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?

Well....it sounds like you are rather oblivious to your own level of privilege. That you know what those things are, can afford them, can find them in a shop local to you, and know what to do with them when you get them home, and have acquired taste expectations in your family that mean you will eat and enjoy them....all of those things mean you are, in the context of the country as a whole, incredibly privileged.

Well yes, that was the first vaguely solid thing I gave DS. (I've still got some in the cupboard.) Then I moved on to puréed fruit and veg (homemade) added puréed chicken at some point and then Weetabix for breakfast. Can't remember when I started giving him bigger bits to gnaw on (I did a mix of spoon feeding and baby led weaning.) He's nearly 18 months old, still only has water to drink and refuses to drink milk.

Who said anything about coco pops?

"Busy mum? Get up an hour early to bake your own beans".
"Busy mum? Go to bed an hour late so you can prepare the night before"
"Get up another hour early to do yoga as the sun comes up".
Etc
It is all just extra pressure on women, because most of the tlme it is women.

Maybe most of the women you know don't work or have part time, low pressure jobs. I sure as hell didn't have the head space to be all Snow White perfection when my kids were young.

I think what you wean babies on is less important than what you feed kids day to day and that you eat with them. I weaned mine on baby rice, puréed fruit and then whatever I was having, mashed up minus the salt.
The only thing I really stayed away from were artificial sweeteners. Bit of cake or ice cream- fine.
Neither of my now young adults have fillings, both are lean and strong.
For a long while I bought white bread as that’s all they’d eat, until my youngest told me off for buying “processed crap” and is now into superfoods and healthy eating!
The main thing though is I always cooked tasty food and we always sat and ate together-in the culture I was raised in food is meant to be tasty and to be shared as a family.
Now my kids have passed the gorging on junk food stage of the teens they naturally seem to gravitate towards food that is wholesome and delicious.
So to my mind making food into a chore or a medicine is counter productive. Cooking real food and eating together is the basis of a healthy relationship with food.
Ham is not the devil and neither is sugar in moderation.

Thank you, that's a great sense check.

Maybe the advice could cover both - so people can try different things (or at least know what the different options are) when/ if they are in a place to do so and also know how to make the best out of what they can afford/ have available/ are more comfortable with.

Taking chia seeds out of it, oats are relatively inexpensive and available and could be introduced with a sprinkle of cinnamon or brown sugar to get children used to the texture etc if the parents wanted to move away from cereals.

Thank you for a thoughtful response

This thread tells you everything you need to know about why this country (NI in particular) is the grip of a childhood obesity plus tooth decay epidemic...

It is genuinely mindboggling that people are this resistant to science and evidence and even plain common sense. But that the NHS continues to push this is actually negligent.

OP, I agree with you entirely.

HRTFT so someone else may have mentioned... I was a health food zealot when my kids were young (would be slightly more moderate if I had my time again) but a few rice crispies sprinkled on their highchair tray is great for their fine motor skills.

They may not be hugely nutritional, but fairly harmless once in a while.

As a side-note one of my favourite 1970s childhood memories is of sitting in a pub garden with my uncle, aged around 4, drinking warm Britvic orange out of a bottle (with a straw, mind) while eating a bag of crisps and some of his salted peanuts. I’m now wondering if ‘no juice for young kids’ was a thing then too which could be why I remember the taste of it so well. Also we only ever had crisps etc. at parties normally - but there were quite a few of these if you factor in birthdays, street parties, Tupperware parties lol. However, I’ve never needed a filling and have maintained a fairly constant healthy weight so far. Everything in moderation? In my experience, anything we flatly deny our kids food-wise is what they’ll be spending their pocket money on as soon as they get the chance!

Fair enough. I think maybe a good option could be to suggest more options in the eating guides. So yes, include things that people know and give guidance on how to maximise the nutrition from them (pairing orange juice with iron fortified cereal etc) and also having other less processed options so for those where time/ money allows they know what they could also try

I know I've massively benefitted from reading the 'eat well' guides and they have given me ideas to improve the foods and variety I offer my children. So I suppose I was thinking from that perspective that if you are wanting to make changes it's good to have some ideas to start off from, rather than only being shown the foods you already give if that makes sense.

Fruit stored correctly doesn't go off quickly. A bunch of green bananas kept separate from your fruit and veg will be ripe by the end of the week. A single banana costs around 12p and is much better for you than a 'shelf stable juice'.
Apples are also cheap and last weeks if you buy a variety grown in your country eg opt for a Royal Gala rather than a Pink Lady.

you clearly didn't watch the video up thread and I will stick to the information supplied in the conference/lecture by the endocrinologist - not some random decided others are confused as it doesn't fit with their theory

Now your talking, you can shove your chia seeds right where the sun doesn't shine.

Again, if you think that sample menu is what people already give then you live in a very privileged bubble. Look at the whole thing (not just the breakfasts). It is fairly nutritionally balanced, almost all home cooked and based largely on whole food. That is aspirational for a lot of people. It isn't for you, and it isn't for me - but the guidance isn't aimed at us. This is very much aimed at improving at what people would give without guidance, they are already doing what you suggest, you just can't recognise it.

my kids don't wfh... I still do the school run!

No, people are just being realistic. And if you honestly think that the occasional bowl of rice crispies and a cup of watered down juice with breakfast is why some kids are obese, then you’re just showing how incredibly ignorant you are about how many people live on a daily basis.

Yes, I think you're probably right. Im finding it hard to believe that rice Krispies and orange juice aren't the bare minimum but yes, I can see if you're used to giving them a chocolate bar on the walk to school then that would be a huge improvement. Thanks for the thought challenge

Yes, but you still have more time available than those who have to leave at 7.30 to drop their kids at the childminder or breakfast club 🙄

Because they would be drinking it during the day and it would be dreadful for their teeth?

Restrict children too much and watch what happens when they're teenagers!

Educate me then!

Why is it that NI/UK kids are obese with mouths full of rotting teeth?

Honesty, your posts reek of privilege. I know you’re probably only speaking from your own experience but many kids don’t even get breakfast before school, or they have something in the car or from the corner shop. A bowl of fortified cereal and a glass of diluted juice is way, way above the bare minimum for many families.

The satsuma and glass of water was in place of a glass of orange juice. Not to replace breakfast... in addition to.

Yes that's literally what I've just said I've realised

My DC was in hospital once and the boy in the next bed had had major surgery the previous day. When he woke up, he wasn't even 12 hours post op and his mum had brought him in a sausage roll, large mars bar and a bottle of iron bru. She was going on at him about eating and he kept saying he felt too sick to eat anything. She was shouting at him saying it was because the anaesthetic had curdled in his stomach and if he ate "a good breakfast" he'd feel better. The nurse had to intervene and say there was no need for him to eat anything as he was still on post op fluids, and that when he was feeling up to it toast would be much more appropriate.

A friend of mine is a dietician and when she moved house, I asked her if she was going to get a new job. She said in all conscience she couldn't work as a dietician anymore because she didn't agree with the advice she was handing out.

True, I do have more time now. But I've only wfh for the last few years... before that I was office based 5 days a week and still didn't feed my kids cereal and juice.