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.

I think you need to be careful of saying that she can only have a treat if she's eaten all her dinner. Reward potential over eating with eating more....?

My 2 are 7 and 8, they have a small cake/couple of biscuits about 4 times a week, a small sweet (lolly, few chewits) a couple of times a week, chocolate ice cream maybe once a week. On Saturdays we watch the xfactor/the voice etc and have mattesars, popcorn, crisps...party time!

I grew up being told I was only allowed one bag of crisps per day, one chocolate bar, one can of fizz...etc. It's worked well for me so I tend to do the same. So if they've had crisps already I point them in the direction of the fruit bowl.

As from today I am no longer encouraging her to eat everything on her plate. I agree it's not giving a good message

We have sweets in a Saturday only. Not much. Just 50p's worth and kids choose what. We mught be given the odd cake or biscuit two or three times a month also. Only Greek yogurts after a meal. One or two lots of fruit a day. raspberries and apples are lower sugar compared to mango and pineapple.

Your dd sounds similar to my dd. She is 4 in a few weeks and despite being quite a good eater most of the time she seems to be constantly hungry. Overall I would say that she has a healthy diet with plenty of protein etc to keep her full. Once she's finished one meal she'll be asking for a snack or how long till dinner within half an hour. The worst is when she's asking for 'something after dinner' when she's barely even touched her dinner. I never insist on a clear plate but I also don't allow dessert to replace an actual meal.

She does have 'treats' but I do have to put my foot down and say no quite a lot. Sometimes there are Tantrums but if she had her way she'd have 'treat foods' all the time and it's not that I don't want to give her those things but ultimately her health comes first.

It can get very wearing. I am trying to encourage her to drink more and that seems to be helping. Sometimes thirst can be confused with hunger.

Spud.

That's exactly our situation

I tell my kids to eat however much they like. I expect them to know when they are full. I don't feed them anything else afterwards except seconds if still hungry. I don't give alternative meals unless they truly hate a flavour rather then just being faddy (once or twice a year).

They have pudding after school lunches Mon- Fri though I have been told (by adults not the kids) that they have very little sugar in them and taste nothing like the stuff we (or I) would make at home. Other than that maybe a biscuit with milk before bed or a few choc buttons, i buy the big bags and just give them a few at a time. They don't get pudding after dinner (tea) at home though other than a piece of fruit if still hungry. More sugar at weekends as we may go out and have a cake or an ice cream or picnic that has a treat in it. We never have fizzy pop, they drink milk or water and have diluted fruit juice with breakfast if they want it.

I don't like telling them they have to finish something before they can have pudding as like you have found out it can lead to them over eating as they want the sweet treat and then they get sick from over eating. Sugar shouldn't be a reward.

They are good at brushing their teeth (well letting me do it as they are only 4) and have been seeing the dentist every 6 months since they were 1 with no problems so I will just keep on doing what we are doing.

I also think one of mine doesn't drink enough as she does ask for snacks quite often but I won't give snacks if they will be eating a meal within the next hour as otherwise they will not eat it. I will ask her to drink a glass of water and wait for a bit. Distracting her with some stickers or asking her to draw something for me normally works and then by the time she is finished lunch/dinner is ready. DTs are 4 by the way.

I'm trying not to have my horrified face at the junk food diets being admitted to on this thread.

To start with a positive it's good your DC only drinks water-that is very rare.

As for our house I'm overweight and was determined my DCs didn't get bro bad eating habits. Imo the worst is to see certain foods as a 'treat'. Food should never be a reward.

When pfb was pre school I just didn't bring any junk food into the house- no biscuits, no crisps, no fizzy juice.

He did get some at the odd birthday party or an Easter egg or selection box at Christmas but nothing else at home. He just didn't know those foods existed!

It sounds to me like your DD has developed an addiction to sugar. You need to wean her off that sugar high by offering her fruit instead. Instead of crisps offer her cheese on a cracker.

It will take time and tantrums but is necessary in the long run.

Oh and find alternative childcare if your dsis is sabotaging you.

Dd (6) has at least one sweet thing a day usually something like a maom chew and she usually has a pudding like a yogurt or jelly with dinner. She always asks for sweets though and she badgers me if I say no but you've got to set your limits and stand firm.

Crisps - maybe a bag once a week if that. We don't have them in the house so she has them if we go out for lunch sometimes.
Chocolate - once a week or less. I might buy her a treat from the shop or a cafe occasionally. Yesterday i bought her a tube of smarties but j have only given her about four so far.
Biscuits - I don't usually have them in the house so she has them maybe twice a week once at toddler group and again if she sees grandparents.

She does usually have something sweet after dinner every day as long as she has eaten a good amount of dinner. She will either have some ice cream or a yogurt.

Fruit she has once or twice a day usually an apple and some grapes or a banana.

Oh and she drinks milk mostly , probably one cup of squash or juice a day and some water.

DD (3) had a bad run over the summer with holidays, parties and visits from over indulgent grandparents. I had to instigate a '1 treat a day' rule, so a couple of sweeties, a biscuit or an ice cream not ALL of them (thank you MIL). She's slowly got out of the habit over the last month and has stopped asking most of the time, although she eats tons of fruit. She now probably has ice cream once sometimes twice a week, similar with sweeties (limited to two). We've stopped buying biscuits and crisps.

My dd is also 4 and I too worry about the amount of sweets and junk, she has something every day which is s habit I'm trying to break.
I've recently been wondering about the amount of "snacks" junk that dd has so I've decided to only offer fruit or cheese and oatcakes in between meals IF she says she's hungry (which she does as soon as she spots junk).
It's so easy to collect them after school with a bag of crisps or a sweet but I think we all have become obsessed with snacking.
On a Friday after school she can have a sweet or crisps but during the week there is no junk.
Hard to implement as mum has dd 3 days a week but be firm op, I know how hard it is.
I too had a bad relationship with food and was overweight from early childhood. Now I don't snack unless I'm really really starving, lost 3st doing this and learnt how to enjoys meals again.

A LOT!!!

My youngest dc have a different family set up to my older dc. When they were younger I had more control.
With the younger 2 there is more wider family interference support. I tend not to have juice, biscuits. Chocolate, cake and snacks in as a rule and buy those things as an occasional treat but the wider family are a bunch of feeders.
They override me when I say the dc can't have a biscuit as "it's just one biscuit" (completely disregarding the fact that Auntie gave them a treat already, as did uncle when we met at the park and as will Granny when we visit later)
I despair at how.much crap they have and it makes me want to visit family a lot less.

With regard to your DC wanting to eat all the time.
Two of mine have been the same. One from the controlled, not so much junk era and one from now.
They literally love food and seem to think of it all the time.

DC who had the better diet still constantly asked for crisps, chocolate etc even though they were an occasional (and I really do mean occasional, not even once a week) treat. He was placated with extra ham or fruit or carrots or yoghurt.

Spoilt DC who has too much junk already constantly asks for stuff. Literally the moment he has stopped eating.

I have no answers for you but ime I would say, for some children it is normal behavior. They just like the physical reward of eating.

If it.comforts you at all my eldest is now almost 20, normal weight, healthy relationship with food and doesn't appear damaged by over indulging.
I would just not buy too much junk food and make sure your DC drinks a glass of water with meals in the hope that it helps to fill up.

Not that often. We don't keep things like sweets, chocolate, crisps, biscuits etc in the house on a regular basis.

They have sweets or chocolate at parties if they want, Christmas, school events etc. Ds1 eats some there, ds2 doesn't really eat even at those times.

Cake and biscuits I let them bake something at home with us maybe once a month or so.

At home for any desert type thing or snack they can have plain Greek yogurt, fruit, nuts, cheese.

As a child I ate loads of crap and was always ill until old enough to cook own meals, dh grew up in another European country and ate a healthy Mediterranean diet with little day to day sweet junk, just at parties or similar like ours have.

They have stupid amounts of fruit, which I worry about because of their teeth.

Roughly once a month I make them some banana bread or similar.

No crisps, no juice or squash (water and milk) and no sweets. Helps that they're savoury inclined.

Also I'm Mediterranean and don't know anyone back home who would allow their preschoolers sweets as a matter of habit.

Chocolate brioche rolls for breakfast
Pudding with school dinner
Kinder Surprise egg or 4 Jaffa cake Halloween cake bars for pudding at teatime (depends which DC)

Club afternoons we go to the Sainsbury's café for tea, pudding could be triple chocolate fudge cake or a chocolate lollipop, depending on what they want.

DC's 8 & 9.

Pudding everyday after a meal. A few sweets and biscuits when playing out at the weekends. No fizz or sweet drinks apart from orange juice at breakfast, water only. And I'm strict with teeth brushing.

We don't have sweets, chocolate, crisps or biscuits in the house and don't often eat puddings or ice cream after dinner, maybe as a special occasion or if we have been baking.

DD does have pudding every school day with her school lunch, but that is it for regular sweet stuff. She can stuff herself at parties (within reason, we once went to a party which had huge bowls of haribo on all the tables, plus haribo for prizes, plus more haribo after the cake, we did have to say enough eventually) and she usually gets treats when we are out somewhere as long as she has been behaving well.

DD would happily eat shitloads of sweets and crisps every day if we let her, but we don't. It isn't healthy or good for her teeth.

I have 2 dcs, dd who is 12 and ds who is almost 3.

DD is skinny as a rake, has perfect teeth with no fillings and a good attitude to food. When she was small she ate well at meal times, loved fruit and veg and was offered a pudding of yoghurt/fruit/small cake bar etc until she was old enough to help herself to whatever she fancied. Our treat cupboard had the usual biscuits/crisps/kitkats etc. She has no issues with food and is slim, healthy and active.

Atm ds has a pre breakfast snack of a biscuit or brioche bread. Then either cereal or toast at nursery. He snacks on fruit during the day. Will have a sandwich and a handful of quavers or pom bears for lunch. He might have some fruit or cheese and biscuits about 3.30pm if he is having tea later.

He will be offered yoghurt or something like a mini trifle for pudding but doesn't always eat it.

He will genuinely only drink water at home or fruit shoots if we are out somewhere like soft play.

My mum is the worse for sweets. But it's once or twice a week and she is usually doing me a favour by having him.

Nothing is completely off limits but I never buy sweets for at home. Biscuits and crisps and cereal bars are readily available though. But certainly not gorged on.

Could you try doing a little bag each day with her rations of snacks/treats in it so she can learn to self regulate? so fruit, cheese and biscuits, a yoghurt etc and when it's gone it's gone?

It's a balance between teaching healthy eating and not makin food more desireable because it's a treat or banned.

Ds probably has more snacks than what some people would be comfortable with but his sister was treated the same way and she has a lovely attitude to food. knows and understands enough about nutrition to make healthy choices without feeling she can't chose the odd sweet thing. And her teeth are perfect apart from the braces which aren't anyone's fault.

Thanks to school 'puddings' its now every day :(
(Of course kids won't opt for fruit when there's jelly or ice cream or cake available ffs).

At home, only on weekends (other than holidays where all boundaries seem to go out of the window).

Dd has a very sweet tooth (as do I) - but I'm strict with her as I don't want her to have a mouth full of fillings like I did. Snacks at home are sugar free yoghurt or fruit or rice cakes or those Organix type snacks etc.

Ds is 3 in December and dd is still only 15 months so younger than your dd- they don't have loads of sweet things but it could probably be better. I don't keep biscuits, cake or crisps in the house (I'm trying to lose weight) and they don't have kiddie yogurts as the they're full of sugar. They have a biscuit a week at toddler group and share a packet of Quavers with me once a week to keep them awake on the bus after another toddler group. I sometimes buy them a gingerbread man or a cake for after their tea but they don't have to eat their tea to get it IYSWIM- I don't want them to expect some thing sweet after every meal or finish food they don't want in order to get dessert or see "healthy food" as something to be endured to get your sweet. Dp grew up in a household where food was quite bland but if they ate it all they were allowed dessert (other food was quite restricted and they had very little choice over what they ate)and they all went mad with sweet and cakes as soon as they were old enough to get them themselves. All three hated veg (one brother still does)and have teeth rotting out of their heads.

Mine have too much. In my defence, if they didn't eat any biscuits and cakes and yogurts then they would be stick thin. I rarely feed them things like chicken nuggets and chips etc; our meals are very healthy and they eat a ton of fruit and veg.
I don't see anything wrong with them having chicken, rice, broccoli and carrots for tea, followed by a little chocolate cake.
In an ideal world, would eat lots of healthy fats like avocado but they won't

Ds is 4 1/2 and just started reception. On school days he has a fruit snack in the morning and then whatever is the school dinner. They do have puddings at school but he's a fussy bugger so doesn't usually eat them (won't eat cooked fruit so all crumbles etc are out) his after school snack in wraparound care is always a cheese sandwich and either raisins or carrot sticks. He then has tea when he gets home and will usually have a treat for pudding, something like a fab lolly, or a bowl of custard. At weekends he has cake and biscuits etc whilst we're out and about. I limit the portion sizes to an extent, but try not to worry about it too much. He has lovely teeth, only drinks water or milk apart from occasional apple juice at mealtimes and never badgers me for food or treats. If he's hungry he'll eat a slice of toast or a cheese string. He likes hula hoops and probably has one packet at the weekend.