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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

to not want my baby to be given chocolate?

55 replies

MatchsticksForMyEyes · 28/03/2011 12:24

My Grandma broke off a bit of chocolate and was about to give it to my 10mth old. I told her he wasn't to have any and she was a bit Confused

He isn't my first, so it isn't me being pfb I think, but it was clearly a mystery to her as to why I wouldn't let him have any.

OP posts:
lesley33 · 28/03/2011 12:25

YANBU as long as you weren't rude in how you said it to her.

GeekCool · 28/03/2011 12:25

YANBU IMO. I was the same, I didn't see the need, BUT there is a way in telling people lol

VinegarTits · 28/03/2011 12:25

i think your being a bit precious

exhausted2011 · 28/03/2011 12:26

arww, poor Grandma
that's what they do, don't ya know!!

MmeLindt · 28/03/2011 12:26

Yabu

It was not cocaine, a wee bit of choc won't harm him.

DramaInPyjamas · 28/03/2011 12:27

That's what grannies do. It's their job

GloriaSmut · 28/03/2011 12:30

Actually, it's not the job of grandmas to feed chocolate to babies. Babies being far better kept away from such temptations as long as possible. I didn't feed chocolate to my children at this age and I don't intend to be any different with my dgd - fortunately, her parents agree!

Original poster
MatchsticksForMyEyes · 28/03/2011 12:31

Just told her there was plenty of time for him to badger me for choc etc. I let DD (3) have it, just think babies don't 'need' to be eating chocolate!

OP posts:
exhausted2011 · 28/03/2011 12:33

of course they don't need it, she saw it as a treat
just tell her you don't really want him having it.
But really if it's once in a while, what harm is it going to do.
I'm actually with you on this, I have had to ask the same thing.
But just maybe not get so worked up about it, it's not the end of the world

GwendolineMaryLacey · 28/03/2011 12:33

No one 'needs' to eat chocolate. Unless she was trying to force a mars bar down his gullet then I think YAB a little U. The odd bit here and there is not worth getting in a tizz about.

bubbleymummy · 28/03/2011 12:34

Yanbu. I totally agree :) Babies don't need chocolate, they don't know what it is and they are just as happy with a piece of fruit! :)

Original poster
MatchsticksForMyEyes · 28/03/2011 12:38

Wasn't worked up about it, just posted on here to see if it is just me that feels like this :)

OP posts:
MadameOvary · 28/03/2011 12:40

Exactly bubbley, they dont know what it is.
I dont care how precious it sounds. DD was about 2.5 before she had regular chocolate as a treat.
I'll never forget seeing a baby (6 m/o) being fed white chocolate buttons and then being sick. Idiots.

Cat98 · 28/03/2011 13:15

Yanbu. This kind of thing drives me mad!

sims2fan · 28/03/2011 14:50

The very first time my mum left my brother with anyone, it was with our grandparents, for about an hour while she had a cup of tea at her SIL's down the road. Brother was about 4 months old and my parents were staying at grandparents for the first time since his birth. Mum and dad came back, picked him up for a cuddle and my mum could smell chocolate on his breath. "Has he had chocolate?" she asked. "Oh no" replied PILs, but my mum just knew that they had given it to him. She says she could have had a blazing row with them, but as they lived a long way away and wouldn't see them all that often she let it go, but she was cross.

My first taste of it was at about 6 months, sitting up in my pram, and a woman my mum knew from church just popped a piece of chocolate in my mouth, and of course I'd swallowed it before my mum could do anything! Lol.

I think there's a difference between grandparents spoiling their grandchildren and in giving them things that they haven't checked that the kids are at least allowed sometimes. I would take my 3 year old nephew out for an ice cream because I know he gets them all the time. I wouldn't give ice cream to his baby cousin though until I know that his parents have started giving it to him.

annababy · 28/03/2011 14:56

Yanbu,I am the same with my dts,I realise the day will come when they will ask for it but until then it's no chocolate/sweets etc. Nothing pfb about that!

meaniemo · 28/03/2011 15:00

YANBU Im so sick of Grandparents thinking it's ok to feed sweet things. How about showing affection in other ways that don't involve food? Or am IBU in hoping that it's possible to have a special relationship without a food element??

HipHopopotomus · 28/03/2011 15:06

YANBU! The only person who could possibly gain anything positive out of that transaction was the Grandmother - she was only thinking of herself, and how 'good' SHE would feel by giving the baby chocolate.

It will all come eventually for sure - but surely the later the better for all concerned. My sister thought I was CRUEL not giving my baby chocolate/sweets - I just laughed at her Grin

Melly19MummyToBe · 28/03/2011 15:07

No YADNBU! I haven't had this yet as my baby is still in me :) but when my sister had her DS she specifically told her PILs that he wasn't allowed chocolates, sweets, crisps etc, they totally ignored her and fed him all sorts. I remember once I was in town and saw my nephew with his GPs and he had a bag of quavers, I think he was only about 9, maybe 10 months old! I couldn't believe it as I knew how my sister felt about him having all that sort of stuff. My sister got him a chocolate cake for his 1st birthday and he knew exactly what it was even though "he's never had it before" and he wolfed it down!

mousymouse · 28/03/2011 15:08

yanbu - I didn't give my dc any chocolate or sweets in their first year, wanted to give the first chocolate to them myself.

squeakytoy · 28/03/2011 15:13

Maybe most grandparents dont realise what anxious, neurotic and quite frankly, ridiculously precious and over-protective parents their children have become these days.

A tiny amount of chocolate is not going to turn any child into suffering a life of obesity, nor is a bit of ice-cream, or any other taste of sugar.

All of you who put these bans in place, and dictate to your parents (who, by the way, managed to raise you and not kill you with chocolate bars or fruit shoots), are in danger of being here in a few years, posting that your parents dont show any interest in your darling children. Its because your OTT parenting has made them too bloody scared to look after your children, for fear of feeding them the wrong thing, or telling them off, or buying them a pair of shoes...

I have just been shopping with my MIL, who spent years running a health food shop, and is perfectly knowledgable about nutrition and diet, and she would love to buy her great-grandchildren Easter eggs, but is too scared to do it in case she offends her grandchildren.

reelingintheyears · 28/03/2011 15:15

Well said squeakytoy...

HipHopopotomus · 28/03/2011 15:23

"Maybe most grandparents dont realise what anxious, neurotic and quite frankly, ridiculously precious and over-protective parents their children have become these days."

There is nothing at all necessarily anxious, neurotic or ridiculous about not wanting a baby to be eating chocolate or sweets. It's a personal choice down to the parents. Why would a grandparent want to push such foods onto a baby is the question really?

nethunsreject · 28/03/2011 15:29

Yanbu at all.

So long as you were polite about it, nothing wrong at all.

pigletmania · 28/03/2011 15:32

Not my mum, she would more likely to give a baby Ryvita or "wholemeal" bread than chocolate