Really shocked at 8 month old eating pizza etc

[Blossomhill]

My mum's negihbour's little girl is 8 months and spends all day in a walker (which IMO is wrong). Mum rang last night to say that she had seen her with a slice of pizza (not homemade) and anotehr neighbour has seen her with kentucky and chips put on her walker tray for her to nibble on. I did laugh but know it's not at all funny when mum said she also eats toad in the hole and sucks the sausage as I was so shocked. I couldn't believe anyone could be that ignorant.
Mum says she looks ill and is very small for her age. Apparently she can't eat off of a spoon but Kentucy and chips. I am actually very

[Blossomhill]

Sorry about typos

[vict17]

sounds like a lot of gossip and hearsay perhaps?

[dinny]

oops, I gave my ds (nearly 7 months) a crust of my pizza (Sainsbury's one) yesterday lunchtime. he loved it - and pieces of tomato/cucumber too. is that an awful thing to do?

[Blossomhill]

No, not at all. My mum saw her yesterday as neighbour loves baby and had her in her house.
My mum is not like that and wouldn't spread gossip. She said she had pizza in her mouth with pepperoni on it when she saw her. Mum's worried as she looks really small and her eyes are sunken in

[Blossomhill]

Crust is fine and in moderation of course

[vict17]

sorry, didn't mean it to sound like I was disbeleiving your mum!! Poor wee thing

[colditzmum]

To be honest it depends how often the baby has stuff like this. I would have removed the pepperoni, but would probably have let baby have a taste.

Then again, the issue never really arose in my house cos when ds was 8 months old we couldn't afford to eat stuff like that ourselves, and dinner was usually chicken joints, mash and frozen peas!

[Blossomhill]

No, no offence taken . This is deadly serious and I am worried that her little kidneys won't be able to take it
Mum said she had no socks on and is constantly in the walker on a wooden floor.Hher feet were like blocks of ice

[hunkermunker]

Can the neighbour say something to the mum? Perhaps she doesn't know what to do now she's more mobile and perhaps she thinks it's OK to feed her like that? After all, if it's what the mum's eating...we all know what crappy diets some children have - but would be very worried about the baby.

[Blossomhill]

There is so many finger food alternatives. I mean toad inthe hole and kentucky. So, so salty.

[colditzmum]

A lot of people are very ignorant about salt though. I wouldn't have even thought about it, except that there was that case in the paper where that young couple had accidently killed there baby with instant gravy. My partner is very ignorant - I have had to give him a list of foods that are suitable, foods that may not be given more than once a week, and absolute no-nos!

[dinny]

wasn't it Smash, Colditzmum? Makes no difference in the end though

I'm amazed`at the crap people feed their children - even most of the well-to-do mums round here wouldn't dream of giving them fresh homemade food - would just give them ready meals. just expensive ones like M&S, Waitrose. not in same league as this poor little baby's diet though.

[colditzmum]

Probably was smash. It stuck in everyone's mind though! I am neurotic about salt, I am terrified of my wee man getting poisoned by it. Does anyone know how you can tell? Is it a gradual buildup of symptoms or is it very sudden?

[Blossomhill]

I think that's what haas rung alarm bells with me. I wouldn't even give mine meat before they were 1 as it's so hard to digest. A sausage???? Can you imagine what a strain that must have???

[hunkermunker]

DS has had all sorts of food as he tends to have pieces rather than spoon-fed things, but there is NO WAY in the world he'd have had KFC (I wouldn't eat it so he doesn't get it - not that that works the other way round!).

He has never had refined sugar, but he has had lots of things that I'm sure some mums would be horrified about (I was picking pieces of chicken and onion off my Pizza Express pizza to give him when he was about 8 months old ). He'll eat most things now - and a banana is the ultimate treat, so I don't think I've done anything too wrong

[colditzmum]

To be fair, I was advised by my health visitor to give meat fron 6 months on, so I did. I had no idea that meat puts a strain on a baby's system, because you don't know until you are told!

Maybe someone should have words with the baby's mum, failing that, contacting the health visitors? Depending on where she lives, she may not have had a visit for a long time!

[Blossomhill]

Yes but there is a big difference between that and emptying chips and a chicken drumstick for the baby to nibble on and scoot round in her walker.

[hunkermunker]

Meat's fine from six months.

[hunkermunker]

But not KFC, it's debatable that's meat at all!

[colditzmum]

I see what you mean. Have you met the lady involved? Does she strike you as ignorant or just very lazy?

Cos if she's just ignorant, she might not mind being told what a baby shouldn't be eating, I would have welcomed it.

[Blossomhill]

Very ignorant, chavish even (please don't all have a go).

[colditzmum]

Print off a leaflet about the dangers of salt with young babies, and just post it through her door! Then you have done what you can.

[Blossomhill]

It was just when mum said her eyes were sunken in. I thought she's probably dehydrated with all of the salt. Asked my mum what she drank. Mum said probably coke in a bottle!!!

[dinny]

HM, my man is becoming expert at self-feeding and wants everything we have. Our boys will be able to discuss their tastes further when we meet !
Coldizmum, don't need to worry about salt build-up if you know exactly what goes into everything you give your ds ie. it's homemade (and you don't add salt/high-salt ingredients, obviously.)

[Fran1]

I'm sorry but can you not leave people to do what they want? I would be devastated if my neighbours were ringing around discussing what my baby eats and does?
Does the neighbour see the baby for an entire 12hours in the walker? or does it just so happen that she has seen her in it a few times and made assumptions.

My dd joined in with every meal we had from 8mths on, mostly healthy homecooked, but sometimes takeaways, and often pizza in pizza express at lunchtimes! Does this mean that if a neighbour watched me go to pizza express a couple of times they'd start wondering if they ought to come and have a friendly "chat" with me about my dd's diet?