butter eating three year old

[josiebee]

My three year old daughter has always been a poor eater and is fairly small for her age. The one thing though she really likes and will eat in large quantities is butter. My instinct is to let her eat almost as much as she wants but some people say she shouldn't ... is there someone with a good knowledge of nutrition etc out there who knows how much butter little children can eat before it becomes a problem? Thanks.

[womanofdulwich]

i am not an expert, but part of feedback must be if she has tummy aches/ bowel movements ok. also you could try and assess her calorific requirements and if she is not eating calories in terms of carbohydrates- bread pasta rice potatoes etc- then these can be partly topped up with fat- but too much butter could develop into an unhealthy eating habit and heart disease. i have a very old manual of nutrition but it is too old to specify fat levels for3 year olds.

[josiebee]

I think that is what I am concerned about...could eating too much butter now lead to her arteries etc clogging up more quickly later...I just don't know. She certainly has room for the extra calories! It is hard having a child who is a poor eater....

[Fuschia]

I think i'd ask for a referral to a detitian.

x

http://www.dietitian.com/infants.html

http://www.eatwell.gov.uk/agesandstages/children/yrtoddler/

[fmay]

Calorie requirements are high at this age as toddlers are active- around 1,200 calories per day for a 3 year old. Children do need fat to make up a much larger part of their diet than adults (for growth and nerve function) but I wouldn't advise too much as it may stop her getting other necessary nutrients as well and fat is very filling so you'd probably find she will be too full to consume enough carbs and protein that are important as part of her balanced diet.

Also, as I think somebody else mentioned, this could become an unhealthy habit...although at this age I think it is more likely that it will be a passing 'phase' that she'd soon grow out of! I know of another child who wanted nothing but butter and would try to eat whole spoonfulls but by age 4 had completely grown out of the obsession and barely touched it again.

Children of this age like to 'control' their food, a sort of game, a power struggle of sorts between them and their parents. Sometimes it helps to teach them the propper use for each food ingredient. For example, butter is used for cooking with and to spread on bread/sandwiches etc...Have you tried that?

We worry so much as mothers, I know...our little ones do challenge us!

[Moos]

I sympathise with your worry.

I am no expert, but my childcare bible What To Expect The Toddler Years suggests swapping milk intake over to semi-skimmed at the age of 2, as 'the development of artery clogging plaque begins in childhood'. Recommends that children over 2 should get less than 30% of their total calories from fat, with no more than 10% (to be clear they mean 10% of total calories or 1/3 of fat calories) from saturated fats, and less than 300 mg of dietary cholesterol per day.

[Ko]

i know of a couple of children who loved butter when they were young. could you perhaps try cooking some of her foods with olive oil to encourage her to eat those other foods? for example veg (aubergine, carrots, tomatos) roasted in olive oil is pretty yummy.

[Jamma]

Does she seem happy and healthy? If so try not to worry about it.

How much is a lot? If she's eating a packet a day then you may have a problem, anything less than that and I'd be inclined to just let her get on with it. Or try cooking stuff with butter in it - asparagus in butter then maybe she'll eat the asparagus or boiled potatoes with butter on them. Or have you tried that and I'm just patronising you now?

[Sophie0205]

my 2 1/2 yo is exactly the same with cheese, my mum said he will eat it til it comes out of his eyes and ears (not so funny when he got hit by conjunctivitis!). his other nan believes that sometimes children attach themselves to one certain food group (i.e dairy, protien etc.) because their body is lacking in a certain something froms these foods. apparantly its their bodies way of telling them they need more fat/iron/carbs etc, etc. i'm not sure how true this is as she does have some strange theories at times. as long as her weight is ok then i guess its ok to let her continue, as i have with my son. i'm sure they will soon move onto the ketchup addiction.

[KateMontero]

Ha! For about 5 years when I was a small child I would only eat things if they were covered in mayonnaise. I was also quite petite but my mum worried endlessly about my arteries. I am a slim, healthy, 30 year old now (with good cholestoral etc) and I still like mayonnaise, although I eat more sensible amounts these days and find pizza quite palatable without it.

So, I can only speak for myself but would say don't worry. Another family anecdote is that my Dad who has always been slim was once "prescribed" by his GP when in his forties to eat as much butter and cream as possible to try and get his weight up.

So this was all quite a long time ago, but I think there is a certain demonising of fatty foods due to the increase in obesity, which doesn't necessarily need to apply to everyone.

[Avani]

Based on my experience I would say 'don't worry. My son, who is now 6, and has never been over- or under-weight went through a phase when he was 2-3 years old when he loved eating lumps of better and would even raid the fridge to get at the butter. Now he often asks to have no butter at all on his sandwiches !

[Goodliz]

I did a short course on nutrition as part of my personal trainer qualification. So I am no expert but one thing that came to my attention was that if you take regular cardio vascular exercise this will help to counteract the artery clogging risks of a fatty diet.

My gut feeling (as my kids eat lots of butter, cheese, whole milk etc) is that if you have an active 3 year old there is no need to worry as they will be getting all the exercise they need in the form of running, jumping, climbing etc, etc. If my kids just sat around all day doing nothing active then I would worry. My 2 year old will happily eat chunks of butter)!

Hope this makes sense (I am half watching Waking the Dead!). As one of the other posters says, it may just be a passing phase. I also try and reassure myself by saying that fatty dairy food has been in our diets for generations with generally no problems if you are physically active.

Kids need their calcium and fat to help them grow and keep them strong.

[woofmarkthedog]

Josiebee

As a child my mum had to hide the sugar bowl, I would eat it by the spoon if I could. Now as an adult I almost have an aversion to it, so your butter lover may well grow out of it. I have 2 boys 9 & 5 and I have always been the family cook , my boys eat everything now but there have been moments.

I personally would work out a trading strategy with your little one. Start by offering to put butter on say sweet potato or carrots so they trade eating the veg for the butter "hit" , once this has been established ( & it my take time ) add more food items therefor addressing the nutritional balance. One thing I would do is put a controlled portion of butter on a small plate, then dish this out when the food is on the table. You may want to join in the game so together you can guide the situation and therefor reduce or eliminate in time the butter.

Lastly butter in it self is not unhealthy as it is a whole-food especially when used as a part of a balanced diet, olive oil also has roughly the same calorific value but not the saturated fat. Children's brains at this age do need a higher fat diet to build the all important connections. Surprisingly it's middle class children who get fed very low fat foods that most present with "old" nutritional diseases like rickets even in these modern & informed times.

If I could recommend one really good book it would be the Planet Organic Baby & toddler cookbook ?9.99.

ISBN 0-7513-2907-X

Good luck

W**F

[josiebee]

There are lots of very reassuring replies here thanks for all of them - I think I will go with the ones that tell me not to worry! Path of least resistance! But the problem has recently reduced as I have found a strategy to get her to eat more foods in general - I started a sticker chart where she gets a sticker for eating her dinner, getting dressed without fussing etc etc - and she loves the stickers and it seems to really motivate her - I am really surprised by how it is working!

[woofmarkthedog]

josiebee Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> There are lots of very reassuring replies here

> thanks for all of them - I think I will go with

> the ones that tell me not to worry! Path of least

> resistance! But the problem has recently reduced

> as I have found a strategy to get her to eat more

> foods in general - I started a sticker chart where

> she gets a sticker for eating her dinner, getting

> dressed without fussing etc etc - and she loves

> the stickers and it seems to really motivate her -

> I am really surprised by how it is working!

__________________________________________________________________

Just don't run out of stickers though.

[sandy_rose]

Dear Josiebee,

I'm a nutritional therapist and from my perspective butter and full fat milk is ok for children as they need a lot more calories from fat than adults do. It really depends on how much she is actually having, if she is having any health problems, and if it is being balanced out by any 'good' fats in her diet from olive oil/avocadoes/fish? Fish oil capsules disguised as sweets are available in all the good health food shops and they don't taste of fish at all (promise!)

I would also recommend you let her have 'real' butter and avoid margarines etc, as butter is wholesome food and not full of additives. You should also watch her salt intake and preferably give her unsalted butter, as this is something you do have to be careful with in children.

If she is having salty butter it may be the salty flavour she is drawn to? Does she like highly flavoured foods? Her sense of taste can be affected by a lack of zinc, which may then make her crave the salty foods and go off other bland foods. This can be easily tested by a nutritionist, either by doing a taste test of a hair mineral analysis. You could try to increase her intake of zinc rich foods (pumpkin/sunflower seeds, brazil nuts, poultry, cheese, shellfish, chick peas, egg). Since she is a fussy eater you could grind seeds and sprinkle on soups/cereals/smoothies. Tartrazine (yellow food colouring) depletes zinc so avoid this if you can.

I agree with previous person who suggested putting butter on to other vegetables and weaning her off it slowly. I would not worry too much, as it's quite common that children take a liking to butter as a passing phase.

If you have any other related queries, feel free to PM me.

Best wishes

Sandra