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What is it with chocolate?
in Baby
On numerous occasions i've been asked if my lo can have an easter egg this year, hes not even 6 months old yet so the answer was no (or you could get one and i'll have it!!).
I was at my mil's house yesterday when we got asked if he has tried chocolate yet, err no.
I feel like daggers are being thrown at me from my MIL for 'depriving him' of chocolate!!
What is it with people wanting to give baby's chocolate??
MIL has also said that when her son (my oh) was little he eat nothing but chips when he was little (well if she gave him something other than chips to eat he might have something different, just my opinion).
Surely there are better things to eat than chocolate and chips??
Does anyone else get this?
I was at my mil's house yesterday when we got asked if he has tried chocolate yet, err no.
I feel like daggers are being thrown at me from my MIL for 'depriving him' of chocolate!!
What is it with people wanting to give baby's chocolate??
MIL has also said that when her son (my oh) was little he eat nothing but chips when he was little (well if she gave him something other than chips to eat he might have something different, just my opinion).
Surely there are better things to eat than chocolate and chips??
Does anyone else get this?
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Replies
My lo is nealry 12 months old, i don't think it's fair for me to sit there eating cake etc and he's not allowed so for my birthday he had some cake and LOVED it but it's not everyday. If i ate chocolate, i'd have to let him have some too xx
anyway way my point is if they dont have things there will be a time they will be faced with it or they will just binge on it when older as been forbidden i think a varied diet including sweets chocolates etc is the way to go but can understand not wanting baby to have it.
amanda x
Whilst I agree that too much rubbishy food isn't great, I dont think there is anything wrong with a TASTE of these things every now and again (although I would prob wait until after 6 months). I think it's important to teach children about moderation from a young age - otherwise they will just go nuts (and gorge themselves on crap) later on in life, after all - you wont be able to control their diet forever, all you can do is give them a good grounding and trust them to make sensible decisions in the future.
Personally I give Abby (almost 11 months) a little bit of chocolate every now and then, after her dinner (providing she behaved well, and ate it all!) I make sure she also has a lot of fruit and veg, and I certainly wouldn't let her eat rubbish to the detriment of other foods.
Also - I would start to clean the babies gums (even if they dont have any teeth yet) each night - if they are having sugary snacks!
Hope I don't get shot down for this. It's just my oppinion!
Nx
Now he's 20 months, he does have chocolate occasionally, but I never buy it for him, I just give him a little taste sometimes if I have some (although I usually eat it when he's in bed!) - I agree with some of the others that there's no harm in a little taste of something, and I personally don't want to make chocolate into a 'treat' so that he thinks it's better than other snack foods (fruit, raisins, crackers etc) - I've battled to explain to my Mum that this is deep down actually the same as her theory of always making chocolate available so it doesn't become a 'forbidden fruit' to the child, I just choose to do it a different way!!
I'm a bit of a hypocrite though, while I'm concerned about the amount of chocolate he'll be given this Easter (most of which his Daddy and I will eat anyway), I also have a cousin with 4 kids, the youngest of whom is 2 weeks younger than mine, and I don't feel I can buy eggs for the others and not him - I just hope his mum will do the same as me, say how ridiculous it is that a child should have so much chocolate then eat it herself (she feels even more strongly about it than I do)
I quite strongly believe that not allowing kids to eat goodies results in them wanting them even more. The last thing I want is for my LO to be one of those kids who stuffs herself with junk at the first opportunity and will forevermore choose it over the healthy option because she's been bought up not having been allowed to choose. Tbh I've always allowed her a taste of something as and when she's shown an interest in it (even beer - now watch everyone jump on me) - I like to think that this way she will learn about making choices and will be open to trying new tastes.
I also think it would be fairly hypocritical of me to dictate what she can and can't eat if I wasn't prepared to restrict my own diet in a similar way. I'm not going to sit there eating a cake in front of her at snack time whilst she has a carrot, for example. This means I have cut down a fair amount snacking on rubbish as obviously I offer her something healthy far more often than something unhealthy, so it's a mutually beneficial system!
I'm not saying my lo will not get to taste a bit of chocolate but he's not quite 6 months old yet and i think its a little too early. I'm more worried about rotting teeth and gum problems caused by the sugar, hes got one tooth so far (bless him) and its gets a brush before he goes to bed as well as his gums even though hes mostly drinking milk.
areobubbles - dont worry hun. You are mum and you know best. If you think he is still too young then that is all that matters. Just thank everyone for the choc they give him and eat it yourself when he has gone to bed. You can always make excuses not to give it to him straight away ("oh thanks very much - he can have some of that later - after his dinner" or "ooh that looks lovely - I think we will save that one until ...") they wont know that he didn't eat it himself, and more choc for you!
Although I agree that if he sees you eating it, it would be mean not to share! That is how Abby ended up with her first taste of choc, she saw me eating a kitkat, and the look she gave me, I just had to let her have a taste!
Nx
Anytime now that she does get to have some kind of cake/sweets/ice-cream etc she always chooses chocolate!
Though I agree she always seems to get given more of it than she could possibly eat so I end up eating half of it when she's in bed!
But she will never chose a fizzy drink, usually goes for water or juice - I think like us they just like what they like and as long as its not 'banned' then they wont gorge on it later in life.
I remember the first time he tasted coke. He wanted some of ours when we went out to eat so we gave him a sip from the straw, his face was hilarious. Think the fizz went up his nose too!!
I have to say my lo quite likes coke now but he only ever has a sip of it if we're out to eat (very rare). He still makes a slight face at the fizz but says 'mmm' afterwards lol.
I don't really approve of them having their own fizzy drink till they are past school age....they are happy enough with fruit shoots as treats