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When did you first give sweet things like cake, chocolate?

S hasn't had anything like this yet. The sweetest thing he's had are the organix carrot cake bar things (which I secretly like quite a lot too!). He shows a natural preference for sweeter veg and fruit so I'm not keen to indulge it with anything more sugary!

H's family are desperate for him to have biscuits, cake, ice cream, chocolate and I'm getting peed off with them making such a big deal out of it. He's happy eating what he eats so he doesn't know he's missing out. Was anyone else under this kind of pressure? I said he could have some of his birthday cake but now they're on a bloody countdown! Ooh, two weeks til you eat cake!

I don't want to be really strict about it but I'm not going to give it to him just because everyone else thinks its a massive milestone. Am I being a massive scrooge about this? I know I'm digging my heels in partly because I enjoy being stubborn with them lol!

Replies

  • Lucas had some cake at his bday party and then if we went to party's afterwards. I think it's because I'm not really a sweet toothed person so we never have huge amounts of sweets at home iyswim.

    Isaac was much earlier as he used to just grab stuff from Lucas or from other babies Weep he was maybe about 10 months

  • A is allergic to dairy and eggs so it has made it very easy to avoid. However, I would say it was around the year mark that I started having to tell people 'no, she can't have that' quite a lot. She will have the odd biscuit or flapjack, but she isn't generally a fan of sweet things. Even dairy free chocolate gets a turned up nose!

  • I let my daughter have to odd bit, say if we're having ice cream I'll let her have a bit.  She has a little and then when its done she knows its done and isn't looking for more.  My in laws are quite bad for trying to get me to give her things.  And not just sweet stuff.  Chips and gravy, prawn crackers from the Chinese to name a couple.  Do what you think is best for your child and to hell with anyone who has an opinion on it!

  • Isla was about a year. It coincided with when we were invited to 1st birthday parties. Before that she'd have the occasional rich tea biscuit. I don't think it does them any harm as part of a meal or pudding. I wouldn't have given them as snacks in between meals. I still don't really. Maya's already eaten cake at my grans birthday. She's 10 months so a lot younger than Isla was when she ate it first! But she still hasnt had chocolate. x

  • MrsB that's how I feel about it really. I don't think I will mind if he has the odd something as part of pudding but I really don't want him snacking on chocolate - not like me (crazy sweet tooth and just polished off a whole box of jaffa cakes!)

    M2A nice to see you :) S doesn't know when to quit! I will let him share my homemade smoothie for example but he then wants all of it!

  • With R, it was definitely around her 1st birthday - like you there were certain family members who seemed desperate to give her chocolate etc. With O it was definitely before she was 1 as she wanted whatever her sister had and would often just take things from her.

  • Probably about a year. Generally I try and adopt the strategy that everything is fine in moderation, and he gets to try anything I eat. With that in mind, I don't eat sweets or chocolate at home unless L is in bed, but if we go out and I have a cake or something in a cafe he will have some. I don't want to be constantly saying no and so making things seem more exciting because theyre off limits, but L has a massive sweet tooth and would be unbearable if he thought there were treats at home so this works well for us. Having said all that, if my inlaws had gone on about it like yours are doing I would most definitely have banned sugar indefinitely just for the sake of being stubborn, that would drive me mad!

  • M was probably 10/11 months. While it was super hot here, I would have felt horrid having an ice-cream and not letting her have some. Her birthday cake was made specifically with her in mind (egg-free) but everyone else enjoyed it too. She doesn't have sweet things everyday but enjoys the little bit she does have and there's no wanting more afterwards.

  • My parents fed W all kinds of sweets from a stupidly early age, but i was never able to stop them as we were living with them at the time, and you just had to look away for a second and they'd done it.  He's actually not been too bad with sweet things, he tends to want whatever i'm having, and at the minute, thank goodness, i've been eating fruit and veg and drinking water and sucking on ice cubes, which W has decided he needs as well. I encourage him to eat fruit and veg over sweets, and i don't tend to keep them in the house anyway.  He has a pack of buttons from his granny which i only opened the other day and he eats maybe 1 or 2 of them before losing interest.

  • I think I am going to be the same as you.  Agree everything in moderation but want to put it off as long as possible. I am a daughter of a retired dentist so I was allowed chocolate once a week, and never sweets when I was really young!  Even when I got older I was allowed occasionally some dolly mixture.  Never any hard stuff!

  • My first didn't have anything until her 1st birthday cake. 2nd child was much younger (he'd def had chocolate, fruit shoots and a McDonalds before he was 1!) , number 3 I've not been strict at all as I figured there's no point - not sure when he had chocolate, probably by about 8 months

  • Looks like first birthday is the turning point then ;) I'm sure I'll be more relaxed about it with no.2 as well although will depend on how much I'm engaging in a battle of wills with my ILs by then...ha.

  • I haven't been particularly strict at all. She's always grabbed things from my hand, so I think since about 8 months she's had little bites of my cake, chocolate buttons etc. It was probably post 12 months that she had her own small slices of cake. She's never had an actual chocolate bar or sweets though.

  • R only really has sweet things if we are eating them we let her have a small taste.  I give her biscuits now & again but never a whole one & they are only the little finger plan biscuits.

    R loves fruit & yogurts so I just give her them for snacks.

    Everyone is eager to feed R sweet treats also but they have all been warned haha we are not strick just think there is no need for her to be given sweet things she gets plenty of "tastes" from our food so doesn't need her own.

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