Any nutritionists out there: How much cheese and egg is too much for a 2 year old?

[ajm200]

My DS happily eats just about anything (I know I'm very lucky!). He eats 2 weetabix for breakfast, a home cooked lunch and dinner and as 2/3 snacks a day. We don't eat any readymade food and make everything from fresh ingredients.

Over the past few weeks he seems to be addicted to cheese and eggs. His other addiction is fruit and he eats about 4 pieces a day.

Every snack time he asks for cheese and every lunch time he asks for eggs. I give him a finger of mild chedder about the size of a cheese-string each day and he gets two eggs every other day.. is this too much or can he have more.

He's tall and very slim for his age so he's burning the fat off but I'm worried about too much colesterol (excuse my spelling)

No nutritionist me, just my view.

My DS is 2.6 and also a very good eater. I keep eggs to two a week max, because of cholesterol content... He hasn't got a fixation with them so far, just enjoys them when they come up. If he likes them so much, why not try getting some quail eggs? They are lovely hard boiled with a spot of mayo and you'll give him a little eggy treat every day without overdoing it.

I think our DS is obsessed with eggs as we keep chickens and have a constant glut of eggs.

Gosh, that's a different angle...

By what you say you do home-cook - would getting him involved in baking cakes for yourselves and to give to relatives help in using the eggs up and provide some entertainment?

I'm no nutritionist but isn't it unnecessary to be worrying about the cholestorol in eggs for a two-yearold who eats an otherwise healthy diet?!! Also eggs are great for iron and protein - I'd be overjoyed if my ds would eat egg everyday.

My ds is the same age and he gets food obsessions like this. Personally I humour them and he soon goes on to something else. (Although the olive one is persisting!)

My ds has gone through the cheese obsession and I did worry about the sodium content, but again, I think if the diet is overall not high in salt it isn't going to hurt. IMO kids are good at self-regulating if you aren't offering them processed crap.

We do allow him to help with the cooking.

He gets to make his own sandwiches, I supply two slices of bread and a pot of filling and he spends 20 mins carefully moving the filling onto the bread. He collect and count eggs for cake making, 'delivers' eggs to friends and relatives when we visit. Washes veg for me from the garden..

We have 5 chickens and as we count the eggs each day he's quite proficient at counting to 5!

I'm not a nutritionist but I dont think you have to worry about the cholesterol in eggs when thinking of a 2 yr olds diet

If he has an otherwise healthy varied diet you don't have to limit how many eggs he has - they do contain cholesterol but dietary cholesterol (in someone with normal blood levels) is less likely to raise his blood cholesterol than saturated fats.

I would imagine as he gets older he moves on from his 'obsession' with eating eggs to something else - in my experience 2 year olds have fads for foods and will eat the same thing or two for weeks, then switch and eat something completely different for the next few weeks (just as you've filled the fridge/cupboard with their last fad!)

I'm not a nutritionist by the way, just a nurse with an interest and training in nutrition.

Cholesterol is important for brain development in young children anyway.

Since about 2 years ago the guidelines changed there is no limit to the amount of eggs you can have a week. Generally, it is not so much the amount of cholesterol that you eat, but how your body deals with it. That is why you get some very slim people with good diets who have high cholesterol.
Not a nutritionist, but a cardiac nurse.

He sounds very healthy.

Thanks everyone.. Your advice will make him very happy as he can still have his 'hegg heggs' they are very important to him

You say he is tall and very slim - the answer lies in there.

Until he gets a bit chubby I would let him eat as much as he likes. They are healthy calories, not unhealthy ones. His body is probably telling him he needs this food.

My son also loves cheese and eggs and eats plenty. My problem is keeping weight on him as he's on the go all the time and is very tall and skinny. If your son would only eat sugary snacks or chocolate and refused to eat fruit and veg then I think you would have cause to worry. If I were you, i really, really wouldn't worry.

I read somewhere that toddlers could eat up to one egg/day. I've no idea how reliable that is, I'm afraid, but I have followed it as my dd is keen on eggs - and cheese. She has cheese almost every day.