Cheap healthy playground snacks

Toothsmith

Bananas. Great things!

Read my rule!! WHATEVER THEY WANT at meal times. Even sweeties & choccy biccies. This is the time for them to have them (when they've eaten the main course and all their veg!!).

Things only become a problem dentally if they go in at the time the saliva is trying to fix things. You don't need sugar free juices, as sugary ones can be given at meal times (If you really have to - I prefer diluted pure juices, but that's not to do with the teeth, just the impact of that much sugar on the kids mental state!!). In between meals, sugar free juices, being acidic still, will still do some damage to teeth.

The ONLY safe between meal drinks are milk & water. If kids are thirsty, they'll drink these. If they're not, don't force stuff on them.

hum_lovely

astep70uk wrote:

So what's the choice? Rotten teeth or health implications? Parents have a really tough job these days. Toothsmith, I know this is off topic, but what is the best fruit to give to limit tooth decay? Thanks

I agree it is difficult to do right from wrong - when I took my eldest child for a dental check up I asked my dentist when I ought to first bring my 1 year old. In the discussion that followed he asked me if I was breast feeding and I said I was. His reply was 'Oh well, that's that battle lost then as breast milk is sweet and starts them off expecting things that taste sweet.' I was gobsmacked, after all the brow beating, sorry, encouragement, in hospital to persevere with breast feeding!

thriftlady_2

Wow,I'm shocked by that,you just can't win can you? But isn't formula sweet too? My 3 were all breastfed until they were a year old,they've not had any dental problems yet(despite all the apples ) and I haven't noticed a desire for sweet things beyond the normal.

Toothsmith

hum_lovely wrote:

I agree it is difficult to do right from wrong - when I took my eldest child for a dental check up I asked my dentist when I ought to first bring my 1 year old. In the discussion that followed he asked me if I was breast feeding and I said I was. His reply was 'Oh well, that's that battle lost then as breast milk is sweet and starts them off expecting things that taste sweet.' I was gobsmacked, after all the brow beating, sorry, encouragement, in hospital to persevere with breast feeding!

I think he's wrong there. I have never been told, or read of any dental implications, long or short term about breast milk.

Pink.

hum_lovely wrote:

I agree it is difficult to do right from wrong - when I took my eldest child for a dental check up I asked my dentist when I ought to first bring my 1 year old. In the discussion that followed he asked me if I was breast feeding and I said I was. His reply was 'Oh well, that's that battle lost then as breast milk is sweet and starts them off expecting things that taste sweet.' I was gobsmacked, after all the brow beating, sorry, encouragement, in hospital to persevere with breast feeding!

I breast fed all three of my children until they were two and none of them has ever had a filling (eldest is almost 16), so I would agree with Toothsmith that that is unfounded.

Pink

hum_lovely

That's reassuring to read. The same dentist also told me, when I took my 4 year old to have a filling, that it could have been avoided if I had been flossing his teeth. (The 4 year old was the one in question with the breast feeding issue and does have a sweet tooth but all three of mine have been breast fed and have very different tastes). I am ashamed to admit that a 4 year old needed a filling (my 9 year old has 'excellent' teeth and has not had a filling) but I was surprised to be told that I should have been flossing his teeth as it was the first time I had heard of it being applied to a child.

(Perhaps I need to find a more child friendly dentist?!)

Dora_the_Explorer_5

What an interesting discussion, it made me think about what I had for snacks when I was at school a couple of centuries ago. The answer was nowt and my friends didn't have snacks either.
Clearly breakfast, lunch, tea and supper were enough, which made me wonder if the fashion for giving kids snacks to take to school may contribute in a small way to the childhood obesity explosion we're now seeing, and faddy eating habits.

hum_lovely

Dora_the_Explorer wrote:

What an interesting discussion, it made me think about what I had for snacks when I was at school a couple of centuries ago. The answer was nowt and my friends didn't have snacks either.
Clearly breakfast, lunch, tea and supper were enough, which made me wonder if the fashion for giving kids snacks to take to school may contribute in a small way to the childhood obesity explosion we're now seeing, and faddy eating habits.

Yes, very interesting point. Does anyone know at what point mid-morning snacks became the fashion? I remember having them at school when I started in 1977. Can't remember exactly what it was though. The infants at my sons' school get free fruit but not the older ones. It's a shame as my older son loves fruit while the younger one who is 'entitled' to it would prefer crackers (or sweets, chocs etc if I was to let him!). Personally I find that if I have breakfast, I start to feel 'dizzy' mid morning, probably the sugar dip, but strangely if I don't have breakfast, which is extremely rare and only when I have been studying since dawn, I can easily go through to lunchtime without needing anything.

Jet

Dora_the_Explorer wrote:

if the fashion for giving kids snacks to take to school may contribute in a small way to the childhood obesity explosion we're now seeing, and faddy eating habits.

I have to admit I was really surprised that when my son started school, he was expected to take a snack. When I was at school, we only had lunch (either packed lunch or school dinners) and that was it. With the exception of the free milk which was probably a fantastic snack and in my opinion, should be brought back.

And don't get me on to the subject of school dinners.....

Since when did 4 - 11 years old have the dietary knowledge to be able to decide which is a healthy meal with all the necessary vitamins and minerals and which is a meal full of fat, additives and very few vitamins?

I may sound harsh, but my son gets a varied, healthy diet but if he decides he doesn't want his dinner, it simply goes in the bin and no fuss is made. (this hasn't happened for over a year). One of his friends has the choice of what to eat for his dinner every night, and he is so fussy! When he was at playschool his Mum used to take nuggets and chips to his playgroup every lunch time because he refused to eat a packed lunch!

Toothsmith

hum_lovely wrote:

That's reassuring to read. The same dentist also told me, when I took my 4 year old to have a filling, that it could have been avoided if I had been flossing his teeth. (The 4 year old was the one in question with the breast feeding issue and does have a sweet tooth but all three of mine have been breast fed and have very different tastes). I am ashamed to admit that a 4 year old needed a filling (my 9 year old has 'excellent' teeth and has not had a filling) but I was surprised to be told that I should have been flossing his teeth as it was the first time I had heard of it being applied to a child.

(Perhaps I need to find a more child friendly dentist?!)

I wouldn't recommend flossing to any kid that didn't have the dexterity to do it themselves - and that would really be 14+

I don't recommend flossing to many adults either!! I much prefer a correctly sized TePe interdental brush.

Floss is excellent for hanging Xmas decorations, and all manor of little repairs and DIY hangers around the surgery though.

We're veering off topic here though, so no more oral hygine related questions or answers!