How much fruit is too much fruit?

[puresweetie]

My 21 month old DS loves fruit. His love for it seems to have grown with the arrival of summer fruits - nectarines in particularly, and he now cries for it all the time. We've tried hiding the fruit bowl, hiding any traces of fruit so we can bring it out when we want - but he knows it's there!

We give him a piece of fruit with breakfast, then with lunch and supper. He's also fallen for those fruit wheels (the strips of dried fruit) and now prefers them to a sugar free biscuit after his sleep in the day. I'm pretending we don't have any more at the moment so he'll realise it's not on offer but he's hard to shake off!

He really will have a tantrum if we don't give it. Yesterday he sobbed and sobbed and beat the floor. I'm no push over so I will hold my ground because I worry that he's just getting too much sugar, even if it's a natural source - and I want his teeth to survive. But it's really tough going.

But how much fruit do you think is the right amount and what do your DC get?

(hollow laugh)
No advice I'm afraid - my formerly-fruit-loving 22 month old will now no longer allow a single morsel of fruit to pass his firmly clamped lips...

I've no idea either, as my 2.5 yr old DS lives on fruit too. I insist that he drinks water, and clean his teeth thoroughly before he goes to bed. He sometimes gets his toothbrush to chew on in the day as well as I figured that getting toothpaste at least coating his teeth would help neutralise his mouth. He isn't at all fat though and does eat other foods although in more limited amounts. He doesn't get biscuits or desserts.

Never too much unless you can't deal with the nappies.
Don't worry, toddlers are faddy. It will be ham & breadsticks & nothing else next week.

Why would you hide fruit? Ours eats approx one or two bananas, two neactrines, one or two plums, half punnet of cherries/grapes and maybe half an apple or whole pear daily. Cant see you wouldn't want them to? She generally doesn?t eat any biscuits, cakes or other deserts at all, unless they are homemade (so weekends only) so fruit (or Greek yogurt or both) is what we usually have for our deserts and snacks. She also loves dried fruit, esp. Medjool dates so we buy boxes of them now we have found a relatively cheap source (they are usually massively expensive) and she has one or two a day in her lunchbox for CMs. She is 23 MO (almost). She has started to eat a wider range of vegetables but till recently her range was really quite limited so different coloured fruits were the best way to ensure she was getting all the nutrients she needed and we saw no reason to restrict fruit intake, still don?t. We get through 5-6 bananas a day in our house 92 adults plus 23MO) and 2-3 boxes of mangoes a week (that's 8-12 mangoes) so it is normal for us to eat a lot of fruit anyway.

Havent had any advice from dentist to say fruit is bad as such. Fruit juice is terrible for teeth (our LO doest have it) but this is because of the way it contacts the teeth and the extended time period involved. Fruit that is eaten in a few gulps (hardly touches the sides in our house) doesnt have the same risk to teeth (it cant have as i have no fillings yet eat tonnes) as juice that is sipped slowly over several minutes or hours.

I used to stop at 5 satsumas or 1 whole punnet of strawberries. I think if you can get a variety in as Gourd (above) suggests, then that's great! I used to struggle to get beyond satsumas - and for some reason I have never been able to fathom, bananas have never made it on to the favoured list.

Ours did go off mangoes for a while but now back on them - we think she just got fed up with them as tends to happen when you buy boxes of fruit in season then have to eat the same thing at every meal. When summer came again she had forgotten about them from last year though, so it was like a new fruit all over again! Variety is definitely key, but winter is difficult, especially if they wont eat citrus (ours not that keen but will have a small slice of orange after tea) so that's where the dried fruit comes in...

fruit juices tend to have lots of added sugar though doesn't it?

wow gourd.... 92 adults in your house!!!

Impressive gourd.

Thanks...good to know I'm just being neurotic!

My kids eat tonnes.

DS1 is 4 and in a typical day will have a banana, a couple of apples, some berries, some melon/apricots/nectarine/grapes. Probably 5 portions in total.

He does eat well apart from that, but if he gets poorly or is unsettled then all he wants is fruit.

DS2 will have a banana, some berries, half an apple, some grapes. He is 16 months.

Stoopid typio- thanks for pointing that out! It was supposed to read (2 adults..) obviously.

trikken, no, if it is labelled as 100% natural juice whether from concentrate or "freshly" squeezed/pressed, then it does not have any added sugar in it, but the fructose in fruit is still a type of sugar and apparently even this type of natural juice with no added sugar is not good for teeth.

Ah right. I understand better now.

Gourd you've just contradicted yourself.

You ask originally why I'd hide fruit, and go onto say how it's necessary for nutrients etc. Then you say 'fructose in fruit is still a type of sugar and apparently even this type of natural juice with no added sugar is not good for teeth.'

That's my point...fructose...teeth...irrelevant whether it's the whole fruit or juice...

I am with you puresweetie, my 3 year old if I let her would eat only fruit. Although yes its healthy that is as part of a balanced diet, too much of anything is bad. She is showing no signs of changing at all and has always been the same!

She usually has about 5 portions a day thats plenty for nutrition! What I actually need is for her to eat more meat not to mention the fact that her fruit 'habit' costs me a blardy fortune!

My 26 month old will eat his own body weight in fruit if allowed but he suffers from bad toddler diarrhoea at the best of times so I do try to limit his fruit, fibre and sugar intake. One banana and one other piece of fruit a day is the upper limit here. If I can get away with it I ration it out in small slices or chunks but just recently he's taken to wanting to hold the whole fruit and 'unzip' the banana himself.

I thought there was a difference as pressing the juice out breaks down the cell walls, whereas eating the fruit whole doesn't? That's why fruit juice is fattening, fruit isn't.

My understanding is that if you juice fruit, then you remove the fibre, which is obviously crucial for babies (and adults). But there is still a lot of fructose in both juice and fruit form. I'm sure it is better delivered in whole fruit, but it's still there.

And I genuinely think babies can have too much fruit - and especially fruits that are very sweet or acidic.

That was the concern underlying my original post.

One of my DDs discovered fruit in a big way from the age of about 10 onwards.I too struggle with this,as she has been like it for several years now.She is very strong and healthy,but I do limit her.Partly because she would just increase and increase her fruit intake if I let her,and partly because I believe in a balanced diet.She is old enough herself now to accept this and self moderate.
My personal opinion is that it is possible to get addicted to anything.Also too much fruit has to mean by definition that other things are getting neglected.

I wouldn't worry too much about fruit. Its far preferable to tantruming for biscuits or sweets. If you google it, I think you'll find the sugar in fruit is much healthier than the sugar you find in biscuits, cakes etc.

In terms of avoiding an upset stomach I limit portion sizes of things like grapes, strawberries & citrus fruits.

To protect teeth then always offer water or milk or a cube of cheese after eating fruit to rinse the teeth & neutralise acid. Never brush within hr of eating as enamel is temporarily weakened.

These are just precautions however because I honestly think if you brush their teeth twice a day, they drink water rather than juice then their milk teeth will last just fine.

I do, however, understand your concerns, as I went through similar with ds1. He had healthy diet, teeth brushed etc, drank mainly water, but he used to have bottles of milk during the night & I had read it could cause tooth decay..... I panicked, took him to dentist who pretty much said to chill out, his teeth were perfect, they are not permanent teeth and gave above advice. (I did go cold turkey on bottles though).

Ds1 is now almost 5 and still has snowy White teeth.

I wouldn't worry about fruit making anyone fat either, I dont think people get overweight by eating too much fruit. It's low calorie.

Does he also like things like cucumber, tomatoes, celery, sweetcorn, carrot?

Generally though I'd just be happy he is opting for fruit with it's high nutritional value as opposed to biscuits or sweets.

I

The advice from my dentist was that it is the acid in fruit, not the sugar, that is problematic for teeth. She advised that fruit should be part of a meal, when there is more saliva to deal with the acid, and that it shouldn't be given as snacks.

However - I would still prefer DS (21 months and another fruit monster) to eat a bowl of grapes than a piece of cake or a biscuit as a snack.

Puresweetie, no I haven't. I said that drinking juice is more problematic than eating fruit because of the way the teeth are exposed to the (same) sugar when you drink juice as opposed to chew fruit. Drinks sipped over several minutes or hours are worse for teeth than fruit that is quickly chewed at the back of the mouth (not swilled all over eth teeth) and swallowed. (in much the same way that boiled or hard sweets that are sucked for a long period of time are much worse for teeth than sweets or chocolates that are crunched up and swallowed quickly). Fruit juice also doesn't comtain much fibre compared to actual fruit, and apparently does not count as one of your "five a day" fruit and veg, unless it is pressed/not from concentrate, and even then, it does not matter how much you drink of it, it will still only count as one of your five a day even if you drink a whole litre, due to the lack of fibre. In terms of both tooth health and nutrition then, you are better off eating a variety of fruit than drinking fruit juice. Even better if it is part of a meal or followed by dairy (fruti and yogurt are a good combination) which apparently helps to neutralise the acid that erodes enamel.

Also I would also much rather my LO ate fruit than biscuits or other high calorie sugar or salt filled "snack-foods". We dont eat them ourselves though abnd luckily she doesnt need any persuading. She does eat toast, chicken drumsticks, yogurt, leftovers from previous meals or sandwiches as snacks but I still think that the habit of eating fruit when you are hungry rather than other higher calorie foods will serve her well as she gets older. I have good teeth with no fillings and yet I have always eaten more fruit in a day than some whole families put together do in a week. My parents by contrast didn't eat as well as I did when they were kids - they ate more sweets and soft drinks (I was hardly ever allowed them, never had squash or pop till i was about 11 or 12) and they ate hardly any fruit, and yet they both have terrible teeth full of fillings and missing crowns etc. I do think beter teeth may be due to a general dietary difference, a shift in more recent years towards generally better diets rather than just the omssion or includion of particular foods/food groups but there is no doubt than sugary and acidic drinks are one of the worst things for teeth.