To give my 15 month old a cup of tea?

[lifeas3plus1]

We've woken up to a pretty cold house this morning and ds feels and looks like he could do with a warm drink.

He will only drink milk straight from the fridge bur he keeps trying to get his mouth around my cup of tea

I have Some rooibos tea (naturally caffine free) from when my mom stayed over and it will obviously only be warm not hot.

That'll be ok right? Or am I missing something here?

It isn't the caffeine which prevents iron absorption, it's the tannins which AFAIK are still in the caffeine-free tea.

A bit won't do any harm, but I wouldn't do it regularly.

OP - nothing wrong with Rooibos - It's caffeine free, it's full of antioxidants. My mum practically weaned my siblings and I on rooibos. Think some people are not reading the part about it being rooibos!

DS like "kid tea" which is either peppermint or lemon ginger with a little honey.

Another one who thinks people are reading black tea when you are actually talking about Rooibos.

As others have said, Rooibos is a common drink for children in SA, where it is considered very good for treating colic. It has no caffeine and very low tannin levels compared to black and green tea.

In fact, you might almost say that it's a completely different drink

I'm pretty certain giving him tea will NOT make you a bad mother! There's certainly worse things you could give him than tea!

People shouldn't get too hung up on caffeine, there is caffeine in chocolate too, don't see anyone worrying too much about that one though!

mummlish - the amount of caffine in chocolate is miniscule in comparison to caffine in tea/coffee.

Rooibos is very healthy - much more so than Ovaltine etc (less sugars). Mind you, if ds would only take it, I wouldn't mind giving him that either.

Random internet search, so make of it what you want, but honestly, there has been proper studies into it and it is regarded as safe.

Apparently I self weaned at 6 months from BF to a sippy cup of tea, and appear to have hit nearly 40 with no lasting effects other than an addiction to tea

My child also has enjoyed a very milky cup of tea from a young age

Let him have it, especially if it's caffiene free.

I'm not sure why tbh, but I would never give my kids tea. I don't drink much of it myself though. They regulary have tea when they go to their Dad's though, as he lives with his Mum and she's addicted to the stuff. I hated the idea of it at first, but chose not to have that particular battle! It's never done their Dad or his siblings any harm, and they were all brought up on tea. They all have lovely teeth and are healthy.

Nowt wrong with 'titty tea' as my ds used to call it!!!!

YANBU

my dd used to wake up and shout out of her cot
"daddy cup of tea" every morning form an early age

I'm with Jason. I and both my DDs drank tea from a very early age. We are still here, healthy and fine.

Tea is gods own drink imho.

my ds is 20 months and loves his tea. all my dc's have been raised on tea and they are all perfectly healthy kids

Love the idea that a one off cup of tea (if it wasn't Rooibos) will stop the iron absorption for the rest of their lives . Or maybe, more realistically and less judgily, for a couple of hours while it's in the system?