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Nurseries

Find nursery advice from other Mumsnetters on our Nursery forum. For more guidance on early years development, sign up for Mumsnet Ages & Stages emails.

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Original poster

Am I being precious about petit filous and other food

28 replies

Samvet · 04/05/2011 17:39

I am never sure if I am being neurotic or not as I am a little high maintenance. But the nursery my son will start at next week at 8 months serves nice, homely food but I am worried about it. I am careful with sugar and so think it isn't appropriate for him to have chocolate pudding. Also all yogurt is sugary childrens stuff. They also serve sausages and beans - are they too salty for his age?
Feel free to tell me to get over it.
They say I can take my own sugar free yogurt in and opt out of sugary pudds but am I being over the top?
They seemed to think I am.
Thanks s

OP posts:

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BooBooGlass · 04/05/2011 17:40

It's your son and your choice. But honestly? Get over it.

AmazingBouncingFerret · 04/05/2011 17:42

A little sugar wont hurt him. But your DS your choice. Whatever makes you feel happy really.

paddypoopants · 04/05/2011 17:43

For all the petit filous that he will actually ingest I wouldn't really worry about it. But BBG is right - it's your choice.

Original poster

Samvet · 04/05/2011 17:48

Thanks I find it a fine line between being precious and doing the best for him iykwim. I might just ask to skip the really sugary stuff and try and relax a bit.

OP posts:

leeloo1 · 04/05/2011 17:54

When my DS was your DS's age I'd have felt the same as you. I think that when they're tiny their tastes beging to be formed so its good that they don't have too much sugar/salt and have mostly unprocessed foods. Unless your son is solely feeding himself/BLW then the care workers will be able to shovel in a lot of sugary puds/yogurts so I think you are right to be concerned.

DS is now 2.6 so I've relaxed a bit - on holiday at xmas he had his 1st taste of ice-cream and now loves it, but he's old enough to express a preference (and to understand when we say no).

leeloo1 · 04/05/2011 17:55

Meant to add - if that is the diet in nursery then there's probably not much you can do - could you find a Childminder who cooks more healthily or where you could provide your own food?

Original poster

Samvet · 04/05/2011 18:03

Thanks leeloo. We do a mix of blw and puree so agree they could give alot. I think I will just hold off the really sugary stuff. I wanted a nursery as we have few family etc with babies/children so though a nice opportunity to socialize. Will see what they say tomorrow at second settling in session thanks again.

OP posts:

breatheslowly · 04/05/2011 18:15

Many nurseries will offer fruit instead on parental request. I understand what you mean about sugar, but I would just focus on a healthy home. After all you need him to get plenty of calories. I was brought up with a relatively sugar free diet, but as soon as I was able to get my own sweets I made up for lost time. I think that normalising sugar as part of the occasional meal, rather than offering sweets and chocolate is a good way to go.

RitaMorgan · 04/05/2011 22:47

I love the food my ds's nursery serve - homely cooking, lots of puddings with custard

There are some kids who are only allowed fruit for pudding though.

TheSkiingGardener · 04/05/2011 22:52

They need a lot of energy at that age. DS is 11 months and grew an inch in the last 2 weeks, that takes a lot of calories. As long as it's not chocolate pudding every day I would be fine with that. Look at the balance of their meals over the day and the week and they are probably pretty good.

He's your DS though, if you say fruit only for pudding they need to respect that.

princesbold · 10/05/2011 17:37

Sugar is present in all rice, potatoes, pasta, fruit, vegetables, bread, often in far higher quantities than you might expect to find in fromage frais. Children who might be given supposedly healthy items like fresh fruit smothies will be consuming more sugar than if they were given CocaCola.

choceyes · 10/05/2011 20:05

When my DS was younger, he started nursery at 10 months, and I told them no sugary puddings for him. I really didn't like the idea of him having a sugary pudding after every lunch time. Not healthy and not a good habit. He might expect that at every meal time. Nursery was happy to accomodate his request, although they were a bit bemused. I send in extra fruit for him too.

I don't hink there is any need to for kids to eat sugary foods that early. They eat so little at that age, so to fill them up with empty calories is silly.

princesbold - Rice, pasta etc etc doesn't have sugar in it. They have carbs which do get turned into sugars in the body, but very slowly and these foods also have other nutrients to justify eating them. They is no nutritional value in refined sugar and it gets broken down instantly in the body leading to a sugar high and then a crashing low.
Babies do need energy but there are better ways of getting them.

choceyes · 10/05/2011 20:06

Also meant to add that shortly after my DS started nursery, they stopped giving under 2's sugary puddings anyway (only fruit and plain yoghurt) because of the health issues.

sparkleshine · 10/05/2011 21:20

At my DS nursery, they do lovely fresh home cooked food, main and pudding. They do chocolate sponge and toffee sponge and custard and all sorts, including fruit.
But the cook is really good and makes sure the salt and sugar content is try to be kept to the minimal. I was also worried initially about this, but after they allowed me to have a sample of the puddings...I could tell it was low sugar, tasted a bit bland for me. It gave me reassurance.

Maybe they do that there

princesbold · 11/05/2011 10:47

To understand how quickly carbohydrates are turned into sugar you must be aware of each food types GI rating. You may be very surprised to find in just how many minutes carbohydrates are turned in to sugar. An apple is as bad if not worse due to it's acid effects on teeth than the fromage frais, who's calcium content will repair teeth and encourage good skeletal growth, far more important at a young age.

Shambolicaholic · 13/05/2011 19:54

But princesbold why not have yoghurt / fromage frais without any sugar in? then it's best of both words. I give DS natural yoghurt only which he loves and he has plenty of fruit too at the appropriate times of day.

OP you could suggest that your child's nursery signs up to a healthy eating scheme. My DS's nursery has recently done this and so itself avoids many of the things you're worrying about and also is discouraging parents from giving their children crisps, chocolate and other snacks. I'm a bit uncomfortable about it - I think it's a bit preachy and it is a parent's choice - but I have also been a bit anal about DS's diet so it is definitely one less thing for me to worry about!

princesbold · 13/05/2011 23:29

Unsweetened fromage frais is rather unappealing, the benefits of the calcium will far outweigh the negativity of the added sugar. And back to the sugar rich and acid ridden fruit !

Rosebud05 · 13/05/2011 23:32

8 months is still early in the weaning process in the great scheme of things and I wouldn't have let my kids have sugary yoghurts or pudding at that age tbh.

Just ask the nursery not to give them to him, and keep this up until he is old enough to notice that others are having something different to him.

princesbold · 14/05/2011 13:35

Interestingly having weaning mentioned, breast milk is far higher in sugars than Fromage Frais ! 37% against 15%

ivykaty44 · 14/05/2011 13:45

petit filous - I don't buy them since I found out they are 50% sugar but I do let my dd have sweets

balance is the key and letting him mix and enjoy nursery

ivykaty44 · 14/05/2011 13:45

how do you get refined sugar in your tits then?

PelvicFloorsOfSteel · 14/05/2011 13:47

At 8 months I wouldn't be comfortable with too much sugar laden pudding, it's true DC need plenty of calories to grow but they also need loads of nutrients. Fromage frais are an easy way of getting plenty of calcium, the sugar is probably a little higher than is ideal but can't see an issue with having them occasionally. Can't really see any benefit in chocolate pudding for under 2s though.
Do you know if the sausages and beans are homemade or bought in? If they're bought then I wouldn't give an 8 month old anything that processed or salty.

MotherSnacker · 14/05/2011 13:51

Agree with pelvicfloorsof steel

If you are worried opt out, an 8 month old won't notice what the others are eating. An older child might though but you can always change your mind.

princesbold · 14/05/2011 14:37

Petite filous is Less than 15% sugar, a 50g pot will only contain 7g of sugar.

RitaMorgan · 14/05/2011 14:43

7g of sugar seems like quite a lot to me. Surely there's a big difference between naturally occuring lactose in milk and added sugar in desserts?

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