Food + Meals
Please see the Policies and Procedures section for my Healthy Eating Policy.
When I provide the food
Children who don't bring food into my service will get three main meals, i.e. breakfast, lunch, and dinner, as well as morning and afternoon snacks provided by me.
When you provide the food
Children who bring in their own food need to bring in enough food for the day. Besides, parents should make sure that the food is healthy. It is not acceptable to bring in junk food, which is highly processed food high in fat, sugar and/or salt.
What is healthy eating?
An excellent resource about healthy eating ideas, which is also recommended by the Waterford County Childcare Committee is the Parents for Health website.
Please check the above website out to find out e.g. why fruit yogurts and flavoured fromage frais are NOT healthy eating options. I know they are easy to put in a lunch box, however, they are extremely high in sugar and contain lots of artificial flavours.
Drink
Please note that there is no need to bring in anything to drink. High-sugar drinks are not acceptable and I have plenty of suitable drinks for young children.
It is important that if you want to bring in your own food you stick to natural yogurts and/or fromage frais without added sugar, homemade dinners, fruit, or vegetables. It is virtually impossible to expect one child to eat healthy homemade food while another sitting next to him/her is eating junk food. It has caused serious trouble with children in the past and it is not in line with my Food & Nutrition Policy. Therefore, I cannot accept it.
Whole nuts and Popcorn
Please note that as a childminder I am not allowed to give children whole nuts or popcorn, since there is a danger of children choking on them.
Bottle feeding
I will of course accept bottle feed for babies, i.e. children up to their first birthday, and feed them for as long as they cannot yet feed themselves. Please bring in the bottles with boiled water and the milk powder in a separate container. If this is not the original container, please add written instructions on how much milk powder to add to a bottle.
Weaning
Moreover, please note that the HSE recommends that babies weaning starts at about nine month of age and is completed on the babies first birthday. Children after their first birthday should not be getting the bottle. They are well able to drink out of a beaker at that age.
Cups
Childminders are also instructed to give proper cups to all children above 18 months (1 1/2 years) of age. Experience shows that if you start them on a beaker early enough, they are well able to learn handling a cup at 18 months. It is not acceptable to send in children with bottles at that age. If you do, I will take the bottle off them first thing and pour the contents into a beaker.
3 facts about bottle feeding toddlers
Sucking on a bottle all doy will ruin the child's teeth (i.e. they will turn black), this does not only go for sweet drinks but also for pure fruit juices that are high in acid and sugar, and don't forget: milk also contains sugar (lactose) and lactic acid.
Similar to dodies, constant sucking on a bottle can also move the child's front teeth out of line.
Bottle feeding (i.e. keeping toddlers on formula or milk) will ruin the child's appetite. Milk is a food, not a drink, and children will become faddy eaters if they get the bottle as toddlers.