Giving sugar to a 12 month old
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Topic: Giving sugar to a 12 month old
Posted By: GuestGuest
Subject: Giving sugar to a 12 month old
Date Posted: 29 December 2009 at 12:53pm
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I have been spending a bit of time with my 12 mth old niece and my SIL over Christmas and over that time I have seen her fed chocolates, biscuits and whole popsicles.
I personally think it is terrible to give a young infant sugar as I think it will lead to cravings and can't be good for their growing teeth. I had to bite my tongue a few times when she was being handed chocolate santas willy nilly. Is this really very bad, is it common and do you feed your babies sugar? (or am I just being a judgemental aunty?  )
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Replies:
Posted By: lilfatty
Date Posted: 29 December 2009 at 12:59pm
I would think it would depend on whether it is a habitual thing or if it was a special treat because of the time of year. Issy had muesli bars, biscuits and even a bit of her birthday cake at one .. it hasnt made her a sugar fiend though. I prefer she doesnt have sugar because a toddler on a sugar high is a nightmare 
However - each to his own .. should they want their child to grow up eating crap thinking its normal, who am I to judge. ------------- Mummy to Issy (3) and Elias (18 months) I did it .. 41 kgs gone! From flab to fab in under a year  http://www.femininefitness.co.nz/category/blog - LFs weight blog
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LittleSal wrote:Posted By: GuestGuest
Date Posted: 29 December 2009 at 1:02pm
Hahahahaha! Love it. It looks more like an habitual thing to me rather than a treat. More like a "let's feed the baby junk because we are eating it and she will like it" kind of thing. |
Posted By: BeLoved
Date Posted: 29 December 2009 at 1:04pm
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My 1 year old has the occasional sugary treat, everything in moderation. I was not going to deny her birthday cake or a treat for Christmas.
I think if you go too far either way it could cause issues. I have a cousin who was never allowed sugar and he would just go crazy for it and now eats a lot more of it as a teenager than any of the others who were allowed it. When it comes to teeth they say that dried fruit is one of the worst things but what child does not like raisins. |
Posted By: flakesitchyfeet
Date Posted: 29 December 2009 at 1:10pm
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That seems a bit off to me, but then Hollie had mouthfuls of icecream, a few lollies, glazed fruitand a chocolate bicky (or two or three, thanks to her 6yr old uncle), and goodness knows what else over the last week. She's had the meat, vege and berries too though.
GENERALLY She is fed a mixed well balanced diet, she only eats whatever we do, and alot of it, so I figure it was okay to slacken up while she was at Nanas house, just for Christmas :)  -------------  http://lilypie.com"> |
Posted By: lilfatty
Date Posted: 29 December 2009 at 1:10pm
Yep the dental nurse gave us a huge lecture on raisins, muesli bars and diluted juice when Isabelle went for her first check up (and he teeth were in perfect condition!) ------------- Mummy to Issy (3) and Elias (18 months) I did it .. 41 kgs gone! From flab to fab in under a year http://www.femininefitness.co.nz/category/blog - LFs weight blog
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Posted By: palomino
Date Posted: 29 December 2009 at 1:23pm
| I dont mind him having sugar occasionly. Like christmas and birthday cake. And the odd bickie with the grandparents. He eats fine at home so it doesnt really bother me. |
Posted By: cuppatea
Date Posted: 29 December 2009 at 1:36pm
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I let Kyle have the odd thing like a biscuit or some muffin, but usually it would be after dinner or sometimes just a bit of mine cos he's hanging off my leg. But certainly not everyday.
I let him have a choc bic the other day round my friends and OMG the mess, never again (well not till he is much older and a cleaner eater). I think if it is balanced out it is fine but if it's part of what they eat everyday then that is probably a bit much. Yeah dried fruit is suppose to be really bad, but then where do you draw the line, mine don't really ever have chocolate or sweets and they never have juice or fizzy so cutting out dried fruit as well just seems OTT and I think if you are cleaning their teeth twice a day it should be ok. Well so far Spencer's teeth are looking good so fingers crossed. ------------- 
 
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Posted By: Snappy
Date Posted: 29 December 2009 at 1:42pm
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Jacksons had his fair share of treats over the past week.
He really only has chocolate or sweets on special occasions, or when the Great Grandparents decide to give him one chocolate biscuit after another 
I think his Grandparents enjoy seeing his face when he gets a treat - if only they would realise what a nightmare he is to clean up or get off to sleep at night! |
Posted By: FreeSpirit
Date Posted: 29 December 2009 at 1:53pm
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Hmmm, I give my daughter plain biscuts on a daily basis, and at the moment she's drinking pedialyte (OMG there's a lot of sugar in it!) because she's got a tummy bug. Normally that's the limit of her sugar intake though - 1 biscuit (normally a superwine) for being a good girl while mummy runs her errands. She thinks that muffins are cake, and she'll get a date about once a fortnight.
She had cake for her birthday, and has a little piece of any birthday cake. She's never had chocolate or lollies. She did have some of Grandad's pudding at Xmas lunch (choc chip bikkies is the base) but it was Christmas and he made it for us special. If I want to eat lollies, take aways or chocolate, I wait until she's having a nap or asleep for the night. I expect her to eat what we are eating - which means setting a good example. |
Posted By: lilfatty
Date Posted: 29 December 2009 at 1:58pm
I do this too .. but mostly because then I don't have to share ------------- Mummy to Issy (3) and Elias (18 months) I did it .. 41 kgs gone! From flab to fab in under a year http://www.femininefitness.co.nz/category/blog - LFs weight blog
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Posted By: jazzy
Date Posted: 29 December 2009 at 2:07pm
ha ha, oh things were easy when they were under 1yr, now have to hide it & dam those loud wrappers |
Posted By: Shezamumof3
Date Posted: 29 December 2009 at 3:40pm
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I give Caden little treats, and over christmas he ate what we ate. He also has a lot of healthy foods, he has heaps of fruit(but refuses to eat veges).
He has the odd choccy biscuit and other sweet things, his teeth are brushed everyday and he drinks trucks load of water, so I dont feel bad about. Im not going to deny my son some yummy things every once and while! Caden loves dried fruit! I agree with cuppatea, where do you draw the line! Cadens teeth are healthy too. |
Posted By: caitlynsmygirl
Date Posted: 29 December 2009 at 3:58pm
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C has had sweets etc from a young age . Im not losing sleepliess nights over it .
Sugary things don't help the teeth , but they aren't the only thing that cause bad teeth , that can also be down to genetics, we had plenty of kids who never had lollies in their life come in to work with horrible teeth to fix . ------------- 
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Posted By: AandCsmum
Date Posted: 29 December 2009 at 4:00pm
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It's not only just the extra sugar they are giving it's all the other crap that is in those foods too.
Cooper is almost one  but he did not have any thing like this at all over the Xmas period. He tries to get his hands into stuff but I can't allow him to have anything like that. It was very easy to say no to people but on a whole they asked if he was allowed.
Opps I lie a little, I just remembered, he had a mouthful of the inside of the pav that Mum made. ------------- Kel http://lilypie.com"> 
A = 01.02.04 & C = 16.01.09 & G = 30.03.12 |
Posted By: catisla
Date Posted: 29 December 2009 at 4:06pm
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DD has the odd piece of chocolate or sweet-biscuit or cake when we do. I do not want to make these items out to be fantastic once-a-month treats or whatever.
This is because my parents really limited these things with me and as soon as I had control of my own pocket money and could get to the shop on my own (and this was back in the 70s/80s when kids were often allowed out alone at 5) I would buy huge amounts of sweets and hide them from my parents and eat them in secret. I will probably now go to the other extreme with my DD and over-indulge, but then I guess I am no more perfect a parent than anyone else
Edit for typos ------------- |
Posted By: gypsynita
Date Posted: 29 December 2009 at 4:11pm
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we were a lot more slack over christmas than i intended to be -- mostly cause there was so much "contraband" around, and we were all eating it!! i've definately noticed a difference in cian though - he'll now refuse a plain cracker (that he used to love) cause he can see biscuits on the shelf next to them . gonna have to start hiding stuff i think!
i agree with most others though - all in moderation. my SIL gives her 2 year old "treats" several times a day, and i thought that was a bit OTT, surely it ceases to be a "treat" when it's that frequent?? ------------- Anita Mum to Cian (Aug 08), Josh (Jun 10) http://lilypie.com"> 
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Posted By: Maya
Date Posted: 29 December 2009 at 4:11pm
I guess that answers the birthday cake question .
I agree with everyone else, everything in moderation, but I must admit that lil miss gets far more junk than the others did at her age because if the older kids are having a lolly, muffin, cake etc. then she demands to have some too. But she eats a really varied, healthy diet for the most part, so I don't stress over the occasional junk food. In an average week she wouldn't have any junk food, but when we go away she might have junk food every day for a week, or a spate of birthday parties etc. It all evens out in the end. -------------  Maya Grace (28/02/03)
 (02/01/06)
The Gremlins:Sienna Marie & Mercedes Kailah (14/10/06)
Lil miss:Chiara Louise Chloe (09/07/08)
Her ladyship:Rosalia Sophie Anais (18/06/12)
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Posted By: Maya
Date Posted: 29 December 2009 at 4:12pm
Oh and she can say "biscuit" and "cracker" and will refuse a biscuit if she wants a cracker  ------------- Maya Grace (28/02/03)
(02/01/06)
The Gremlins:Sienna Marie & Mercedes Kailah (14/10/06)
Lil miss:Chiara Louise Chloe (09/07/08)
Her ladyship:Rosalia Sophie Anais (18/06/12)
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Posted By: Flutterby
Date Posted: 29 December 2009 at 5:18pm
i have only just started giving Cody the occasional biscuit in the afternoon as a snack while waiting for dinner. Goodness knows what he gets when DPs nana is looking after him . I okayed a gingerbread man on Christmas day and she kept saying that it was good for his teeth .
He likes having a potato chip when I am having some, but he only gets a couple of small ones. i won't give him anything with a heap of sugar in it, such as lollies and juice. I really want to hold off on the sweet stuff as long as possible. ------------- http://lilypie.com">  http://lilypie.com">
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Posted By: ElfsMum
Date Posted: 29 December 2009 at 5:35pm
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yeah i think habitual isnt great but Ethan until one had nothing due to not being allowed any wheat,dairy, nuts,fish,egg etc...but this Christmas he has a bag of 10 choc coins and he's had about 4 and i let him have the occassional choc thing ..lol as the others said mostly if im caught but he's still in a cot so not so bad:) and his hearing at a million miles is awesome :)
he has biscuits when out sometimes.. and i'm not that concerned though he has started to not like veges...serves me right for saying he'd eat anything but goes mad for fruit.. he had a drink (few mouthfuls)of pure juice once but i am apart from that one time not giving him juice until he is much older..for us i just think water and milk are enough.. and i worry if he gets juice etc he wont want water etc anymore:) it also helps his sleep isnt affected by chocolate or he wouldn't ever have any:) hehe ------------- Mum to two amazing boys! |
Posted By: Daizy
Date Posted: 29 December 2009 at 5:37pm
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Urgh, I am a terrible mum! Maddi will just eat what ever everyone else is eating. At home we are reasonably healthy and on an average week has only crackers and fruit to snack on. If we ever go out she'll often get rasins to keep herself busy and quiet And then at Grandparents (where her auntie and uncles sit and eat crap all day) she'll often chow down a bowl of chippies or biscuits.
I'm not too worried as I know she has no problem eating the healthy stuff, she adores apples and bananas (I often end up with tantrums when I refuse to give her, her 5th apple of the day) and has a pretty well balanced diet. I will only ever let her drink water though, thats the only thing I like to drink anyway. I was a whole lot stricter with Keira, but now she is older I have realised it is impossible to keep these foods away from her when everyone else is eating it, and the same thing goes for Madison too. ------------- 
 
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Posted By: ElfsMum
Date Posted: 29 December 2009 at 5:44pm
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daizy you arent a terrible Mum!!!:) i think second and subsequent babies its often different..you relax a bit more!:) as long as they are eating lots of good food too surely it's ok:)! i just meant if people are giving their kids choc etc instead of good food all the time!:) ------------- Mum to two amazing boys! |
Posted By: gossamer
Date Posted: 29 December 2009 at 5:50pm
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I think as a treat its okay, obviously its down to what you want to do for your kids but I didnt want anything sugary to be completely banned because I thought that would probably do more harm if it was completely off limits. ------------- T (6) A (2) Our angel baby Sep 2011 http://lilypie.com"> 
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Posted By: peanut butter
Date Posted: 29 December 2009 at 11:11pm
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Tom has never touched cake till his first birthday...James has already had it.
Tom hadnt had chippies, sweets, biscuits etc....James has (not sweets). Sigh............ As for the dried fruit...our dental nurse said that as long as they wash it down with water then it gets diluted so not so bad. |
Posted By: mummy_becks
Date Posted: 30 December 2009 at 12:00am
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Both my boys eat it and I allow them too. They don't have it all the time so it is fine. I have a rule that they must try the food on their plate before they can have a treat, Andrew worked that out early Josh took a little longer to work it out, As we are on holiday at the moment they are having a lot of of the treat stuff as Nana and Grandad are giving it to them - I don't mind it is only 2-3 weeks a year this happens. ------------- I was a puree feeder, forward facing, cot sleeping, pram pushing kind of Mum... and my kids survived! |
Posted By: Twinboys2b
Date Posted: 30 December 2009 at 7:18pm
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I also get amazed at how many 1 year olds have sweet food.
I'm really strict and think what they don't know won't hurt them and so far so good, they see me eat chocolate and if i hand them some bread instead of eating my food they are happy. They have had diluted juice on a plane ride once and a piece of chocolate muffin for their 1st birthday and that's it. The only sugar they have is in their yoghurt otherwise it's homemade food that has no sugar. In saying that my sister feeds bad food to her child all the time but that's her decision and I don't say anything because she's a great mum in every way and just because she lets her son have sweet food doesn't make her a bad mum. ------------- 3yr old gorgeous ID twin boys. |
Posted By: Nikki
Date Posted: 30 December 2009 at 8:18pm
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I also think moderation is the key. I was very strict when Jake was under one, but he had a few pebbles at his b'day and some of his cake (the hubby and reli's wouldn't have let me not give him b'day cake!), and he also had bikkies and the odd chippies young ..... but no fizzy yet at all and only diluted juice every now and then since he turned 2. It is definitely alot harder at 2.5yrs to be strict as they want what other kids and adults are eating!! He now has lollies and lollypops quite regularly, but not big quantities - and things like jelly after dinner ....most of his diet is great though - and hes a skinny, active, hungry child (eats his weight in fruit and veges in a day almost!) and we brush his teeth every day.
Its gonna be WAY harder to stop Morgan eating those things though ..... she will want everything he has (already does!) but being less strict on her may mean shes less fussy (I hope). ------------- DS (5yrs) and DD (3yrs) |
Posted By: Guests
Date Posted: 30 December 2009 at 8:59pm
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DD gets choc bisciuts occasionly ( cause daddy does) and has recently taken to marshmellows. She never had any crap until she was 1. She eats really well the rest of the time . She won't drink fizzy or juice, just has milk or water. She also will not sit still so a little extra sugar ain't gonna hurt
To each their own I guess. |
Posted By: GuestGuest
Date Posted: 30 December 2009 at 10:20pm
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I guess my main concern is that my niece is so young, she's not even walking yet and is eating junk food. I'm not saying that sugary food should be banned altogether but I would have thought that closer to 2 years old would be more the age that you would introduce "junk" as a treat?
As others have said, it seems you run the risk of them not wanting to eat plainer, healthier food once they get the taste for highly processed, salty/sugary food. If my niece had never had a lemonade popsicle she wouldn't know what it tasted like, therefore wouldn't want one, so why give it to her if only to make her happy?? Surely there are better, healthier ways of making a baby happy??? (sorry, a bit of a vent on my SIL, not pointing the finger at anyone here at all) |
Posted By: SMoody
Date Posted: 31 December 2009 at 8:21pm
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To be quite honest then I do run the risk of them not eating planer healthier food but here is our story.
We never really limited McKayla and wont really do it with Andrew either. At 4 and a half months she was on food and at 6 months I made her some jelly and custard (yeah yeah I am sure some are having heart palpitations now). My child screamed for the cauliflower we were having and didnt eat her jelly (see now you can calm down). She had licks of ice cream some chippies and a few biscuits before she was one. And here comes the shocker. This child demolished a whole chocolate cupcake on her first birthday. She would drop a sweet to get an apple. She goes about 80% at a party for the healthier stuff first. She complains the day we dont have fruit in the house. And yip I still dont really limit. I just dont allow artificial colors as her behaviour changes with it. I gave her a kinder surprise before Christmas and told her she can have it now or on Christmas and yip she chose rather to open it on Christmas. Now other side of the family was the health police. Nope the child didnt have birthday cake no sweets ect. Fast forward another year to a party both kids attended. Mine ate from healthy and the not so healthy table. Other kid went nuts and couldnt stuff their mouth fast enough with all the baddy stuff to the point that the parents got embarressed. Lesson in all of this: Everything in moderation. If you give treats and they see you eat stuff in moderation then they will grow up not craving all the bad stuff but incorporate it into a healthy diet. Biggest thing for me is that your diet yourself is healthy as well and you dont go gorge yourself on sweets and biscuits and chocolate while you expect your child to eat very healthy. And just two weeks ago at a party she was looking at all the food and asked the host but where is the healthy stuff. ------------- http://lilypie.com"> 
http://lilypie.com"> 
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Posted By: ?Lolly?
Date Posted: 01 January 2010 at 5:41pm
lol so glad I'm not the only one! I was a very ADHD child (and still some what as an adult) we were only aloud lollies on a friday. So when ever I would get my hands on money I would waste it on chocolate and binge eat it. I stll find myself doing it no  So yeah, no. I do not stop my kids from eating surgery treats, but also make sure they (in this case Ethan) also eats a varied healthy diet. Which has been hard since he is sooo tactile defensive. But in saying that there is a line and some people do cross it. I can't help but judge my neighbor. She has a boy just a few month younger than mine and he is easily TWICE the size. I feel so sorry for him as he can only eat what he is given. He is unfit, can't keep up with the other kids and doesn't go to preschool (because he isn't toilet trained yet!)
I think it's in all of us to judge other people and what they are doing with their kids. I strive to not judge too much as I would hate to live in a glass house and throw stones. Emma, I have many similar pics of Ethan COVERED in chocolate. ------------- Captain Chaos (5) & the Trouble Monsters (2!) 
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Posted By: fattartsrock
Date Posted: 01 January 2010 at 9:51pm
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My kids eat "junk" in moderation, neither had really tried it before one, and its not habitual but I don't believe in making foods "bad" as I believe that casues problems later in life.
That said both my kids have a varied palette and will 99% of the time choose rice crackers over bikkies (unless its 100s and 1000s bikkies, lol) and fruit over lollies. They love fruit and veg, esp berry fruit which is plentifull at this time, so yay. I think you can tell the kids who are never allowed to have sugar at birthday parites, they are the ones who go hyper when they have a marshmellow and you hear their mums say thats why I never let t hem have sugar... maybe if they had "treats" once in a while, they would be used to it.... ------------- The Honest Un PC Parent of 2, usually stuck in the naughty corner! :P |
Posted By: AandCsmum
Date Posted: 01 January 2010 at 10:54pm
Nup doesn't work that way...My daughter goes off the wall on lemondade, not so much coke, and we let her have it every now & then but didn't make a difference. We have since found that she is reacting to the additives & preservatives in this types of food ( also lemon but that's a whole different story). It's not actually the sugar that kids are going off the wall with. My daughter has sugar every morning on her porridge, she never goes loopy. Give her a coloured lolly or orange coloured chips & fizzy & you'll get a different kid. She naturally now selects the more healthy option cause she knows that stuff makes her feel weird. I also allow her Mcdonalds every now and then, she has water not fizzy, but I was horrified to see this mother or grandmother giving a 8-10month old wee girl a suck of the pink frozen stuff they had a while back & laughing over the face she made & then just kept giving it to her. Poor kid! ------------- Kel http://lilypie.com">
A = 01.02.04 & C = 16.01.09 & G = 30.03.12 |
Posted By: AandCsmum
Date Posted: 01 January 2010 at 10:57pm
Very well put, we do need to be the example to our children  ------------- Kel http://lilypie.com">
A = 01.02.04 & C = 16.01.09 & G = 30.03.12 |
Posted By: ?Lolly?
Date Posted: 01 January 2010 at 11:35pm
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My Dad use to give Ethan coke when I wasn't looking. I started leaving him with him when he did that and it didn't take long for him to learn to STOP doing it! ------------- Captain Chaos (5) & the Trouble Monsters (2!)
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