To not give too much thought to what my toddler eats or am I just a terrible mum?

[PatOnTheBack]

Inspired by a thread I read this morning, sort of, where poster's were referring to high salt in food when eating out not being suitable for young children ect..

And it got me thinking, am I just a really bad mum because I've never given much thought to what my young child eats beyond making sure he has a balance of healthy stuff.

He's 18 months, absolutely adores fruit of any kind and eats at least two types of fruit per day, not massively keen on veg but at least one type always offered with meals. But yeah, he drinks juice, sometimes he'll have water, sometimes he'll have juice, he has chocolate every now and then, might share a few of my crisps from a bag, have an ice-cream out at the park, he might have a dreaded high salt sandwich from a cafe (I wouldn't know because I don't check things like that ) and so on...

He eats good things and he also eats what some people on here would say are bad things or 'not recommended'. I've not really come across anything that I've felt should be totally off limits for him to try or have a small amount of (except fizzy drinks and the obvious things like alcohol obviously haha).

He's a normal looking 18 month old, not skinny, not fat.

Am I the only one who doesn't really 'care' what their young child eats? And by not care I mean I don't have specific off limit things like juice, chocolate or crisps or salt and so on? As long as he doesn't eat things things in massive amounts or daily I've never even thought anything of it.

I do think you should care...
We avoid ultra processed foods as much as possible- no "baby foods" like processed porridge/purees/snack things and avoid stuff like crisps/chocolate/cereals/nuggets/juice unless it's a one off sort of occasion. We do buy pre made breads/pittas etc, but try and get wholemeal and less processed ones where we can. Veggies offered with lunch and dinner.
I think if majority of foods are homemade then salt level is pretty easy to control? I wouldn't worry about a one off sandwich at a cafe!
I probably seem OTT but I genuinely believe added sugars and sweeteners are bad for health, and we do have an obesity epidemic in adults and now kids. So what's "normal" diet, clearly isn't good for us.
Processed foods aren't "banned" but aren't in our day-to-day diet, comparable to birthday cake not being an everyday thing here!

By 18 months no, I find it weird when I go to a toddler group and a 3 year old is eating a baby weaning "fruit" rice cracker. I mean there's about 6 kcals in one, there's zero nutrition, why are you feeding that to a fully grown child? Just give them a variety of normal food.

So no I'm not bothered. When first weaning I did consider slay content and that some pouches are mainly just apple juice which just caused acid reflux in my DC.

My main problem with those pouches was the expense for something like mashed fruit. Fruit that I already had at home! I never bought them and just mashed up some fruit/veg/dinner. Much cheaper and I imagine just as tasty.

I must be awful then! My PFB is 10 months and there's nothing I won't let him eat really 😆 Except stones... Or poop! Or poisonous plants.

Some 'naughty' things he eats regularly: Baked beans, buttered toast, garlic bread, pork pie, pizza, ice cream, home made chips and bisto gravy, cheese on toast, pancakes, muffins, cheese pastries, (baby) crisps, pasta/spaghetti bolognese (made with 😱 oxo cubes), cheese twists, crackers...

I do check the salt content of everything and try my best to keep it around the recommended 1g or less a day though. If I think he's had a bit of a salty day, I'll just give him more fruit and veg the next day. He eats basically anything though, so has plenty of healthy stuff alongside the 'naughty' stuff and I thinks it's relatively balanced.

I feel like @Badgirlgonegood would be aghast watching my kid wolfing down a pork pie! 😂 I commend your devotion to providing a salt/sugar free diet, genuinely!

I don't really care. My 3 year old always drinks juice, milk or sometimes (shock horror) Diet Coke. For her lunch, she's had vegetable samosas, salt and vinegar crisps, fruit, yoghurt and little chocolate biscuits. She'll have similar every day, as will my other 4 kids.
None of them are overweight, nor have problems with their teeth.

The 'holier than thou' mothers on here that only feed their kids organic hummus, avocado and water do my head in.

I think there’s a lot of judgement on here as if anything other than a typical western diet which is high in processed or sugary foods is ‘restrictive’ and parents who don’t buy kids sweets or biscuits are somehow neurotic. I have early onset osteoarthritis for which I am virtually symptom free now after years of eating a Mediterranean diet. I just don’t eat processed food so don’t have it in my house because I don’t buy it. My kids have plenty of high fat food such as cream and cheese so they are hardly deprived and no, they don’t go ‘mad at parties’, hoovering up sweets and cakes like I’ve been cruel to them not feeding them stuff like that daily. They enjoy party food at parties like other kids. I don’t think anyone should be looking at what others eat and make sneering judgements and ‘normal diet’ needs to be in context. What is a ‘normal’ diet for children in the US or UK would not be considered ’normal’ in many other places.

Haha your attitude sounds great though 😀.

Our toddlers whole diet isn’t salt and sugar free, it’s just very low salt and we keep an eye on added salt.

I am getting more relaxed though, I think food prep was a big anxiety of mine and I have stressed about getting the practical things right but it’s ok not to be perfect.
Our little boy does have beans once a week he loves them!!! And he’s also partial to a fish finger.

I have let myself get really worked up about not having enough stuff prepped for him it’s madness really!! I think it’s cause I followed a couple of baby health food books and they made me worry.

@Badgirlgonegood I wish I had the mindset for it, I love cooking for him, but if I've put in the time and effort (and done all the washing up that goes with cooking from scratch!) and my food gets rejected or smashed into the table, it is heartbreaking 😂 To be fair I get the low salt and sugar beans for him, beans are a good source of iron though so I kind of see it as a healthy food 🤷‍♀️

I keep forgetting to get fish fingers for him to try! Thanks for the reminder 😊

Had 2 children at 2 different nurseries and two different primary schools in a fairly "MN middle claaasss" area and I only met one parent who was as batshit as some of the folks on here about kids' food.

Annabel Karmelled them til they were about 8! I remember a birthday party where she called us all up by weaning stage to receive our appropriate puree or lumpy lunch! Ah, I'd forgotten that! Made me smile again. She still napped when the baby napped even when he was at nursery!

The rest of us are pretty normal. Kids eat what we eat and are all normal weights and active.

They eat sweet things. They eat chocolate. They eat fruit & veg. We've never obsessed over and they don't either.

I think people are led by their own circumstances and the needs of their child. So when my eldest started weaning she was on the 2nd percentile and never drank much milk. I made all her food from scratch, I would only use pouches when put and often would take homemade food instead. When my son was at that stage he was a very chubby baby, a great milk drinker so food initially was more for exploration rather than me worrying about how much he ate. With my third, she is a big baby and a great milk drinker again, she has a good appetite for food but I'm easygoing and if she asks for a taste of what I am eating I will mostly give it unless it is spicy. I have used pouches this time around at home too but I still have a preference towards homemade food. By age 2 mine are eating curries that shock horror contain salt and a whole range of spices. Obviously it will be at a child appropriate level but I don't sweat it.

As long as you are happy with your parenting and not stuffing your 2 year old full of processed or takeaway food for two out of these meals a day, does it really matter? It's about balance.