MOMENT | How to reduce the stress of mealtimes, with Rhiannon Lambert

0:03Hey everyone, welcome to this week's Motherkind moment. your place on a Monday for calm connection and maybe even a shift in perspective before the crazy week ahead. This week's moment is with the wonderful Rhiannon Lambert where she shares why we need to stop stressing about mealtimes. I really needed this one. Here it is. Children pick up on pressure. So the worst thing you can do, it goes against everything you want You want your child to eat veg, you want them to eat well. But if you're placing pressure, they'll pick up on it and they will lean. You're just pushing them further and further away from eating.

0:44So like sometimes you just have to let go and put an enjoyed item on the plate with a little bit of the other stuff you want them to eat. Keep the meals smaller than you actually think they need to be because you can always put more on the plate if they eat it. I think that's a tip for parents. Often they fill the plate. I know there's phases where they need the variety, but most of the time it's keeping it quite small and every child is fussy. There is not one child that will be a perfect eater throughout their entire lives. You know, I get days if it makes people feel better where my son refuses to eat dinner completely and I end up just giving him a baby bell or whatever I can fight a banana in the fridge, you know, and his dinner is terrible.

1:23You have to follow their lead and remember the supplements. So vitamin D is crucial for children, in, especially under the age of five all year round, apart from if formula fed babies is the exception to that because you've got the formula in 500 mils, but you know, you're giving them the supplements and don't underestimate pizza Zoe, because pizza flour is fortified with calcium and iron. So to make a pizza base anyway, then you've got tomato, rich source of lycopene, vitamin C, you'll have cheese, which is protein, calcium, again, phosphorus, B vitamins, B12. maybe you can get some peas on that pizza or whatever veg might be on that pizza that's a balanced meal so it's not as bad as you think it's just the salt if it's shop-bought that you need to be wary of yeah they are shop-bought but that's a good point maybe i could like get some of that dough right you can ready make the yes yes check the salt and sugar and then do that that's a good idea pizzas aren't that bad and then there's other items like even eggy bread such a classic there's nothing wrong with serving it Eggy bread.

2:27And I used to mix for anyone with the younger eaters pouches in with the egg and you can blend the veggie pouch and then soak it in the egg. And then you've got a little bit more nutrition in the eggy bread. Are there any other things like that? Quick tips and things to absolutely avoid. You've mentioned salt and sugar already. Yeah. No sugar under the age of two is the recommendation. It's tough because a lot of children's snacks have them in and you don't actually realize because even fruit puree counts as a free sugar and fruit concentrate. So it's not actually great to have loads of items with these in.

2:59And I think dried fruit is another one to be really wary of. With tooth decay, you shouldn't be snacking on dried fruit under the age of five. Yeah, there's all these things that... So why are there so many mini packets of raisins marketed to us all? Well, that's exactly it. You know, it's interesting. My nanny, bless her, she bought home a big bag of raisins. I've got these raisins for Zachary again. I was like, I'm really sorry, but I can't give him those because, you know, X, Y, Z. I explained that a quarter of children now in the UK have tooth decay at the age of five. And it doesn't have to be that way.

3:29The food industry has a lot to answer for. That's a whole other subject. But be wary of those types of items if you can. And yogurts, extra sugary yogurts also are the main culprit. What we tend to do if you have time is if you've got any leftover bananas, I just mash it up with the Greek yogurt at home and then you give it the next day, you know, that kind of thing. It's really tasty, but ultimately it's variety. And I don't want to scaremonger anyone because so what if your child goes out and has fish and chips with you one day, it's not the end of the world. As long as that's not every day, fine.

4:01They may have more salt and they might need more water that day, but it's not going to impact their health. If you let them enjoy a variety of foods, it's going to only help their relationship with food. And you know you can't demonize things completely it's all about letting them try but not making it a regular habit yeah the sugar thing is hard because with the age gap that i've got as well see the six-year-old is sort of coming home with a piece of birthday cake from a party for example and then rose wants a bit i started doing this thing where i'd say okay jesse you go and have your cake in the playroom and i'll keep and then i was like hang on a minute i'm basically setting up secret eating of sugar and I had like I was trying not to project forward and I was like I'm not sure this is the best idea do you know what if you overanalyze it too much equally as a parent just you can't win and it's all very well for me with my nutritionist hat on to say these things but I understand that I actually think an overall child's relationship with food is far more important sometimes than having a bit too much sugar well this is it I was like I'm not sure I should be like banishing her to have you know these little treats because she's six I let her have so now I just give Rosie's two a tiny bit she always wants more but I'm like no that's it they can have 13 grams of sugar so you know they can have it from the age of two onwards anyway and it's not the end of the world