My feed
Premium

Please
or
to access all these features

Find weaning advice from other Mumsnetters on our Weaning forum. Use our child development calendar for more information.

Weaning

Are my DDs diets healthy enough?

15 replies

mummyandme1983 · 22/07/2014 16:34

I was bought up on hardly any fruit and veg, just masses of toast to eat! I am trying to provide my DDs (1 and 5) with a healthy diet but they can be quite fussy. Does this sound okay for the 5 year old?

Day one
Breakfast: Coissant and fresh apple juice not from concentrate
Snack: Grapes and cup of milk
Lunch: Ham sandwich, slices of cucumber, strawberrys
Snack: Pepper slices and hummus and cup of milk
Dinner: Breaded fish from a pack, oven chips and peas. Chocolate icecream.

Day Two
Breakfast: Toast with nutella and fresh apple juice not from concentrate
Snack: Grapes and cup of milk
Lunch: Beans on toast and strawberrys
Snack: cucumber slices and hummus and cup of milk
Dinner: Spag bol and chocolate mousse

And for the 1 year old?
Breakfast:Brioche and 7oz formula
Snack:7oz formula
Lunch: Hummus sandwich, cucumber slices and a fruit pot and water
Snack: 7oz formula
Dinner: Spag bol and water
Bedtime: 7oz formula

I am keen to get the one year old onto cows milk, do you think she has enough vitamins out of her diet?

Thanks!

OP posts:
Report
mummyandme1983 · 22/07/2014 16:41

I am also keen to improve my diet as I am pregnant with DC3, a typical day for me is:
Breakfast: Brioche and fresh orange juice not from concentrate
Snack: Banana
Lunch: beans on toast, strawberrys
Snack: Carrot and hummus
Dinner: Spag bol and low fat yogurt

I only drink water apart from the fresh orange for breakfast.

I had a diet based on white bread, lots of chocolate puds and cheese growing up so find it hard to compare our diet with what is healthy. I think it is healthy but just want some feedback!

OP posts:
Report
mummyandme1983 · 22/07/2014 16:43

And am also worried if I am getting enough calcium?

Thanks again!

OP posts:
Report
yellowsnownoteatwillyou · 22/07/2014 16:45

Don't know about the 5 year old as only have a 1 year old. I'm surprised you are getting her to drink that much milk.
As an example on what my 1 year old ate
4oz of formula- toast and some raspberries
Lunch Philly sandwich, 3 sticks of cucumber, handful of chicken I cooked yesterday
Big hand full of melon, bit of a homemade coconut cupcake I was eating
Snack 2 rice cakes, more melon and a bit of chicken I was eating ( there's a theme here)
For diner, he's having tuna fish cakes, broccoli and peas
He might have more fruit or a biscuit after
He has water available all the time
8oz bedtime milk

Report
MB34 · 22/07/2014 16:56

It looks ok, although I would try to not have bread (including croissant/brioche) for breakfast and lunch. Maybe alternate, cereal/muesli, eggs, yoghurt, pancakes with fruit etc for breakfast or if you do have bread, try a salad for lunch.

Also for the 1yo, could you try proper snacks and a mix of cows milk/formula instead of just formula? At that age my DS was still bf but I was offering cows milk in a cup and using it for cereal, making custard, rice pudding etc to get him used to the taste.

For calcium, you could try cheese for snacks?

I'm no expert on diets to be honest but DH has got me to change a lot of habits as he's really healthy. Hopefully someone with more knowledge can offer more advice.

Report
Pollaidh · 22/07/2014 17:16

Hi, I'm not a nutritionist btw. Not bad and I've seen worse, but there are definitely some improvements you can make.

I think general guidelines are to aim for a mixture of carbohydrates, protein and fruit/veg at each meal. Carbs = pasta, rice, bread, potatoes, polenta etc. Protein = meat, fish, cheese, yoghurt, nuts (if allowed), seeds, tofu, lentils (which also contain some carbs btw). Also a little fat needed. Carbs fill them up, protein keeps hunger at bay. The fresh veg etc provides nutrients, vitamins, fibre etc. You should also look at wholemeal carbs for the 5 year old (but not the 1 year old).

Your 5 year old's snacks look good but maybe add a plain cracker or similar.

Puddings - they don't need a proper sweet pud every day. Our children have yoghurts, fruit, fresh fruit compotes, and we only have a 'proper' pudding about once a week. The puddings you mention are quite high in sugar I would think.

Breakfasts - quite calorific. Croissants have an incredible amount of fat in as do brioche. They're saved for special treats here. Apple juice is very sugary (natural sugar yes but still makes your blood sugar rocket - children generally have their juice watered down a lot with tap water). So nutella + apple juice is a serious sugar rush (especially if it's white toast too!) which will be followed by lethargy later.

What about sugar-free cereals, muesli, porridge (in winter), yoghurt, fresh fruit, wholemeal toast with marmite or a v small amount of jam etc.

Evening meals - the fish and chip one sounds a bit short on veg (which doesn't include potatoes). It's also a bit too processed (so probably high in salt and saturated fat), but obviously not everyone has the time, skill or money to cook from fresh daily. Spag bol is great if it's got hidden vegetables but a bit short on veg if it doesn't (don't count the tomato).

As for the 1 year old - that's a heck of a lot of milk! Assuming she's a decent weight she should (according to our health visitor anyway) be down to 2 200ml bottles a day (first thing in morning, last thing at night) at 1 year. Change the milk 'snacks' for cubes of cheese, cucumber sticks, pieces of fruit, unsalted rice cakes... If you give her porridge or similar for breakfast that will have milk, plus cubes of cheese, plus a yoghurt then you're probably fine to cut the formula down to 2 bottles a day, but withdraw each bottle a bit at a time (we go down 30mls every couple of days), allowing her body and food intake to adapt (otherwise you might have a pissed off, hungry baby).

As for your diet, you can probably get away with brioche for now, being pregnant. How about milk with cereal, cup of milky cocoa (i.e. made with real milk) for the calcium. If you're at any risk of getting gestational diabetes then cut out the orange juice or at least go half and half. You could possibly add some calories, but I don't know your weight etc..

Hope that helps, happy to give more advice. Remember I'm not an expert!

Report
mummyandme1983 · 22/07/2014 21:27

So it looks like there is room for improvement. I had feared there was too much bread!

The main problem I have is breakfast, fruit makes me gag in the morning apart from grapefruit or oranges, DDs will only eat dry cereal, neither will eat porridge or weatabix. Also I cant give DD1 milk to drink as she gets a cup of milk when she gets to school. So maybe sticking with wholemeal toast and various toppings, egg, peanut butter, is nutella ok? Any other ideas?

For DD1 the days I showed were Saturday and Sunday, in the week school provide her with a snack and they are only allowed fruit.

Any ideas for evening puds for DDs. Baby will eat plain yogurt but DD will not eat any yogurt unless it contains chocolate!!

OP posts:
Report
mummyandme1983 · 22/07/2014 21:29

I'm feeding one year old milk on demand and am finding it hard to get away from this or she gets very grumpy, any ideas on this? Should would happily polish off a 5th 7oz bottle if I let her in the evening. She does go 10 to 13 hours at night without milk though.

OP posts:
Report
yellowsnownoteatwillyou · 23/07/2014 08:40

No idea to get away from milk as my ds just refused bottles in the day at 10 months. Unless you could offer a snack at the time she usually has bottles and see what happens. Ds is 1 next week and has milk in a cup in the morning and a 8oz bottle before bed.

Report
ottilieeberstark · 23/07/2014 16:30

This is an example of what I feed my four year old DTs

Breakfast- glass of milk or half apple juice half water (less acid and is better for your teeth), porridge with blueberries or strawberries or toast with honey (a special treat)

Snack- vegetables (they dislike humus so they eat it plain)

Lunch- water with usually a cheese or tuna sandwich and whatever fruit we have

Snack- more vegetables (but usually they go without an afternoon snack)

Dinner- pasta is their favourite but they also like chicken with potatoes and vegetables.

They are happy without a pudding unlike my older children who like them very much!

Report
mummyandme1983 · 24/07/2014 13:04

Thank you ottilieeberstart that is really helpful, I can use that as a basis and change it day to day. DDs will not eat porridge but toast with a topping they will, I did toast with baked beans this morning with a third apple juice diluted for oldest DD. And we had usual veg and hummus snack with milk and for lunch ham roll and grapes with more a third diluted apple juice for oldest DD.

I still need to somehow get younger DD of so much milk but she is a milk monster and cries for it at regular intervals. I guess I need to up the food intake but it feels like she spends all her time in the highchair if I give her snacks as well!

OP posts:
Report
mummyandme1983 · 24/07/2014 13:06

Yes DD loves her pudding, it is the highlight of her day!! hehe

OP posts:
Report
mummyandme1983 · 24/07/2014 13:07

I guess I could make my own chocolate mousse and ice cream, might be healthier??

OP posts:
Report
mummyandme1983 · 24/07/2014 13:08

Shame she doesn't like plain yogurt like the baby does! I don't either though so I can't blame her lol.

OP posts:
Report
yellowsnownoteatwillyou · 24/07/2014 15:30

I don't give snacks in high chairs, I sit ds on a towel for fruit eating or just let him have it standing up me handing it to him. You do get smeared couches and things thou, depends how you feel about that.

Report
mummyandme1983 · 24/07/2014 16:16

Ive tried the snacks not in the highchair but baby DD just walks round smearing things with her snack instead of eating it. Or walks up to the bin and throws it in hehe. Oh well I guess it will come and she won't be in the high chair forever....

OP posts:
Report
Please create an account

To comment on this thread you need to create a Mumsnet account.