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?

Actually, I'd hate to be a kid too!

To the people saying about mumsnet police etc. Op said she purposely posted on aibu because she wanted honest answers

Why do you give a shit what anyone else thinks?

Aw OP you sound like a fantastic mum, kids love moments like this! I think you’re doing really really well and hope you ignore the scaremongers on here

When dentist dropped the Squash Bomb on me I switched to sugarless flavoured water, on his recommendation. It’s a bit pricier but they love it and don’t have to worry about their teeth (check the label though). You can usually buy in multi deals in any given supermarket

That's mad. 80s, 90s child here too. We ate nothing like that.

A lot of those sugary cereals weren't available in Ireland anyway, and ready meals were not really a thing.

But the food whole was boring, but generally healthy.

I do know my parents didn't remotely think about food from our point of view, as in worry. Food was 3 times a day, healthy, homemade, the end. They weren't remotely bothered if we ate it or not, and we could have as much as was there is we wanted 2nd helpings.

Did really not occur to you that a 3 year old constantly drinking sugary drinks and not brushing teeth might be storing up dental problems?

@Johnnysgirl of course I know it's not as good as water. But I dilute it so much so it's almost water colour and he only gets a couple of small cups a day. My point was that I didn't realise it was awful, just not the ideal.

Chip shop chips are completely different to McDonald's fries, though. They're more potato than oil. Not sure when my first tried them though. I think with ice-cream they had their first Mini milk at 3/4.

One McDonald's a week wouldn't have been the cause of significant weight gain.

Oh bore off @Johnnysgirl youre being utterly ridiculous and making things up. When did OP say her child doesn’t brush his teeth?!

Prepare to be judged on just about anything you do with your kids. It doesn’t matter what you feed them even if it’s all organic and prepared by a Michelin star chef someone will always be waiting to give you the stink eye.
Just do what you want and learn to give fucks a la zero.

I wouldn’t and didn’t give McDonalds to my kids until they were about five, and then it was only the McCafé banana bread. No I don’t think it’s ok. Nor would I offer watered down juice or soft drink. I still don’t do that now and they are six and eight.

You can request the fries without salt.

I don't think a McDonalds twice a month for either of them is going to do masses of harm on its own but I can't understand how a 3 yr old is already in the habit of expecting this.
It honestly wouldn't occur to me to start taking a child that young. I don't get why you would except maybe motorway services or something but even then it's rarely the only option.

Until they go to school and start having parties and play dates, you have a lot more control over their diet so why introduce high fat, salty, sweet food like that. Toddlers don't know about McDonalds/KFC etc unless they've been introduced to it.

I'd stop going, drive a different way home maybe and form a new habit.
Take some snacks and stop at the park on the way home.

And yes, ditch the squash too. You can do it over a few days, making it weaker and weaker.

Ok this is clearly a troll. 3yo eating McDonalds, drinking squash who doesn’t brush his teeth and has never been to the dentist.

FFS it’s a Maccy’s not crack cocaine.

IRL everyone I know feeds their kids McDonald’s. And no one clutches pearls over it. In fact I’ve occasionally bumped into other parents I know in McDonald’s and both agree we couldnt be arsed cooking so Maccy’s it is

It’s worth getting them used to water as they’ll have to take it to school.

Give her a look, she's in there as well, has no right looking disapprovingly at you.

@Benji4ever You didn’t know they did dental work on baby teeth? Okay. Sorry to upset you but yes, they do, and such work is increasing exponentially due to children drinking more cola, squash, less water, not brushing as much or correctly as in the past, etc. This is why a full 23% of five year olds have tooth decay. And they have to do such work if the baby teeth develop carries too long before the adult teeth are due to come in. One of the largest sources of tooth decay is leaving sugar on the tooth which is what you’re doing when they drink squash, so at least have them rinse with water or something afterwards. It’s the same as you drinking a cola. It might be diluted, but the sugar’s still there. Why did you think they weren’t supposed to drink squash at all? What did you think happened to their teeth? What did you think was done to baby teeth if they started to decay too many years before the adult teeth came in? They just pulled them and left a gaping hole for nine years? So many questions. And truly, I don’t mean to upset you and it wasn’t meant to be cruel; I’ve just had to have actually necessary dental work as a child and it was still quite traumatizing (six needles to the roof of the mouth and you’ll bloody remember it forever), so trust me when I say, you want to spare them that as much as possible. You said you knew you needed to change it and I thought remembering about the dental work would help you make the change.

Here’s a good overview link: www.dentalhealth.org/news/campaigners-look-to-address-childhood-tooth-decay-issue-2020

And here’s the NHS link on childhood tooth decay, which tells you how to brush your 18-month-old child’s teeth (twice a day, up to 2 minutes, as soon as teeth appear, fluoride toothpaste, make sure he doesn’t swallow it, only a smear) vs 3-6 year olds (twice a day, around two minutes, all the teeth, pea size amount of toothpaste):
www.nhs.uk/live-well/healthy-teeth-and-gums/taking-care-of-childrens-teeth/

You can order water with your meals there, and a few chips aren't going to do any harm

And yet, it happened. In an otherwise balanced diet. And subsequently fucked my life up.

This is perhaps the most middle class thing g I’ve read 😂😂 any child I know would be furious about going to McDonald’s and only getting banana bread.

@Louise0701 Ok this is clearly a troll. 3yo eating McDonalds, drinking squash who doesn’t brush his teeth and has never been to the dentist.

He was still a baby when covid hit. I couldn't get him an appointment obviously. I then split up with their dad snd moved to a new area and every dentist says its at least a 6 month waiting list. I couldnt even see a dentist when i had free dental care when i was pregnant with my 2nd because of covid. And he does brush his teeth. It's just a battle sometimes. But I do it twice a day of course. I'm definitely not a troll. Just a shitty single mum seemingly!!

Not for me no. But your choice.

Weaning a child on McDonalds chips and squash is not great IMO, but this thread is a wind up.

It's hilarious how that's so unfathomable to some that people assume the OP is a troll

We've been in a pandemic for the last 2 years; is it really so hard to believe that a 3 year old hasn't had access to an NHS dentist?

Where did OP say he doesn’t brush his teeth?

Not unrealistic to say a 3yo has never been to dentist when COVID has disrupted dental services massively over the last 2.5 years.

Totally dramatic to suggest OP is a troll.

Also, troll hunting is banned on MN