nursery "limiting" food

[mixedmamameansbusiness]

The nursery staff mentioned to me this afternoon that DS2 (2 yr old) loves his food. Then she said they have to limit him as he will just go on and on.

I am a litle about this to be honest. he has a good appetite and needs to fulfil it, havent told DH yet but i dont think he is going to be pleased.

So am I reasonable to think they shouldnt relaly be limiting his intake of proper food, I would understand if it was sweets or whatever, but really his lunch?

Maybe I am overacting but it just feels a little wrong.

thesecondcoming - When you say meat and carb portions should be as big as their hand - do you mean their palm or whole hand???

palm and as thick as their hand

I thought all toddlers were 'portly', all mine were and the big two are now very tall string beans. They do know when to stoop though.

Perhaps your boy is having a growth spurt. Lots of children grow out then up, and some eat a lot at one sitting then go a long time without food, and some prefer to graze.

As long as Nursery are feeding him healthy things he should eat until he's had enough, and if all he does it eat maybe they should distract him to other activities.

This is all going away from common sense again though.

An appropriate portion size will vary depending on many factors - the age of the person, how active they are, whether they are growing or even having a growth spurt etc.

Saying "a portion is 25g it says so on the packet and that is that" is not sensible.

For eg my portion size should be less than DH - I sit on my arse all day and am short, he is v tall and does a semi manual job out in the cold.

I agree that most toddlers are good at regulating intake - people know their children and whether that is the case or whether they don't have an off switch and should proceed accordingly.

My DD regularly ate 3 weetabix for breakfast when she was one - and she ate loads of everything else too. Now she isn't growing so quickly her appetite has got smaller. She is 90somthing for height and 50th for weight so I don't think she was being greedy, she was just growing very fast.

If OPs child is not an "eat until you heave" type and is not fat then I don't think they should be restricting his food. The fruit snack - 1 small plate between 20 - is a lot less than they give for snacks at DD nursery. And of course fruit isn't very filling anyway.

I would probably look into it further if I were her.

Another thing is - is he really hungry afterwards, does he stuff down loads of food when he gets home or not?

I've deliberately cut back on portion sizes for my 2.2 year old DS, as he has a "healthy appetite" (as my cm put it 'he doesn't seem to have an 'off' button).

If I dish up more food he is less keen on (i.e. veg!, he leaves it), if he was genuinely hungry, he'd eat it. He also eats very fast and stuffs food in, which I am trying to encourage him to chew more.

I have to impose some sort of amounts, if he was given free reign, he'd eat way more than he needed. I am also a 'feed you up' type of person, so it's also about my own attitudes. He still eats more than others his age, from what I've seen.

I think it's sometimes as stressful when they eat a lot, than when they eat nothing!

It also takes 20 minutes for your brain to get the signal that you are full, if you eat too quickly you still feel hungry and carry on eating Children should not be rushed to eat, it should be an enjoyable sociable occasion. I know in some nurseries, they tend to get it over with as soon as possible.

The one where my new mindie has come from, feed one child at a time in the kitchen! They do not sit down and eat together and the parents have to provide all food including snacks! It must take a while to get through feeding all the children!

I tend to give a good sized main meal, I make lots of mashed potato topped things, which are easy to self feed, such as fish pie, shepherds pie, chicken and broccoli bulked out with lots of veg and far less dessert, eg. only one small petit filou with some fresh fruit.

Snack this morning is bread sticks humous and grapes. Lunch is lasagne, carrots and broccoli, afternoon snack is malt loaf, tea is poached eggs on english muffins, stewed apples and custard.

I give DS a snack when we get home from nursery at about 5pm. He had tea at nursery at about 3.30pm so he does need something else before bed. However tea at his nursery is usually a sandwich or something on toast (with a hot meal at lunchtime). Sometimes he eats loads, sometime not very much.

Actually, he does that in general - some weeks he will seem very hungry and wolf down lots of food, other weeks he'll be more picky and not want much. When he's hungry, I will let him have as much as he wants (of proper meals, things like chocolate, biscuits and cakes are always restricted!) because I know that it probably won't last.

You have to look at food intake over the course of a week or so and nursery staff don't have this overview.

I think that aslong as what children are eating is healthy and they are active and of a healthy weight, there is no need to regulate their food intake.

All of my 3 DS's are huge eaters. My five year old will eat alomost as much dinner as the adults, and DS1, who is 13 will eat more than most adults I know. For breakfast they'd happily eat 2-4 weetabbix and probably a couple of slices of toast too, plus maybe some fruit or a yoghurt. Lunch would be a sandwich and veg sticks/fruit and dinner would usualy be something healthy and home made. Snacksa re frui tor veg, but they are allowed crisps or biscuits several times a week. All are active and all are like bean poles, very, very slim. So I don't see the problem personally.

Can I come and stay at yours alibubbles

When I brother was at nursery he used to eat
a) breakfast with me before I went to high school
b) breakfast with dad before he left for work
c) breakfast with the grandparents who lived with us at the time, before taking him to nursery where
d) he then had breakfast
And they asked my mother if we could feed him before dropping him off as he ate so much... He was rake thin by the way...

I wish my DD2 ate at nursery! Their menu is all organic, locally sourced, free range, ethical etc and very varied.
I think the only thing you have to worry about is if he is putting on too much weight- is he hungry or greedy is the question. I wish my DDs asked for seconds, mimsy little feckers.

ooh alibubbles that all sounds yummy. lucky little ones!

forgotten about malt loaf. ds used to like the orange fruit loaf done by, i think, warburtons, i shall pick some up this afternoon and try to tempt him with it. he's being a fussy 3.8 year old at the moment!

Milkmade, my little ones all get second breakfast with me too - porridge with fruit today.

there i no way I could have my breakfast without giving them any, it's too early for me to eat before 7.30 and they all arrive before 8, so 8.30 we all have something.

I have also made a lovely banana loaf with the mindies today, for tomorrow, as it is always better the next day, it smells heavenly!

He does tend to stop when he is full, but I spoke to the lady who mentioned it and she said they do let him have seconds and it isnt that he is asking for it throughout the day just when they are actually eating he asks for more.

I am satsified for the moment as he is allowed seconds so he certainly should be getting enough in terms of his actual lunch, the snacks do still seem small though especially by the standards of the menu someone kindly posted below but he isnt coming home starving so am letting it go and they are great in every other respect.

Have you mentionned the snacks to them? It's probably worth it.

I was a bit annoyed by DS's nursery giving him so much Quorn (he's veggie and they seemed to be giving it at every meal) but it didn't bother me enough to say anything until they did a survey and I mentionned it then. His keyworker has now asked me to provide a list of food that DS likes at home and some recipes too.

I wish I'd mentionned it earlier now!

By the way, snacks at DS's nursery tend to be fruit, or breadsticks and cheese, or a biscuit - nothing as substantial as what was on that menu planner posted.