Children that are allowed to eat/graze constantly?

tango

victory wrote: »

I agree. I just can't see how a child would need 6 weetabix, I have 2, my son has 2, my eldest 2, my OH 2, 2 is sufficient. I would not let them have 6. That to me is 3 of our breakfasts and the cereal is there for all of us not for one to eat 6.

With regards the punnets of fruit when we go to the car boot sales and they are selling them for pennies towards the end of the day we buy them and yes we do eat them all, to us it's like a fruit luxury, not a daily occurence just a little fruit treat:D

Six of us , four teenagers. I do not buy crisps or biscuits. Children ask when they want anything between meals ( well not always !) . Breakfast is eggs or cereal . I would not allow 6 weetabix even with my 16 year old. I tell them to vary what they eat . So boiled eggs one morning , cereal the next. If still hungry have bannana or fruit or yoghurt. If they want to eat rubbish they have to buy it themselves..
Re juice only in the morning, and squash only with meals , water I between.

pigpen

victory wrote: »

I agree. I just can't see how a child would need 6 weetabix,

He is 14... they are hollow.. he eats 4 meals a day plus snacks.. his dietician has no issue so I don't see why it is anything to do with anyone else.

bumbledore wrote: »

I have never known a toddler to be allowed to eat three bowls of cereal (which lacks nutrition) then they are stuffed for the rest of the day. As a parent you should be providing regular meals to improve your childrens wellbeing. Allowing them to fill themselves up with carbs at the start of the day just seems negligent sorry to be harsh.

Being offered 3 meals a day isn't 'regular'? How often do others get fed? 3 meals appears to still be the recommendation as far as I am aware..

Cereal doesn't actually lack nutrition, it has lots of added vitamins and minerals.. read the box! Far better than 2 slices of flavourless toast.I know someone who gives her children 4 custard creams for breakfast then moaned when 1 was diagnosed with anaemia.. but no doubt you know all about that too?

And who said she was 'stuffed for the rest of the day'?? Oh.. you did.. do you have proof of that? Have you met her?

And you have a qualification in dietetics?? Well when you do, you may come and discuss it with me but so long as my childrens consultants and doctors have no issue with any aspect of their care I'll ignore your stupid remarks.. thank you.

tango

pigpen wrote: »

He is 14... they are hollow.. he eats 4 meals a day plus snacks.. his dietician has no issue so I don't see why it is anything to do with anyone else.

But you did post it so to be fair it is ? I know how hungry teenagers get believe me, but I think it is our job as parents to teach them good eating habits, and I don't believe eating what you want is.

victory

pigpen wrote: »

He is 14... they are hollow.. he eats 4 meals a day plus snacks.. his dietician has no issue so I don't see why it is anything to do with anyone else.

Well you posted it so it has been discussed?

6 weetabix seems a lot, how do they even all fit in the bowl? or is that the 2/3 bowls worth?

victory

tango wrote: »

But you did post it so to be fair it is ? I know how hungry teenagers get believe me, but I think it is our job as parents to teach them good eating habits, and I don't believe eating what you want is.

Some part of eating is 'boredom' 'lack of exercise/stimulation other than the xbox', not real hunger type of thing so if mine were allowed 'to help themselves' I dread to think how much it would cost me:eek:

apesxx

My children constantly ask for food, dd will tell me she is full and will want to leave half her tea and 5 minutes later tell me she is hungry and can she have a cake or crisp. she doesn't get it though.

They tend to either have 2 slices of whole meal toast or a bowl of cereal or DS just has porridge and raisins. They are at school and nursery so they get a fruit snack mid morning each there. dd has a packed lunch which I always try to balance out so it's fairly healthy. DS will have beans on toast and a yoghurt for lunch. DS may have a small snack mid afternoon and then evening meal at 5pm. if we're having tea a bit later I will let Dd have a small snack after school. They don't eat before bed at all.

And the rule in this house is that they haven't eaten most of their evening meal then there is nothing for dessert.

pigpen

victory wrote: »

Well you posted it so it has been discussed?

6 weetabix seems a lot, how do they even all fit in the bowl? or is that the 2/3 bowls worth?

I posted in response to the OP.. but yeah discuss it.. he has 2 bowls of 3 usually.. given until 18 months ago he lived on cheese sandwiches, he can eat what he likes within reason. He has masses to eat, he eats more in a day than I eat in 3 (that's not difficult).

His dietician is more than happy so I'm not going to take the slightest bit of notice of anyone here am I? He is seen every 3 months at the hospital and has no deficiencies of any kind (other than the urge to tidy his pit ) as his blood screenings show so obviously you are all wrong in this case.

I don't know where he puts it tbh, I don't think my stomach could contain that volume of food... but then he eats nothing compared to OH who is 6ft 4 and 11.5 stone and consumes around 4000 calories a day to maintain this weight! It is really freaky.. I want some of what he has!

Dinosaur_Train

I think Pigpen is being given an unfairly hard time here. I have a teen and can vouch for the fact that they do eat a lot (although my teen eats nowhere near as much as my friends kids' do, she does eat a lot more than I do). I would far rather my teenage DD had six weetabix than 6 packets of crisps or 6 penguin bars. Weetabix are complex carbs, and in any case it is advisable to eat a large breakfast, slightly smaller lunch and then a slightly smaller tea than lunch.

peachyprice

I think it depends entirely on the child TBH, what works for one doesn't work for another.

My boys tend to have regularish eating patterns and always have, DS1 eats very little at breakfast and lunch but eats like a horse at dinner time, DS2 prefers 3-4 smaller meals througout the day.

DD is a different kettle of fish altogether, she has always had a very small appetite and for most of her toddlerhood was underweight, she has always been a grazer, eating far more in the morning and petering out by the afternoon, when she was younger she could rarely manage dinner, even now her dinner portion is tiny. There's no way in the world she could have managed on just three mealtimes a day when she was little, she just wouldn't have hade it through the day like that.

As for those saying grazing is wrong, sorry but that's BS, if it's right for the child and right for the family it's not really anyone elses business to judge

Myself, I think banning children from the kitchen/cupboards/fridge is a pretty horrific way to treat them, but hey ho.

pigpen

Dinosaur_Train wrote: »

I think Pigpen is being given an unfairly hard time here. I have a teen and can vouch for the fact that they do eat a lot (although my teen eats nowhere near as much as my friends kids' do, she does eat a lot more than I do). I would far rather my teenage DD had six weetabix than 6 packets of crisps or 6 penguin bars. Weetabix are complex carbs, and in any case it is advisable to eat a large breakfast, slightly smaller lunch and then a slightly smaller tea than lunch.

Exactly the point the dietician makes.. and after many years of cheese sandwiches it is amazing we have come this far. Getting him to eat anything at all was a feat in itself.. we restarted the weaning process with purees etc at 2.5 because he was surviving on soya milk alone at that point due to illness. He has been under the dietician for a very long time, though she is bit of a twit at times.

I think what people are failing to realise here is that they are in fact giving 'medical advice' .. it wouldn't be for many children but for this one in particular it is.

I ignored the carbs comment entirely.. he has T1 diabetes if there is one thing we know it is our carbs... and he is on low fat too and restricted dairy due to intolerance which is largely outgrown but .. well, you know when he has had too much!

Poor lad has no sweets or crisps or pop or any of the other things any other 14 year old gets on a daily basis. He has every mouthful weighed and calculated and taking into account his aspergers, food issues, diabetes and intolerances he does hell of a lot better than most would. It is a very difficult age to be dealing with these things on there own let alone all at once.

His diabetes team think he is doing extremely well and I am very proud of how he manages it all.. we don't need the opinion of unqualified experts.