Sounds odd but am I right to limit healthy foods...read on for explanaition!

[vixen1]

My DS (nearly 3)has had 3 satsumas in quick succession and I'm pretty sure he would have in excess of 5 if he had the chance. He would also quite happily eat an entire punnet of grapes or a whole tub of olives.

Whilst I'm obviously delighted that he enjoys these healthy foods I usually restrict the amount he has because I'm worried that it'll give him indigestion and that the acid might damage his teeth. The restrictions I usually impose are roughly three satsumas, 7 olives and half a punnet of grapes (on separate occasions- he obviously doesn't eat all that in one sitting!! )

How much is too much? Should I let him have as much as he likes even if that's in excess of 5 satsumas in quick succession? Can olives be harmful if he eats too many? Or should I just shut up and thank my lucky stars that he likes these things so much?

Thanks

Erm, please ignore my crap spelling and typos... I'm multitasking

Am so jealous of the fruit eating but I don't know the answer sorry. I don't know about the acid but does it off eating his other food?

I imagine too many olives would be too salty. Though my son has been know to drink the brine from cheap olives!eugh

I limit ds. I don't think too much of anything is good for you.

Ds would also eat grapes, apples or bananas until the bowl was empty.

I limit to 2 pieces of fruit at a time and a handful of grapes. He still consumes quite a bit over the course of a day.

I have a mega fruit eater too. When he was smaller I had to limit it for poo reasons . Honestly I limit is just as I would any other food, ie "erm no you've just eaten an apple, that is enough for snack you wait until lunch."

Phew, that's a relief. It just feels so unnatural when I spend half my life trying to convince them to eat healthily, then when they do I end up saying no!

Good to know I'm doing the right thing, thanks

let him eat fruit - mine does. they only have baby teeth anyway - not adult ones.

But baby teeth can still suffer - my DD (9)did not enjoy getting her first filling yesterday!

I think that there is a school of thought which suggests vegetables can be eaten without limit, but that there is such a thing as 'too much fruit'.

Could you steer towards carrot sticks, or cucumber as other options?

I don't mind unless it is very excessive, which 3 satsumas is, IMO.

Not so much the teeth (as they can brush their teeth) but too much acids, or too much fibre causing them tummy upsets.

DS loves fruit too, and I tend to limit him, just so that he doesn't fill up entirely.

He hoovers down olives and loves them stuffed with pretty much anything, including chillies, but I limit him in these as they are pretty salty.

I do worry that too much fruit might give them stomach cramps or something so I will limit it if it gets excessive or give them an oatcake or breadstick or something if they seem particularly hungry.

I limit the amount of fruit DD eats, but she can have as much veg as she likes - in our bag when out for the day there's normally an apple, a banana, a carrot, and a pot of peas. She eats the peas like sweets and will devour a whole carrot quickly, both are sweet but not as sweet/acidic as fruit imo.
I also limit olives because of saltyness.

My DDs were both the same.

I used to feel so mean about saying no to fruit, but I thought everything in moderation, [and also didnt want to deal with runny nappies!] so limited satsumas to 2 a day. What do they put in them to make them sooo yummy

Even now my 2 are teenagers they still wolf down a punnet of grapes/raspberries etc before I get a look in.

yes you are right

fruit should be eaten as part of a meal and not as a snack and certainly not continual munching of fruit as it can devastate teeth. If he is going to eat a lot of fruit best to eat in one sitting than continually graze

When my ds was younger we went to a 'parents evening' at his nursery (he was 1!).

They had a lady come along (can't remember where exactly she was from) to talk to us about oral health. She said that you should limit the times teeth are exposed to sugar to 5 times per day which is basically 3 meals and 2 snacks. Anything else given to eat and drink in-between these times shouldn't contain any sugar.

As to portion size the palm of dc's hand is 1 portion size.

My ds too loves his fruit. I suppose Is better they tuck into a bowl of fruit rather than asking for sweets.

Does anyone know about the sugar content of fruit and fruit drinks. I think dc's aren't supposed to have more than 4g of sugar per day but what about natural sugars

in fruit etc?I was shocked that a carton of 'healthy' oj had 18g of sugar but had no added Suarez.

Should have said 'no added sugar' at the end

Yes, they need a balanced diet - not too much of any one thing. My dd has no 'stop' mark on yogurt, for example - I think she'd eat a pint at a go if I let her! The trouble is if they fill up on one thing then there are nutrients elsewhere that they're missing out on (protein and fat very important at this point).

I think your are right to limit. Satsumas and grapes are laxatives for LOs (orange juice is laxative sometimes used for babies). Olives can be very salty. I would also worry about acidity for teeth. Milk teeth are very important as they keep spaces for adult teeth. How much is too much - I am not sure, but what you do seems very reasonable.