Please or to access all these features

Add post

Watch this thread

Save thread

Start a new thread

Flip thread

Hide thread

My feed

Active Unanswered threads

Getting started FAQ's

Unanswered threads Acronyms Talk guidelines

Hide shortcut buttons

Talk

Children's health

Mumsnet doesn't verify the qualifications of users. If you have medical concerns, please consult a healthcare professional.

Flip

1 2 3 4

Original poster

12 year old having no fibre at school

78 replies

PhilomenaButterfly · 09/09/2019 11:53

DD 12 this week has just started secondary school, she has free school breakfast and school dinners. Since she started she's had no fibre at school. Today has been her first school breakfast so I don't know what she's had, but for lunch every day she's just had a sandwich and flavoured milk.

Surely I can't fit a day's intake of fibre into one meal? We've already discussed choosing a sandwich with some salad in and a piece of fruit, but I'm not there to make sure she does it.

Any suggestions to up her fibre intake would be gratefully received.

OP posts:

Are your children’s vaccines up to date?

Set a reminder

Trewser · 09/09/2019 11:55

Bread has fibre in it. Can you make her a salad or veggies in the evening?

Trewser · 09/09/2019 11:56

Also what does she get for breakfast?

Comefromaway · 09/09/2019 11:57

There is about 1.8 of fibre in two rounds of white bread for a start. What was on the sandwich. Assuming she had either toast or cereal for breakfast too there would have been fibre in that too.

shoofly · 09/09/2019 11:59

"I'm not there to make sure she does it" hits the nail on the head, she could choose wholemeal bread, salad, fruit, presumably at breakfast club there are healthier cereals and fruit? You can advise her, but she'll make her own choices when you're not there.

imaflutteringkite · 09/09/2019 12:00

It's only been a few days and you don't know what she's having for breakfast there yet. I wouldn't worry too much for a few days and see what she's choosing then

HugoSpritz · 09/09/2019 12:02

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Original poster

PhilomenaButterfly · 09/09/2019 12:08

Thanks for the suggestions.

Hugo I've asked her to choose a sandwich with salad in and a piece of fruit. She says she's not hungry enough for a main meal, which is fine. I'd rather she chose a sandwich and ate it all than a big plate of pasta and left half of it.

The amounts of fibre that pp are mentioning are nowhere near enough for a 12yo.

OP posts:

Artesia · 09/09/2019 12:17

You seem v focussed on fibre above, day, calcium, iron etc. Does she have digestive issues which mean fibre intake is a specific concern?

Artesia · 09/09/2019 12:17

say, not day!

Comefromaway · 09/09/2019 12:17

How much do you think she shoudl be having then.

Toast or cereal in the morning, a sandwich and packet of crisps for lumch (a piece of fruit would be good as well but this is teens we ar talking about!) then an evening meal with a source of protein and potatoes, pasta, rice or cous cous and plenty of veg is absultely fine.

Half the time school pre-packed sandwiches are wholemeal or seeded bread anyway.

Trewser · 09/09/2019 12:17

Unless you can give her a nice evening meal full of veggies i dont see what else you can do. A bowl of cereal and a white bread sandwich is a pretty bad diet for lots of reasons not just fibre, but if you can give stirfrys or lots of veg in the evening it will be fine.

Drabarni · 09/09/2019 12:20

Too much fibre will bloat her though and may give her the runs. They don't need that much fibre in their diet.

Comefromaway · 09/09/2019 12:21

There is also fibre in many brands of flavoured milk.

ShippingNews · 09/09/2019 12:21

She is at secondary school - surely she doesn't need to be supervised to select an appropriate meal at school. Plenty of kids - at home and at school - would have the same as she has for lunch. Just make sure she gets enough fibre when she is at home .

Veterinari · 09/09/2019 12:27

Too much fibre will bloat her though and may give her the runs. They don't need that much fibre in their diet.

Yeah good luck with getting close to ‘too much’
Recommends intake for teenagers is 25g per day

OP is correct that intake is nowhere near enough. Low fibre is associated with diabetes and heart disease.

OP
This link has some useful tips. You need to encourage her to go for fruit, veg salad and wholewheat options.
www.nhs.uk/live-well/eat-well/how-to-get-more-fibre-into-your-diet/

You could also give her wholewheat crackers and fruit or veg for snacks

Veterinari · 09/09/2019 12:30

There is also fibre in many brands of flavoured milk.
Really??

Original poster

PhilomenaButterfly · 09/09/2019 12:37

www.kidshealth.org says 9-13yo girls should be having 26g of fibre a day. The only way to do that is to give her the highest fibre foods possible at suppertime. She doesn't have a huge appetite. She likes things like fish pie, so I load it with veg and leave the skins on the potatoes. I just hope it's enough.

OP posts:

ShippingNews · 09/09/2019 12:39

. Low fibre is associated with diabetes and heart disease

This is a bit dramatic ! In an older adult it might apply, but plenty of teenagers get very little fibre and don't immediately get these diseases.

Original poster

PhilomenaButterfly · 09/09/2019 12:40

Veterinari she doesn't snack at all.

OP posts:

dementedpixie · 09/09/2019 12:40

I cant say I've ever counted my kids fibre levels. Could you send her in with some prepared fruit/veg?

Original poster

PhilomenaButterfly · 09/09/2019 12:51

I think I need to demented, as she has so little at school. She has such a small appetite, I don't think she'd have room for extra food on top of her sandwich. She does eat an adult portion at her evening meal, that seems to be the only time she's hungry.

OP posts:

Veterinari · 09/09/2019 12:52

This is a bit dramatic ! In an older adult it might apply, but plenty of teenagers get very little fibre and don't immediately get these diseases.
older adults don’t ‘immediately’ get these diseases either. The risks occur over many years of poor diet which often start in childhood. I assume that OP is asking for constructive advice to set the foundations for a long term healthy diet rather than taking the perspective of teenagers don’t need healthy diets...

Veterinari · 09/09/2019 12:54

And it’s the NHS that’s being ‘dramatic’ not me...

Comefromaway · 09/09/2019 12:57

In which case if the OP doesn;t like the choices her dd is making then she needs to stop giving her dinner money and send her in with a packed lunch.

Veterinari · 09/09/2019 12:59

@Comefromaway
The DD is on FSM so I assume finances are tight

Flip

1 2 3 4

Swipe left for the next trending thread