12 year old having no fibre at school

[PhilomenaButterfly]

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.

They will have a morning break. Maybe she could have a portion of grapes or an apple then

I'm afraid this is just the start …. you spend years ensuring they have a healthy diet, chopping and cooking organic butternut squash etc and freezing into cubes, then avoiding too many McDs etc, plenty of fruit and veg, not too many fizzy drinks, sweets as a treat etc etc.

Then they hit the secondary school years and become more independent, walking to school and buying sugary shit on the way - even if they don't have money, their friends will, often chips on the way home.

A bit older and they're mainlining vodka at parties and smoking ….

I don't understand why people are sneering at your concern, there's nothing wrong with wanting your child to eat a healthy nourishing diet.

If she won't make different choices though OP, I don't think there's much you can do beyond what you're already doing. At this age you can only make sure they understand why their bodies need certain things and make them available - if they are determined to live on white bread and chocolate when they're outside the home, you're pretty powerless.

I don’t understand why people are saying you’re being overzealous OP. You’re entirely right, she needs to eat a lot more fibre.
There are so many benefits to eating fibre and it’s so important that we reach the targets set out for fibre intake.
Make sure she drinks the recommended water intake too especially if she increases her fibre intake

Sorry I saw the free breakfast thing and assumed it was a school initiative I didn;t correlate the dinners being free as well.

It is a case I'm afraif that you just have to let go of the reins at secondary and hope for the best. I have a ds with asd and sensory issues. He went two years refusing to eat anything at school, then the next two years living off a plain buttered bread roll, yoghurt pouch or a slice of pizza. I just made sure that I fortified his diet as much as I could at home by giving him weetabix protein milk drinks, protein crunch cereal, and sneaking chia seeds into his pasta sauce.

Todays crisis (he is year 11) is the fact that the school have changed their potato wedges to sweet potato so he has nothing but a tub of pringles to eat.

We don't know that the OP's dd is eating white bread though. it may be wholemeal, many school pre-made sandwiches I've seen in secondary canteens are.

Thanks Veteranari, yes, that's exactly it.

I am certain that breakfast club will be toast or cereal- to be honest these are pretty much the best sources of fibre anyway (an apple only has the fibre of 1 slice brown bead, she’s potentially having 4 Slices bread)

I don’t know about you, but I ate crap in secondary school, no breakfast and chips and these massive chocolate rice cakes for lunch 😭 later it was a pack of crisps and 10 silk cut. Not sure you can really do anything considering her age

Is it white bread or wholemeal? Some wholemeal bread had over 3 grams of fibre per slice so that could be be about 7 grams in a sandwich (if it's wholemeal). Add a piece of fruit and you're up to about 14 grams. Then she needs another 12 grams from breakfast and dinner combined.

She’s 12. The best you can do is teach her good food lessons and hope she follows your advice, while making sure that the meal you give her at tea time is really nutritious and full of goodness. I despair when parents tell me that their child has had a school dinner so they will be fine with a sandwich and a packet of crisps for tea. A school dinner at our school can consist of a jacket potato (with nothing on it if that’s what the dc ask for) and a piece of chocolate shortbread (which is delicious btw!) but there are nowhere near enough nutrients in that for a growing child.

What about a small pack/ tub with chopped nuts and oats / raisins to sprinkle on her breakfast cereal. Nothing too weird to get her standing out too much from the crowd.

Veterinari, actually Comefromaway is right, the free breakfasts are a school initiative to stop lateness, money is tight, but we don't qualify for FSM as we're on wtc and that's supposed to cover school meals. It's a cashless system, the money's already paid into an account and their thumbs are scanned when they go to pay.

Comefromaway I asked her whether she wanted school dinners or packed lunches and she opted for school dinners. I could pack her loads of fruit, veggies and wholemeal stuff and most of it would probably come back uneaten. She has a tiny appetite.

She's too full from breakfast to eat at morning break demented.

Violet again I can only influence that at home. She came back with a full water bottle yesterday.

Will she drink a fortified chocolate drink such as the weetabix one I mentioned. They are packed full of sugar I'm afraid but sometimes needs must.

Fatshedra I can but try...

I'll try that Comefromaway, thanks.

God please no those weetabix drinks are full of sugar and gross.

Have I missed where you cant give her a healthy tea?

For my ds they were better than him failing to grow through lack of protein. I do think the OP can give the dd her fibre through the evening meal, but if she feels she can't, its an option.

OP- why is it fibre in particular you are worried about?

My DC are now having breakfast at school and I really dislike the level of processed carbohydrate and saturated fat in their diet. They do promise me they have a bit of salad in their lunchtime sandwich and some fruit, but of course I don't know how much they actually have.

I make a lot of casseroles, etc for their evening meal. I don't generally serve them with additional carbohydrate, so the carbs come from the pulses and veggies. Frozen vegetables and tinned pulses are cheap and nutritious. I also make them smoothies using frozen berries (quite cheap), almond milk or kefir and avocado, etc. I sometimes add some linseeds to these.

Snack bars at home are things like NAKD bars which contain nuts and dried fruit.

Weekend breakfasts also contain a lot of fibre.

Ultimately you can only do what you can do.

Why is this a concern? Is there underlying problems that make it an issue?

Kids have eaten packed lunches with a sandwich for many many years without anyone every suggesting there isn't enough fibre in the lunch.

I don't know anyone the counts the fibre or anything else in each meal unless they have a health condition that makes it necessary.

I have to say, please be careful not to put this onto your DD. People don't need to obsess.

Artesia because she's not getting anywhere near enough fibre for her age.

lily I leave the obsessing to relatives. I'd just rather head off any digestive issues now. I'd definitely be constipated on what she eats. When I paid into her school meal account, I thought she'd have a main meal, so some veg. I'm a little worried.

I get that- but from what you’ve said, it sounds unlikely she’s getting enough calcium, protein, iron etc. I wondered why fibre in particular was the issue, and if it were a medical thing rug sluggish bowel, in which case people might have other suggestions to help

I leave the obsessing to relatives. I'd just rather head off any digestive issues now

But does she have digestive problems? Seriously, you don't need to ' head off' anything unless she actually has problems. Thousands of people, kids and adults, have a sandwich at lunch with no ill effects.

Why on earth would your relatives be obsessing over how much fibre your DD eats? It's not even normal for parents to do that, let alone anyone else.