Toddlers eat TOO MUCH FRUIT. Doh!

[S1ur]

BBC story

...at the expense of fat, sugar and carbs.

SO what do we think? Time to beat ourselves around head for filling them up on apples instead of cheese on toast?

Note to self, five-a-day child size, three-a-day calcium without too much sugar, but atill just enough, carbs and fat - but the good kind, oh and oily fish but not too much and meat so long as it is organic and lean and not too much.

How the hell do you get a child to eat 14 portions of fruit in a day ?

Dd won't eat any fruit except lychees (and dried fruit), so I think we're safe . Thankfully she's better with veg.

My dd starts nursery next month and I was shocked to find that the only snack they're given is apples and/or carrots.

She is very, very active and pretty skinny for her age. I do think they should be given a more substantial snack

I don't think it's that stupid. They need those other food groups, well protein and fat as fruit is mostly sugar and carbs anyway.

Well I have long thought that this is a potential problem. I have a lot of friends who never give their kids puds etc, only fruit. I have one extremely skinny son and I am always making him custards, home made ice cream, cheescake etc to get some calories into him. A lot of these kids must be low on calcium too.

I have just had to argue this with my Pre-school Manager. We only offer fruit (apples, bananas, pears, raisins) and milk/water. I really think we could offer breadsticks, crackers and toast. She has agreed to a trial reluctantly. For children who don't eat breakfast fruit isn't enough to get them through to lunchtime imo.

Kids need energy.

Some days it sems like all my DD has eaten is fruit and vegetables!!
I did ask the HV if there was a maximum amount per day if 5 was the minimum but she just laughed and said of course not.

Not sure what to do now as it doesnt seem right to say no to her requests for nonge(orange) and mato(tomato) and offer a chocolate biscuit instead

How strange. Was just thinking earlier while dd had tea (14mth) Do I give her too much fruit. How much is too much? It can be quite difficult and confusing with so many contradicting guidelines. Everything in moderation is what I have been led to believe.
Do struggle sometimes to think of healthy puddings other than fruit and yoghurt. Any advice gratefully recieved.

that's my DS to a tee .. ever since a toddler and he's 7 now

I have been known to shout at him "FGS put that apple down and go and have a packet of crisps"

but I'm not worried about the balance of his diet because he has proteins, carbs, fats in good amounts .. I am worried about his dental health because constantly munching on fruit (and he could easily eat 14 pieces of fruit in a day) is really really bad for your teeth

Fran we do bread sticks, crackers, rich tea biscuits etc, we have also experimented with dry cereal, and we regularly have 'toast parties' where the children spread on their own jam and butter. We also offer cubes of cheese.

Pudding ideas:

rice pudding, honey sandwiches, microwaved jam sponge (homemade of course, takes about 10 minutes start to finish!), couple of biscuits (rich tea/digestives), cereal. These are all things I do for my 6 yr old.

have been saying this for a while, children do needs fats etc. i remember when it was recommended that children uto age 5 had full fat milk, now its age 2 or 3 isnt it?

Most of these are normally 'supper' as he is slow to eat evening meal and its normally nearly bed time! We have ice cream and sweets at the weekend!

For his packed lunch pudding I put in either homemade flapjack or cakes or rice crispy cakes he has made at the weekend. If I can't be bothered he gets a digestive biscuit and a couple of squares of choc!

Thanks Nosnik she has the occasional biscuit. Will give the jam sponge a go sounds yummy.
Was wondering about Honey wanted her to try it for ages as I love it with natural yoghurt and fruit.
What age can it be given from?

I have just managed to persuade DS1 to btoaden his fruit repertoire to include strawberries and apples.

However, he has the most boring diet known to man, but he does get the right amount of fat/carbs/protein as well as fruit and veg.

DS2 is a human vacuum and will eat anything put in front of him, be it bread, fruit, veg meat, bits of fluff, poo

You can give honey from 12months. I don't avoid suger`as a rule just artificial stuff . My motto is everything in moderation and lots of variety! Also I go for minimal packaging as colourful packaging usually = junk

no1putsbabyinthecorner its 1year+ for honey.

I am an advocate of children having Proper Butter as well.

In fact, we all eat Proper Butter in our house, none of that spread shit. Yuck!

sheik! us too, love the stuff! other stuff is full to brim of additives and fake stuff, give me real food any day!

I'm so glad a thread has been started on this, was searching for one the other day after my mother gloatingly told me on the phone about this story in the news. My Glaswegian mother raised me on smash and tinned spaghetti washed down with Irn Bru, and thinks I'm being cruel when I serve DD broccoli.
I've just had gastric bypass surgery as my own weight got so out of control that at the age of 30 I developed type 2 diabetes. I am desperate to ensure that DD 2yr 3mo doesn't follow in my fruit & vegetable hating footsteps. Am I now to believe that I'm giving her too much of what I thought were the good things? Today she has had a banana, half a small orange, a large handful of raisins, and tomatoes & onions in a pasta sauce. Is this too much fruit and veg? She's had meat, cheese, bread & milk as well as all that.

My mum was saying this recently too. DD eats a lot of fruit but I do monitor it because she could eat it all day at the expense of other things.
A friend of mine is extremely guilty of applying an adult healthy diet onto her children because she is worried about obescity.

We also eat proper butter here as well.

I do think there's a danger (as always) of the knee-jerk "Agh, kids are eating too much fruit, quick reach for the Dairy Milk"

Fat does not equal refined sugar. Butter, full fat yoghurt, cream, cheese, nuts (great source of fat)

I also wonder how this fits with the idea that actually 5 a day is a pretty low cutoff for fruit & veg intake...(I can easily mine trying to hit 14 if given a free reign of the fruit basket...)

Today my dd had wheatabix with chopped strawberries ( plus two whole strawberries) Then later pinched some of my toasted teacake and freshly made juice.

Lunch. Marmite sandwich (wholemeal bread)
Cubes of cheese
Yoghurt
Grapes

Afternoon snack
Few fruit flakes and 3 mini rice cakes

Tea
Pasta
pear and kiwi.

Dh just got in from work I cooked roast beef etc.. She pinched 1 and a half yorkshire puddings, some boiled potatoes and I have just shouted at dh for catching him giving her ice cream.

Not ideal seing as she goes to bed with a beaker full of milk at 7 ish.
So we going out for a walk now with the dog instead of bed.

Sorry for rambling on but I think my dd eats constantly, My mum says I feed her too much.
Feeling really bad incase I am over feeding her but she sobs if I refuse.
I thought I was doing the right thing by making sure everytime she snacked I gave fruit.

dd3 munches on fruit all day if i let her. she polishes off a bag of grapes in minutes. she eats a minimum of 5 a day, but its mainly offered after meals.

i dont think there will be a knee jerk reaction as such, but i do think that maybe there should be more 'advice' (hate saying this) about diets for the under-fives, as they are growing so much more at that age.

trying to get my children to each a piece of cheese is a nightmare, but make it cheese of toast and they love that lol. kids are funny.