is bonkers. A few points;

1. Do not hide 'veg' in food, feed your children vegetables and they will eat them when they are ready and when they like them

1. Plain yoghurt is vile no matter what anyone says

1. I have just had my first dunking donut and it was very nice.

In conclusion, lighten up about food everyone. Fish fingers are as good as baked salmon, Mac Donalds every day is obvs not good, chocolate and ice cream will harm no child in moderation, honey is no better than any other sweetener, kale is no better than frozen peas, frozen food as a whole is no worse nutritionally than fresh in fact freezing retains many essential nutrients.

And lots of 'food science' nonsense on this thread by folk who have a little knowledge but not sufficient to be advising an obviously worried young mother about feeding her child.

Completely agree!

The worst thing you can do is create food battles and mealtime hell then no one wins. He's only 2 he has years ahead of trying foods.

Is the OP a 'young mother'?

Sensible advice. I wish people would remember what actual food looks like.

If he is eating this crap at 2 he'll still be eating it at 5 - and 7 and 9....

Start off with a varied, healthy diet and you'll have far fewer issues later on.

There’s a lot of empty sugar / carbohydrates that won’t keep him full for long.

Breakfast in our house is usually porridge with some kind of nut butter splodged in. Also a cube of cheese and some kind of fruit. Sometimes strawberries and cream too. The aim is plenty of protein and fats at breakfast time to keep them full. Won’t often need a morning snack if they’ve had that kind of breakfast.

I often do tuna with jacket potato for lunch, or pizza toast, or veg and cheese omelette. Sometimes stuff from the freezer but with added veg and fruit. Boiled eggs. Hummus. Varied food again with plenty of fat and protein.

Afternoon snack usually fruit plus cheese, or fruit plus peanut butter. Again, a mix of fat and protein with the sugars from the fruit.

Tea is usually shepherds pie with veg in, meatballs in a homemade tomato and veg sauce, macaroni cheese with added eggs to the sauce, a roast dinner, risotto, home made mild curry, beef stew and mash, spaghetti Bol, that kind of thing. Sometimes freezer stuff but i’ll add chopped fruit or something to the plate.

I do a pudding - something like cake and custard but it’s a homemade cake (make it with the toddler helping and freeze in pieces, defrost as needed). Low in sugar. Maybe banana cake or with fruit / raisins in. Bit of cocoa powder - she thinks it’s “chocolate cake”.

A bit of toast or a banana or small porridge for supper with milk.

We are currently doing blw with my 9 month old (so plenty of time to turn into a fussy toddler) but currently he will eat almost anything I give him. His favourite vegetables are courgettes and mushrooms and he loves loves loves curry! 😂😂😂 at 9months all the children I know would have eaten anything!

OP I wouldn't have chosen to post here. Mumsnet seems to have a lot of parents who admit to being fat and unhealthy but all the threads like this make sugar out to be the same as heroin!

I’m more laid back than most on here about food, but I think there’s definitely room for improvement. Breakfast, morning snack and lunch are fine IMO. I’d cut the afternoon snack or change to something that isn’t biscuits or chocolate. I’d also cut the dessert out every night - my kids have fruit every night for pudding except Saturday when it’s an ice cream, or if they’ve been given say a bag of sweeties from school because it’s a birthday they can have that with the fruit.

I think your biggest problem is your DH and evening meals. I think you need to find meals you all eat togetherthat are healthier and go from there!

FYI there are kids yoghurts/ fromage frais that really do have just puree fruit added but you have to actually read the labels

My worry is that with packaged food people never get used to judging food for themselves. Most cereals weren't pre-sweetened when I was a kid in the 1960s, we used to sprinkle sugar on plain cereal and my Mum got cross if she caught us emptying the sugar bowl on our breakfast. So I learned what a sensible amount of sugar looked like and what different amounts taste like, and that I could train my sense of sweetness by varying the amount of sugar and getting used to it. How do you do that with pre-sugared cereal and added sweeteners? Yoghurt wasn't a thing in those days but I'd much rather spoon some plain yoghurt over over real berries (why puree for a child with teeth?) and a spoonful of sugar or drizzle of honey or jam than have a company decide how much sweetener I want. And jam you can spread thin or thick on your toast.

Pre-packaging is convenient but it means letting someone else decide for you. And reading labels means never learning to judge by eye or taste.

And my slightly silly remarks earlier about lettuce and celery had a point. Kids food fun didn't have to be all about sweeties and crisps and cake and pre-packaged kiddies meals (which didn't exist). Or making smiley faces out of food (which admittedly I would have loved :-)) Or fancy expensive unusual food - OK my Mum thought Philadelphia was a bit extravagant but how posh are lettuce and salt?

PS sorry about the thread derail - OP I hope you can find ways to introduce a bit more healthy food to your DS's diet, good luck.

[quote Aria999]@FunnysInLaJardin

😂

Thanks for the breath of fresh air.

Are you a food scientist? (I'm not being snarky, I would genuinely find it helpful if people would say, and you sound confident 😊)[/quote]
Its a pleasure Aria happy to be of service!

No I'm not a food scientist, but my mother was and so I was very well schooled in all matters of nutrition.

There is an awful lot of nonsense spoken about what is good and bad to feed your child, as this thread ably demonstrates!