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Original poster

Baby drinking coke from a bottle

259 replies

papergate · 01/06/2019 22:00

Saw this earlier and was horrified!

Baby maybe just over a year old crying in pushchair.

Mum gets bottle of full fat coke out from under the pram, fills up babies bottle and hands it to the baby.

I honestly cried when I saw the baby guzzling down the cola like it was milk.

How can anyone think this is acceptable?

OP posts:
ReganSomerset · 02/06/2019 09:19

I'd rather be the type of person who empathises with a wee kid than who invents logical gymnastics to make it somehow a silly thing to do.

I sympathise, believe me- I've taught kids who've had all their baby teeth removed due to damage- but if you're going to openly weep about another parent's beverage choice, having seen only a snapshot of their life and then presumed the worst, you're in for a rough time.

howwudufeel · 02/06/2019 09:25

If you really had worked with children who have had all their teeth removed under GA you wouldn’t talk so flippantly about ‘beverage choices.’

FookMeFookYou · 02/06/2019 09:29

Honestly I can't believe some of the comments. OP I agree with you totally - I understand why you cried based on your comments of your own childhood and had I of seen that it would have stayed with me all day because, let's face it what excuse is there for giving that to a baby.

With all the information available to us these days how can anyone think that it's ok. There is no nutritional value and these drinks are not mass produced to help hydrate, they are simply a way for consumers to sack a load of sugar.

If this woman had the mind to have a drink ready for herself, why not have one ready for the child.

As for tea, tea is full of caffeine and caffeine is a drug. Sugar is addictive, caffeine is addictive. Why set your kids up for bad habits when you have a choice to give them something healthier.

I'm not Mother Earth and it isn't my business what other ppl do but claiming ignorance to justify what deep down you must know isn't the best choice doesn't cut it.

Interested in this thread?

Then you might like threads about this subject:

Families
YourSarcasmIsDripping · 02/06/2019 09:34

When DD was about 3 we were in the middle of a huge park with wooded areas. Not a shop in sight. It was ridiculously hot and she was tired and whinging she was thirsty. She had a water bottle but it was empty by then. I had some Fanta left in my bottle(could've easily been coke instead). Yes,i gave it to her. And I'm sure it looked even worse as I actually had to coax her into drinking it since she hated fizzy drinks

4 years on and she still doesn't drink fizzy drinks and she's not neglected in any way shape or firm.

ReganSomerset · 02/06/2019 09:35

If you really had worked with children who have had all their teeth removed under GA you wouldn’t talk so flippantly about ‘beverage choices

Disbelieve me if you want, it is true. To be fair, it's not anywhere near the top of the scale of poor parenting, abuse and neglect I've seen. It's not ideal by any stretch, but the kids adapt pretty well and their next set come in not long after. I do feel for them, but if I openly wept in response every time a parent made poor choices I'd never have dry eyes. Also, this was a single instance observed, we don't know that it's a pattern of behaviour.

MorrisZapp · 02/06/2019 09:35

And if a child needs a sugary drink for energy levels then apple juice has as much sugar as coke, only without caffeine and all the other shite. Apple juice in cartons doesn't need to be chilled. I don't believe that any parent in a city would need to use coke to get sugary liquid into a child.

TheDeflector · 02/06/2019 09:37

As an ex-dental nurse, many moons ago, I learned that fruit juice was worse for teeth than fizz, due to the acidity. Would you have passed the same judgement on a mother giving a baby orange juice from a carton?

SinkGirl · 02/06/2019 09:59

I really don’t understand your attitude. You seem to have a load of reasons why you don’t carry the medication he needs. What if you are out and about and can’t get access to Coco Cola?

I don’t have loads of reasons - I have one reason: insufficient quantities of prescription medication that needs premixing and disposing of if unused. When you have a child who’s medicated and only has hypos a couple of times a week, you don’t mix up limited prescription treatment and then bin it every time you leave the house when you get a limited quantity (especially when it’s only prescribed via their consultant because their GP has no idea what it is!).

I had a bottle of coke in our nappy bag for this very reason. On the few times I had to use it, it was very effective until I was able to get his levels up enough to feed him.

Yes, hyperinsulinism is rare. Hypos are not, however. I know parents who, at a push, have given their kids jelly babies, gummy bears, haribo, coke, tubes of icing to eat (see what happens when you do that in public). Many of those parents, especially if their kid has KH, don’t get a monitor or sufficient hypo treatments at all and are told explicitly to give a sugary drink.

My point is, judging someone’s parenting out of context based on a passing moment is unwise when you don’t know their situation.

ReganSomerset · 02/06/2019 10:03

My point is, judging someone’s parenting out of context based on a passing moment is unwise when you don’t know their situation.

Totally agree.

SinkGirl · 02/06/2019 10:04

I don't believe that any parent in a city would need to use coke to get sugary liquid into a child.

Why comment on something you clearly don’t know about?

Fructose is not as effective at managing hypoglycaemia as glucose, dextrose or sucrose

professional.diabetes.org/abstract/effectiveness-glucose-sucrose-and-fructose-treating-hypoglycemia-children-type-1-diabetes

As shown here, eating some skittles is as effective as more expensive / prescription dextrose treatments. I’m sure a parent would be judged for giving skittles just as much as coke.

nakedscientist · 02/06/2019 10:10

*Oh for god’s sake. It is shitty parenting. It is rubbish. All these people making excuses, you know it’s really not good enough.

As for tears, perhaps the OP sees it as more than coke. She knows that this child’s parent is at best clueless, or at worst, neglectful. She’s sad for what the coke most likely represents*

I fully agree with this.

As to the pp that said social workers are MC white people, well they are certainly not where I live!

I am surprised that OP is shamed for crying, why is it so bad to cry?

As to judgement, everyone here has judged. Surely your judgement of her tears ( not hurting anyone) is just as bad/worse than her judgement of the coke drinking baby ( where there is harm)?

I'm with you OP and I may well have cried too and I am not ashamed of that.

Dancingbea · 02/06/2019 10:12

Yep have been in same situation as yoursarcasm. Boiling hot tube, thirsty toddler in a buggy. I poured some of my Pepsi in a bottle for her. She’s alive. Honestly, why can’t we all start from the assumption that we are all trying to do the best for our kids in the context we find ourselves in.

nakedscientist · 02/06/2019 10:13

why can’t we all start from the assumption that we are all trying to do the best for our kids in the context we find ourselves in.

It is this attitude that allows children to be abused and neglected every day in our country.

cookiechomper · 02/06/2019 10:17

Maybe it was all she had on her. I've given my kids Diet Coke in a bottle when all their drink is gone, they're thirsty and that's all I've got on me. You've only seen a snapshot into their life, so not enough to judge.
However, I know someone whose kids regularly have bottles of full fat Coke before bed. They have black teeth as a result and I think it's wrong.

Pinkvoid · 02/06/2019 10:57

I saw this myself the other day. Family with a 12 month old (at a guess but definitely no older than 14 months), the Mum drank some Pepsi then gave the baby some... I was aghast.

MrsMiggins37 · 02/06/2019 14:07

*why can’t we all start from the assumption that we are all trying to do the best for our kids in the context we find ourselves in.

It is this attitude that allows children to be abused and neglected every day in our country*

Agree.

pitterpatterbaby · 02/06/2019 14:17

I've seen this before. I was equally mortified! Know exactly how you feel op

Nyctophilia · 02/06/2019 14:24

I would have cried too, but my smelling salts would have brought me back to reality quickly....

DappledThings · 02/06/2019 14:24

pitterpatterbaby Why were you embarrassed?

BlackPrism · 02/06/2019 14:43

'Full fat come' - so regular?

BlackPrism · 02/06/2019 14:51

And the 'generation of today' aka late millennials/ GenZ don't usually have kids yet so not sure why you're saying that.

Moodyfoodie · 02/06/2019 14:55

Oh hear we go..

'it was a one off', 'parent forgot the water, baby was thirsty' etc etc etc.

No, utterly shit parenting and poor kid will grow up the same and probably feed it to her own DC's. No excuses, except on mumsnet!

Moodyfoodie · 02/06/2019 14:56

*here

starzig · 02/06/2019 15:04

If it is Pepsi YANBU. If it is red then YABVVU

BlackPrism · 02/06/2019 15:06

@DappledThings I've never heard anyone use full fat in that way... it means full calories. I don't know anyone who would ever use it to mean full alcohol or caffeine

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