"Processed" food and toddler

[Hopeisintheair]

I keep seeing threads on Mumsnet about how dreadful UPFs are. I think a lot of it is the current trend in eating. There always seems to be some buzz phrase in around food.

I didn't think we ate too much processed foods but maybe we do by UPF definition. Shop bought bread and cereal is UPF. Does anyone struggle with this feeding toddler/children? Does it bother you? I'm trying to embrace the balance as I'm not about to start baking my own bread daily quite frankly and feeding kids is hard enough sometimes.

As an example this is what my toddler ate yesterday and today...

Yesterday
Breakfast: Cheerios and whole milk
Lunch: cheese toastie (warburtons seeded loaf) and Heinz tomato soup
Snack: rice cakes with humous. Raspberries and strawberries
Dinner: tuna sweetcorn pasta (we had ours with spinach leaves etc which he didn't want) Cup of milk. Yoghurt.

Today
Breakfast: porridge with mashed banana, ground almonds and chia seeds
Snack: fruit salad
Lunch: chicken soup, cheddar cheese cubes, mini pretzels, humous, yoghurt, raspberries and strawberries
Dinner: half chicken burger with humous on brioche bun, corn on the cob, green beans hot "chocolate" (warm milk with a sprinkle of cocoa powder on top)

Tomorrow I'm making a curry from scratch but he'll likely only eat the rice and poppadoms 🙄 I'll also make Bolognese from scratch this week which he'll eat with pasta.

I think this is pretty good going for a toddler. What's everyone's opinions on things like bread, pasta, cereal, tinned tomato soup etc?

My youngest eats absolute crap and I hate it (ASD and ARFID) but the dietician says it’s all just calories and better than a feeding tube but honestly when it’s been another day of penne pasta (cooked for 11 mins 🤦‍♀️🙄), banana milkshake with a yellow straw and rich tea biscuits I want to cry !

That's really tough. It must be hard to remember the dietician's advice and switch off the worry.

We've come a long way with toddler and I try to remember that it could easily fall apart again but for now we're doing well. There's so much guilt around food that when Heinz tomato soup, cereal and bread is a reliable staple, it's just annoying to hear "that's really awful for your child"

I’ve got a hell of a lot on my ‘need to think about’ list before I get to thinking about the UPF components of basic staples that my toddler eats and enjoys. I’ll not be losing any sleep over it.

Ditto @FanofLeaves. There’s always fruit and veg, we try and have decent meat, try to limit sweets and crisps, have things like oat cakes they can snack on but… Yeah, that’s my limit. In an ideal world and all that.

This is how I feel 99% of the time. Then I get the guilt when we have a day of cereal, tinned soup, biscuits and toasties.

I think it all balances out in the end though.

It's fine op! I just fed my kids (5 and 2) ready made cheese and onion rolls from Aldi with stir fry veg and olives for tea. We eat plenty of fresh stuff too. They are healthy and happy and eat fruit and veg daily. Everything in moderation

Balanced diet with all the food groups and a bit of processed food is fine.

If you are concerned about it there are some easy swaps you can swap ufp bread for Jason's bread and rolls. Crosta and Mollica do wraps, crackers and pizza bases. Alot of the upf free movement that I have seen concentrates on cutting down. I used to think we had a reasonably upf free diet. But when you look it is in a lot of stuff. My kids love porridge and there are so many variations you can make for breakfast. We as a family mainly aim to avoid emulsifiers, sweetners and flavourings. I would recommend reading the ultra processes people book and making a decision on what would be the most important things for you and your family personally to avoid and not let better be the enemy of perfect.

One of the main things I've learnt about parenting is you are always getting it wrong. Always. There is always a guideline or recommendation that you're flouting. All you can do is try to minimise how wrong you are getting it.

For example. Baby bouncers and jumparoos aren't recommended by health authorities. But ready meals aren't as healthy or economical as home cooked.

But if I can't put my baby in the bouncer or jumparoo (depending on age), I can't cook a meal from scratch (no way can I cook with a baby in the carrier!) So it's a ready meal or the bouncer.

Choose your wrong.

If I insist dd has her vegetables against her will, I'm told this will cause psychological issues with food. If I don't, it's beige beige beige with the occasional nibble of cucumber. Do I cause malnourishment or psychological issues? I've gone for beige with cucumber.

I could go on. Every single hour of the day I'm making a choice between a bad or worse decision. Never ever win-win.

For a long time, like a phase lasting over a year, dd refused to drink water. Refused. And yes we tried all sorts of tricks like curly straws and stuff. So it was diluted juice or dehydration. Sugar dependency and tooth decay? Or constipation and dehydration-caused bad moods?

You can't win, I'm telling you.

Put the guilt in the bin!

There's loads of time for them to try things, no point making it a battle. Just make mealtimes relaxed and that's more than half the battle I think.

It's all about balance. Medical issues aside obviously

We're all mad on porridge and have it most morning's for breakfast. Toddler even has it for dinner sometimes, or supper if he's refusing to eat what we're having for dinner. It's my go to for something healthy and filling.

I haven't heard of these brands- are they breads you can buy easily in the supermarket? Honestly I hate shopping too so I don't even look. I buy the same warburtons seeded loaf every single time and console myself that it certainly looks healthy and toddler eats it happily.

This is so true. It's constant compromise. I refuse to have any upset or drama around food. At one point when he wasn't eating well at all I could feel each mealtime stressing me out right to my core. There were some bad days and a few tears and I decided that was it. No more of this upset around food.

Things have only been on the up ever since and he's doing so well, but yes that means sometimes it's tinned soup at lunch or cereal for dinner. I just want everyone to be happy.

The guilt is never-ending.

@Fivebyfive2

Put the guilt in the bin!

❤️ I'm certainly working on it

There's loads of time for them to try things, no point making it a battle. Just make mealtimes relaxed and that's more than half the battle I think

This is certainly what we've found. Mealtimes are so much better these days. I also noticed that since we've overhauled meal times and took the stress out of them, he plays with his toy kitchen and makes little dinners which he never used to

I agree there's always some compromise somewhere. Dilluting juice is one of those ones I think is unfair to criticise. A tiny splash of ribena in water just doesn't seem like a big deal to me. The number of grown adults who can't bear drinking plain still water shows it's hardly a big deal.

sorry, but it is rubbish.

We need omega 3 and omega 6 in the correct balance, about 1:3. This sort of highly processed food is giving more like 1:40.

That is horrendous for your child's future prospects, obesity, cancer, diabetes, etc all lead on from this type of poor diet.

It isn't a "buzz phrase" or a "current trend" it is up to date scientific knowledge backed by decades of research, and proven over and over and over again

I can get them in my local supermarkets which are Tescos and Morrisons. Not sure about others.

I don't think UPF is a phase, it is just being explained in a different way due to research. We have long known that whole foods are better for humans than highly processed foods with certain types of additives.

@cannonballz

What do you feed your toddler? When he doesn't eat the curry tomorrow night, or the haddock risotto another night should I pin him down and force it in his mouth? When he doesn't eat the salmon and veg should I blend it into a smoothie and pour it down his throat while I hold his nose?

It would be helpful if you could share what your toddler eats in an average week.

@Romeandcoke

We have a Morrisons near us, I'll definitely have a look thanks

I bought a breadmaker recently, it takes minutes to add ingredients to make a loaf, a few hours later you have a fresh loaf of bread. At least that way you can avoid all the UPF bread. Quite an easy win if you want to cut down on UPFs in general.

We're moving to a bigger house soon when I'll definitely consider this. At the moment we have a tiny kitchen with barely counter space for the kettle and the much beloved slow cooker. I hate cooking there at the moment, it's a nightmare.

An easy swap is to get your bread from a proper baker

I think that reducing the amount of UPF you eat (to an extent that is manageable for you) can only be a good thing.