Is my son eating too much crap?

[Bog]

Sorry I have another thread on here but everyone here is very helpful and for traffic.

Son is 18 months old.

For breakfast he has either rice crispies or weetabix with marmite (not much) on toast

Lunch is usually half a cheese or ham sandwich with either a banana or half an apple, or Raisins. Sometimes I add a few of those veg crisps for kids or 3 of those organix animal shape crackers.

Either mid morning or afternoon he has a baby biscotti or organix snack

For dinner it's veg with some kind or protein. Frozen birds eye chicken, fish fingers,scrambled egg or the frozen baby food shapes. Annabel or something or other. But is this too much rubbish? Usually after dinner he has a pudding of petit filous or a suckies yoghurt.

He drinks water during the day and has a nighttime bottle of milk.

Very similar to my 20 month old's diet. I also batch cook fresh meals on a weekend as well and freeze portions, so she will have Spag Bol or chicken curry for example as well as some of those Annabel Karmel toddler meals for quickness a couple times a week. I also do things like boiled egg on toast with cheese, baked potato with tuna, cheese pasta with veg, that sort of thing. She also occasionally has tinned beans or spaghetti. Everything in moderation is OK. Snack wise it's usually bananas, oranges, raisins, yogurts, or those baby snacks (organix bars etc).

You're doing absolutely fine and haven't messed anything up. ☺️

Hello Bog,

Just wanted to say I got in a similar food rut once with my childs food and he ate very similar to what you're giving your little one.

I felt like I didn't have enough energy to do 'proper' cooking and the thought of a recipe felt over whelming. But....i found a muffin recipe that you can make in a batch of 12 or 24 and freeze. They were easy and my chold wolfed them up, they were wholemeal with hidden veg and it gave me the boost and confidence to start to feel like I wasn't such a pleb after all! Maybe you could try something similar?

I agree with the others that chopped up cucumber, fruit etc is good instead of the packaged snacks. I got myself a set of 6 small tubs from wilkos, 50p each, and would prep them into portions on a sunday so the week was a bit easier after that...

Anyway, the fact you're addressing this shows you care and are doing a great job, especially on your own.
www.healthylittlefoodies.com/vegetable-savoury-muffins/
Here's the recipe:

I also highly recommend this book - it's been so helpful, lots of simple ideas. It's where I got the recipe for a chicken curry for DD, which the adults in our house also eat as it's scrumptious!

Well, I'm no expert, you could incorporate smoothies and soups to his menu, this way you could squeeze in more fruit and vegetables. Obviously your 18mo won't appreciate salad with grilled salmon etc.😂Maybe you could try to give him porridge instead of weetabix? Also good source of vitamins, fiber etc.

I know I know. My wife bless her did try and I do eat green beans. She wasn't overweight and neither am I, but you are quite right my diet should improve. I know I will get jumped on for this being a bloke, but after working full time I just do what's quickest as im tired. I will look into batch cooking though. Thank you all for your help.

I'm lucky that DS who is now ten has always been a good eater, but as someone with a super busy full time job I thought I'd offer a couple of tips for easy things you could try that helped me through the toddler years.

I throw a handful if Raspberries and Blueberries on breakfast every day (for me too)so I know we're getting two portions without really thinking about it. Raspberries are great for fibre too so having them regularly may take away the need for raisins?
Get an apple slicer - stick slices on plate with a blob of Nutella/peanut butter /biscoff if it means they'll eat it.
Throw a handful of Spinach into anything with a sauce - it disappears to nothing so isn't daunting for a child but adds a lot of benefits to the diet.
Cook extra veg and mash if you have a Sunday dinner. Make leftovers into bubble and squeak balls, serve with ketchup to dunk.
Veg fritters are very quick and child friendly- i do Sweetcorn and Courgette mostly and serve with a poached egg on top. You can get them on the table in twenty minutes (i do these weekly on nights we have hobbies)

The diet isn't awful don't stress, a few tweaks it'll be fine!

I second that recommended book!

Also, this recipe is an absolute piece of piss to make, I promise:

www.myfussyeater.com/veggie-pizza-puff-pastry-roll-ups/

Kids learning by copying their parents. You need to show him what good eating looks like. Frozen veg is quick and easy, things like apple slices with peanut butter dip, cucumber and cheese cubes are also quick.

Oh freshly made pizzas, too! Easy way to disguise veg (I hide it under the melted cheese and DD is mostly none the wiser 😅). I'm pretty sure that pizza recipe is in the book, too. We make it with pitta breads for the base, and I eat them quite often myself too!

I know I will get jumped on for this being a bloke, but after working full time I just do what's quickest as im tired.

Not at all! I do the same and I'm not a bloke 😂. That's why I batch cook and freeze, as I know I'm not going to be arsed with making anything when I get home from work.

You have definitely not made a mess of it! Yes a few less processed things and some swaps so there's fewer sweet things and more veg/clean protein, but its not bad. I advise checking out solid starts - tons of advice on their instagram page, they have a free database of foods online and in their app, and they do sell some guides for snacks and meals (some free ideas on their insta too). Ideally prioritise something iron rich per meal (fortified cereals, beans/legumes, meat, eggs etc), and make sure there's some protein, healthy fat and portions of veg per meal. Vit C is good to improve iron uptake by the body. Fish once or twice a week is really good too. Nuts/nut butters are good for protein, iron, and small amounts regularly is shown to prevent allergy development in toddlers (assuming none already present).

For what its worth, my 3yo does have the organix snacks sometimes too, though we rely on them a touch more when out and about than at home. We also bake together maybe once a week, but probably 80% of the time we make simple subs (eg. part buckwheat flour, part plain) to improve nutrition, or child friendly recipes with little/no sugar - batch cooked so we've a freezer stash for quick snacks and breakfasts (pancakes, cakes etc can often br frozen, i defrost pancakes and waffles in the toaster). Hungry little bakers and eating with the kids on instagram have lots of free ideas for this, and getting toddlers involved in mixing etc. The other 20% of the time we do make 'normal' recipes with some sugar in, because moderation.
3yo and 10mo get given broadly what we eat for dinner (so we cook without salt and only salt our portions). 3yo getting a touch fussy as is normal for age, but her choice if she doesn't want to eat much. If cooking something we can freeze we double up and freeze portions for kids lunches. Like curries, chilli, stew, ragu, shredded chicken in sauce etc. Eating with the kids is also great for family recipes which can often be frozen

Sorry its not annabel stuff he has, it's Ella's kitchen frozen bits. I got him the chicken stars with veg and the cheesy cauliflower croquettes

Ah @Bog I've just spotted your other thread. Your little one is healthy and has his Daddy looking out for him. Many, many kids eat absolute crap every day and turn out just fine. He has fruit, vegetables, dairy and protein in what you've listed. No one is perfect and you certainly have not let him down. Please don't sweat it and be kind to you both, especially with everything going on.

My cousin never ate a single vegetable and had a multivitamin every day and is now a top accountant for one of the Big Four accountancy firms. He will be fine, whether he eats some extra broccoli or not, he has your love and support. Big hugs from us here x

You can get really nice peanut butters which are just pure nuts with a small amount of salt. We buy the manilife one of Amazon and the kids love it with chopped apple or balance slices to dip in a small bowl of PB.

another good snack is oatcakes and cheese cubes.

Or meridian peanut butter has no added salt!

It’s not terrible but I would try to add more good protein when you can and avoid the frozen/ processed dinners. Even a chicken breast/ drumstick in the oven, bolognaise, small bit of steak, meatballs etc would be much better. Or an omelette. Maybe try batch cooking these and other things like lasagne, curry, sausage traybake etc at the weekend and freezing individual portions. Other switches would be scrambled egg or peanut butter on the toast, veg sticks or a handful of nuts with lunch, and natural yoghurt with some frozen berries for pudding rather than flavoured yoghurt.

Lunch at that age was always the previous nights leftovers. Much easier.

dinner was pretty much chicken or fish or meat with veg, with the occasional spaghetti bolognese.

That's not horrendous honesty! I also rely on those sorts of things at times. It's hard being a working parent, you can't be on top the game every day. Honestly batch cooking and freezing changed my life (and massively reduced my stress levels about it all). But I still rely on the sorts of things you've mentioned from time to time. My HV told me everything is fine in moderation. I mean, my 20 month old is eating. jammy dodger right now, so...... 🤷‍♀️😂

I have a huge tub of that pip stuff

I think that sounds pretty good tbh!
Maybe avoid the marmite- it’s so salty. My son has weetabix with blueberries and warm milk in mic and sometimes I mix in grated pear.
Introduce some cucumber, carrot, pepper sticks with lunch.
what about pasta? I make a tomato sauce with whizzed up veg or how about pesto with whizzed up peas?

Cheese risotto is another one I make for DD - really easy to make with some risotto rice, mascarpone, cheddar, and salt free stock. And you can sneak veggies in to that one too as they're very well disguised in all the cheese 😀

So for tea tonight he's having cheesy cauliflower croquettes and carrots,cauliflower and brocoli

This is mumsnet - unless you are growing your own veg and getting 10 meals from a chicken, you will fail any test on here. Sorry to say 😂

Why is your little boy having baby biscotti/suckies yogurts etc? He needs to be eating proper, home-cooked food. More protein (chicken, beef, mince), more vegetables (raw, cooked or salad) and not so much fruit

Doesn't your wife ever cook? Do you get home earlier than her?