I'm worried about my daughters diet, will this affect her health??

[mummyloveslucy]

Hi, my 4 year old daughter is a fussy eater and recently we've been giving her what ever she wants just to get her to eat.
I really want to improve her diet.
At the moment her main diet is :

cerial- shredded wheet and cornflakes(both with sugar)and cherios

rice cakes with butter or soft cheese

cheese sandwiches, penut butter on toast, yogurts, scrambled egg, apples and carrot sticks.

She dosn't really eat anything else. She will occasionally eat spagetti bolognaise though.

she drinks Robinsons squash (no added sugar) (which I've recently been advised not to give her)
fruit juce, and milk.

Do you know of any tricks to get her to eat more healthily? she'll try anything, but then says "I don't like it".

Also, do you know where I can find a list of harmfull ingrediants to look out for?

I'm on a mission.

you put sugar on the cereal?

Yes, on the shredded wheet and cornflakes. She won't eat it without. She eats cherios without as they alreaddy have it.

does she like fruit at all? My daughter (2.8) is very fussy but she does gobble down loads of fruit so we always feel that is a little victory. Sympathies by the way, I know the pain of the fussy eater.

TBH her diet doesn't look appalling, low on fruit and veg, and low in iron maybe too. But what she does eat isn't bad iyswim? Not like she only eats junk.

Try putting raisins on the cereal instead

Veg sticks with dips - if she likes soft cheese then use that

Fruit with yoghurt or on cereal

Will she eat pizza? You can make it with her and put lots of veggies on it.

Pasta with any sauce is something most kids will gobble

I ony give milk or water to drink, with the odd bit of fruit juice (not squash)

Try to extend on what she already eats if that makes sense - so add something new to a dish you know she likes rather than give her a totally new plate of food.

Hi, yes she'll eat apples, grapes, pears, pineapple and melon. And occaionally a bannana. So that's not too bad.

well she's eating fruit, veg, calcium and protein - so not that bad - if she will try anything then I would just give her v small portions of new food along with her meals - to try and balance out her diet more - so a few peas/bit of meat or fish etc. and then try and slightly increase it.

My MIL tells me that my dh lived on peanut butter sandwiches, apples and milk for quite a while, and a doctor told her that that was a well-balanced diet and not to worry!

I'd give her a vitamin & iron supplement. She's got protein, carbs, calcium, and some vitamins & minerals in the cereals, bread, apples, carrots, eggs, juice. Healthwise, it's not a horrendous diet at all, I don't think.

She likes toast for breakfast but only white bread and penut butter, with isn't too healthy. She also likes dairy lee. Is that better than penut butter?

It's so tricky.

have you tried her with humus and breadsticks or humus on toast?You could try giving some sort of organic squash like Rock if you have the guilts about the Robinsons. But I can see why you would give her squash as juice and milk can be too filling and put her off her food...

Good, I'm glad it's not too bad. I'm going to try to improve it though to include more vedge. I might make her the baby food she used to eat.
blended carrots, potato, parsnips

and blended potato, salmon and brocoli.

She used to eat this all the time, she won't eat these ingredients whole but I could try blending them again?

My daughter has special needs too, mostly communication and possible learning difficulties. It makes it a bit more awkward but I have to be stricter.

She might go for mumus and bread sticks, she likes bread sticks anyway.
That would be good.

I wouldn't go back to blending food for her - its not just about the nutrition, you want her to get used to eating a wide range of healthy food and blended food really won't help with that. It'll set up a whole new issue IMO.

Try not to worry. Its amazing how little children seem to need in order to thrive! Of course its good to try and extend and improve her diet but don't let it become a stressful thing for any of you. Keep it calm and fun if you can.

I would be strict on drinks and only give her milk (semi-skimmed) and water, no squash or juice at all unless for a special treat/occasion.

Spaghetti bolognese is a good starting point for expanding her diet - you can make variations on your recipe and see whether you can nudge her into eating other sorts of pasta dishes.

mumus??? (you knew what I meant)

She will eat soup if she's really hungry.

I think she would eat hovis granary if it had penut butter on it.

i wouldnt put sugar on the cereal, you could try a different cereal with no sugar and then 'run out' of sugar when you switch back

My kids adore cheerios, the lower sugar ones but they are so unhealthy imo that they have them as a snack in the car or out instead of crisps/choc but never for breakfast

you say she has scramled eggs, what about ommlettes? you could add veggies to those, or even in the scarmled eggs if all else fails

does she eat any meat? as she likes picinic type foods maybe cold meats?

I would be keener at getting my child to eat bread with nothing on it than granary bread (which is actually not very good for small children) with spreads on.

I have always given DD bread with nothing on it. But my mother introduced her to bread with lashings of butter and it has been really hard to wean her off the butter.

Running out of things (or having the shops run out of things) is a good ploy . My local supermarket has forever run out of chocolate milk, chocolate cereal and chocolate yoghurt. And Nutella.

I think it's fine to do mashed up mixed veg (as plenty of adults eat mashed potato or mashed root veg) but not the fish with veg, as that is a bit babyish.

Do you eat with her and offer her the same meal? I think it really helps if it is a social occasion , either with family or her peers or by going out. Will she have school lunch as she may be expected to try different things that way and at least it will take some of the stress off you persuading her to eat?

As she can't express herself clearly verbally I wonder if she may be using this as a way to protest about other things. You are naturally cocnerned and rise to her behaviour.

There are some foods in there that, in imbalanced quantities, could trigger her tummy problems you mention elsewhere ie. a bread and cereals which are gluten based and can cause bloating, discomfort etc. Can you really go back to basics , not pureed foods but simple meals such as fish and potato, chicken and rice , initially in very small quantities on a child-sized or side plate, to which you could gradually introduce sauce or variation (ie fish pie). Maybe take her with you shopping to choose ingredients and let her do simple tasks such as sprinkling with cheese while you cook.

Could you get that half and half bread?

We love peanut butter on white but have been weaning our son (and myself!) onto brown more by buying this. He's tried wholemeal once without complaining too much now.

I like granary and wholemeal, but nothing beats taste of fresh white and butter AT THE WEEKEND! [trying to be good emoticon]

She does eat all her lunch at nursery (apparently) they give her a healthy home made meal every day inc things like salad, vedge and fruit.
I can't believe she eats it. Maybe it's because she's hungry and there's no other option.
I tend to give her something else if she won't eat her healthy meal. I know I should let her go without, but I hate to think she's hungry.
LIZS- Her tummy problems are the main reason I'm looking in to her diet. She eats loads of bread (with loads of butter at grandmas) She is happy to eat bread without butter too.
Are rice cakes o.k?