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?

2 portions of fruit/ veg and at least 2 chocolate/ biscuit snacks a day at 2 years old is very poor. It’s basically all processed carbs.

For snacks there’s loads of healthy choices that don’t involve biscuits and chocolate. And pudding isn’t a chocolate bar - it could be any number of things.

You need to keep offering fruit and veg with every meal. He’ll eventually start trying it if you don’t mention it

That's the problem. If someone offers you spinach but you know if you hold out they will produce cake, what would you do? If there's only spinach on offer then unless you really really hated it then you're going to eat it 🤷🏽‍♀️

He does need to eat but he needs to eat a range of foods. There is loads you can try
Tortilla wraps made into pizza with veg on top
Corn thins or rice cakes with cottage cheese or Philadelphia or hummus
Peanut butter on toast
Boiled eggs, egg mayo
Chicken and salad wraps, add a yoghurt and cucumber dressing
Tuna mayo
Jacket potatoes
Stews/cottage pies/plain chicken
Corn on the cob with butter for something fun to eat
Watermelon, kiwi, papaya, mango, all the really sweet fruits, strawberries with a bit of cream for some fats, crush up a mini meringue on top
Toasties with cheese and tomatoes or ham or whatever else you want to put in them
Sweet potatoes, filled with anything

This thread makes me crave a battered Mars Bar.

[quote Rivermonsters]@Babaghanoush same. Glad I was born in the early 2000s before this takeaway culture was a thing[/quote]

😂😂😂😂

@daisyjgrey well we never really had them in our house

I think you need to sort out your dh's diet and he needs to set an example. You seem to do OK until the afternoon snack although I'd drop the quavers at lunch.

Will he really not eat berries: strawberries, raspberries, blueberries, grapes?

Breakfast: scrambled egg and wholemeal toast or fruit and Yoghurt or crumpet/muffin with cheese.

Snacks: fruit, Yoghurt, cheese cubes, ham, chicken, etc.

Lunch: pitta bread, ham, tzatsiki, omelette, sandwich, fruit or Yoghurt

Afternoon: fruit or Yoghurt (biscuits are a treat)

Tea-time: Can you keep it plain, half a salmon fillet or piece of fresh white fish with green beans or brocoli and sweet potato chips, or a freshly made burger with chopped tomato and green beans and sweet potato chips, whole chicken chicken goujons with veg and salad bits; plain pasta with grated cheese and salad bits; lamb chop, new potatoes and veg; kedgeree always went well with ours, as did Yorkshire puddings with some Mince and veg. Pudding: only if no other rubbish - jelly; Yoghurt, finger of kit kat, small ice cream - or fruit!

DD would not eat sauce as a little one and eventually we realised she really didn't like cooked tomato.

It’s fine, honestly, right now as long as he eats enough and food doesn’t become a thing it’s fine. I remember a friend being really upset her 2yo only ate beans on toast. Health Visitor was amazingly lovely and reassuring. They grow into food. Just introduce stuff in a relaxed fun way.

My DS2 was a total idiot about food. Honestly, I’m such a foodie it made me want to weep. But I managed to hide the frustration and just make family meals (when we could have them bloody life makes that tricky) a fun occasion where we all tried stuff, to reassure you, would only eat ham sandwiches and cried at fruit/veg… a few heads on and we are on holiday and he’s now older and happily snapping head and tails off prawns and adding salad/fruit to every meal out of choice. Don’t push it, it will be fine x

Separate beige meals for children because they won't eat " adult meals" is a bad idea, IMO. He needs to be eating what you are eating. Children can perfectly well eat vegetables, all kinds, if they see grownups eating them.

Take away really wasnt such a thing years ago. It existed but it wasnt a once/twice a week thing in most households. More like twice a year.

@MareofBeasttown

Separate beige meals for children because they won't eat " adult meals" is a bad idea, IMO. He needs to be eating what you are eating. Children can perfectly well eat vegetables, all kinds, if they see grownups eating them.

But this is the issue - he is eating what his dad eats, which is mainly beige and processed foods.

Yes I think it is that bad and he will probably end up like your DP.

I haven’t actually got to where you are yet, DC is still young 14m but eats everything I eat, without fail. I’m not making him something separate either, ever.

If he's really resisting regular meals, your can tweak the ones you do make, and gradually move away from the beige.

Strong roots do veggie chips (sweet potato, parsnip and beetroot). We call them rainbow fries. They aren't cheap, but at his age you only need to give a few. That introduces him to some new vegetables (and as they are brightly coloured, are fun!) and he's then more likely to start accepting paranips etc. He won't think of then as veg...

Once he'll accept those flavours, then you can stay introducing dishes with them in, or introduce something totally new, but with the rainbow fries as the same familiar bit. Just builds it up.

Homemade pizza is great, but in any event you can put veg on a frozen pizza, with a corn on the cob on the side. It's not perfect but it's now a lot better.

You could also offer some veggie nibbles as a bit of a starter (and deliberately be a bit later on food, so he's got a decent opportunity to eat it).

I missed that, sorry..Then dad's diet needs to change, too!

@MareofBeasttown

I missed that, sorry..Then dad's diet needs to change, too!

No it doesn’t. Dad is an adult.

@Porcupineintherough

Take away really wasnt such a thing years ago. It existed but it wasnt a once/twice a week thing in most households. More like twice a year.

My good friend grew up in a suburban Chinese takeaway in the 70s/80s. . No restaurant, takeaway only. Her parents would have gone out of business if that were true of all households!

@FTEngineerM

Yes I think it is that bad and he will probably end up like your DP.

I haven’t actually got to where you are yet, DC is still young 14m but eats everything I eat, without fail. I’m not making him something separate either, ever.

Just be aware that toddlers and babies are very different! Babies quite often eat everything they are given; toddlers, well, that's a whole other ball game. DD ate absolutely everything as a baby, some really quite sophisticated stuff, and I was a smuggo too. But toddler DD, while still pretty good, has changed her mind on quite a few of them

"Most households"

I know @PeterCorbeau that’s why I include that info whenever I say something on a thread like this.
My family say school age is the worst 😬

@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?

Do you cook? I wouldn't be giving pizza/sausage/fish fingers/chicken nuggets as standard. Also, his snack could switch to something healthier. It's not a great diet for a 2 year old, sorry :(

Why don't you try cooking from scratch some big batches of healthy meals and freezing into portions for him? When mine were that age I'd do big batches of veg curry, cottage pie, fish pie, bolognese, chilli, risotto. It also makes you eat better too, as if you're making all that food you might as well eat it.

For his snacks, try replacing the biscuits/chocolate with some brown toast, cheese, chopped grapes, breadsticks and houmous.

Pasta is ok, what are you serving it with? You can make some really simple pasta sauce at home with lots of hidden veg and again freeze into portions.

Honestly, food is a lot like sleep. The 'you just have to do it properly' brigade; the 'smug 'my 3mo sleeps through every night, is this normal' humble brag; and then the rest of us who recognise that a substantial amount of it is nothing to do with our own parenting skills and just the hand you've been dealt.

Some kids eat everything, some kids don't. Sometimes you can help that, sometimes you can't. Two children brought up in exactly the same way can have vastly different approaches to food. DH is very picky and is a meat and potatoes kind of guy, but the rest of his family are adventurous vegetarians! He was brought up exactly the same as his siblings but has a completely different approach to food.

It's important to expose children to new things and model healthy eating, but some of it is out of your hands. Some children are just wired to be picky. I was a very picky child, but am not a picky adult at all. Sometimes it's a phase, sometimes it's just who they are, sometimes they need some help to get over it and sometimes they just need to eat what they will eat for the time being.

That said, your DP needs to be on board. As I said, my DH is picky but I don't let him show it around DD, and he knows that it's his issue and not one to pass on to her if it can at all be helped.

Just start small: we do what we call 'picnic lunches' with DD, which don't have to be outside but are just plates with lots of different things on for her to pick. Start making healthier substitutes and just offer something you know he likes alongside. Food should never be a battleground. Make sure he's taking a multivitamin - if he's picky about that, Tesco do gummy ones that my DD calls her 'sweetie' and she asks for one every morning

Your DS is fine.

My DS was the same at that age, now he eats pretty much everything except mushrooms.

Oh and let him serve himself. I've found DD is more willing to try things if she can help herself to the individual bits rather than just being given it on a plate. Can be a little messy occasionally with a toddler but a big spoon and let him have at it.

Your DH's diet is shit, and it's having a detrimental impact on your child's eating habits. You'll be fighting a losing battle trying to change anything while his dad is sitting next to you sharing his processed crap with him.

I'd be furious about this.

I’m old!
I’m quite surprised by all the pasta and pizza suggestions alongside all the frozen items that are battered and baked. It would seem the adults in the house eat lots of this as well. Maybe it’s the future.
We still eat a lot of the meat and 3 veg variety of dishes but have branched out into food from other cultures over the years.

I am boring I suppose as we have quite a few meals that are on rotation most weeks, but throw one or two occasional ones into the mix too!

Most weeks I will cook a Sunday Roast, either spaghetti Bolognese or Lasagna, chicken curry, steak and chips, mince and dumplings or beef casserole, fish pie or baked salmon, a gammon joint with cauliflower cheese, lamb chops with roasted vegetables etc. All these would come with various veg, maybe boiled ones, we have swede, carrots, cabbage, broccoli, frozen peas, sweet corn, sprouts, various incarnations of potato (boiled, chipped, mashed, sautéed, roasted, hasselbabacked etc.

I do try and mix it up a bit and now and again I will do a stir fry with noodles, a chilli, a chicken schnitzel, smoked haddock, a Spanish tortilla, A Tuscan bean stew, corned beef pie, Cumberland sausage etc.

For lunches we mostly have a light choice. Cheese on toast, beans on toast, a soup, a jacket potato, tuna salad/egg salad sandwich. Sometimes we go mad and do bacon and eggs with mushrooms tomatoes etc!

We don’t snack really, occasionally might have a biscuit with a cup of tea but not every day. I might offer a pudding a couple of times a week which would be rice pudding, apple crumble or maybe a portion of pie or cake with custard or ice cream. Not every day though.

We never drink pop or juice. Water, tea, coffee or wine or beer.

Mornings are porridge, wheatabix or toast.

I am writing these down as I think this style of cooking is becoming a bit old fashioned. If I critique it myself I would say we don’t eat much fruit. Mainly apples, bananas, rhubarb and pineapple with our gammon!
I buy lots of veg. We do eat pasta but maybe one a week. We never eat pizza.
We are a healthy weight, slim and active and so are our children who were brought up on this plain fare. However, when they visit they sometimes order takeaway. The portions are absolutely huge! Also very stodgy and beige for our tastes! They do seem to enjoy them but alot gets thrown out which I don’t like doing. Normal food leftovers can usually be repurposed for the following day etc. But this takeaway food cannot.
Anyway, we have to embrace new things and the future! I do like Mexican food!