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?

Which ones? Red lentils might, but other varieties require soaking. And once you have spent half an hour cooking red lentils what are doing with them?
I was equally classist, of course! The reason she doesn't have time is because she gets home at odd hours (shifts) and she is tired and the DC are hungry now.

Instant porridge oats take a few minutes but if you want proper and nutritional porridge it takes time and skill. In 1904 there was a book published called 'Round About a £1 a Week'. In it M/C women trying to help out the working poor suggested porridge, to be told that the DC would not eat it as it was tasteless, having been cooked with water - I am without doubt the same is true now unless you are cooking one of the flavoured microwavable porridges (and they still taste like wallpaper paste when made with water) which are of little nutritional value.
The guidance in question is from NI and not from their branch of the NHS. NI has a very different culture from mainland UK.

Greek yoghurt is likely to be unpalatable for many young children who are not used to it. Someone above suggested adding nuts and berries to porridge/yoghurt, which is expensive.

I’ve recently replaced my £1.40 pastry on office days with Greek yoghurt and low sugar granola. I calculated that I was saving 40p a day doing this. But up front I paid about £5, which is twice what I would usually pay a week. Can you not see that I’m lucky to have the funds to spend a larger amount but which ultimately saves me money?

https://www.bmj.com/content/381/bmj-2022-071609

If you don’t accept the reams of evidence, you’re either working for an interested company, or you’re determined to keep your eyes closed. Your loss. I

Baby rice and milk has long been used as a weaning food. They don’t mean to put rice in the baby’s bottle (if they’re formula fed). They mimesn mix it together in a bowl if you’re spoon feeding, to offer your baby something that tastes familiar. It might be a bit old fashioned in today’s ’baby led’ weaning circles but it’s not bad advice per se I don’t think?

So you think manufacturers are just making shit up now?

But this just says a high sugar diet is bad for you? Not that Rice Krispies are nutritionally bankrupt?

Did you reply to me by mistake, or include the wrong link? I've only read the abstract, but I don't see what that's got to do about whether Tesco are lying about what's in their rice snaps?

Well, I wouldn't describe autistic children as not healthy but I accept it seems to be a clumsy way of saying that you meant medical conditions etc.

There are definitely barriers to cooking and storing food for many people, but I have to say that porridge does not take a long time or effort, its literally 3 minutes in the microwave - you can stick it in then go brush teeth while its cooking so no time is wasted. Doesn't need sweetening either, I never sweetened it for my children so they wouldn't get into that habit - my son always has it with a bit of cinnamon sprinkled on top (which is a pricy upfront cost but a jar lasts a long time) but a chopped up banana added to a bowl of porridge will sweeten it plus adds fruit to the meal.

They can't make up the amount of added vitamins and minerals.

Yep.

I completely ignore those type of leaflets because they simply can't apply to my child with a limited diet.

I think, OP, you need to strongly consider where the government's baseline is for children's nutrition across the UK and in differing economic groups. Guidance needs to be achievable.

I've been half wondering whether we might be from the same non-UK country, but now your username plus comment about toothbrushing before breakfast have pretty much convinced me!

Plus all the porridge eating and the disdain for sugary drinks for kids. 😄

I meant I lacked the equipment and resources to cook, to store food, to buy in bulk. To be fair, I had time (hence living on what was under-25 rate JSA) but the stuff I ate was quick to prepare.

I also lacked the knowledge of how to cook proper meals from scratch. So I ate simple (and quite bland) things. That's what I meant in reference to the PP mentioning lacking knowledge.

I think the lack of education is more basic than proper cooking - as you say it's more about really basic nutritional understanding. With internet access (which I didn't have) you can now easily look up how to make an omelette, for example, but you need to know that's the best thing to do. How do we teach it though? I know I covered healthy eating in school in the 90s. But if it was on the curriculum, a lot clearly didn't listen! Also food packaging now mentiond 5 a day, and has given calorie guidelines for over 20 years+. But people ignore it.

It's one of those areas where there is a genuine lack of resources for many but also an almost wilful ignorance from some. So telling people without means to cook to prepare elaborate meals is patronising and infuriating. But plenty of people who are not in such desperate situations still eat crap!

Also I used to live with a woman who fed her one year old nothing but biscuits for breakfast, mumsnet would have a meltdown if it knew the rest of her diet.

Rice crispies aren’t the reason anyone is obese

https://www.uhsussex.nhs.uk/resources/food-fact-the-glycaemic-index/

https://www.uclahealth.org/news/article/ask-the-doctors-what-is-the-glycemic-index-and-why-does-it-matter

High glycaemic index = high blood sugar levels = higher risk of a wide range of health problems, including the risk of developing diabetes, heart disease, nerve damage, cataracts and kidney disease. That's why the NHS shouldn't be promoting these 'foods'.

Hah! Yeah lots of porridge eating here, funnily enough when people eat it from early childhood they don't usually find it disgusting.

Rice Krispies aren't nutritionally bankrupt or whatever bollocks is being pedalled. They are low sugar and, like most cereals in the UK, are fortified with vitamins and iron, so actually have considerable nutritional value to developing children.

Well, obviously cereal is only part of the story. Also, there are cereals and cereals. There's a difference between branflakes and Frosties or even Rice Crispies. I think that OP isn't being UR. I think that most UK people's diet is far too reliant on simple carbs.

Better guidance is achievable, through education - not through the level of ignorance shown on this thread though, it appears to be a lost cause as people simply 'don't want to know' - ignorance is bliss.

We’ve always eaten porridge for breakfast, my DS absolutely loves it, my DD won’t touch it now despite being fed it all through primary school. How odd that different people will have different preferences for taste and texture.

Everything we're discussing here is 100% cultural.

I've lived in the UK for thirty years and if there's one thing that defines this place it's people's stubborn resistance to progress and improvement of any kind! 😄

They're not low sugar please educate yourself: https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-merseyside-40301978.amp

Cereals shouldn't be promoted by any healthcare body, they're convenient - but healthy, they are not.

It’s not just as easy as educating. Never before have we had the level of information available literally at our fingertips. Those of us working with struggling families know the issues are many and complex - simply telling someone to feed their kids porridge doesn’t address any of those complexities.

Yep. It’s designed to look like pretty familiar menu to my generation of parents and is nutritionally well balanced. One bowl of rice crispies is a ridiculous thing to worry about. No foods are totally devoid of nutrition. That’s a nonsense idea. People just get confused because of course it’s important to limit foods that are high in calories and low in micronutrients. But people also need calories, and rice crispies actually contain quite a lot of useful micronutrients because they are fortified! Yes they are very processed but you have to look at the whole week’s food and not just freak out about this one thing and the fact they’ve included a small amount of juice as one of people’s five a day.
It’s not really useful to think of individual foods as being either good or bad. You need to look at someone’s whole diet.