nursery rant....giving food

[wotuc]

i'm really cross. we have to provide lunches at nursery - which is fine I do that. As I have strict criteria about what breakfast to give I also provide that although I dont have to as they do provide breakfast. My OH usually picks up our 15 month old . One a number of occasions nursery staff have said he hasn't eaten lunch provided so they gave him fruit. Yesterday he didn't have breaksfat I provided so they gave a toast instead. However, the thing is 99% of the time when I feed him he eats. Yes at times he needs to be distracted with a toy and it does take time but he eats. I am imagining they are probably spending 5 seconds trying to feed him and then giving up and giving him an easy option. Am really annoyed at that and the fact that I am buying food for him instead of making it so they are chucking out up to £3-4 worth of food a day. Thing is this nursery is not packed with kids so they are not overrun with work. I thought about giving home cooked but not sure if I can rely on them to store food properly given that on non food stuff I have to remind them of alot of things. What do I do without sounding like the 'fussy and difficult' parent? I'mm soo angry

Cook it yourself, freeze in small portions, send it frozen and you won't need to worry about storage. It will be waaaaay cheaper, probably healthier too.

is the food you are giving him finger food? because at 15months old, he shouldn't need to be fed, or distracted with anything in order to get him to eat. He should be feeding himself.

I have never before heard of a nursery not providing lunch before. Very odd.

Wrt breakfast, surely you can just sent in a box of weetabix/ready brek/etc?

Eating toast doesn't sound like the end of the world though!

Just send him with a sandwich and a banana, and give him a cooked dinne.r

colditz - it's not finger food . It's food that needs a spoon .However finger food he does eat by himself

splashymcsplash-yeah I think its odd as all other nurseries I had seen provided food.

breakfast i give him is baby oat porridge or baby yoghurt with cereal. I prefer him to have porridge or yoghurt over toast as it keeps him fuller longer. is it okay to give regular porridge i.e. readybrek as opposed to baby porridge? Sorry i'm new to this. I will ask about giving box of porridge i just assumed they needed it all made up particularly with porridge.

As I pointed out, don't send food that the staff will have to spoon feed him, because he is old enough to be feeding himself now, and will not develop that skill if he is always spoon fed. Perhaps the staff are trying to encourage his independence? The food they are giving him is finger food.

Sweetie, he doesn't need baby porridge, he's 15 months old, he's not a baby. He's a toddler.

Send sandwiches, fruit, bread for toast (good quality seeded bread with real butter), Shreddies, pasta salads (15 month olds can definitely handle a pasta salad), cold omelette for them to heat up, lasagne for him to pick up and eat....

I also suspect that the more often you send finger food, the more often he will eat his food, as children do get very tired of having spoons pushed into their mouths once they are capable of doing it themselves.

Ds2 was using a fork by the time he was one, I promise you your child can do it if given the opportunity.

It maybe his way of saying he wants proper food. He cound have weetabix with milk mixed together and self feed at that age and any decent nursery staff would be encouraging him to self feed and helping along the way to make sure some went in if he struggled!

What breakfast do they provide? It can't be toast everyday!

Its odd they don't provide a hot meal too!

Another point to consider is at the nursery I work its the ethos not to try 'force' children to eat something as this can make mealtimes an unpleasant experience. Maybe they tried a few times and gave up as he was protesting, tried with toast to stop him being hungry? Speak to the room leader always best to voice your concerns than let them fester. Ask if she thinks your dc is ready for a more 'challenging' breakfast, you said yourself your new to this, they might have some helpful advice as they have seen lots of other children at this age.

He's definitely old enough for ready brek :)

I agree with the finger food idea. At his age he should be learning to use a spoon too.

colditz - i dont believe a 15mnth old shud be just given finger foods they need a variety, if u only give him finger foods how will he ever learn to use a spoon??? when im feeding my daughter i give her a spoon to feed herself but i also have a spoon to make sure she actually gets some in, its messy but works, u shud see if this works x :)
i make homemade foods eg, spag bol with plenty of veg, stews etc and freeze them and send to nursery, it'd so much easier and cheaper!
at 15mnth hun he can have pretty much everything but whenever in doubt google it

I agree that he should be feeding himself, I would recommend 'real' porridge oats over readybrek. Mine had that at 6/7 months and did fine, I always let mine feed themselves and didnt feed them. but even friends who were spoon feeding their babies at purée at the beginning of weaning had children who were feeding themselves with a spoon after 1.

Lily bean, your child is too old to need spoon feeding unless he has a disability, and this is why the nursery are not spoon feeding him. I'm sorry this conflicts with your beliefs.