To give my 18 month old Macdonalds?

[Benji4ever]

Twice a month I take my two DS swimming all afternoon. On way home we get a drive through Macdonalds

The 3 year old has a happy meal. The 18 month old has a few of the chips. That's it.

I saw a mum give me one of those looks as I took some chips from the happy meal and gave them to the little one.

Is this awful? Its only twice a month and only a few chips. Also the 18 month old drink diluted squash regularly.

Aibu to think in the grand scheme of things its not that bad?

[niugboo]

Crumbs this thread dragged the a holes out.

No. A happy meal every few weeks is no big deal.

Going swimming is great. Do whatever you can to make life manageable. One mum plus two kids is hard.

re dentist. Speak to your HV. It’s impossible for adults but they will get children seen. They have dental health teams who can give your 3 year old a check and flag if they need a proper check. You will get seen very fast.

[whiteroseredrose]

Ha ha. No they really haven't developed a fast food habit.

We have always been vegetarian and are now more vegan (but without fake meat). So McDonalds/Burger King/KFC have never been attractive.

At the Trafford Centre the fast food places are in a food court so if DD's friends went there DD chose something else.

They have been taken to Indian / Chinese /Thai restaurants and pizzerias for a sit down meal but it is relatively expensive so not a regular habit. These meals are also probably pretty high in fats and salt but once every couple of months (if that) is less of an issue.

They both get a falafel/hummus/salad kebab from a van at Uni sometimes.

DS doesn't drink fizzy drinks (nor much alcohol either!). DD likes full fat coke sometimes - and beer more often.

DS has a lot of tofu and vegetables that he cooks himself and turns down my vegan ice cream.

TBH they are much healthier than DH and I.

[LydiaBennetsUglyBonnet]

@Checkedshirt

Yeah, start them on rubbish food/drink young, so they get a taste for it.

When they're an obese 12 year old you'll have no-one to blame but yourself.

😂😂😂😂

Honestly some people!

I feel so sorry for the children of these food drama llamas and the issues they will be rubbing off on their poor kids

[LydiaBennetsUglyBonnet]

I think PP is referring to the 17 ingredients that were in McDonald’s goes in the USA several years ago:

Potatoes, canola oil, hydrogenated soybean oil, safflower oil, natural flavor (vegetable source), dextrose, sodium acid pyrophosphate (maintain color), citric acid (preservative), dimethylpolysiloxane (antifoaming agent) and cooked in vegetable oil (Canola oil, corn oil, soybean oil, hydrogenated soybean oil with THBQ, citric acid and dimethylpolysiloxane) and salt (silicoaluminate, dextrose, potassium iodide).

Americans have VERY different food standards to the UK and it’s common for the same company to have different ingredients in the same products across the pond. Not a good but Johnson&Johnsons shampoo is v different in the USA than it is in the UK. Largely because of different standards. I believe they also pack their milk with sugar.

But we are talking about the UK here. Happy meals are not much more calorific than most meals you’d feed them at home.

[LydiaBennetsUglyBonnet]

@Olsi109

I personally wouldn't give my LO that young fast food - I barely give it my teenagers. However I wouldn't judge anyone else or give dirty looks for doing it. I wouldn't give squash either I'd give water and milk.

Because it’s easier and sometimes it’s absolutely fine if you can’t be arsed doing the very best 24/7

[LydiaBennetsUglyBonnet]

@sweetbambi

@whiteroseredrose are you seriously believing that in their entire 19-22 years they never touched a chip/fries, chicken nugget, fish finger or pizza?

They probably just don’t tell their mum who seems overly neurotic about food.

Or they go to fast food places and don’t mention to OP because it’s not generally what families discuss. “Hello nice to see you. I went to Pizza Hut a week last Tuesday.”

[Flopisfatteningbingforchristmas]

@Benji4ever

sorry but no, my son is also 3, born August 2019 and has been to the dentist. He was 7 months old when lockdown was introduced the first time, so had already been once. He was then seen October 2020, June 2021, January 2022 & August 2022. Yes, there have been delays with them not quite being 6 months but he has still been seen. There’s no excuse.

Bloody hell @Louise0701 - you are not messing about. You took a baby who was under 7 months to the dentist? I don't think either of mine had teeth at that point.

Totally normal. My youngest was born July 2019 and I can’t recall if she has been to the dentist 2 or 3 times and her next appointment is next week.

[EatAllDay]

Some fries is no big deal. Squash is dreadful stuff though. My eldest had so many dental issues from that stuff. I banned it years ago

[sweetbambi]

@LydiaBennetsUglyBonnet that is what I am thinking 😂. my aunt could be a bit like that and I had to bite back my laughter every time my cousin lied on the phone where we were eating and what she was having

[Phos]

Doesn't seem a big issue, a few chips twice a month.

And ignore the MN bollocks about squash. I gave it to my DD and still do occasionally but more often than not she will ask for water instead and won't even touch fizzy drinks. She's 5 now.

[5YearsLeft]

@SnackSizeRaisin

Children's dentistry is free in the UK. Not the point obviously. Dental health is mainly determined by genetics so as long as you brush their teeth and keep sugary stuff to 2 or 3 times a day, that will be fine for most children.

FALSE: Dental health is not mainly determined by genetics. To date, they haven’t been able to identify a single gene that affects periodontal disease and its development as much as environmental factors, like smoking or not brushing. Even when genetics are involved, they can’t help - we can’t even use them as a predictive test about caries or periodontal disease, as we haven’t identified the idea of “strong teeth” in a clear enough manner to say who has it, if their children have it, and to guarantee who will and won’t get caries as a result.
www.ada.org/resources/research/science-and-research-institute/oral-health-topics/genetics-and-oral-health

It’s my fault; if I hadn’t been as sick, i would have included more sources and less emotive language yesterday. So this is all based on sources now. I know we’ve gone through this 100 times but squash, like most fruit juice, is a special case, because it’s not just its sugar, but its acid, which erodes teeth.

• Both are “double trouble,” because the acid softens the tooth’s enamel and then the drink’s sugar sits on it, until the next time you drink water which removes some or brush to remove it all.
• If your child has a glass of squash at 2pm, and then nothing until supper, the sugar and acide are sitting on their teeth all that time, causing decay and erosion.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/newsround/43167086.amp

This acid is the same reason you can’t brush TOO soon, because it softens the enamel and you could remove it by brushing it while it’s weakened. So rinsing it off your teeth with a glass of water is your best bet and then brushing your teeth in a little while. So it’s every parent’s choice to give their child squash, or anything containing oranges, grapefruit, lemon, other forms of citric aicd like fizzy drinks. Just know yes, it’s weakening the tooth enamel.
www.colgate.com/en-us/oral-health/brushing-and-flossing/is-brushing-teeth-after-eating-good-for-you

[whiteroseredrose]

No need for them to lie @sweetbambi or @LydiaBennetsUglyBonnet. They have always been able to eat what they want. We had chips and pizza at home but obviously not beef burgers or nuggets.

We never took them to McD/KFC/Burger King because there isn't anything DH or I would want to eat there. So they haven't grown up with it.

They did like the mini meals at Pizza Express, Wagamama and Tampopo which are places DH and I like occasionally.

What I find odd is parents taking their DC to eat at places that they wouldn't want to eat themselves.

[cookie4640]

Oh don’t even worry about it. Squash, fries? Who cares. It’s not like you’re shovelling shite down the kids throat on an hourly basis is it. Move on, give it not more thought.

[LydiaBennetsUglyBonnet]

We had chips and pizza at home but obviously not beef burgers or nuggets.

Are you under the impression pizza and chips are healthier than burgers and nuggets?

What I find odd is parents taking their DC to eat at places that they wouldn't want to eat themselves

I can’t stand McDonald’s (apart from when they do cheese style bites) but I take my kids because sometimes it’s nice to ask them what they want to do and do it. They’re members of the family not underlings we drag along to ‘our’ places.

[Lovely13]

It’s fine! Squash, chips etc. it’s not three times a day. Gosh, it’s hard being perfect mama on here.

[fdkc]

We get a take away every single Saturday night without fail and it includes our 4 year old. It's never McDonalds but normal chippy or chinese/Thai/kebab etc. It never even occured to me that this was bad when we eat healthy the other 6 days of the week. Don't they say a once weekly treat is perfectly fine. Not one of us are overweight or have any health conditions.

My 18 year old also drank squash since she was 18 months or so and has never had trouble with her teeth, no fillings or extractions etc

[Abouttimemum]

This thread is enough to put me off McDonald’s, except it won’t because it’s lush and I had a Big Mac for tea. Literally no worse than going to any other generic restaurant that sells burgers and fries.

I’m not an obese 12 year old, and never have been.

[80sMum]

Ingredients of McDonald's fries:

French Fries
Ingredients: Potatoes, Vegetable Oil (canola Oil, Corn Oil, Soybean Oil, Hydrogenated Soybean Oil, Natural Beef Flavor [wheat And Milk Derivatives]), Dextrose, Sodium Acid Pyrophosphate (maintain Color), Salt. natural Beef Flavor Contains Hydrolyzed Wheat And Hydrolyzed Milk As Starting Ingredients.

I'm not sure if I would want to give that to a baby.

[fufflecake]

@80sMum

Ingredients of McDonald's fries:

French Fries
Ingredients: Potatoes, Vegetable Oil (canola Oil, Corn Oil, Soybean Oil, Hydrogenated Soybean Oil, Natural Beef Flavor [wheat And Milk Derivatives]), Dextrose, Sodium Acid Pyrophosphate (maintain Color), Salt. natural Beef Flavor Contains Hydrolyzed Wheat And Hydrolyzed Milk As Starting Ingredients.

I'm not sure if I would want to give that to a baby.

Mmmm tasty

[5YearsLeft]

@LydiaBennetsUglyBonnet

We had chips and pizza at home but obviously not beef burgers or nuggets.

Are you under the impression pizza and chips are healthier than burgers and nuggets?

What I find odd is parents taking their DC to eat at places that they wouldn't want to eat themselves

I can’t stand McDonald’s (apart from when they do cheese style bites) but I take my kids because sometimes it’s nice to ask them what they want to do and do it. They’re members of the family not underlings we drag along to ‘our’ places.

@whiteroseredrose Don’t bother. I have no idea why @LydiaBennetsUglyBonnet stated again today at 8pm “Happy meals are not much more calorific than most meals you’d feed them at home” when she already stated yesterday that McDonald’s wasn’t unhealthier than a “bog standard Sunday meal,” and immediately had it pointed out to her then, with numbers, with sources from McDonald’s UK nutrition site, and sources showing home cooked foods, that she’d apparently fallen for McDonald’s advertising* and she was entirely wrong. You can’t argue with someone who’s not arguing in good faith. If you make a point she can’t argue with, she’ll ignore it. If you keep arguing about the petty shite she keeps focusing on, she’ll drag you down and beat you with experience.

Maybe she works for McDonald’s. Maybe she’s just a bit slimy at arguing. Regardless of the reason, it veers between statements that are easily disproven (McDonald’s being equally healthy VS healthwashing) and statements that can’t be easily disproven and are designed to cause increasing argument, such as telling you that your children will lie to you, or several of the personal attacks she’s leveled at me.

I recommend you give her a wide berth. I’m going to.

• It’s called healthwashing and I would recommend every parent be familiar with it. It’s why McDonald’s advertises it has a kale salad, gets praise for having a kale salad. But then the kale salad is actually worse in every metric than a Big Mac: calories, fat, sodium.
  sweetspotnutrition.ca/cbc-interview-kale-and-fast-food-salads/

[LydiaBennetsUglyBonnet]

@80sMum

Ingredients of McDonald's fries:

French Fries
Ingredients: Potatoes, Vegetable Oil (canola Oil, Corn Oil, Soybean Oil, Hydrogenated Soybean Oil, Natural Beef Flavor [wheat And Milk Derivatives]), Dextrose, Sodium Acid Pyrophosphate (maintain Color), Salt. natural Beef Flavor Contains Hydrolyzed Wheat And Hydrolyzed Milk As Starting Ingredients.

I'm not sure if I would want to give that to a baby.

Where have you got that from?

I believe that was, once, the ingredients in USA fries but are not the ingredients in UK fries and never have been

[LydiaBennetsUglyBonnet]

@5YearsLeft

@whiteroseredrose Don’t bother. I have no idea why @LydiaBennetsUglyBonnet stated again today at 8pm “Happy meals are not much more calorific than most meals you’d feed them at home” when she already stated yesterday that McDonald’s wasn’t unhealthier than a “bog standard Sunday meal,” and immediately had it pointed out to her then, with numbers, with sources from McDonald’s UK nutrition site, and sources showing home cooked foods, that she’d apparently fallen for McDonald’s advertising* and she was entirely wrong. You can’t argue with someone who’s not arguing in good faith. If you make a point she can’t argue with, she’ll ignore it. If you keep arguing about the petty shite she keeps focusing on, she’ll drag you down and beat you with experience.

Maybe she works for McDonald’s. Maybe she’s just a bit slimy at arguing. Regardless of the reason, it veers between statements that are easily disproven (McDonald’s being equally healthy VS healthwashing) and statements that can’t be easily disproven and are designed to cause increasing argument, such as telling you that your children will lie to you, or several of the personal attacks she’s leveled at me.

I recommend you give her a wide berth. I’m going to.

• It’s called healthwashing and I would recommend every parent be familiar with it. It’s why McDonald’s advertises it has a kale salad, gets praise for having a kale salad. But then the kale salad is actually worse in every metric than a Big Mac: calories, fat, sodium.
  sweetspotnutrition.ca/cbc-interview-kale-and-fast-food-salads/

Good grief you are quite the drama llama aren’t you! Have a Big Mac and chill the fuck out.

And no McDonald’s do not have any more calories than a lot of your homemade meals and certainly no more than food in more expensive restaurants where you like take your kids.

[Rosebel]

I wouldn't be too worried about squash. Of course some children have problems but not all of them, especially if it's very diluted. My kids have always had it very diluted and no issues with teeth at all and are teenagers now.
I think my older children were about 4 when they first had Macdonalds (youngest hasn't had one yet) but I wouldn't be horrified if I saw a 3 year old or an 18 month old having chips and nuggets.
Everyone likes a treat every now and then so why not?

[dementedpixie]

@80sMum

Ingredients of McDonald's fries:

French Fries
Ingredients: Potatoes, Vegetable Oil (canola Oil, Corn Oil, Soybean Oil, Hydrogenated Soybean Oil, Natural Beef Flavor [wheat And Milk Derivatives]), Dextrose, Sodium Acid Pyrophosphate (maintain Color), Salt. natural Beef Flavor Contains Hydrolyzed Wheat And Hydrolyzed Milk As Starting Ingredients.

I'm not sure if I would want to give that to a baby.

Those are not the ingredients of McDonald's fries in the UK

[celticprincess]

These types of threads amuse me. My now 10 and 13 year olds both had squash and macdonalds meals as toddlers - not regularly but now and again for the macd. The now 10 year old pretty much only drinks milk these days or fresh apple juice and is happy with water when we take reusable bottles out for the day. Won’t touch fizzy anything. The 13 year old mostly drinks weak tea now or water. She does has a liking for fizzy drinks but they’ve been a treat more recently after avoiding whilst she wore braces as the dentist told her to avoid. She does like fruit drinks but I don’t buy them in so they’re treats when she gets them.

despite enjoying a macdonalds in their younger days they’re not that fussed nowadays.

Moderation is the key and a varied diet where possible (my youngest is very fussy so this is tricky). And we always used to take a banana for after swimming. Dress the child. Sit them with banana whilst I dressed myself. At the 18 month stage I mainly took out little pots of snacks such as chopped fruit (fresh) or some of the packaged baby snacks. I’ve never judged people for feeding their children. I work with kids who have severe sensory issues around food and who have ended up being tube fed when they suddenly starve themselves. Making certain foods out of bounds or forcing only certain foods can both cause issues later down the line.