Talk to Organix about helping your DC grow up with a Lifelong Love of Good Food - you could win an Organix selection - NOW CLOSED

[AnnMumsnet]

As you know we are working with Organix to help them understand your feelings about their range of baby and toddler foods

They have asked us to get you talking about their goal which is to help mums and dads inspire a "Lifelong Love of Good Food" for their children so they can understand better how you feel about your childs interaction and enjoyment of food.

So with regards to food and feeding for your child:

• Do you think you/ your partner has a real love of good, healthy food? If so, where did this come from? How do you try and pass that on to your child?
• What challenges do you feel you face in establishing good food foundations for your little one? What has surprised you about your child?s journey with food so far

Do your children love all food or can it be a challenge at times to get them to try and enjoy new foods? What kinds of foods do you find more challenging to try with your little one

• What worries and concerns do you have about their future enjoyment of food? How do you deal with these?
• What hopes and aspirations do you have for their lifelong eating habits
• What help and support are you looking for? Where do you get that support currently?
• When do you want to receive help, support, info and where?

Everyone who adds their comments on the thread will be entered into a prize draw where one MNer will win £50 of Organix product.

You can read all about Organix on their special pages on MN

Thanks and good luck
MNHQ

• I don't think either DH or I have a natural love of healthy food. We do enjoy a variety of foods but both have a sweet tooth. I try to show DS a balanced diet, sometimes I manage that better than othertimes
• I find it really challenging to get DS healthy food in restaurants and cafes. The junk that gets served up to kids is terrible. Also as DH gets home too close to bedtime to eat with DS and I really don't want to eat at 5pm so it's hard to do family teas during the week. What has surprised me is how much DS l

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Bother accidentally hit post. I'll continue..

I'm surprised how much DS enjoys veg and fruit. He doesn't associate it with being "healthy" and therefor potentially less attractive. DS goes through phases o being willing to try new things and is being pretty good at present thankfully. He is also currently obsessed with cookery programmes which is good to a certain extent as it interests him in new foods. It does place an unwelcome level of scrutiny on my cooking skills though!

• I'm concerned that with the start of school he will have poor quality lunches. I want him to have school

Dinners but I'm concerned about the potential quality of them.

• I just want him to have a love of healthy food and gain enjoyment from a variety of healthy foods rather than only see "naughty" foods as fun.

• in terms of support I think recipes are always welcome and easily accessible information about the changing nutritional

Needs of children. I am feeling this particularly keenly as I prepare to start weaning DD.

Also because of his obsession with cookery programmes DS is really wanting to cook but I don't have time with a baby around as well to do snacks etc so if he cooks it needs to be part of a proper meal so suggestions an tips would be great!

• I mostly access information online but a booklet/leaflet by post periodically tailored to your child's age would be helpful. Perhaps with some recipes, tips, and relevant guidance on balance in diet and their nutritional needs?

I think that's everything!

• Do you think you/ your partner has a real love of good, healthy food? If so, where did this come from? How do you try and pass that on to your child?

I know I do (DH really doesn't). My training as a healthcare professional has really helped, but I am also naturally inclined towards fresh fruit and veg. I try and pass this onto my DDs by making sure that their food is balanced - vegetables feature at every lunch and dinner, and fruit is offered at all meals and snacktimes, and they have carbs and protein at every meal - but junk is not forbidden, more part of an overall picture.
This has definitely worked, because they ask if veg or salad isn't included in a meal, and will usually choose fruit as a snack.
Drinks are also part of the picture, and water is definitely their main (and generally first choice of) drink, with other things such as smoothies, fizzy drinks and squash reserved as treats.
Mixing things up makes their diet more interesting. For example, packed lunches aren't always sandwiches, sometimes they have soup and bread, hummus and pitta, wraps, bagels, salads...

• What challenges do you feel you face in establishing good food foundations for your little one? What has surprised you about your child?s journey with food so far

My DH sets a terrible example because he has a very sweet tooth and will often leave his vegetables or salad. If he does meals (rarely), he often forgets to do veg and the DDs (aged six and three) remind him! One of the things I have found the most surprising is that children have much more refined tastes than given credit for. My two love sushi and will eat any kind of fish. They also love mature cheeses. You don't necessarily need to dumb things down for children.

Do your children love all food or can it be a challenge at times to get them to try and enjoy new foods? What kinds of foods do you find more challenging to try with your little one

New foods need talking about, but they will normally try something if there is some familiarity (sushi, for example, was acceptable initially because it included avocado and salmon). Completely alien foods are much more difficult, but I think that is understandbale.

• What worries and concerns do you have about their future enjoyment of food? How do you deal with these?

As a mum of two girls, I worry about them fixating on appearance. On the flip side, I also worry about obesity (DH is obese, I am not). It is a balancing act and one I deal with by talking about issues openly as they arise, and also trying to be a good role model.

• What hopes and aspirations do you have for their lifelong eating habits

That they learn to find the balance themselves.

• What help and support are you looking for? Where do you get that support currently?

It would be nice to have some ideas for new meals. An app where you type in what you are doing (picnic, packed lunch, dinner, weekend breakfast etc) and they can choose the kind of thing your children like so it can generate some new ideas would be great!

• When do you want to receive help, support, info and where?

See above!

• Do you think you/ your partner has a real love of good, healthy food? If so, where did this come from? How do you try and pass that on to your child?

i think we both could improve actually, and I do worry about whether any of our bad habits will pass to the dc

• What challenges do you feel you face in establishing good food foundations for your little one? What has surprised you about your child?s journey with food so far

one of them is very picky! moreso due to autism, and the others are okay but do have a love of treats and always asking for that

Do your children love all food or can it be a challenge at times to get them to try and enjoy new foods? What kinds of foods do you find more challenging to try with your little one

one of them its a challenge to try anything, the others not too bad.

• What worries and concerns do you have about their future enjoyment of food? How do you deal with these?

i worry if they wont eat a healthy balanced diet

• What hopes and aspirations do you have for their lifelong eating habits

eating home cooked healthy food and not too much treats, just making sensible choices

• What help and support are you looking for? Where do you get that support currently?

i dont really get any currently, but i would look for recipes and ideas online

• When do you want to receive help, support, info and where?

chldrens centres or online

• Do you think you/ your partner has a real love of good, healthy food? If so, where did this come from? How do you try and pass that on to your child?

I think DH and I certainly have an appreciation of good, healthy food. We don't always make the right choices but I suppose the fact is that we know what choices we should be making so any indulgence can be balanced out. Both of us grew up in families where meals were eaten together and cooked from scratch. Even though my family home had no space for an actual table we were encouraged to show good table manners. We all sat down together and ate at the same time. DD is not quite 8 months but we try to have meals at the same time as her or at least be eating something. As much as practicable we try to prepare food for her ourselves. We try to give her a range of foods and consider little off limits.

• What challenges do you feel you face in establishing good food foundations for your little one? What has surprised you about your child?s journey with food so far

Do your children love all food or can it be a challenge at times to get them to try and enjoy new foods? What kinds of foods do you find more challenging to try with your little one

DD has an intolerance to cow's milk protein, infant reflux and is allergic to eggs. These combined issues made introducing solid foods much more complex than I had anticipated.

Her favourite food quickly became broccoli and she still prefers vegetables to fruit. Despite her difficulties, she gets very excited by food and swings her legs wildly when I open the fridge. When her reflux has been very bad I can guarantee that the one thing she would eat is organix rice cakes. Initially, I would spread purée on the plain ones as it was the only way I could get a variety of foods into her. Now she gets them as and when.

• What worries and concerns do you have about their future enjoyment of food? How do you deal with these?

I very much want my DD to enjoy eating and to love trying new things. I try not to make an issue of anything she chooses to leave. I hope I can continue to do this as she gets older. I believe that forcing the issue only makes things worse.

• What hopes and aspirations do you have for their lifelong eating habits

I would like DD to have an understanding of making good choices. Not to feel she can't have certain things because they are 'bad' but that she might chose these things occasionally. I loved fruit as a child and always chose fruit over sweets - I would really love to see Dd doing this

• What help and support are you looking for? Where do you get that support currently?

I currently get access to various HCP due to DD's gastric issues. The dietician and HV can be helpful to talk through issues. I would like more information about particular things I can try for her which match her dietary needs. I currently rely on Mumsnet for this!

• When do you want to receive help, support, info and where?

As above.

• Do you think you/ your partner has a real love of good, healthy food?

I think we do but we don't always have the money or inclination to be as adventurous with our choices as we could be.....

I guess thro' travelling and just being receptive to trying new stuff whether it's in our local supermarket or in a deli, a restaurant or a market....

If so, where did this come from? How do you try and pass that on to your child?

Also it helped that when we were growing up our mothers did usually cook from seasonally available produce and mostly home-grown. We learned to cook from a young age too....

• What challenges do you feel you face in establishing good food foundations for your little one? What has surprised you about your child?s journey with food so far

That because one has an adventurous and wide food palate oneself one has to accept that it's not the same for everyone. Our DCs eat things like escargots, moules marinieres, smelly French cheeses but they will default on different everyday foodstuffs - one won't eat cheesy/creamy sauces and the other is a more of a meat and two veg type of child....

I would say that one can never assume food tastes with one's children - be open minded and flexible.....

Do your children love all food or can it be a challenge at times to get them to try and enjoy new foods? What kinds of foods do you find more challenging to try with your little one

Yes, it can be a challenge and as they've got older DS (who used to be incredibly fussy) has got less so and DD has got more so. If they ask to try some new foodstuff they are more likely to be receptive so we let them take the lead.....And often they are so entirely inconsistent (even from one meal to the next) that if they don't accept what they're given there's no alternative....

• What worries and concerns do you have about their future enjoyment of food? How do you deal with these?

With girls the worry is always about calorie-counting..... DD is incredibly slim (not an ounce of spare flesh) and will I'm sure take after me with always being a light-weight. It is highly unlikely that she should ever have weight issues but that doesn't mean she won't....

That they don't over-consume unhealthy foodstuffs when they have control over their own diets...... We've already noticed that DS is entering that teen 'rubbish food' intake phase given the opportunity!

• What hopes and aspirations do you have for their lifelong eating habits

That they learn to really appreciate the value of cooking and producing a wide and varied repertoire of meals....

• What help and support are you looking for? Where do you get that support currently?

I really think that Cookery should be as essential to the school curriculum as Sports is - they really go hand in hand.....

Also, the children derive a lot of pleasure from watching cookery programmes, particularly DS (12) so this is something which needs 'exploiting'

• When do you want to receive help, support, info and where?

Not sure we really do but we have lots of cookery books at home and the type of magazines that are inspirational for cooking a varied and inspired diet!

• Do you think you/ your partner has a real love of good, healthy food? If so, where did this come from? How do you try and pass that on to your child?

I became interested in food as a student as I didn't want to live on rubbish and quickly worked out that you can eat cheaply and healthily if you learn the right skills. I credit my flatmate with teaching me a lot of this as she had grown up eating 'real' food and introduced me to lots of things I hhadn't tried before - my childhood home was more of a deep fat fryer and oven chip sort of place DP was a junk food addict when we met but eats pretty well now. Ds is only 15 months so at the moment he hs no choice but to eat what he's given but we've introduced him to good food by making sure he eats a wide range of flavours, textures etc. and has set meal times with us as a family.

• What challenges do you feel you face in establishing good food foundations for your little one? What has surprised you about your child?s journey with food so far

The biggest challenge for me has been lunchtime ideas as this is my usual lazy meal - I normally just have toast! I've had to make sure there is an interesting plate of food every day which has made me eat better too. The biggest surprise is how wide a variety of food a baby will eat given the chance. By the age of one ds was eating more or less anything he was given. On a recent holiday to Spain he devoured his Tapas - the only thing spat back at me so far has been an olive.

Do your children love all food or can it be a challenge at times to get them to try and enjoy new foods? What kinds of foods do you find more challenging to try with your little one

He'll try anything at the moment so I'm taking advantage of it before we hit the inevitable fussy stage. I don't worry about him trying new things. If he doesn't like something then no harm done.

• What worries and concerns do you have about their future enjoyment of food? How do you deal with these?

My main concern is that he views food in a 'normal' way. I haven't restricted any foods so far as many parents do as I don't want him to consider a biscuit as something exciting or forbidden. I want him to see unhealthy food as just another option and eat a well balanced diet. I think there is a danger of making sugary food more desirable by making it off liits.

• What hopes and aspirations do you have for their lifelong eating habits

As above, I want him to have a normal relationship with food. I want him to learn to cook and make healthy choices but be able to have the odd chocolate bar or takeaway without feeling any guilt or anxiety about it.

• What help and support are you looking for? Where do you get that support currently?

I talk to my sister about food choices a lot as she has 3 older children who have access to all kinds of food but generally still make healthy choices as they prefer them.

• When do you want to receive help, support, info and where?

I would like to see more food & recipes aimed at families which are genuinely healthy and tasty - it seems that much food aimed at kids seems healthy but isn't when you actually read the ingredients.

• Do you think you/ your partner has a real love of good, healthy food? If so, where did this come from? How do you try and pass that on to your child?

Neither DH or I grew up with particularly healthy attitude to food, both were raised not to leave what was on your plate. Everything was fried or roasted to within an inch of burning (my Mother still tells me I undercook beef because it doesn't resemble shoe leather). Flavours weren't really added (I didn't eat garlic until I was 17) and meals were very much the worst kind of 'traditional' British food.

• What challenges do you feel you face in establishing good food foundations for your little one? What has surprised you about your child?s journey with food so far

I had to get past the way I was taught to cook, pretty much relearning about food and flavours. Luckily I have found a vast range of delicious, healthy meals which we all enjoy. The most surprising thing for me has been that my DD will try anything. She has never looked at a plate of food and refused to try it. The cost of good quality, healthy food (compared to cheaper convenience foods) can make planning a menu challenging but with a little research and spreading the ingredients through several meals we have found an affordable way to eat well.

Do your children love all food or can it be a challenge at times to get them to try and enjoy new foods? What kinds of foods do you find more challenging to try with your little one

My DD isn't a big fan of spicy foods, which is surprising as her first food was a sweet potato wedge flavoured with chilli! We don't make a big deal out of trying new foods, everything is put on plates and DD is asked to try it before deciding if she likes it.

• What worries and concerns do you have about their future enjoyment of food? How do you deal with these?

I worry that she will decide to stop eating certain food groups or become a fussy eater. My DNeice is starting to refuse the odd treat because she 'doesn't want to be fat' We don't make meal times a big deal and explain that all food can be healthy, as long as you don't have too much and make yourself feel poorly.

What hopes and aspirations do you have for their lifelong eating habits

I hope that my DD grows up with a healthy attitude to food, viewing it as sustinnance rather than something to be used as a treat or punishment. I hope she will continue to try new things and explore new tastes.

• What help and support are you looking for? Where do you get that support currently?

New meal ideas and snack ideas. I currently look on the internet and am a bit of a cook book addict.

• When do you want to receive help, support, info and where?

Online, so I can access it when I need it.

• Do you think you/ your partner has a real love of good, healthy food? If so, where did this come from? How do you try and pass that on to your child?

Me and my dh have a love of good healthy food, (and chocolate). I only developed it when i married dh, I hadn't eaten so well before. We have a fussy eater as a child, so we constantly offer the good stuff before giving any treats and we limit treats.

• What challenges do you feel you face in establishing good food foundations for your little one? What has surprised you about your child?s journey with food so far

I tried so hard to get the taste for good foods first, then she tried sweet stuff and now she will ask for that first- which is frustrating.
I thought she would eat better and try more varity than she has.

Do your children love all food or can it be a challenge at times to get them to try and enjoy new foods? What kinds of foods do you find more challenging to try with your little one

Its a real challenge to get her to even lick something new. Anything with sauce/ gravy is a no no. We have to cook seprately sometimes, otherwise she would go to bed hungry.

• What worries and concerns do you have about their future enjoyment of food? How do you deal with these?

I worry she will only want to eat sweet stuff when she is older, and be a nightmare to feed at friends houses.

• What hopes and aspirations do you have for their lifelong eating habits

I hope she will try new things and healthy things, and have a balance.

• What help and support are you looking for? Where do you get that support currently?

Ways and ideas to get dd to try things would be good, no ideas worked yet :/ just hv and mn are avaliable as help. I feel like i need more in depth ideas

• When do you want to receive help, support, info and where?

Childrens centres or online

• Do you think you/ your partner has a real love of good, healthy food? If so, where did this come from? How do you try and pass that on to your child?

I sadly grew up in real poverty, very little food to go around regardless of how many jobs Mum and Dad worked. I learned to really value the food we did have and promised myself that I would research and experiment with food when I could and I have.

I try and pass this onto my DCs by firstly not giving them 'children's meals', we eat the same and we eat a lot of variety, I find when we're trying new things together it makes it more fun and the children more willing.
We grow veg and fruit too and the children are involved with that, we also discuss where our food comes from and we don't sugar coat it! (in regards to meat)
I let them choose some meals we have and never say no to them trying something new. They are involved in shopping/prep/eating and discussing food.

• What challenges do you feel you face in establishing good food foundations for your little one? What has surprised you about your child?s journey with food so far

We eat out a lot and I find there is a boring, repeat of children's menus that consist of things with chips, I would prefer a smaller portion of the regular menu available for them.

Do your children love all food or can it be a challenge at times to get them to try and enjoy new foods? What kinds of foods do you find more challenging to try with your little one

Luckily all 3 of my children (8,6 nd 8 months) will try anything and generally enjoy most things, the 6 year old has the occasional wobble with raw veg/salad but i don't make anything of it I don;t believe in making a ig deal out of someone not liking something.

• What worries and concerns do you have about their future enjoyment of food? How do you deal with these?

I don't have too many worries about their food futures, I'm hoping they will remeer the things they have learnt about food and cooking at home to take on with them. I just hope good food will be afford in the future.

• What hopes and aspirations do you have for their lifelong eating habits

That they remain foodies who are happy to experiment with new things and are happy to cook good food and that they will keep the happy balance between 'good' and 'bad' foods.

• What help and support are you looking for? Where do you get that support currently?

I don't require any support really, DP and I eat the same things and they follow suit. I wish the schools would stop filling their heads with nonsense about 'bad' foods and give us free choice on lunchboxes.

• When do you want to receive help, support, info and where?

If I needed it I would like it via a family center/school or health visitor. Available on the internet. Recipes and tips aimed at children but wthout patronizing them would be nice.

• Do you think you/ your partner has a real love of good, healthy food? If so, where did this come from? How do you try and pass that on to your child?

Not sure so much about a love of healthy food, but I am passionate (and sometimes a bit opinionated) about food, and love trying new things. But as a child I was the fussiest little thing imaginable and wouldn't try anything new. I suddenly started getting more adventurous aged about 11 or 12, and I'll try anything now. I think the best way of passing on a love of food is to prepare as wide a possible variety of different foods.

• What challenges do you feel you face in establishing good food foundations for your little one? What has surprised you about your child?s journey with food so far

I suppose the main challenge is that sometimes (often!) you spend ages preparing something and then it doesn't get eaten. You just have to not take it personally, but it can be hard not to get into a rut of serving the same old foods week in, week out. Also, my children aren't really "big eaters", and it can be a struggle sometimes to get them to eat much at all, even of things they like. But other days they eat quite well, so I just have to trust that it will all level itself out in the end.

Do your children love all food or can it be a challenge at times to get them to try and enjoy new foods? What kinds of foods do you find more challenging to try with your little one

My children don't love all foods by any means, and it's particularly annoying when one of them loves something another won't touch. Having said that, they are quite good at trying new things, but that doesn't mean they'll take more than a small bite.

• What worries and concerns do you have about their future enjoyment of food? How do you deal with these?

Actually, I'm not really that concerned. I was much fussier than my children are, they eat things I'd never have dreamed of touching, so I hope that they'll carry on as they are and enjoy food in the future.

• What hopes and aspirations do you have for their lifelong eating habits

I hope that they'll eat healthily, enjoy food and not get too fat or too thin.

• What help and support are you looking for? Where do you get that support currently?

Not really looking particularly

• When do you want to receive help, support, info and where?

I don't think there should be set times to receive help or support or info - it should be available whenever you need it!

• Do you think you/ your partner has a real love of good, healthy food? If so, where did this come from? How do you try and pass that on to your child?

Yes we do but I couldn't say where it came from. I am a child of the 70s raised on findus pancakes and tinned stew but we rarely eat anything like that now. Both DH and I have travelled a lot and I think that has inspired our love of exciting food as well as being more informed about nutrition.

• What challenges do you feel you face in establishing good food foundations for your little one? What has surprised you about your child?s journey with food so far

Both kids love dark green veg like broccoli and asparagus. Some meats can be a challenge as they can be more hard work to eat. They both love fruit. While they also love biscuits and ice creams, these are kept to a minimum so generally I feel their diet is well-balanced.

Do your children love all food or can it be a challenge at times to get them to try and enjoy new foods? What kinds of foods do you find more challenging to try with your little one

Sorry kind of answered that above but yes, try have a wide varied diet and can usually be persuaded to try something new.

• What worries and concerns do you have about their future enjoyment of food? How do you deal with these?

Worry about the insidious creep of sugar into their diet as they get older and become more aware of "treats".

• What hopes and aspirations do you have for their lifelong eating habits

Hope they appreciate fresh, local food that is in season. Hope they enjoy cooking and experimenting with food as much as I do and hope that they enjoy food for the great pleasure that it is.

• What help and support are you looking for? Where do you get that support currently?

Not looking for help or support.

• When do you want to receive help, support, info and where?

?

Neither me or DH has a love of healthy food. I think it's my taste as I prefer white bread, pasta and so one. Both DH and I like Italian style sauces which I try to balance out by adding vegetables to the sauce.

All four DCs love fruit and vegetables but DS1 isn't keen on meat that looks like meat - roast beef/pork/chicken/bacon etc. he will eat chicken/turkey nuggets, burgers and such. I try to balance it out by making my own grilled nuggets and burgers made with lean mince and serving it with plenty of vegetables.

Not having a lot of money does limit what I can buy so I try and buy the healthiest food I can for the DCs and have the cheaper things for DH and I. Time is also a factor in making meals from scratch as I simply don't have the time sometimes so have to go the quick route and use bought fishfingers, again I try and get the cod fillet ones.

Recipes for healthy meals on a budget would be great especially if they're for not so adventurous children as I find it hard to get the DCs and DH to try new things, and we are low income right now so cannot afford to spend lots on different foods which gets thrown away and something else made.

It's also hard to find healthy children's meals when we do eat out, it would be nice to see child size portions of adult food instead of the usual sausage/nuggets/pizza with chips. Soft play areas are particularly bad for this.

I agree that children's food choices are poor when out and about. Far too many "with chips" options. Would love to see flexible menus such as choose a pasta shape plus a sauce plus vegetables.

• Do you think you/ your partner has a real love of good, healthy food? If so, where did this come from? How do you try and pass that on to your child? We both do now. It comes from those first months of living together, our first home away from parents and we ate takeawys/McDonalds almost every night. We realised we were both gaining weight and struggling to conceive so something had to change and it was food. We both realise how much more we were enjoying what we ate. We try and lead our girls by example, yes there are sweets and treats in our house but cakes and bakes are homemade with local fresh ingredients, fruit and veg are freely available at anytime of day.
• What challenges do you feel you face in establishing good food foundations for your little one? What has surprised you about your child?s journey with food so far We haven't faced too many challenges as it is all they have ever known food wise. We were surprised at our eldest's dislike of chocolate and things like fish fingers/chicken nuggets etc. She would rather have a salad than chips.

Do your children love all food or can it be a challenge at times to get them to try and enjoy new foods? What kinds of foods do you find more challenging to try with your little one They will try most things but as they are now at school I find they are refusing things more on the basis on label or looks. Our youngest will not eat mash or rice which can prove troublesome at meal times.

• What worries and concerns do you have about their future enjoyment of food? How do you deal with these? I try not to worry too much but I know there will come a stage when they have pocket money and can head out alone they will binge on fast food (not that we ban it we just don't eat there)

• What hopes and aspirations do you have for their lifelong eating habits That they maintain a health attitude to food and know its role in keeping them healthy and fuelling their bodies.

• Do you think you/ your partner has a real love of good, healthy food? If so, where did this come from? How do you try and pass that on to your child?

We both love food but I think I am more focused on eating and enhoying healthy food, definitely comes from family attitudes to food - even now MIL is very much anti 'health police' on salt/fat while my DM and DDad are both concious of eating well and of impact of diet on health.

• What challenges do you feel you face in establishing good food foundations for your little one? What has surprised you about your child?s journey with food so far

Time to make healthy food - temptation is to use convenient food or shortcuts DC is only 17 mo so journey with food is very much at play stage - he is very fickle so will love something one day, hate it next and love it the next. That surprises me but I', not too worried since he's so young!

Do your children love all food or can it be a challenge at times to get them to try and enjoy new foods? What kinds of foods do you find more challenging to try with your little one
See above on loving food. Don't find any foods challenging at the moment, so small that I just offer stuff and try not to get stressed if rejected

• What worries and concerns do you have about their future enjoyment of food? How do you deal with these?

Concerned about peer pressure to eat unhealthily - hope that in the end our own habits at home will override this, will try to talk about benefits of healthy food in same way as my parents - matter of fact, not lectury, from own experience

• What hopes and aspirations do you have for their lifelong eating habits

To enjoy food and have a healthy relationship with it - to see it as pleasure, not fuel, and enjoy the social side of eating.

• What help and support are you looking for? Where do you get that support currently?

Tend to use internet to search for ideas on new recipes and advice on healthy eating, would value support to be able to sort the fads and trends from evidence based stuff

• When do you want to receive help, support, info and where?

Not sure

• Do you think you/ your partner has a real love of good, healthy food? If so, where did this come from? How do you try and pass that on to your child? I love healthy food and find inspiration from cookery books. I think it comes from loving the outdoors and travelling. I will lead by example, offer all healthy things I can get my hands on and encourage DS to help me in the
• What challenges do you feel you face in establishing good food foundations for your little one? What has surprised you about your child?s journey with food so far My DS will not eat fruit or vegetables as finger foods only if they are pureed into a meal.

Do your children love all food or can it be a challenge at times to get them to try and enjoy new foods? What kinds of foods do you find more challenging to try with your little one. Fruit and vegetables are challenging at the minute.

• What worries and concerns do you have about their future enjoyment of food? How do you deal with these? i worry DS will become as fussy as either e or my DH as we are both very fussy and like very different foods.
• What hopes and aspirations do you have for their lifelong eating habits. That D will happily try anything and that he will eat healthily and enjoy it too.
• What help and support are you looking for? Where do you get that support currently? I get advice from Mumsnet and will continue to do so. I also love the Annabel Karmel cookbooks.
• When do you want to receive help, support, info and where? I go looking when a question comes up and that suits me fine.

• Do you think you/ your partner has a real love of good, healthy food? If so, where did this come from? How do you try and pass that on to your child?

Basically, yes. I sometimes worry that we don't, particularly because I have quite a sweet tooth, but when I chat to friends about the sort of diets they have and food they cook, I realise we do pretty well! I think it is largely because both my husband and I grew up in families where it was the norm to cook "proper" food - we hardly ever had take aways, and we didn't have a microwave so ready meals were non-existent.

• What challenges do you feel you face in establishing good food foundations for your little one? What has surprised you about your child?s journey with food so far

My dd is only 1 year old so we have only been on this journey for 6 months. Challenges I feel are making sure that she has something genuinely nourishing and healthy at each meal time. I don't find breakfast a problem, but doing both lunch and tea is sometimes a challenge! We end up having the same old thing for lunch all the time, although I am careful to vary her tea time diet more widely. I don't feel that packet/jar meals of the Ella's Kitchen/ Plum/ Heinz variety are as good as they make out to be, and they taste and smell like rank school dinners! My dd won't eat them, and I don't blame her. However, this not always great as I have to make sure there is something home-cooked every night. My freezer is stuffed full of tiny portions... Surprises - I have been surprised how receptive she is to new flavours. She will even eat spicy food, up to a point. I have also been surprised by how different textures affect her - she hates to have dry stuff spooned into her mouth, although she will pick it up herself and eat it. I have been surprised by how teething affects her appetite, and worry at times that she isn't getting her nutrients because she is very picky some days.

Do your children love all food or can it be a challenge at times to get them to try and enjoy new foods? What kinds of foods do you find more challenging to try with your little one

Again, she is only just 1 so our experience is a bit limited here. She does try new foods and flavours happily (although we discovered yesterday she's not a fan of balsamic vinegar ) Challenging things are those that are sharp or sour - tomatoes and oranges, for example. She only has three teeth so struggles a bit with raw veg but loves cooked stuff!

• What worries and concerns do you have about their future enjoyment of food? How do you deal with these?

I worry that she will become more fussy as she becomes more opinionated, but at the moment I am dealing with this by making sure that she often eats what we are eating when we are eating it. She seems to enjoy this. Long-term, I worry that she will use food as an outlet for her stress, as I did as a teenager and in my early twenties. I hope to teach her as she grows up that food is for enjoying, but it is also for fuel and she needs to eat in a wholesome way to help live a more wholesome life.

• What hopes and aspirations do you have for their lifelong eating habits

See above, really - I want her to enjoy cooking and eating, but also to see it as a means to an end, and not obsess about it.

• What help and support are you looking for? Where do you get that support currently?

I would love more ideas for my daughter's meals, full stop. Actually, I would love more ideas for the whole family's meals! Proper cooking that can be done after work (like Nigel Slater's half hour meals) are really useful.

• When do you want to receive help, support, info and where?

When do I want support - normally when I'm planning the weekly shop! I leaf through cook books sometimes but I rarely have time for this. I like those recipe cards you can pick up in some supermarkets as you don't have to go out of your way to look for them!

Do you think you/ your partner has a real love of good, healthy food? If so, where did this come from? How do you try and pass that on to your child?
Yes, we both love healthy food, and certainly I got a love of good basic ingredients from my parents. We produced all our own meat, grew our own veg and fruit, produced milk, butter, cream and eggs, and swopped with other smallholders for other things. So although there wasn't fancy food, and money was very tight (I remember 'dumpster diving' with great fondness), it was great.
We choose food together, and try and really help ds understand where food comes from and talk about different sorts

• What challenges do you feel you face in establishing good food foundations for your little one? What has surprised you about your child?s journey with food so far

The challenges have been others expectations, but ds is a fabulous eater and very open to trying anything. If he sees us eating it, he'll give it a go. Do your children love all food or can it be a challenge at times to get them to try and enjoy new foods? What kinds of foods do you find more challenging to try with your little one The only thing he doesn't like is mint and spicy food, and has tried all sorts of things

• What worries and concerns do you have about their future enjoyment of food? How do you deal with these?

We don't make food a punishment or a reward. We don't always have puddings, and we model leaving food when full.

• What hopes and aspirations do you have for their lifelong eating habits

That he'll try new things, experiment, and eat an overall balanced diet

• What help and support are you looking for? Where do you get that support currently?

I don't need any!

• When do you want to receive help, support, info and where? If I look for it

Lifelong love of good food, definitely, both of us, and passed on to DC as well - we are a "live to eat, not eat to live" family.

Doesn't necessarily mean that it is healthy, though. We all enjoy junk food occasionally, and it's definitely not all low fat, high fibre, 5 a day worthiness or anything close.

I hope my DC grow up to continue to enjoy food and not have hangups about it. They both eat a pretty good variety of things, although both have things that they definitely don't like and, as long as they have tried it then I am inclined to respect that.

I grew up on a farm, my Mum was an HE teacher. So food was always very important growing up, we spoke about what food was produced on the farm or in the garden and everything was cooked from scratch. It was very important to me that my children share this culture of food. We have lots of fruit trees and herbs and some veg in our tiny garden, the kids have been involved in cooking from a very early age, we always eat together at the dining table and talk about the food as we eat.

I've got three children and the biggest challenge is other people's expectations. I've lost count of the number of people who express surprise that my children like chilli/olives/broccoli. I hate that all children's birthday parties have junk food served to all the kids as standard and they come home with party bags full of cheap and nasty sweets. I can't believe some relatives fill my children up with sweet snacks then are surprised that they don't each much at the next mealtime.

The biggest surprise has been how much fun it has been to introduce new foods to the kids, in popular folklore food is suppose to be a battlefield and we've not really found that. We were lucky that we learnt about BLW very early on and have done it with all three kids, I think it teaches the parents to be relaxed about their children's relationship with food which should hopefully mean you don't end up having battles about something that should be a joy.

My eldest loves food and is very good at trying new foods, it helps that she's a skinny minx like her father who is genuinely hungry at most meal times. My middle child is still learning to try new foods but is getting better at it, but still loves porridge and oatcakes and mature cheese above anything else. My youngest is still a baby and just at the beginning of his food journey, the biggest problem we have is that he has some food allergies and so we are still working out which foods are causing them, it's a shame because the early stages of weaning are such a joy when they are excited about tasting everything and developing their fine motor skills. Apart from DS's allergies we don't have any concerns about their long term relationship with food. I hope they continue to enjoy growing, cooking and enjoying food. The only help and support we need are with dealing with DS's allergies, we are currently under a consultant and have been referred to a dietician to discuss his diet to make sure he is getting all the nutrients he needs. I've also used online information (mainly the NHS website and parenting forums) to get some background information, and recipes that are DS-friendly.

So with regards to food and feeding for your child:

• I don't think neither me or my partner has a natural love for healthy food... we're foodies but not for the good stuff although since having baby number 2 we are beginning to enjoy more healthier meals. I'm the grand daughter of a butcher and the daughter of a baker so needless to say I love meat and pies! (i'm only a size 10 though!... I don't scoff my face on them all day lol)
• Ive found it hard setting the foundations for a healthy love of food. When weaning DS1 loved everything...then he started going to grandmas. Now he loves nuggets, fish fingers and waffles =/ He won't eat ANY veg or fruit apart from dried fruit and fruit juice. I suppose you could call it 'an adventure' but not the good sort.

My child won't try anything new... even things I know he'll love like cheesy omelettes. Thats half the issue. He has such a small meal choice because he won't try the food.

I worry constantly about Ds1's eating habits. I'm hoping that his baby brother will be a better eater and this will urge him on to try new things. I hope he grows to like at least some veg!

• I can only dream of him eating a sunday lunch...that would be the ultimate goal! And for him to willing try new foods. I don't expect him to like everything but I would like him to try a range.

• Ive sought advice from the Hv with little success, family and friends just say let him eat what he wants. I find that theres little support out there for trying to get him to eat new things.

• I'd like info through the post, maybe on posters so DS can see it for himself. I'm not sure what other help there is... the thought of people coming round is a good idea but at the same time i think it would make me personally feel like I had to push DS even more and I've fond from experience that doesn't work.

My daughter already has a varied taste in food and is always keen to try new tastes and textures. I love food and try to cook from scratch most nights. I think this helps as my daughter has always had a taste of whatever we eat and sees us all enjoying food as a family. When we eat out, she tends to have a bit of our food if there's nothing suitable on the menu as it really upsets me that children's menus tend to be filled with 'chips, nuggets and beans'. We do eat chips and beans occasionally but it gives children the wrong impression of food when we eat out and the adults get something tasty and interesting and the children get something bland and, often, unhealthy.
I might just have got lucky with my daughter, I know others find mealtimes difficult but I hope that our attitudes will serve her well as she grows into an adult herself.

I think it helps that both me and dh absolutely love good food, and I am passionate about sourcing ethical, local, organic ingredients. Some of that passion, and the fact that we talk about food, recipes, ingredients and restaurants with our friends automatically gets passed down to the dcs.

Beyond that, I have found that getting them to help in the preparation and cooking can start a wider conversation about balanced meals, health and enjoying food....even better (although we are city based, so this is a bit limited!) we try to grow a selection of vegetables and fruit in pots every summer, chosen by the dcs, which gives them a much clearer idea of 'where it all comes from'.

As much as I want them to try everything, and be a bit brave in their choices, I do also accept that pizza, fish fingers and pasta will remain firm favourites, and so I try to find a balance between serving meals that I know they are going to love and things which might be a bit trickier. So far, that mostly works...also, we have a rule that everyone is allowed to have one thing that they definitely don't like and don't have to eat....somehow, being allowed to have one 'opt out' makes it easier to convince them to try everything else!