Infants and New Ideas About When to Feed What?

It sounds healthier than a lot of babies get. The day care provider is getting paid to do a job, and should follow the guidelines set by the parents. If that child is under weight or malnurished I am sure the pediatrician is aware of it. When looking at the nutritional value of veggies verses fruits you will find that many of them contain the same types of vitamins and minerals. By not using a lot of sugars, even the natural sugars in the fruits, they are allowing the body to develop insulin in much better fashion.

I find it offensive as a parent to have a day care provider openly questioning the decisions of a parenting style. If there is a concern she should address it with the parents. If she disagrees, she can tell them to find someone else. But to be honest the decision to add foods to a childs diet against that of the parent, goes against everything I feel is right in this situation.

I know a couple of little girls that are alergic to many foods. They eat not grains (cereal), no dairies, and few veggies and fruits. There diet is very limited. However, they are very healthy and are able to maintain their health even on the restrictive diet. Thin they may be, but their doctor agrees that they are amoung some of the healthiest kids he has seen.

Some times other people need to just step back and put aside their own personal feelings, while looking at something objectively. There is nothing about the diet you described that is lacking in nutritional value. They get milk, water, veggies, and cereal. The get crackers and cheese. They are getting their fats, there veggies, and their grains. They are getting a limited diet of sugars.

I totally agree with Cher. It is the parents decision what a child eats. If they want to wait to introduce fruits, that is their right as a parent. My children are both "under" on the AMERICAN charts, but fall right on in weight on the World Health Organization charts in weight, and a little under on height (they don't stand a chance there. Both parents are "short".) Many practicioners that support natural healing and true preventive medicine encourage diets that low in sugars (natural) and contain no added refined sugars. I am not so restrictive and allow my children to eat fruit, but honestly, I wish I had been more like these parents. Children will naturally turn to fruit and will be less likely to eat veggies once they are introduced. They are giving their children a taste for veggies and a chance at a healthy lifestyle. Also, it is NO ONE else's business how far under/over a child is on a growth chart but the parents and their healthcare provider. The growth charts are merely comparing each child against a group of children measured in 2000. That means a whole lot of nothing in a society where obesity in the accepted norm.
Also, are you aware that there is evidence that too much sugar in a diet is a risk factor for ADD and ADHD? Children are far more likely to have fruit allergies than vegetable allergies and children with digestive issues are discouraged from eating fruits and sugars. While children die everyday from starvation, all around the world, children survived on diets similar to these children for decades and were much healthier than most of today's children. It sounds as though your friend thinks that her own opinions of a healthy diet and a healthy weight are more important than that of the child's parents and health care provider. If she feels the need to be that judgemental, she needs to look at the problems with her way of thinking rather than judging that of someone else. How would she feel if they tried to tell her that her way of thinking was wrong and unhealthy and that her kids are fat? She wouldn't like that very much. Not everyone agrees with other people's decisions. That doesn't make them wrong, it makes them different. If I knew the family, I would tell them to find a respectful child care provider.

Is it a bit restrictive, my opinion yes, but not wrong. There could be a family history of allergies, diabetes, etc that the provider doesn't know about.

As the provider she's going to have realize she's going to get all types of beliefs and opinions on how a child should be raised or fed. Kids go through crazy growth spurts, they get slim and fatten back out. If the child seems extremely underweight and appears to be lacking nourishment then she should report her concerns to the authorities.

I personally don't believe in going the extreme route with food. Just go into a bookstore now and see how many books about what you should eat there are, it's over whelming and they only contradict each other. Kind of like the parenting books, one says discpline this way, another book will say no-no that's wrong do it this way.

It's about balance just like everything else. I really don't have any foods on my list that are no-no's. I do limit refined sugar products but I do buy them in limitation. We don't keep soda in the house but if we go out to eat, we'll have one. Juices I do label read and avoid ones with corn syrup.

I'm a veggie and fruit eater, so I fed my son that way too.
I've seen kids that have a no sugar rule in their home but when they go to a friends house with sugary foods they do a sugar overload. =)