When will you allow your child to have....

LisaLisa1980

Junk food!?

With birthdays coming up & smash cakes and summer.... Will your babes be having any ice cream? Cookies?

How strict or flexible do you plan on being?

jesselayne8

I let my almost 10 month old have a taste here and there.

ASmallWonder

My 4 year old shared his hard earned Oreos with the baby about a month ago.  The heart won out because no way was I going to discourage something so sweet for the sake of a little sugar

nanabanana06

Occational sugar or sweets aren't the devil. We try to keep junk food to a minimum though.

HarleyKins

We want to culvers today and I gave LO a taste of vanilla ice cream. She then dcided to yell until she got another bite. First time ever she's acted like that! Oh, the power of ice cream!

opheliainwaders

She eats what we eat, so we try to limit junk food while she's awake, but I'm sure it'll happen at some point. She definitely got to try a blueberry muffin the other day, and that's not particularly "healthy."

woohoo02

DD is 11 months (today!) and she's had a taste here and there of the not so healthy stuff. She'll definitely be able to enjoy her birthday cake in a month too!

=Lee=B

We waited until her birthday and did a smash cake.  My husband was super excited for it and he actually went off on his own to find a bakery that could make her a dairy free one.  Anyways I hadn't been too keen on it but he was so excited I went with it.

In the weeks since she has had ice cream a few times after super with daddy,  She has dairy free coconut ice cream and gets about 1-2tablespoons at most.  She gets so excited and daddy does too.

She eats incredibly healthy and is a very good eater (AKA eats anything and everything) so some sweets on occasion is perfectly fine with me.

 

amie444

She will get a cupcake at her party in 2 months. And past that as little as possible for a few years. I am not planning on giving her juice either.

blush64

jesselayne8 said:

I let my almost 10 month old have a taste here and there.

This. I plan on being fairly relaxed. I want her to grow up having everything in moderation so she always has a healthy relationship with food. I will offer healthy choices most often but I won't make a huge deal about sweets or other "junk' foods.

taraleanne

I'm pretty relaxed too but feel that the rules that apply to us apply to him too- everything within moderation and many foods are simply just treats.  No cake yet but he's had a little taste of pudding and ice cream and arrowroot cookies. Smashing a cake for birthday sounds fun though!

BigPoppa22

LO has been pretty slow to adopt finger foods and anything with texture at almost a year now, so the past few weeks whenever he has mooched any kind of food from DW and I, we are OK with it.  Almost every day I am sure he has a few tastes of junk food.  If we are eating chips, we will give him a few little corners, and if I am eating a popsicle or ice cream, he gets a few licks.  A few bites of chicken fingers or french fries.  We are pretty relaxed about it.  It is a few bites, it is not like we are sitting him down in front of a bowl of chips and saying, "Ok, here is your dinner!"

amiF

I haven't allowed any sweets yet, although dd will get a bit of cake or cupcake for her first birthday.  The problem I have is that sugar is addictive (I myself am addicted to sugar), and studies have shown that sugar is actually more addictive than fat.  I completely agree with everything in moderation, but there has been SO much more sugar added to most food in the standard american diet compared to when we were growing up, and the grams of sugar quickly add up.  Yogurt designed for babies, bread products, almost anything "processed" contains a lot of sugar, and that is without giving kids any desserts or sweets.  I think it's a challenge for all of us to find moderation in our diets while still being healthy and enjoying food.  Even things that we think are healthy, or are at least advertised as so, have a lot of fat, sugar and/or salt in them.  

amiF

amie444 said:

She will get a cupcake at her party in 2 months. And past that as little as possible for a few years. I am not planning on giving her juice either.

Good choice on the juice.  Juice doesn't provide nearly as much nutrition at real fruit and vegetables, and has tons of sugar.  Juices are one of the main culprits in the growing number of cavities in children.  She is much better off with actual fruits and vegetables.  

thepixiecat

DD and all her day care friends had mini cupcakes twice last week for 2 birthdays, one being hers.  All the parents gave permission.  There are 2 more birthdays coming up so they will probably get them again.  DD also had a smash cake on her birthday but didn't eat much. She had more fun playing in it.  She also gets 3 ounces of 100% juice mixed with 3 ounces of water for lunch.  I'm not going to deprive her.  She also gets her teeth brushed 2x a day and eats 3 healthy meals and 2 healthy snacks daily.  I keep processed food to a minimum and rarely eat fast food. 

BC&LM

I will let LO have some cake at his birthday party, but other than that, I will not give him any or allow family/friends to give him any for the foreseeable future. I don't see the point. When he is old enough to ask for it, I will allow him some treats every now and then.

aibrean

My mom made chocolate chip cookies (scratch) and I gave her enough for one bite without the chip.

LilMonkeyBug

My 10mos son hasn't has any sweet treats yet. I will Definately let him smash his birthday cake and taste it if he likes. His cake probably won't have frosting though bc he's currently only able to have lactose free dairy.

Diana909

We let LO have the gerber arrowroot cookies every now and then. I think at one point DH gave LO a taste of some sweets over the holiday season, but we don't do this on a regular. Pretty much just the gerber cookies. 

prazenjc

special occassions are special for a reason and a good enough reason for me to let down the restrictions. that said, even with no restrictions, my DS doesn't like most sweets and will want a piece of fruit before a bite of cake or ice cream at age 4 (was like that all his life to date). he played with his smash cake, but barely ate any. can hardly believe he is our kid with this lack of attraction to sweet things (my whole mouth is full of sweet teeth and DH isn't much better).