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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

Nursery food

16 replies

LPT83 · 19/10/2021 20:09

I have just started back at work and sent my baby to nursery, she is 9 months. I picked her up today and was told everything she has eaten, which included Angel Delight. I was quite shocked and didn't know what to say. I am careful not to give her anything with added sugar (bar the occasional lick of our ice cream or something!). I am shocked that a nursery would give a 9 month old something with added sugar. They have also given her biscotti but I don't know what type and also chorizo which I thought would be too salty. They had allowed her to only have one 30 min nap too and by the time I picked her up she had been awake 5 and half hours and was wired. She isn't a good daytime sleeper but she needs at least 2 naps and I thought that one 30 min nap at 9 months was ridiculous. They said she didn't show signs of being tired but I thought that would be the sugar. Surely they should try and get her to have a nap regardless, that's what I assumed?! Am I being overly protective about the sugary food? Just feel like in this day and age baby nutrition would be better at nursery.

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Notajogger · 19/10/2021 20:12

Yes, I'd be miffed at that food too. Ridiculous. Particularly for the age.

proudwomansexmatters · 19/10/2021 20:14

Yanbu but tbh you're going to have to get used to it. I'm often shocked at the crap they feed them at nursery compared to what I'd cook at home! So many snacks and puddings!

mumof2oneofeach · 19/10/2021 20:15

You can get no added sugar angel delight...

pinklillie · 19/10/2021 20:19

I had this with my 7 month old as they had given her some cake. They noted that she hadn't eaten all of her dinner but had eaten all of the cake! I wrote in our handover i would prefer her not to have cake and could I send some fruit and plain yoghurt in which is what she has at home and they ended up calling me to discuss it. They said government guidelines say that all babies should have some sugar which I was certain wasn't right. They then told my husband at handover that there wasn't any sugar in it as it was made with natural ingredients so banana cake sweetened with banana etc then they called again and said they had spoken to the cook and they assured them they didn't use as much sugar as normal cakes! Babies that age don't need sugar or snacks so it was just really odd. I understand that they need to cater for all ages but I think they should either offer fruit and plain yoghurt or nothing at all. I may also be being precious but I don't think you are

mynameiscalypso · 19/10/2021 20:19

Not precious at all. Our nursery doesn't allow any sugar (other than fruit) in the baby class. If they, for example, make a cake, they're not allowed to eat it at nursery. Once they get older, they're allowed a tiny bit of chocolate once a week but they never have pudding other than fruit.

Rosesareyellow · 19/10/2021 20:20

YANBU she’s only a baby, that doesn’t seem age appropriate at all - the food or the nap times.

Thesearmsofmine · 19/10/2021 20:20

I would imagine it is the no added sugar stuff. Did they give you a menu of the nursery meals? And did you discuss naps with them beforehand?

Tbh with my first dc I wouldn’t have liked this either but by the time I had my third he had eaten all sorts of bits and bobs including stuff like ang delight and chocolate gateaux well before turning and it really hasn’t made much difference long term.

PinkWaferBiscuit · 19/10/2021 20:21

Do you not get provided with menus. Our nursery sends us termly menus which detail everything including salt content.

All the nurseries we looked round did similar and even though at our chosen nursery they have puddings and snacks they are not actually unhealthy or sugary e.g they may have a cake one day but it will be made of beetroot.

Imaybe asking for a menu would be a good starting point.

tigerbreadandtea · 19/10/2021 20:46

What was it like during settling in?

Original poster

LPT83 · 19/10/2021 21:41

Good to know I'm not being precious about it and others feel the same! I haven't posted on here before so not sure if I'm meant to reply to individual messages but to reply to general things asked-

We did see a sample menu but no menus have been sent out to us.

We have discussed naps with them and I made it clear she needs as much sleep as they can manage to get her to have as she only does 30 min naps and gets very overtired. Ideally would love it if she had one short nap and one long one but that's not happening so she needs 2 or 3 short naps to at least get through the day with an hour and half.
settling in didn't go brilliantly as she was going through separation anxiety and they wouldn't let us go in with her because of covid even though other nurseries allowed parents in for settling in. She only had an hour at a time so she hadn't eaten there.

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NellieBertram · 20/10/2021 17:48

The food sounds pretty typical for nursery food to be honest, it's going to be cheap & filling and not as good as you would do at home.
Fine to say fruit/plain yoghurt only for pudding though and they should abide by that - maybe re evaluate when she moves into the 2 year old room.

Naps - you need to tell them what her routine is. If she has a nap at 9.30am and 2,30pm then ask them to put her down at those times.

If you say something vague like "put her down when tired" then you'll get nowhere as she will be excited and stimulated at nursery and probably won't give obvious tired signals. Remember the room and staff are busy and they don't know your child so they won't be noticing subtle tired signs like you would at home.

BingBongToTheMoon · 20/10/2021 17:54

They can’t make her sleep though.
There might be so many exciting things going on that she doesn’t want to sleep.

Danikm151 · 21/10/2021 12:54

My son had FOMO at nursery. He used to have 2-3 naps a day now he has 1 purely because they try and get all the kids to nap at the same time so there isn't as much stimulation.
There's too much going on at nursery for more than 1 nap reliably.

I'd be annoyed about the cake. my son is 19 months now and when I went to collect him the other day he was eating a sweet. I told the new staff member that I don't give him sweets so I expect nursery not to either. I then followed up with the manager.

FTEngineerM · 21/10/2021 12:58

They look after 2 or 3 babies each so napping is almost impossible to manage unless they all go down together or your baby can just be plonked down and go to sleep?

I know I can’t get my two to sleep when they need it sometimes.

sleepingrabbits · 21/10/2021 13:16

Honestly I do think you are being precious, what's going to happen by her having cake? If you don't give cake then she's getting variety and yes if you have more Dc you won't be able to be sugar free and cake free as the older one will be having stuff, unless you ban them from parties/ party bags/ events at school. School love giving cake for pudding.

Original poster

LPT83 · 21/10/2021 23:12

I'm not against sugar completely. I probably eat far too much of it myself as I am a total chocoholic! But there is a difference between an older toddler having some little sugary bits and a 9 month old baby having it! Some people allow their babies of that age to have added sugar and that's entirely their decision. For me I just don't feel it is suitable for that age and think it will make it harder for me to get her liking savoury food, something I already struggle with as she hasn't taken to weaning very well and like most babies she just loves anything naturally sweet above anything else.

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