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What is it with chocolate?

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?


Replies

  • Ithink some people (and by that i mean anyone who hasn't had a child or had one a long time ago) seem to not understand what ages they eat things. Ians grandma asked if lydia had started solids (she was 4 months) when i said yes she asked if she wanted some chips or a biscuit. Don't think she realised she had no teeth! lol
  • I think people mean well, my lo has had chocolate since 8 months but not regularly until quite a bit older. I think chocolate's better than a lot of things (lollies, sweets, fizzy pop) as it least it has some vague nutritional value. I can understand not feeding it them, but we always wanted lo to have a varied diet including rubbish food so he grew up thinking food is food, there are no treats or binges, just eat what you want till you're full. Mil bought her kids up this way and they are healthy weights as adults; me and my sister were bought up on raisins and cereal bars as treats, not allowed to snack, forced to finish our dinners and we have real food issues - sister is practically anorexic looking, I'm overweight and both of us binge eaters and dieters. I'm hoping my lo doesn't get too many eggs this year. Last year (he was 10 months!) he had EIGHT eggs. pointless - it took him about 8 months to eat them and me and oh ate most of them lol x
  • My lo's never had chocolate, i don't eat it so it's not in the house-people are getting him decorations for his easter tree instead.

    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
  • have no idea, but ds somehow is getting 2 easter eggs, both my mum and my sister have bought him one, without asking me i might add, don't know how he's supposed to get thru two easter eggs, he's not even one yet, i think with my mum tho becasue ds is cows milk intolerant if she sees it she gets it, because she feels that because he can't have normal chocolate and ice cream she feels sorry for him, when i wldn't be giving him any of those things (except as a very rare treat) even if he cld have them..she's always pointing out 'treat' things and if i say no she rolls her eyes like i'm being over bearing or unreasonable and it drives me crazy. i have had him a dairy free cake made for his birthday so he will have a bit of that, and at xmas he had some dairy free choc buttons (which lasted him over a week) but thats it, and i think thats more than enough...with my mum tho i don't think its that she's forgotten what they have and when she's just always been a bit of a 'treat them to make them happy' kinda woman, i remember at primary school she used to put atleast 5 choc bars (kitkats etc) in my packed lunch, i never ate them all (but prob ate more of them than i shld have) and used to trade them for yoghurt lol. at the end of the day ds thinks yoghurt is liquid gold soto him that is his fave thing, so why wld i try and give him chocolate when in all honesty he wldn't eat anymore of chocolate than he wld some mango, so it baffles me it really does, seem applies to juice, he drnks water perfectly fine but she's constantly going on at me to give him juicer (cos it'll be nicer for him) he doesn't drink any more of it, or any faster so i don't see the need. but i do agree with pbob, its also slightly unfair to eat somehting like that and not let lo have a taste x
  • i def just think people mean well i remember when i hd my ds1 ididnt ket him have anything only fruit etc and was very strict then he started going to parties and i couldnt say you cant have that so with ds2 i was bit more relaxed and then ds3 i was very relaxed LOL i think he had his first suck on choc at 6 months i was also very strict with drink onlt pure juice then again my eldest went a party first one where i left him and all they had to drink was coke lemonade cherryade limeade and coke and he didnt know what to do it was a hot day on a bouncy castle he eventually asked for some water but i felt so bad for him that i said when at parties etc can have them they all choose lemonade if there i prepher them not to have coke ven though i do drink it image

    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. image

    amanda x
  • Not read all the replies (nap-time is almost over, so I may not have very long left to skive on BE!) but just wanted to give you another perspective.

    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
  • Yes, we've had that too - more from my Mum and family than my MIL I have to say. Last Easter my lo was 9 months old (shouldn't really be in Baby any more!!) so I said his first taste of chocolate could be Easter, when there was sort of a point to it rather than just giving it to him so someone else could see if he liked it! But, I meant like two chocolate buttons, and that was all he had - but you should have seen the amount of eggs he was given - there is no way a baby can eat that amount of chocolate! Luckily his Mummy can lol!

    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)
  • Agree that 6 months is probably a bit early to be eating Easter eggs, but I don't think there's anything wrong with a taste of chocolate if I'm honest.

    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!
  • Lol ptb I completley understand what you mean about beer, I rber my cousin was annoying my gran about her hermesatas (sweetners) and she kept saying no you won't like then. Finally she gave in and gave him one and you should have SEEN his face! He never asked her for another one funnily enough.....
  • Hehe - Lily demanded some of my lemonade the other day, so I gave her some and as predicted the bubbles went straight up her nose. I then offered it to her again a few minutes later and she shook her head violently and had a drink of water from her own sippy cup :lol:
  • Thanks everyone for your replies.

    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.
  • PTB - Abby has also tasted beer! She managed to get hold of an (almost) empty pint glass once and had drained the dreggs before anyone could stop her! Bless she looked so pleased with herself! bad mummy alert!!! image

    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. image 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! image 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
  • Sometimes though it doesn't matter what you do - my dd1 was given small tastes, not too soon though, probly not till after a year old and then it was not given as a 'treat' just something that was occasional. Now at 5 she is a chocoholic - like her mummy :lol:

    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.
  • LOL PTB - oh tried to give lo beer when he was 5 months and I went mad. He's tasted it more recently. Didn't like it at all!!

    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
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