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I have a 17 month old and feel terribly guilty whenever I give him a sandwich for lunch. I feel like he is missing out on nutrients by not having a cooked lunch of pasta and veges or something along those lines. How do you squeeze in all their nutritional requirements for the day when they have a sandwich for lunch?
Just a suggestion- could you give half a sandwich (say cheese or ham or whatever), some salad sticks (cucumber, snow peas, carrot, avocado) and a few cherry tomatoes or shredded lettuce and then a small yohgurt? This way you can give the sandwich plus he gets some more nutrients on the side. Even some fruit pieces to end with or if giving a ham sandwich include a few squares of cheese. You can prepare some salads (washed and trimmed) ahead for a few days and store them in a container of water in the fridge (celery and carrot keep well this way). And dice up the cheese and store it and buy packs of little yoghurts or kilo tubs served into little plastic containers. This way you save on time if that is an issue.
lunch for DS:
sandwich eg tuna, sweetcorn, cucumber, followed by apple and yoghurt. If he had pasta, it would be pasta with sweetcorn and tuna followed by an apple and a yoghurt - bread or pasta, what's the difference? Sometimes pasta with cheese and a tomato and garlic sauce... but still similar nutrition rates.
snacks on fruit and biscuits all day
dinner is carbs (eg potato/pasta), little protein, 3 different types of vegetables.
He gets what he needs. If he doesn't he soon asks for it. Toddlers are remarkably in tune with their bodies and what they need.
I figure, do I get what I am supposed to have every day? Usually. Does DS? Usually. He's not starved or owt so no worries. I'm a bit of a lax parent though!
I give Jayden sandwiches, but not every day....Usually if he is being fussy or if we have to be quick I just give him a vegemite sandwich and a cheese stick. Today he rejected the sandwich and he ended up with cheese stick, half an apple, 4 cherry tomatoes and a party pie. I think as long as they are getting 1 hot meal a day (meat and veg) they would be doing ok.
Harrison usually has a sandwich with avocado, chicken, grated cheese and grated carrot (his favourite)... then he has some yogurt (homemade) with pureed fruit.
I have a magic bullet thing so I make up loads of different toppings for Harrison and put them on sandwiches, and he loves them!
I give DD a vegemite sandwich on wholemeal almost everyday - but she has 2 pieces of fruit everyday, and lots of veggies. She also loves yoghurt and cheese - so I don't feel bad about the sandwich :)
Sounds like my DD1.....if its not sandwich its crispbread!:
What's wrong with sandwiches? What'd I miss? I'd think the main concern would be what the sandwich consists of (type of bread + filling) than the fact that the meal is foodstuff between slices of bread. What difference does it make if the food is hot or not? A lot of vegetables are far more nutricious raw, and things like egg are the same whether or not they're cold in a salad or a sandwich as when they're hot.
Yep - lifesaver in this house. She loves vegemite and cheese toasties and they are easy plus we use grainy lovely bread so she is getting her vitamins and minerals from that too. Sometimes she will have ham, avocado, tuna or chicken too.
I think they are absolutely fine hun. Isabelle eats stacks of fruit and veg each day so I think a sandwich is part of a balanced diet!
Don't feel guilty - sandwich away!
sophie has sandwiches most days, i vary it, yesterday was egg sandwich
Sandwiches aren't too bad as long as it's wholemeal bread, but remember that bread is high in salt. One of my DSs loves sandwiches, so most days he has one, but he has to choose between toast for brekkie or sandwich for lunch so he doesn't have too much bread in a day. Mostly he chooses the sandwich. But on day care days I mostly send him with left overs as that's what most of the other kids eat and he doesn't mind it so much there. DS2 doesn't really like sandwiches so he only gets them when I don't have anything else!
i do, ham and cheese. but not every day maybe twice a week
my toddler hates sandwiches... so now i have to be creative :rolleyes:
Jake has toast for breakfast after his weetbix, plus sandwiches for lunch almost everyday. But he also has fruit for his morn and pm tea and with lunch so I don't feel like he is missing out. Plus we mix it up sometimes with flat bread rolled up with stuff inside... heck on a bad day he has been known to have toast or sandwiches breakfast lunch and dinner lol :redface:
Same as in our household...thye only get bread once a day.:
One of my DSs loves sandwiches, so most days he has one, but he has to choose between toast for brekkie or sandwich for lunch so he doesn't have too much bread in a day.
With DS I find it very hard to alternate his foods. He is such a fussy eater much to my disgust, :doh: and most days (if I let him!) would be happy with vegemite sandwiches all day, or vegemite on rice cakes. Both kids had toast this morning for breakfast so lunch will be what I call a "tasting plate" - usually consists of hard boiled eggs, red capsicum, cheese, ham, mixed beans (the 4 bean mix type), maybe a rice cake. If I am lucky DS will eat the egg, the ham and cheese whereas DD will eat everything and whats left on her brothers plate!:lol:
ds has a banana sandwhich most days follow by some fruit and yoghurt, he has meat and a range of freash veges for dinna or what ever we are having, and weetbix and milk for breakfast, plus milk and water to drink,
LOL Ang, my DS2 is like your DD. He'll eat all of his, the rest of his brother's, and still be looking for more!
DS has a sandwich almost every day... depending on whats in the cupboard and fridge - it varies from vegimite and cheese, jam, egg, lettuce and cheese, cold meat (he LOVES chicken loaf) um roast chicken and cheese... god i could go on forever... .
i dont think there is anything wrong with it, depending on how hungry he is it usually follows with a yoghurt or piece of fruit or biscuits....
I sometimes give my 19 month old a sandwich for lunch. But she'll only eat it if I eat a sandwich too or if she sees someone else eating a sandwich. She really likes vegemite and when she eats her sandwich, she tears it up into bits and shoves it all in her mouth. Often, she'll just seperate the bread and play with it though.
If she wont eat the sandwich, I also offer her a bowl of pasta/noodles/rice with veggies and sometimes a bit of chicken in it too. She prefers the bowl of food to the sandwiches though. She always eats the bowl of food.
She also has a piece of fruit and a yoghurt for lunch too. Sometimes a biscuit too if she is super hungry.
lol oh gawd.. i dont cook for my DS for lunch. As fussy as he is he is happy to have a vegemite sandwich and that is it. He wont eat anything else and has to have it cut into bite size pieces. ( he recently had a very severe case of gastro and this is all he will eat since at lunch time). He will only eat white bread (even though its not as good as wholemeal.. we were also told when he was sick white bread is easier to digest). He also though will have a banana and sometimes strawberry smoothy aswell. He wont eat the fruit on its own but in a smoothy he loves it. Maybe you could do something like that to go with the sandwich? But yeh i dont think there is anything wrong with a sandwich for lunch as long as they are getting all their vitamins they need at other meals.. lol or in our case.. are having vitamin supliments.
Honestly bread is not the worst possible thing you can give your child to eat. Mcdonalds is hot doesn't mean its good for them. Salads and cold meats are just as nutritious as a hot meal.
Re salt in bread, if you're really worried make your own :) In fact I just checked my bought loaf and there's 2gms of salt per loaf thats less than a tsp of salt per loaf, I'm not really worried.
Variety is good for some kids but some kids don't like variety. We have everything from sandwiches, dinner leftovers, baked beans, spaghetti, nachos, salad, eggs and on occasion 2 minute noodles. In sandwiches it can be PB, salad, egg, cheese, ham, chicken, avocado etc It just depends. I don't get too anal I try to balance every meal. I had dreams of making hot breakfasts for my kids when they started school... it hasn't happened yet. Maybe when Seth's old enough to dress himself :)
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hmm I give both my toddler and my 8 month old sandwich's for lunch...they have wholemeal bread, cheese, lettuce, tomatoe, avocado cucumber..what ever is fresh.
i usually make them one sandwich to share then they have a banana or some other fruit along side with it.
Why dont you keep some tea from the night before and warm that up for his lunch the next day if youd rather.
I've had a thought recently (blows fanfare):
EVERY DAY at nursery DS has sandwiches with white bread for his tea. He has a cooked meal at lunch, but his 4pm tea is juice, ham/cheese sandwiches (he has 6-8 quarters usually and demands more if he can), strips of fruit/veg (eg cucumber, carrots) and some tomatoes, followed off by a jam tart or an apple pie... the sort you get from the supermarket in a box.
He has this in balance with a breakfast of weetabix and toast, fruity snacks in the morning, big cooked lunch... he's healthy. (I cook a dinner every night at 6 too for him.)
He also refuses fast food, we had to do a motorway dinner at the weekend and he wouldn't eat a thing, so his dinner was ricecakes, sultanas, grapes, apple and apricot (after a lunch of tuna and sweetcorn sandwich and toddler biscuits - out and about far from home day). I made everyone else change his nappies the following day! Too much fruit and veg is toxic.
If your diet is fairly healthy you can miss a day of perfect food. If you get only four fruit-and-veg a day, that's better than none or one most days and a big cram-it-in of ten once a week. Just don't ignore the good food when it's available.
My two have sandwiches everyday. They also have fruit and yogurt for lunch. But atm i am happy for them to eat anything. Both have started getting very fussy and peanut butter sandwiches always go down well
I haven't read all of the responses. I give Steph sandwiches sometimes for lunch, but not often, if she has had toast for breakfast that morning.
However, often at dinner the Man will have bread out, and have pasta or rice sandwiches (one piece of bread, folded over with stuff in the middle), and Steph won't be eating much pasta or rice on its own, but will scoff several folded over sandwiches. Go figure. Maybe your tot could have pasta sandwiches for lunch?