londonmum asked 7 years ago
My son eats loads of fruit which I don’t want to stop him doing but then he gets really fully up and doesn’t eat the meal I’ve prepared
Riverside Cares Staff answered 7 years ago
Hi Londonmum,
Dr Emma Haycraft has responded:
Thanks for your question. It’s great that your little one enjoys fruit and fruit makes a good part of a healthy diet. Fruit contains natural sugars so eating lots of fruit can increase children’s intake of fructose. On occasions, try to offer vegetables as snacks instead or consider mixing fruit puree in with natural yogurt, for example, as ways to try to vary your child’s food intake and reduce their natural sugar consumption. Also, try to establish norms with him about when he can have snacks. Try to ensure that he’s not eating fruit too close to mealtimes as, as you rightly point out, this will impact his hunger for the meal. It may take a while for him to get used to this change, but try to do this gently, first by reducing the amount he has as a snack and then removing snacks from being offered too close to mealtimes.
We hope this helps,
Emma and Jill
Jill Wheatcroft is a Lecturer in Child Health and is co-founder and Director of Training at Riverside Cares. She can be contacted at info@riversidecares.co.ukhttp://www.riversidecares.co.uk
Dr Emma Haycraft is a senior member of the the child feeding research team and a Senior Lecturer in Psychology at Loughborough University she is a co-creator of the Child Feeding Guide