Daycare menu - appropriate or not?

[Elizabeth410]

Sebastien, who is two weeks shy of his first birthday, started daycare full time last week. On two separate days I checked the daily menu at the daycare (yes, I only checked it twice, so I don't know about the other days), and I noticed foods that I didn't necessarily approved of. I don't want to mention anything to them if it's my expectations that are too high, as I am certain it is not easy to prepare food for 80 children.

The first food I didn't approve of was served as an afternoon snack. It was chocolate cake. I don't think I'd mind it as much if it was served as a dessert after a meal, but shouldn't a snack be nutritious? I had never given Sebastien any chocolate before

The second food I didn't approve of, again was served as an afternoon snack. It was cretons on croissant. For those of you who are unfamiliar with cretons, it's made for the most part from pork fat and ground pork. Nutritional value=0 except for a minuscule amount of protein, and a whole lot of animal fat.

Is is just me, or shouldn't snacks be healthier than that? He only eats 3 or 4 oz of solid foods in a day on a good day, I don't think I want a chunk of that to be void of nutrition.

Any thoughts?

Thanks so much!

[yaya]

hmm i would agrew funny choice of snack ,def wouldnt get that over here, but u need to look at the menu on the whole to see if its a balanced diet, I agree re: the choc (sorry dotn kno cretons) but choc isnt that bad if hes having it once a week kwim?

[15milner]

marking for later

[Erin M]

Chocolate cake?  That would definitely bother me.  
Not sure about the cretons.  
The daycare my girls go to usually serves crackers or cereal or something like that for an afternoon snack, sometimes with some fruit.  I wish they did the fruit every day -- the daycare that Katie went to before Allie was born did -- that's generally what I think of as a snack.  
Maybe you can ask if they follow any sort of guidelines when it comes to their food -- Katie's old daycare would do so many servings of fruits/vegetables, dairy, meat, grains, etc a day so it would be adding up towards what she should be getting in a day (if that makes sense).  What does the rest of the menu look like?  

[¤ Efka ¤]

chocolate cake would no get my approval too,croissant once in a while would not be too bad.

Ask them about it.

[Kimberly®]

niether one would bother me if it was a once in a while thing. I mean if it was an everyday snack I would be concerned.

Is this a home daycare ot center?
if its a home is it a registered?

I ask because if it is registered (either center or home) then they would be regulated anyway. So much suger is alotted eachday as it is importent for children to have small amounts in their diets. I would also suspect its like the cake served at DD's daycare, made from scratch with healthy ingredients. For example they use milk rather then water, sunflower oil instead of vegtible oil, and they add whole grains to it as well. So its not your tipical chocolate cake, though it does taste like it. Also its a MUCH smaller piece then you may think. They are not giving a piece thats going to cause them to become sick because of it, or really any bigger then you would have.

In the end if you have an issue with it. Talk to them. I'm sure they would be willing to work with you. As for Cresents, they're just bread. Itsa actually a pretty healthy snack (at least here they are. DD's daycare does cheese ones) Chocolate or suger in moderation will NOT harm your child in any way shape or form.

Although I admit I let DD have chocolate eggs at 9 months old, and chocolate cake for her 1st birthday. I am a horrible parent in the eye's of some, but my DD is healthy, and happy.

[mari]

Why not provide a healthy snack on the days that you notice that the snack is not nice.  I don't think it's a bad thing for them to have the occassional treat and mmm, I know which I would chose if I had the option of an apple or a chocolate cake.  .
I would imagine that the daycare has guidlines for providing healthy, nutritious snacks so I would just have a word with them and if they are providing things like that all the time, pop a banana in his bag.
What are the lunches like?  or is it just snacks they provide?

[Elizabeth410]

Thanks for all your opinions and suggestions!

I didn't get a good look at the menu for the whole week, but I will pay closer attention to this in the future. The meals I saw on the menu for those two days seemed ok.

This daycare provides a snack in the morning, a meal for lunch, and a snack in the afternoon. The daycare is Government run, so they must have some guidelines. I just hope they mostly offer fresh and nutritious over highly processed and full of preservatives.

I don't think the chocolate cake was made from scratch. I had a small chat with the cook a few weeks back when Sebastien and I went to spend an hour there together. She told me that cheesecake was one of the items on the menu that day. I remember being impressed; cheesecake is quite nice, and Sebastien loves cheese. Then we started discussing the method of making cheesecake, and what kind of cheese we use... and she seemed confused. She then told me the cheesecake she was making was a powder package to which she only had to add water. So it was more like a highly processed cheesecake.

I thought about providing snacks for Sebastien, but I don't want him to be miserable, wanting what the other kids are having. I may have to do this though if I find that too many foods they serve are lacking nutritional value.

I will try to get more information on the overall quality of the meals. It's a little difficult because when I drop Sebastien off in the morning, the daycare director is not there, nor is the person who looks after Sebastien. They have minimum staff until 9, so it's hard getting any information from the right people.

Thanks again everyone!

[¤ Efka ¤]

I would think that with big facility its hard to make everything from scratch but I agree with you having this all the time would not be good.

Can you call them and ask for a menu?

Here daycares have menus on the wall so parents have overview.

[Kimberly®]

do keep in mind that you will find a lot of "processed" foods at center baced daycares. There are hundreds of kids that need to be fed. They need foods that don't take to long.
They are not poisoning your child. They are highly regulated and controled when it comes to foods. Same thing with schools. They havn't the funds or the time to make everything from scratch. They do however do the best that they can do.
Your child will recive the best possible nutrition, meals in a daycare are made to meet every food group or nutrition needed. Yes they will give "sweets" such as cake one in a while, but its about the balence. DD's daycare has one true treat every week. In fact they even have the kids help make it sometimes. Once it was Apple sauce, once mini pizza's and another time cheese cake (yes the type from a box) it has the same thing you put into a cheesecake, just prepared so you add water. Its actually got a little less suger and a little less rich.

[binxyboo]

The sound of "cretons" makes me go bleuch 

A treat once in a while would not bother me. But some cake etc every week would be too much IMO.

I would check out the rest of the menu and see what it is like.

[Kimberly®]

Maybe I'm just weird.. but if its good enough for me to eat a piece of cake (a lot bigger then a daycare would give) once a week, then I have no right to say DD can't have the same.

She eats whatever I eat.

I actually don't even trust Organic foods. Way to many cases of ecoli found in them, as well as a million other bactiria's. Also there are just as much pestisided with them as there is with normal foods. Thats been proved through testing. Look as all the food recalls and insidents of illness and death with food 95% are with organic foods.

I worry about other thing. Food is very low on my priority list of things to worry about. I worry about the type of toys they have, the play ground, the rules and regs they have, the way other children treat my child, and how my , or other children in the center are disaplined. The last thing I worry about is what they have for lunch.

Actually she probably eats healthier there then she does at home some days    after all I am a low income (below poverty level for most of DD's first year, now we're getting better) parent, my child regularly gets processed foods, from the food bank at times. Its what I can aford. But you know what, my child is one of the healthiest at daycare. She is sick less then most, and in fact didn't even have her first cold/flu untill she 14-15 month old.