Is this standard at nurseries?

[otterbaby]

FTM here starting to look around at nurseries...we will be sending our daughter to nursery full time when she's around 9-10 months old.

It appears as though in our area, the standard age group for her would be 6 months - 2 years.

What I have noticed and is bothering me a bit, is that most of them seem to advertise a 2-course lunch, with the second course being dessert. Is this normal? It's not just fruit, it's things like chocolate cake, ice cream, jelly, bananas and custard, etc. I'm not really keen on my baby having dessert after lunch on a daily basis. If I want her to have something sweet, I'd like to do it on my own terms. And having it every day (for lunch, no less) takes away from the idea of it being a "treat".

This then begs the question, does that make me the witchy mother who has to stipulate that I don't want her to be given these desserts and instead she can have fruit or yogurt? And cue meltdowns when her friends get chocolate cake and she gets an apple?

What is everyone else's experiences?

Food issues/ obesity isn’t really down to puddings, it’s down to snacking.

Any situation where you eat more food than you need, will lead to obesity. Including eating high calorie foods just after you’ve eaten a full meal.

But the full meal includes dessert. Three courses, even four, as are normal in French kindergartens, all nutritionally worked out. The dessert isn’t added on top as an extra. One of my DC is a professional ballet dancer, having grown up eating dessert every day, and still does. Fit, very slim and healthy.

I don't really understand your issue, as there will be far more sugar and less fat in fruit, than there will be in "pudding" - and babies need fat for their brains to develop, so you want to take away a more nutritious component of the meal and replace it with a high sugar alternative?

@mosquitofeast but fruit has a lot of micronutrients, fibre, antioxidants etc and many pudding items don't

The time of fat in these puddings generally isn't the most beneficial kind of fat which would be better sourced from nuts, seeds, avocado, nut butters, hummus fish etc etc, or even cheese or yoghurts. I appreciate many toddlers don't eat all these things!

There's lots of NHS guidance on what constitutes healthy choices for children and it doesn't mention cakes etc although of course these are fine in moderation, but I don't think you can claim they are more nutritious generally than fruit

Some fruits like berries are also low on glycemic index

It is true though that babies and toddlers need less fibre and more fat than adults - hence why mine has white bread instead of the wholemeal we have for example - I just wouldn't say that puddings are more nutritious than fruit!

Oh gosh no wonder why we have an obesity crisis if people genuinely think puddings are more nutritious than fruit. Shocked, actually sadly not.

@OverTheRainbow88

Oh gosh no wonder why we have an obesity crisis if people genuinely think puddings are more nutritious than fruit. Shocked, actually sadly not.

No wonder there is so much angst about food and disordered eating when people demonise certain foods as part of an overall healthy food pattern.

And fruit is pudding. It’s one type of pudding.

How strange. In Danish nurseries children are only given fruits not sweets or cakes of any kind.

Even for their birthdays people cannot bring anything unhealthy. Which makes sense considering there's often a birthday coming up.

I would definitely say no to it. A baby doesn't need sugar at all. Baffled that some think it's normal

I don’t demonise any food but don’t see the need for a 9 month old to have a cake type pudding after every lunch.

And yes we see fruit as a pudding but the person who said a pudding was less nutritious was comparing it to fruit.

Of course fruit is good for you, but there’s sugar in fruit, though. Dessert is normal in most cuisines of the world. Pastries, tartes, etc, make up some of that. A classic fruit tart Tatin, tiramisu, summer pudding, etc. These are foods of joy. Most children’s yoghurts are packed full of sugar and aren’t particularly good for you. Children/people need fats and calories and a variety of food where possible. If people say they are too full after a “full meal” main course, the portions are too big.

I was worried about this but firstly the portion size is tiny and secondly it's not the same as our puddings.

If you were to taste it you would think it disgusting. It has practically no sugar. So it's called a cake but isn't the type of cake we would eat. It's very bland.

I really wouldn't worry. My toddler has been in full time since the same age and doesn't ask for anything sweet. Fruit and yoghurt at home is sweet enough and probably sweeter than the bland 'puddings' he gets at nursery.

I'm quite shocked by this actually, I had no idea that was the norm in the UK.

In ireland my daughter's creche doesn't do desserts, they have two snacks and lunch and often one of the snacks will be, say, a home-made banana bread or a brioche with cheese, but equally it might be crackers and ham, so mostly savoury but sometimes sweet, which is how I choose to snack. We don't have school meals so dessert there wouldn't be the norm either.

I wouldn't think dessert after every meal is normal, and I would think having fruit after a meal as an adult was quite odd. The examples given of yoghurt and fruit are things I might have as part of a packed lunch or during the day.

People seem to be are massively missing the point about 'treat' food- using food as a reward, having 'good' or 'bad' food is negative, but that doesn't mean you remove the distinction between everyday and occasional food. And while the examples of 'dessert' given aren't necessarily problematic, surely the norm of finishing every meal with something sweet sets up unhealthy patterns, and builds that 'treat' dynamic in: the meal is something you slog through to get to dessert at the end rather than something you enjoy on your own.

We also don't have lobster every day but I certainly don't demonise it!

@OverTheRainbow88

Oh gosh no wonder why we have an obesity crisis if people genuinely think puddings are more nutritious than fruit. Shocked, actually sadly not.

I am a biology teacher, and I teach this. Fruit is full of fructose, which is the most damaging form of sugar, and is certainly not better for a baby than a pudding, and babies need fat or their brains don't develop, and they absolutely should not be offered nuts or seeds.

There is not a lot in it, but I would certainly choose a pudding over fruit for a baby

But what about other essential nutrients @mosquitofeast ? Vitamins, folate, potassium etc etc? Antioxidants, fibre (of which it is true that a baby and toddler do need less)

I'll concede I was thinking more of a toddler with regards to nuts and seeds although nut butters, hummus, avocados, full fat dairy etc is appropriate from an earlier age

@mosquitofeast
You're a biology teacher who is against giving small children fruit? 😦 What about all of the minerals, fibres and vitamins they contain? Unlike cakes and other desserts. Jesus christ.

Of course babies need fat. That's why you add oils and butter to their porridges and vegetable mash and what not.

Not to mention the various studies on types of fats and cognitive functions. Not all fats are made equal.

Like I say though it sounds like the nursery type puddings are as nutritious as they can be so I wouldn't be too concerned but I am surprised that a biology teacher would overlook the other beneficial nutrients of fruits. I'm not sure what the comparative fructose content of a nursery pudding is but I note someone above said they are often sweetened with concentrate fruit juices.

Fruit obviously needs to be in moderate amounts like everything else though! It doesn't have to follow a meal just like nothing does really if the meal is balanced

Well I’m going to stick with fruit for pudding and let my children get their fat from ‘good’ unsaturated fats such as avacardo and salmon etc. I didn’t say fat wasn’t an essential part of a child’s diet, but there are ‘good’ and ‘bad’ fats.

I just want to stress here that my toddler by no means eats a perfect diet! And that these puddings sound ok and I wouldn't stop nursery giving them to her, I just think if you are paying for a professional service including meals that the meals offered would be of a decent nutritional value for small children (that children will reasonably eat) and also that pudding after every meal doesn't have to be normal

I say this with intended kindness, but honestly you need to chill a bit. The portions are teeny tiny, and the meal offerings very balanced.

By the time they hit school age, you can tell the ones who have been brought up with a healthy attitude towards food and those who have been restricted.

Babies and toddlers can get plenty of fat from full fat milk, natural yoghurt (which I often mixed with fruit), cheese etc. My two absolutely refused avocado as babies (its now dd's favourite food) but that's also good. Absolutely no need for cake and pastries.

An apple can be turned into an apple crumble, an apple tart, even an apple cake, etc. An apple crumble with a topping of oats and nuts is nutritious. It doesn’t have to have any added sugar. It’s more nutritious than over-processed “children’s yoghurts” with stacks of added sugar - they are more just like semi-liquid sweets.

PLease correct me if Ive missed it, but no-one on this thread has said that they give their child children's yoghurts.

I used to give natural yoghurt with chopped strawberries/raspberries etc.

Yes we don’t give ‘kids yoghurts’ either! Same as above.