The honey post got me thinking...

les&jus

...what kind of foods should we really be allowing our kids to have?  My sister lets her 11 month old eat pretty much anything that is in a small enough bite.  Another friend took her 1 year old and camping and only brought adult food, no baby food.  Is there any sort of recommendation that we should only feed our little ones naturally grown or made food?  I just don't feel right about giving my kids cake and fried chicken just because they can chew it.  What do you think?

*polarbear*

Ever since I saw a friend of mine giving her kid McD's french fries because that is all he would eat (temper tamtrums) I was like - hell no I am not giving my kids that crap. All in moderation. I just think; they dont know any better. Use that to create good habbits. Real strawberries. Not strawberry Gushers.

annibes

*polarbear*:

Ever since I saw a friend of mine giving her kid McD's french fries because that is all he would eat (temper tamtrums) I was like - hell no I am not giving my kids that crap. All in moderation. I just think; they dont know any better. Use that to create good habbits. Real strawberries. Not strawberry Gushers.

Yep- I want to do the good habits thing. Lots of fruit around the house, and veggies. Milk, water, etc. It will be a lot for DH and me to give up some of the convenience of the crappy food we eat, but I don't want our kids to grow up having to break bad habits because we were too lazy to cook them real dinners or slice up some real fruit for them.

*polarbear*

annibes:

*polarbear*:

Ever since I saw a friend of mine giving her kid McD's french fries because that is all he would eat (temper tamtrums) I was like - hell no I am not giving my kids that crap. All in moderation. I just think; they dont know any better. Use that to create good habbits. Real strawberries. Not strawberry Gushers.

Yep- I want to do the good habits thing. Lots of fruit around the house, and veggies. Milk, water, etc. It will be a lot for DH and me to give up some of the convenience of the crappy food we eat, but I don't want our kids to grow up having to break bad habits because we were too lazy to cook them real dinners or slice up some real fruit for them.

I was just thinking this too; about our current habits and life style when it comes to eating. It seems like we keep our local applebees in business. It's so gross. But when you have two professionals working 10 hrs a day - it's very hard to muster the energy to cook a great meal for two. Howver - When we have another mouth to feed; (as important as a littel growing body) that will be a different story!

triplenine

as long as it is not crappy food...if your feeding them broccoli go for it.... you can choose to feed them fried chicken and mcdonalds....if you dont want to then dont... My nephew and neice never ate fast food, and if they did,my SIL called it crap in a bag to deter them. 

My other SIL gave my 3 y o neice "Soda" cause she wanted to try it.... they gave her seltzer and she told them "i don't like soda, I want water!"

Its all how you want to feed your kid!

Manderlin923

I think it depends how conscientious people are with what they themselves put in their own mouths. If they don't think twice about ingesting zero-nutritional/unhealthy/unnatural food then why would they think twice about giving that to their kids? 

I've seen plenty of crap being put in the mouths of kids at my day care.... Strawberry poptarts, flurescent blue yogurt and sugary granola bars given to 1 year olds (and that is just for ONE breakfast meal) and have had barely any parents prefer something different be given instead. 

If you have healthy eating habits your children will learn from you I think DH and I eat very healthy but we can indulge occasionally- chocolate cupcakes for dessert. The thing is, i'd rather eat a homemade chocolate cupcake than a "lean cuisine" dinner any day of the week. So I think our child has a pretty good chance of eating healthy. After all- you control the food your child eats- if you don't want them eating crap- dont' give them any!

 

Stella's_PUMPED

My SIL let her 5 month old sip her soda while out to eat w/ the family.  My sister and I were shocked!!  Her (my SIL) daughter is 2 and already has teeth problems b/c she is allow to drink an entire soda herself!!

I'm not a huge soda drinker myself so I can't imagine giving it to a 5 month old.

Kendall13

DH gets mad when I talk about how our kid will never have fast food.  I was in highschool the first time I had Wendys.  It made me sooo sick!  I have a nephew who never eats anything other than fast food because that is usually what he gets a home.

I look at all of these over weight kids and I just hope that I set my own kid up to be more successful in the life long battle to be healthy.  I don't want to set them up from day one to have weight issues.

Dsm17

I did part of my Dietetic Internship at a Community Health Center and saw MANY parents with these same questions.  I had a set of well educated parents tell me they don't let their kinds have any sodas EXCEPT for Orange and Root Beer b/c they're caffine free.  The kicker is Orange soda has THE most sugar content out of all sodas, even Moutain Dew. 

 For those looking for a book/guide for feeding your child over their childhood anything by Ellyn Satter.  I would especially recommened "How to Get Your Kids to Eat, but not too much".  She is an RD and highly respected in our field.  Also a little bit of trivia, the WIC program uses Ellyn Satter's books as a guide for their nutrition counseling especially "Child of Mine".  Hope this helps!

penguingrrl

We feed DD everything we eat, but we are pretty healthy eaters to begin with.  We don't do organic due to cost, but we eat very natural foods such as fruit, steamed veggies, brown grains instead of white grains, lean meat.  We also do allow "treats" which include chocolate, cookies, and DD has even had McDonalds once or twice.  My general rule is that within the house we have no prepared foods, nothing containing high fructose corn syrup, and generally eat well.  If she gets treats with grandparents, aunts, etc... that's fine with me since it's how we eat every day that will set lifelong patterns.

penguingrrl

Oh, I should add that I'm very strict about soda and haven't let her near it!  We never have it in the house, so it's fairly easy to keep her from it.  If we're out and I get it (it's one of my strange pg cravings... I usually don't like it!) we tell her it's a "grown up drink" just like we do if we have an alcoholic drink.

Kendall13

Dsm17:

 For those looking for a book/guide for feeding your child over their childhood anything by Ellyn Satter.  I would especially recommened "How to Get Your Kids to Eat, but not too much".  She is an RD and highly respected in our field.  Also a little bit of trivia, the WIC program uses Ellyn Satter's books as a guide for their nutrition counseling especially "Child of Mine".  Hope this helps!

I bought Child of Mine for my sister when she was having her first.  I wonder if she still has it so that I can steal it back.

lilone_06

I'm doing my best to set good habits for DD.  Since I SAH, it's a lot easier to prepare homemade foods and nutritious meals.  Thanksfully, when I was still working, DD was still eating Gerber from the jar... I honestly don't know how I would have gotten it together to keep up the good habits we have now when I was working FT.  But I agree - it's all about the habits.  I have a sister who shoves candy or cookies or brownies in her kids (including a less than 1 year old) mouths all day long, but I think it's just because she has the same bad habit herself.

I hate to sound self--righteous, though.... I do dread the day DD can recognize the 'treats' I give myself and want them for herself.  I guess that will be a hasty end to the crap that I really don't need, anyway.