Nursery menu a shocker

[sarahandruby]

My daughter is 16 months old, on her menu sheet yesterday she had for lunch a potato pie with ice cream for dessert, tea was 4 slices of muffins with butter and 2 pieces of cake for dessert. Besides her morning snack of fruit I hardly think this menu would make the 5 a day grade. My hubbie thinks I'm over reacting but I think this type of food for any child let alone one so young is not healthy and I would certainly never feed her this type of food. And on top of this she wasn't given her milk due to the nursery "not having any" in stock. Upon saying this my daughter seems happy there although she is very social and could imagine her happy at any nursery. The fees at the nursery at £75 a day. I think I just expect a little more for my money. Has anybody else had any problems with nursery menu?? I have sent an email to the nursery manager, but had no response although last time I had a issue it was never acknowledged or resolved. Any thoughts what I should do??

I am on the outskirts of London and don't pay anywhere near that though. Although ds' fees have just done down due to his age.

Lizzz - Z's nursery have started giving biscuits and cheese at snack time as well as fruit. He's developing quite a little pot belly (tis v cute!)

£40-£45/day is top end, IMHO - what are they including for that price, FGS?

I agree you should take a closer look / ask them to describe how they do menu planning before you complain.

Also don't get too hung up on the fruit and veg thing - they need fats and carbs and sugars too, and toddler portions of veg are very small - I worked it out once when I was thinking that DD was hardly eating any and found that even at her worst she was getting what she 'should' have and more.

Thanks everyone for your wonderful advice. I will definately be asking exactly what was on the menu that day just to make sure of my facts first. They have a dedicate onsite chef, and they don't cook with extra salt or sugar. For that price I don't want to have to pack her lunch and dinner aswell. We are fairly new to the nursery and haven't met any other parents yet. I will approach the manager next week, least I will have the weekend to cool down. Still it's no excuse for not having any milk though. Am considering maybe looking at nanny share, that way you have more control over what is going on.
Thanks again everyone

Oh forgot to say Clapham, London prices.

£75+ a day is common in North London too - I couldn't afford it as that's my take home pay before tube fares etc but I know people who do.

Whatever you're paying it should include the cost of a varied menu. And if they're giving her fruit and veg with those meals or with the potato pie, it would seem a good idea to say so.

If you're considering nannyshare, I wouldn't rule out childminders either.

Thanks elkiedee, I basically go to work for nothing after nursery fees, tubes and lunch also. But it's only 2 days a week and gives my daughter the social interaction with other children and same for me with the adult conversation etc. It seems to be working well except for the couple of issues with the nursery. I have time to cool down over the weekend but still will talk to the manager about and lack of response from them.

One of the reasons I ended up staying with the childminder until ds was ready to go to school was that I couldn't find a decent nursery with a decent menu!
You are not going to change the habits of a place that is that bad. Find a new nursery or give your ds lots of vitamins and health food at home.

Sarah - I practically work for free too, after we've paid nursery fees, petrol etc! Tis madness but I'd go insane if I stayed at home with ds all week. I do, in fact, go a bit doolally if we don't have planned activities for the days I'm home with him.

I'm obviously just a crap SAHM!

Thanks SofiaAmes - I make a point to full her up on lots of great organic fresh friut and vege when she is home with me, and she never has junk food or cakes etc when she is with me. So it being on two days I guess it's not going to kill her. It's just they claim to have such a healthy nutrtious menu. I wouldn't know where to start with a childminder, but I am warming to the idea. Do you supply your own meals or do they cook what you request??

theSuburbanDryad - I doubt we are alone, it does seem a bit mad going to work for free but if it keeps us sane it's well worth it. And I feel I appreciate the time I spend with my daughter much more and vice versa. take care xx

We had the most lovely childminder who was our neighbor. She was so good with the kids. And she cooked proper meals from scratch every day for them.

When ds started with his childminder at 10 months, I told her some of the sort of things we gave him but said I was happy for her to try him with what she was giving other mindees etc - she looks after an older toddler and his sister and brother before and after school, and her youngest own child is 7 (the oldest is late teens or older).

They're Somali Muslims so I'm hoping he ends up eating things that he probably wouldn't get at home with us, as I'm a picky eater but really want him not to be. Actually, she makes chips a lot but they are fresh prepared from potato, and she cooks properly from fresh generally, I think probably a mix of English and Somali food, but he also eats lots of fruit with her and at home - we normally give him breakfast and tea but I think he gets extra breakfast and a late afternoon meal there too.

puts fees up at BossyTots