Wholemeal for young children ... or not?

[baubleweed]

I just read the NHS 'Birth to Five' booklet that they give you when you have a baby and was shocked to see that they recommend that you do not give wholemeal bread, pasta or rice to children under age 3 because they are too fibrous and small quantities fill them up without them having eaten enough carbohydrate or other food.

I was surprised because it contradicts what I have read elsewhere regarding the beneficial iron and other vits and minerals in wholegrain. I thought white bread was processed and nutrionally fairly void.

I tend to use brown rice, depending on the recipe and we get wholemeal pasta and bread.

Any nutritional experts around?

i thought the same as you, i know they have trouble processing fibre in normal amounts but i was shocked by the amount of salt in just one slice. hovis you should be ashamed. nearly 1/2g salt per slice is a quarter of the allowance for toddlers up to age two and half for under 1s. that's the total allowance for the whole day.

farking hell... give my kids wholemeal all the time!!!!!!!!

HV told me last week to give DS (6 months) wholemeal bread.

Twinkle - is that for wholemeal or white?

that birth to 5 book contains a lot of crap tbh

I've been giving mine wholemeal bread since they were weaned, I always thought it was best.

white. sorry had a bit of trouble recognising xmas name! next time you get your weekly shop, just look at the ingredients table on the back of the wrapper. if it just says sodium, you will need to multiply that amount by 2.5 to get amount for salt. many maufacturers just put sodium levels, knowing full well that it makes the product look better for you that one that is slightly more honest. it took me ten minutes to find one that had less than half-gramme per slice.

i've always given my dd wholemeal everything and will be with ds too. much better taste and better for them in general

Some of the brown breads are quite salty too.

Glad others thinking same as me. Its really bugged me today, wondering if dd doesnt eat alot because her toast or pasta is filling her up too much. But all my instints tell me wholemeal is best because less processed, more iron and vitamins.

Dh has just piped up 'just give less of the bread, pasta and whatever, and more veg rather than change the type of bread/pasta'

i get really stressed sometimes trying to find something that doesn't have loads of salt in it.

please don't feed them manufactured quiche - a 400g quiche will have half the rda of salt in just 1/4 of the whole quiche, which is a decent portion. i hit the roof when i found out dp had given it to dd without reading for salt content. he knows quite different now

oh dammit, dd has had quiche a few times now

I'm the same with salt - I am trying really really hard but its in everthing - breakfast cereals, veggie sausages and burgers, breads, pates and spreads

pesto sauce is a shocker too

I am trying to cook proper food as much as possible, but some nights when have been to work am too tired or not enough time

I think its about making sure where you are offering whole grains to younger babies you're not making it the bulk of the meal i.e. its being offered with plenty of fruit/veg with some sort of protein (veg/meat) to ensure that they even if they eat all the wholegrain food first, they can still fit in the other stuff. I've always been told that wholemeal is better than white although we have the bread that's got both as I won't get into the one for one and one for the other and I prefer the best of both although am now off to check the salt levels!!!!

Ouch 0.43g of salt in each slice!!!

Wholemeal does tend to give them runnier bums, IME, but we're a strictly wholemeal household.

I don't think it's worth worrying too much about salt meal to meal. It's the overall average salt intake that's the issue, and as long as your child's normal food intake isn't readymade foods, and as long as you don't add much salt to home cooking, they'll be fine.

My kids have certainly lived on restaurant food for weeks at a time, while travelling, and lived to tell the tale.

our dds have always had wholemeal from the time they were weaned.

both my two dd4 and ds1 have always had wholemeal everything including bran flakes and they are fine,, they do have regular and plenty of bowel movements though!!

have always given wholegrain bread to children

thanks everyone I was thinking I had been stupid

Me too, only ever given wholemeal bread.

I agree with NQC re salt too - I don't really give mine processed food/ready meals so I don't worry about the salt in bread.

Can I just add a note of caution here? I don't want to teach granny to suck eggs (iykwim!!) but also want to share what happened to a friend to save anyone else going through the same trauma.

Her 15mth old was eating a wholegrain sandwich when he turned limp and blue. She threw him in the car and raced to the dr's nearby where they were ready to do a tracheostomy(sp?) if he deteriorated before the ambulance arrived. It turned out he had a seed from the bread wedged in his throat. It ended happily when he suddenly gasped loudly and then vomited all over the place, getting rid of the obstruction but the baby had a raw throat for days and poor mum and dad had one hell of a fright.

Other Mumsnetters are probably savvier than me but I honestly would never have considered that such a thing could happen.

Suedonim, how scary! Glad he was OK.

How about getting a breadmaker - I put 1g of salt in a whole loaf. God knows what it would taste like if it had as much as Hovis put in it

baubleweed don't worry, like nqc said it's their overall salt intake that counts.

maybe a homemade quich with no salt would be good all you cookery ladies?!

some bread does taste quite salty tho, usu offer dd a drink of water with it to try and counteract the effects of the salt