Can you just not offer prepackaged snacks?

[Anonymous]

I'm not asking this to be smug but genuinely asking when your baby starts solids and progresses to snacks can you just offer meals and whole food snacks and skip puffs, bars, pouches, crackers?

As a kid I was extremely picky to the point I lived off buttered white rice and goldfish. At an age that it wasn't cute anymore. I guess I'm hyper aware and just wondering if we don't offer will they even know what they are missing. Obviously until a certain age when they are heading to playdates and parties but when they are 1-3 can you just avoid the pre packaged convenience snacks? And hope they eat well.

I'm not talking about restriction or limiting carbs, calorie of anything like that. We want to follow Ellyn satter feeding guidelines but in terms of what can we control quality until x age. And that does not hat look like?

[Anonymous]

Of course. Generations of kids grew up with prepackaged snacks. Just don't buy it.

[Anonymous]

Yes you can but other kids will offer them at then playground starting way earlier than you think. If if helps, my kids learned to love goldfish and animal crackers and juice at school/daycare but we never have them at home and now in elementary they still happily eat carrot sticks and apples and trail mix and such.

[Anonymous]

Of course. But if you do any playdates, meets at playgrounds, even adult parties where you bring your toddler. There will be packaged snacks. You can always say no but its really hard to avpid.

[Anonymous]

OP I understand my family had no money when I was a child. Nutrition was not a thing.

Being picky child is different and prepackaged or not will not change a kids picky eating habits.

Of course you can make your own plenty of healthy recipes you can make and introduce to your child for snacking plus fruits and veggies.

If your kid goes to a daycare or nursery school they might not allow homemade.

There are plenty of people that do this and a ton of recipes on the internet.

Not sure why you need Ellyn Satter as your guide your pediatrician would be better.

Also, those items you mentioned make it easy for people to travel. I never used them daily.

What do you mean what does that look like?

Your kid gets breakfast lunch and dinner just like you and a few snacks in between. You can bake crackers and fruit roll ups and cookies and breakfast bars or snack bars yourself if you don't want prepackaged stuff. Recipes all online.

Honestly you are over thinking this.

[Anonymous]

Yes. We have done very limited prepackaged snacks with our children. Fruit, nuts, cheese and crackers. But emphasis on meals

[Anonymous]

Of course you can. I did try this but DH grew up in a household that is big on processed foods and he gets a lot of those things. And honestly it is so much easier to grab when you are heading out the door.

I will say I do make an effort to offer whole foods as much as possible. DD eats them often and likes them. We also make it clear that what is on her plate is her meal and that is what she can have. We do try to offer things we know she will eat but will not bring her a new meal on demand. It's worked for us - but we're also aware we have lucked out that she eats a variety of foods. IME, giving her packaged snacks and chicken nuggets from frozen doesn't mean she won't eat anything else. So based on that I would say don't make yourself miserable trying to avoid those things if you need to give yourself a break.

[Anonymous]

We do very little processed/packaged food and my 4 year old is still picky. Don’t beat yourself up if you get a picky eater. Sometimes they’re just picky.

[Anonymous]

Everyone should stop giving their kids processed food. None of us should be eating this junk. It’s criminal.

[Anonymous]

Totally possible. Mine was extraordinarily picky until about 15 months and despite being offered puffs, pouches etc. ate none of it. Now at two she mostly just eats a very healthy diet, her choice. Favorites are lentils, avocado, salmon, nuts, spinach strawberry muffins. I can’t take credit because it was unintentional, but my point is she totally survived with no processed food and almost no snack food as a toddler.

[Anonymous]

For your first (or only), sure. Enjoy.

[Anonymous]

We did very few snacks, and pouches were just starting to come out and they were expensive. So he mostly ate meals, but I always had a container of emergency goldfish that we rarely touched. At daycare, he ate what they served, and our place had meals cooked on premises. I was surprised to see those kids sitting there eating spinach and rice - peer pressure is great. We never got into nuggets or mac and cheese. However, my kid go super picky around 5 so we went from an easy eater to a nightmare. So you don’t need to be doing snacks at all. But you will also get the kid you get, and they don’t always follow your theories on how they should eat.

[Anonymous]

One of my kids wouldn't eat anything off a spoon as a baby. I gave her small pieces of cooked carrots, green beans, fruit, toast, cheese, eggs, etc etc and if we were going somewhere I put some in a tupperware container or a baggie and went. No need for pouches, bars or puffy things. She's an adult now and very healthy. Economical too.

[Anonymous]

Honestly, you can just give them the same food you are eating. Just mush it up.

[Anonymous]

What is the question, are you asking if the police will come? They will not come.