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?

So Tim Spector and company ZOE - not pushing their own branded gut supplements and expensive diets then?

The vit c in juice is great for iron absorption and anemia is a common issue in children.
Just brush teeth!

that doesn't matter, it still has the same affect on the liver

They are just crap in nutritional terms.

I suppose this is making the best of a bad situation when UPFs are the foods of choice for so many people. What else do you expect when so many parents vape, drink energy drinks, make poor food decisions and have screen addictions…they’re suddenly going to be concerned by their children’s nutritional intake? lol

(Same as tinned soup)

I don't give my kids juice very often because it's high in sugar and when I do, I dilute it if they are young. I don't think juice with meals as a daily thing is particularly healthy, it's high sugar and empty calories but every so often, fine.

Cereals are technically a UPF product but if you look at the ingredients in many like rice crispies and wheatabix, there isn't an extensive list of additive so they aren't too bad. Plus cereals are cheap and available for many families meaning they are a realistic option and are often fortified with nutrients.

I don't get the fruit juice thing though. I wouldn't be recommending it daily with meals. Water or milk is best and more affordable.

Why does juice need to be introduced to young children at all? If you tried to send juice into school in a water bottle for your child it would be removed.

Can you imagine what would happen if government advice was ‘no juice whatsoever’? This kind of reference material is generally for people who aren’t experts in nutrition so a flat ‘no you can’t’ would be daft: instead it’s more of a ‘if you’re going to’ - because that’s what’ll benefit kids the most in the long run.

Wait what's wrong with pancakes 😅

My daughter has chocolate milk and pancakes after her sport. Its almost like people can have a balanced and strategic outlook to what they eat and that maybe this advice isn't particularly for those people...

I read a very sad OFSTED equivalent report about a school in our town. It has poor attendance, lack of parental aspiration and engagement in the educational journey (quote). As a means of boosting attendance, parents, siblings, grandparents and extended family are invited to a daily breakfast club where tea, toast and cereal is free for all. I can imagine the teachers in this school are completely run ragged trying to facilitate this. Unfortunately government funding doesn't stretch to smoked salmon bagels and nut butters.

@NutmuncherThose people aren’t reading the guidelines anyway. The rest of us deserve better nutritional guidance.

As long as you add toast or something. Carbohydrates are very important for children.

This has to be a spoof post, in the style of Man Who Has It All.

Genuinely - what am I being oblivious to? I have three children including a baby and those are the breakfasts my kids eat. They have never had rice Krispies or anything like that. On birthdays/ Christmas/ meals out they might have juice (obviously not the one year old!) I don't understand what I'm apparently missing.

Apart from the fact that liver damage only happens from sugar in extreme cases, which this advice is not - it absolutely does matter when someone is quite literally posting false information about what the juice in question contains. It does not contain refined sugar.

I literally asked my dentist about juice with meals once a day and he said it was fine.

The problem is continuous access tofree sugars, like juice in bottles, sucking lollies, actual sweets.

Juice with breakfast and then waiting 20 mins before brushing will be fine. I've given DD juice that way since she was eating meals and she's 8 now, lovely healthy teeth. She's only lost 4 baby teeth but they're all perfect condition.

Juice in the morning is a great way to give a little energy boost, get one of the 5 a day and put calories and energy into children.

Not at all, that is what I give my kids for breakfast. It's what most people I know feed their kids! I don't know anyone who would buy Coco Pops

Rice crispies have very little nutritional value

They have more nutritional value than nothing. They’re relatively inexpensive, have added vitamins and calcium when milk is added. All of this is obvious. Not everyone can afford to feed ‘the best’.

Juice is completely unnecessary - nothing good in it at all! The reason so many kids get rotten teeth. It’s better to have chocolate and drink water.

I wasn't really addressing that menu, it was more in reply to those saying they have no time to cook in the mornings, and those worried that kids won't like eggs.

A couple of scrambled eggs in a bowl take less than a minute to cook in the microwave.

I actually checked the nutritional information in Rice Krispies (branded, other popped rice cereals available). The total sugars in an 30g portion with milk is about 9g, so it sounds like a lot - but 7g of that comes from the milk! And no one is suggesting that children drink less milk.

If you give a toddler half an adult portion, it's around 1.2g of sugar in the Rice Krispies themselves. Not all of this will be free sugar (some will be - there's sugar in the ingredients). The NHS gives guidelines of no more than 10g free sugar for a 1 year old per day. So having max 10% of that as breakfast cereal is fine.

There are many kids with ND issues these days and getting on solids has been very difficult for many mothers and babies. And yes, milk and some sort of cereal or carb is the most preferred food of many kids with ND issues...it is a life saver. Thanks God I listened to absolutely no one and fed my child, so she not only grew well and reached all milestones but now , at the age of 12 is me height and the weight of a healthy young woman.

Juice isn’t actually nutritional at all. Stick with water and milk.

Oh bloody hell, everything’s killing us, even a diluted glass of juice for breakfast. YOLO, who has time for this?

You can do everything right, exercise daily, and still get cancer at 45, it’s just silly to be so painstaking about everything

I don't understand what people mean when they say rice crispies have 'no nutrition'. A standard serving of Rice Krispies (about 30g) with 125ml of semi-skimmed milk offers around 174 calories, 6g protein, 32g carbs (with some sugar), and 2.5g fat. Is it the best mix you could find? No. Is it the equivalent of eating polystyrene? Also no. As noted, they are fortified and so have 4.2mg of iron per 30g portion, which is about half of a toddler's daily requirement. A very low proportion of toddlers actually get enough iron, so this isn't insignificant.