How much sweet stuff do you children have in a week?

[AppleJac]

Im really hoping I can get an idea of what people feed their children here.

Dd is almost 4 and is obsessed with crisps, chocolate, biscuits etc. She is constantly asking for them and it driving me mad.

I do buy some sweet stuff in for everyone to eat during the week (there is me, dh and dd in our house) but dd is mithering for for the sweet stuff before you have even unloaded the car with the shopping! It starts off by saying shes hungry (she has an obsession with saying she is hungry and must say it around 15 times a day!) but when proper meals are offered to her she doesnt want them. When her food has been thrown as its clear she isnt eating it and its now cold she will ask for rubbish straightaway.

So i then started a system with her that she had to eat her meals before she could have anything sweet so now shes forcing food down her that she doesnt want and you can see that she doesnt want it as shes eating it very slowly and quite often does a fake coughing noise when eating it!

Yesterday she was very sick and i ve told her its because shes eating too much rubbish like chocolate, crisps etc.

Today i have been shopping and bought nothing sweet at all. I want to start a new thing with her where we dont have anything like that in the house and i take her to the local shop once a week for one sweet thing.

I want to offer only fruit or yogurt in between meals.

If she cant see the rubbish then she doesnt seem to mither as much as what she does if she knows for certain its in the house.

I ve struggled with my weight all my life (currently 5 stone overweight) and i remember always been obsessed with sweet stuff as a kid. I know if i never let her have it then it will become even more the forbidden fruit and i dont want her to then gorge on it as a teen or adult.

Is the best option to just allow her something once a week and take her to the shop for it?

My sister looks after dd around once or twice a week and she is obsessed with feeding dd rubbish. When i pick her up she hasnt eaten any proper food yet she has had 4 biscuits, 2 packets of crisp and so on.

Shes going to my sisters tomorrow and i ve asked her to hide all rubbish in her house as dd knows exactly were she keeps it and tell her she hasnt got any and only offer fruit or yogurt. She thinks im being mean.

Dd is 100cm in height and 2 stone 9lb which puts her on the 85th centile.

A lot

Phoenix

Are you children obsessed with it though and do they eat their proper meals?

Depends what you call 'sweet'. Most yoghurts are full of sugar so I won't give children's youghurt to dd. I'd rather she had a biscuit or fruit.

Sweets on a Friday night and sometimes some popcorn as well. Perhaps an ice cream if we are out on a weekend. We don't have sweets, biscuits or crisps in the house. Pudding is fruit and/or yoghurt. So once or twice a week.

Sweet as in chocolate of any kind, crisps, biscuits, cornets etc

Crisps - 3 or 4 a day (crisps out of one of our packs, not 3 packets!)
Chocolate or sweets - once a month maybe, only because she doesn't like them
Fruit - too much! Including too much dried fruit but I struggle for snacks otherwise
Ice cream - never, again she won't touch it
Biscuits - one or 2 per day. Normally fig roll or baby biscotti type

Prob too much - they prob have biscuits or crisps every day (one or two items) sweets once a week and ice cream on weekends. I try to only give yoghurt and fruit for pudding though. They are very active boys and not even remotely overweight though (unlike me!!)

Half of children in the U.K. have tooth decay and it is the number 1 reason for elective admission to hospital for British children.

A lot of yoghurt has huge amounts of added sugar so isn't an ideal snack either. Does she need to snack?

Some carrot or cucumber, a piece of cheese or whole fruit like an apple or tangerine would be far better than yoghurt.

She sees a dentist every 6 months and touch wood has no tooth decay up to now.

I dont know whether she genuinely does need to snack or if its a habit she has got into regarding asking for food

She is prob like many people - the more sweet stuff you eat, the more you want to eat! I think it is a good idea not to have much in the house but the odd treat is fine I think!

My eldest son - he is 7 now- is having 1 or 2 proper meals per day and the rest is sweets- icecream chocolate, crisps. I have been trying to regulate that with no buying sweets and allowing only some per week, now we are having some sweets at home and I have given up limiting. And you know what- I know where it comes from, cause I am the same I also used to be a sugar lover. What I am more afraid now is that my youngest son who is 18 months has become a sweets lover as well and no surprise cause he wants to have the same his brother has:) So I can say that my kids are also sugar addicted. But I think they will go through this and then understand themselves. What we can do is to try to set some borders which is not so easy is everyday busy life.

When my dd was 4 she was allowed one sweet a day so she will choose from a biscuit to chocolate or crisps, but only after she finish her meal.
She was a really fussy eater and get full so fast. She use to say i am hungry but not from the food part, its the sweet part. I kept of saying if you are hungry you can have an apple carrot ... she would pass sometimes and will have them other times i guess thats when she is really hungry.
I did kind of force her at some stage eating her food as of if you don't finish your plate you can't have your sweet.
At the beginning she was taking ages with all sort of complains with i like this and I don't like that. I had to feed her myself till she was at reception as eating on her own will take ages.
It took lots of time and patience but now she eats a lot better. She is allowed more sweets but she is on the skinny side she is always moving about.

so mum do you try to limit it or have you given up?

Good question.

DS has lunch and two snacks at nursery, so he has whatever they feed him : ranges from ice cream as a snack to homemade chocolate cake or carrots and hummus. The lunch is a variety, tacos, shepherds pie, salad, sandwiches etc.

At home I try and limit him to one sweet thing per day, a chocolate biscuit, bit of cake etc. DH gives him crisps, but only 4/5 at once. He has one small carton apple juice a day. He never has sweets as in Haribo etc or Coke /Pepsi.

He's nearly 3 and is slowly getting better at eating his 'main' meal. We limit sweet stuff to try and encourage him to eat proper food.

Jamie the dentist explains why 4/5 crisps is the same as a packet and a small carton of juice might as well be a gallon. It's not the quantity but the number of exposures to sugar which causes tooth decay.

Obesity of course is to do with the quantity but the issues go hand in hand. All of these little treats add up.

How often do your children have sweet stuff MrsMorton?

Am guessing never

No eating between meals here (though mine are in juniors, so not as small as 4. They probably still had snacks at that age, but not sweet things).
They never have crisps. Crisps are far too salty to have regularly for small children. I don't understand the British obsession with crisps!
Sweet things (i.e. biscuits, cake, ice cream, pie, etc) probably twice a week, only with a meal.

They rarely get chocolate. They never have sweets (I even remove those brought home from parties).

I am a mean mummy, apparently, as all their school friends eat crisps and chocolate every day , whenever they like.

Well, some of their school friends are exceedingly overweight, obese even, some have teeth issues etc. My DC are healthy weights, eat a reasonably wide variety of foods, and have lovely teeth so far.

They moan and moan at me for sweet things, every day in DD's case (she's 10, and acutely more aware than DS of the differences between our family and others). We try not to give in. I let them have more treats when they're off school, particularly if they're attending sports camp etc in the summer- they're certainly burning through energy, so physically fine, but not ok teeth-wise IMO.

Is she asking from boredom? Or habit?

Oh, and they only drink water too. DD has juice (apple carton) about once a month, max. DS hates juice/squash, etc.

just read mumtwob oys2's post.

Do you seriously let your 18mo have unrestricted access to sweets?
Ok, maybe it was PFB, but my DD had never even had a sweet until about 4yo.

My DD is about to turn three and also a fan of junk. Ever since she was weaned she's never been much of a big meal eater. She eats fine but very much a grazer.

I am very relaxed about her having various types of "treat" foods as I am that way myself and it seems to work. She was nagging me for a kinder egg she knew I had in my bag today but I asked her to eat a bit more of her lunch and wait a little longer while I finished something and then she could have it. She's usually very pliable if you threaten or bribe.

My only rules are no junk for breakfast, I very rarely let her have actual chewy type sweets - she only has them from friends/parties and she has to have been well-behaved and eaten a fair, sensible amount of proper food if she wants chocolate or ice cream etc around a mealtime. At nursery she eats everything healthy put in front of her and seems to do well with her meals but maybe we're just lucky.

What does your DD drink? My toddler probably has too much sweet stuff - some cake or biscuits every day. She also loves raisins (not great for teeth). But she only ever drinks water or milk. Apparently sugary drinks are a big reason why children today are consuming too much sugar.

She drinks water only nothing else

DC 13 & 8.
Most days we have sweets/biscuits.

It's a problem I think, but I am not in a place to do anything about it, because I am a sugar addict too.

Raisins are ok for teeth, surprisingly.

It sounds to me like you and your sister have poor habits with food. I struggle to understand why anyone would feed a child 2 packets of crisps.
I'm certainly not a health junket, but most days my dc didn't have ANY biscuits, cake, crisps, chocolate.
I didn't mind if they had one at playgroup or if we went round to someone's house, but as a general routine thing, there was no expectation.

As they got older, they'd want a snack when got in from school and would then sometimes have a cake or a choc biscuit, but they wouldn't have had anything other than breakfast and (a school) dinner before that.

I think youve taken a really good step in deciding not to have them in the house. You need to decide how you are going to tackle your sister next though, if she is staying there regularly.