To be shocked by this government dietary advice for babies and children?

[fourfoxsakes]

from the government in Northern Ireland that is published online? Surely we don’t do these things any more such as mixing baby rice with milk and advising people to feed their very young children rice crispies and cornflakes for breakfast and advising people to give juice with meals! Surely this is bad advice, I am honestly surprised that the government have been allowed to publish this crap. I have no doubt people still do these things which is an individual parenting choice but surely the government shouldn’t be advocating for this?

Yeah but god forbid people who need to eat more food with a shelf life EVER taste anything remotely nice or sweet in their lives. Water and gruel, that's for them.

They’re not full of sugar at all - they have 2.4G per serving and 26g of carbs in total.

Honestly it’s only something I ever see on MN and maybe TikTok. In the real world nobody is getting worked up over rice crispies and fruit juice 😂

Yes, the current UPF obsession can be unhelpful.

Dietary advice is a very difficult balance to strike. It's not easy to combine good practice and the need to meet people where they are. If advice isn't considered realistic, it will be ignored and may even alienate the people it's meant to help.

And cereals fortified with iron will be absorbed better through the vitamin c in the orange juice.

talk about exaggeration...

fact is fructose has the same effect, you might not like that fact but its what happens in the body

Sugar has no impact on teeth, it's the bacteria which feeds of it which can cause issues, and isnt an issue if you are competent.

Nobody has mentioned coco pops.

I buy CocoPops, which my kids have in a mix of other breakfasts. We also have croissants at the weekends.

I appreciate I'm maybe more relaxed about UPFs than some, but I live in one of the most economically well off parts of the country. None of the mums I know are wheeling out salmon bagels for breakfast on the regular!

Exactly. If you start telling people they have to start making chia pudding and avocado on toast they’re going to ignore you. Advice needs to be realistic, it needs to meet the needs of the majority and it needs to include foods that are affordable and easily available.

But why is it so hard to make porridge or chia pudding or overnight oats? That's what I'm not understanding. Overnight oats/ chia pudding require no cooking, can be prepared in advance so surely actually easier than a bowl of rice Krispies in the morning?

No. It. Doesn't.

Fructose is absorbed differently as a complex system of nutrients. Added fructose is different again and still not what you find in pure orange juice.

Should I believe you or an endocrinologist?

The prospect of eating cold oats for breakfast is absolutely rank.

I don't know whether you really are this oblivious, but chia seeds are expensive and not sold in every shop. Also, I personally love chia seeds and eat them a lot, but they are an acquired taste (or rather, texture).

You can believe whoever you want from your google searches that lead you confuse your sucrose and fructose.

A full English with extra black pudding.

Do you have a link to scientific evidence for this absolute bollocks? 😂

To those saying they don't have time for porridge etc - Weetabix and Shredded Wheat have no added sugar (as long as you don't get sweetened versions). Porridge can be made quickly in the microwave. Add fruit for sweetness/flavour.

To the poster who claimed "Rice Krispies are just rice" - mate, read the ingredients! 😂

Sure. Serve it on toast or can you roll it up in a wrap.

This. I love chia seeds in Greek yogurt with fruit but I need to partially blend them due to the texture. And I would never in a million years suggest to people struggling with money that this is what they should be spending their budget on. I can hardly afford it myself.

Because I will save that experience for if I ever get caught by Russians and sent to the Gulag.

But to be serious, you don't cook rice Kripsies either . . . . . And preparing something in advance isn't easier, the time spent preparing doesnt magic away into another dimension you still spent that time doing it and so it is no easier than doing either the entire thing in the morning or a bowl of cereal.

I dont mind mind porridge, I was (partly) joking above.

Because they need to give advice that is relatively easy and not too expensive. Some of the mumsnet nutrition stuff is unrealistic and over the top.

Why can't you mix baby rice with milk? Surely at the age when they are eating baby rice, they are basically living off milk anyway, or is it the baby rice that is the problem?

Two reasons, both of which relate to already established habits and the need to meet people where they are.

One is accessibility. The Rice Krispies are more likely to be easily on hand than the chia seeds, as the local corner or village shop probably has the former but not the latter. This is really important in NI, where public transport outside of the most built up areas is shite and a significant minority of the population lives a long way from a big supermarket.

The second is that the population are more likely to know already that they like rice krispies than plain porridge oats- I know there are pimped up sachet versions available but they're similarly processed, so I assume that's not what you mean. If you buy chia seeds and your child doesn't like them, there's less likely to be someone else in the house who will eat them instead. Whereas the parent is more likely to be familiar with rice krispies already and know what they think of them. This makes the risk of wasted food greater.

Which may not be a big deal in some households, but if your budget and logistics are such that everything brought into the house needs to be eaten, then it is.

Do the type of small, expensive convenience shops that many have to rely on if they do not have transport, money or storage for ‘a big supermarket shop’ sell chia seeds in bulk? Does everyone, in all types of housing, have refrigerator space for bowls of overnight oats / chia seeds? Or just for milk? Or mabe not even for that but rely on fetching a small quantity or using UHT milk from the foodbank?

Surely in NI it would be a Full Irish or an Ulster Fry.