How strict are you with food?

[HKateH]

I thought I'd be stricter. Before my LO was one he had no cakes/biscuits etc. No salt was added to food and although we ate out with him, I'd usually bring a salt free option to give him alongside some of what we were having.

Since he's turned one, I've found I've relaxed loads. I tend to cook from scratch - stews, soups, pasta sauces - so I know he's getting good stuff most meals but I don't stress about a bit of junk. He doesn't get given crisps or sweets at home but he will have things like that of we're at, say, a BBQ. He LOVES fruit so isn't that fussed with cake or chocolate.

Breakfast today was fruit and custard pastries. LO stuffed himself. Bad mummy! Anyone else quite happy to give their LO what they are eating?

 

[Midnight_Fairy]

Jade has whatever I eat x

 

[Foogirl]

80/20 rule here. as long as 80% of the time she gets the great stuff! I'm relaxed about the other 20%

 

[felix555]

Exactly the same as you. I never gave any sugar or salt before 1 but have relaxed since he's turned 1.

He eats whatever I eat so if we're out and have cake etc he will have a bite.

My diet is generally quite healthy in the week but at the weekend we're more relaxed so he doesn't have "junk" ie. Cakes, crisps, pastries etc. Daily but he does at the weekend.

My lo also has a nice breakfast at the weekend instead of his shreddies and yogurt etc so this morning he had mandarin orange pancakes (they're fab, from m&s) sometimes I now give him a croissant with a scraping of nutella at the weekend ... would have never happened before 1.

I only care that he has a good diet overall.

 

[steph.]

80/20 rule here. as long as 80% of the time she gets the great stuff! I'm relaxed about the other 20%

This! I think it's actually a good thing to teach kids to enjoy treats in moderation so that it doesn't become taboo. My mum would let us have a maximum of 3 bits of chocolate after weekend dinners and to this day I always limit myself to 3! I know people who were never allowed anything as kids, and now that they have the freedom to eat whatever binge on junk as adults.

 

[Bevziibubble]

When she turned one I was a bit more relaxed about what she had. I don't like it when she was young and family tried to put chocolate in her mouth, but if she choses to eat it herself now then I allow her, I just limit the quantity of it as she would eat crisps and chocolate all day if I let her.

 

[sbl]

I relaxed allot too but as long as she's getting her 3 main meals healthy and 2 pieces of fruit a day I'm fairly happy.
Some days she has more crap than I would like but when she's with her cousins or at granny's I try to be more laid back.

 

[sue_88]

Never worried about it once when she's been weaning. Salt / sugar / cake / chocolate she's had it.

There are no 'treats' ever in my house, all food is allowed and in moderation if it's a little unhealthy.

She eats anything and everything and has been exposed to it all and eats amazingly well.

So I'd say I'm not strict at all, but I don't need to be as nothing is 'off limits'

 

[zorak]

LO has always had what we have. We cook from scratch so it's easy to separate his portion before adding salt etc. His daycare also follow a nutrition programme so he gets extremely healthy stuff there . He has never had cake, cookies or chocolate etc but I won't mind once he reaches one. I love it that he loves things like curry and chilli.

 

[sun]

I was really strict with my first and he's now the one who is the pickiest and likes junk the most LOL. Now I'm pretty relaxed with the food. Actually more relaxed with everything really - no wonder #2 and #3 have been easier!

 

[sequeena]

I don't cook with salt and 95% of food I make myself. I actually quite enjoy it. Before my son I was quite lazy but now I enjoy cooking sauces from scratch etc. I've never been one for baking though.

A few times a month Thomas will have something easy for dinner. Whether it's pizza, tinned ravioli or even a burger king.

On average has has 1 treat a day. A biscuit, cake, marshmallows etc.

He's never tasted anything other than diluted high juice and milk though he has been trying to get to my coke recently. I guess that's a sign for me to stop drinking it!

I'm very lucky with my son. He isn't fussy. He eats squid and all sorts of fish, any meat including offal without a problem. Veg intake isn't great but I blend it into other things. We do have an issue with him eating dinner but it's not a fussiness issue.

 

[Natasha2605]

I'm not strict at all. I believe that ''off limits'' food have a much higher change of causing moderation problems in later life.

Only thing off limits is fizzy juice. But they're only 4 & 2.

 

[oboeverity]

We are BLW, so Freddie has whatever we have xx

 

[MrsPear]

I'm very relaxed. I cook healthy things and then when we go to relatives or friends houses I just accept whatever they have whether it be unhealthy or healthy. Joni stopped over night at my dad's and had ready meals or baked beans for every meal but I'm not worried because at home she has no choice but to eat healthy things so she isn't too fussy about it. Very occasionally I give her a biscuit but we don't really have puddings or anything like that, and a yoghurt or a piece of fruit is a highlight of the day. X

 

[chickenlegs]

To be honest, I used to think I was bloody brilliant. Want advice with what to feed a kid? Come to me. Billy ate curries, casseroles, chillies, pasta, fish, pretty much anything we gave him. We were fabulous about introducing "crap" carefully and very much in moderation. He had chocolate on a Friday and crisps maybe twice a week. Now he pretty much eats bread and butter, risotto (slightly bizarrely!), chocolate and beans. So to be honest, I am very much in the land that you do whatever you think is right for your kid, diet wise. And they will make their own mind up in the end!

 

[MumToEva]

My 2 eat what we are eating. I work on the theory that if we all eat well during the week (fresh, home cooked food, very little sugar, no added salt, lots of fruit and veg), then it's fine to relax a bit at the weekend. If I'm having a treat, they have a treat too. If we are visiting family it insist on a reasonably healthy diet (no MIL, my kids will not be eating their body weight in sweets when they visit, thanks very much!) but a few treats is fine.

 

[HKateH]

To be honest, I used to think I was bloody brilliant. Want advice with what to feed a kid? Come to me. Billy ate curries, casseroles, chillies, pasta, fish, pretty much anything we gave him. We were fabulous about introducing "crap" carefully and very much in moderation. He had chocolate on a Friday and crisps maybe twice a week. Now he pretty much eats bread and butter, risotto (slightly bizarrely!), chocolate and beans. So to be honest, I am very much in the land that you do whatever you think is right for your kid, diet wise. And they will make their own mind up in the end!

Always annoys me when parents ascribe their toddlers' wonderful eating habits to the way they were weaned/the fact that they feed them asparagus, kale and samphire for breakfast/not allowing any processed foods. My LO was BLW on fruits, vegetables and a whole host of other good food. What's his absolute favourite food now? Tesco potato cakes, baked beans and shop bought yoghurts. Will he eat chunks of broccoli and carrot sticks? Of course he bloody won't! Yesterday I made my own potato cakes from leftover mashed potatoes and added spinach and cheese. He refused every single mouthful as if I were trying to poison him!

 

[sequeena]

my son's favourite dinner is chips sausages and beans

 

[HKateH]

my son's favourite dinner is chips sausages and beans

To be fair, at the age of 28, my favourite food is still pizza.

 

[Foogirl]

To be honest, I used to think I was bloody brilliant. Want advice with what to feed a kid? Come to me. Billy ate curries, casseroles, chillies, pasta, fish, pretty much anything we gave him. We were fabulous about introducing "crap" carefully and very much in moderation. He had chocolate on a Friday and crisps maybe twice a week. Now he pretty much eats bread and butter, risotto (slightly bizarrely!), chocolate and beans. So to be honest, I am very much in the land that you do whatever you think is right for your kid, diet wise. And they will make their own mind up in the end!

Always annoys me when parents ascribe their toddlers' wonderful eating habits to the way they were weaned/the fact that they feed them asparagus, kale and samphire for breakfast/not allowing any processed foods. My LO was BLW on fruits, vegetables and a whole host of other good food. What's his absolute favourite food now? Tesco potato cakes, baked beans and shop bought yoghurts. Will he eat chunks of broccoli and carrot sticks? Of course he bloody won't! Yesterday I made my own potato cakes from leftover mashed potatoes and added spinach and cheese. He refused every single mouthful as if I were trying to poison him!

These, these and a hundred times these. Abby ate fruit and veg, only fruit and veg from the time she was weaned, til she was two. Then she started eating some meat with the veg. Now at the age of five if I can get her to eat half a dozen peas I consider the meal a success! We hide most veg or she won't eat it. But I'm certain she'll change again, she will she will! I've given up pretending I have any influence on her life whatsoever, any decision I make as a parent is designed to make me feel useful, not to turn her into a good person, apparently she will get there making her own mind up how she does it