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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

About giving a baby/toddler tea?

130 replies

WannabeNigella · 30/03/2011 17:00

I have heard a few people mention it over the last few months at baby groups etc and I'm a bit miffed?

Why would you give a baby/toddler tea? I'm talking anything between 10 months to under 2yrs in particular. Even if it is decaf, why?

I just can't think of a reason, apart from a selfish one, such as maybe you want them to have some with you cause you're having one. Even in cold weather, what is wrong with warm milk or some sugar free Horlicks etc if you really must.

I just don't get it, or AIBU and you're about to flame me and my 4yr old and 18month old are "missing out"

OP posts:
toomuchmonthatendofthemoney · 30/03/2011 23:07

i would never give ds 4.10 tea or coffee as he is hard enough to keep up with normally, never mind on a caffeine high! why would you want to start your children on a drug (albeit mild, but it still has an addictive effect, as all us tea/coffee drinkers should be aware) so early in life?

mind you, ds would drink apple juice till it was coming out of his ears if i let him so maybe we all have potential addictive personalities anyway???

WinterOfOurDiscountTents · 30/03/2011 23:53

oh stop with the absorbing iron bollocks, if its something you read in a magazine it ain't science*.

*There is a basis in fact but not at all as simplistic as :kids can't have tea cos they won't absorb iron innit.

BeerTricksPotter · 30/03/2011 23:59

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Morloth · 31/03/2011 00:27

DS1 hasn't shown any interest in tea, unless he is sick when I make him a cup of tea with honey and some vegemite toast.

Which is what pretty much cures all ills in our house.

Ryoko · 31/03/2011 01:19

I gave my son a weal sugar tea today, whats wrong with that makes a change from milk and fruit juice.

Tea if good for you anyway.

MrsBananaGrabber · 31/03/2011 01:49

Not read the thread but babies/toddlers and tea = common.

worraliberty · 31/03/2011 01:55

How weird that it should be seen as 'common' or a 'grown ups' drink?

I never gave my kids tea but I drank it as a small child. If my kids had shown an interest, I would have given them decaf tea.

And as for 'unnecessary' well aren't all drinks apart from milk and water unnecessary to small children?

MrsBananaGrabber · 31/03/2011 02:02

I think the common thing comes from people whom had a working class upbringing seeing babies with bottles of tea. Maybe it's irrational I don't know.

Tortoiseonthehalfshell · 31/03/2011 02:51

Mine drinks decaf, because she's obsessed with having the same drink as the grown-ups. My Mum drinks a lot of decaf green tea and started making DD a small cup, so now I make her a small decaf when I make Mum a pot of Russian Caravan. She only has about four sips.

Similarly, I give her a small glass of fizzy water with ice cubes when DH and I want a G&T of a Saturday evening, and she has a babycino when I go to a coffee shop. I'd have not planned any of this, but it's a pretty harmless way to retain little adult indulgences.

SuiGeneris · 31/03/2011 06:38

children having caffeinated drinks= v weird. I am not English, have never seen it happen IRL, but why would you? Plenty of time for that when they are older- I was in senior school (14+) when I started having tea and the occasional coffee. Peppermint/fennel/chamomile are totally different though, but stiill would not give them normally- prob only if illl and refusing other drinks. V culture-specific though...

HecateTheCrone · 31/03/2011 06:44

It's a very northern thing I think.

Where I grew up, toddlers (and yes I do mean toddlers) wandering round the estate sucking from a bottle of tea was something I saw a lot.

mummytime · 31/03/2011 06:46

SuiGeneris - I am English and I wouldn't give tea of coffee, although when DC3 go to about 18 months liked finishing the dregs of my drinks.

Also DC1 has drunk the occasional cup of tea since he was 11 ish. He started drinking it when we were camping once. But then all my kids have drunk coke or other caffeinated soft drinks before then.

However, a friends Hungarian girlfriend thought everyone gave their v. small children milky tea.

countless · 31/03/2011 07:07

i used to be horrified by the idea of children drinking tea, snobbery at it's root. i suppose i assosciated it with poverty and dubious child rearing. along with children eating refined sugars/ processed foods/ salt etc
i was very pious about parenting first time around..
but behold my 2nd run of toddlers dunking biscuits into tea.. dd 1 saw a friend's child drinking tea and became obsessed so i do dunk my tea bag into a wee cup of milk and top with hot water and this weak tea is guzzled with delight
an occasional treat and as with most things, not a big deal really. although i understand the cringe factor of children requesting tea

Sweetpea215 · 31/03/2011 07:13

I love the way this thread is turning.... Confused

So it's not only terribly unhealthy for kids to have a morsel of tea pass their lips...but now it's also now really "common" (need a rolling eyes emoticom).

How ignorant a comment is that....what a sweeping generalisation!

For the record...there is nothing "common" about my little nephew's family...he just likes his tiny cup of milky tea as a treat when he visit's his Grandma. Oh....he's not Northern either (shock, horror)!

Sweetpea215 · 31/03/2011 07:15

Oh yes...little nephew also likes to dunk a rich tea finger in his!

I suppose he has now reached an all time low!

mitochondria · 31/03/2011 07:16

I don't think it's just northern - although I live in Yorkshire now my family are from the IOW and we've always given children tea.

I wouldn't say we were "common" (horrible phrase) either.

Good point mummytime that there is also caffeine in coke - mine rarely have fizzy drinks. I think tea preferable?

And yes, they could have milk or water. But they like tea.

(they occasionally have "coffee" too - about 3 grains of instant in hot milk)

HecateTheCrone · 31/03/2011 07:22

The reason I said i thought it was a northern thing is that I saw it all the time when I was growing up but as an adult I lived in hemel for several years and never saw it once.

It was in no way an attack on anything northern Hmm

mitochondria · 31/03/2011 07:26

Hecate - I think it's generational - it's dying out as people become more and more horrified by the idea of a small child drinking tea.

scottishmummy · 31/03/2011 07:28

an auld biddie thing,ma granny gave us all tea (and in bottle too).tsk tsk

Skinit · 31/03/2011 07:34

Are peoplegetting it mixed up with actual baby tea... like this stuff

scottishmummy · 31/03/2011 07:46

jesus wept how poncey is that baby tea,what next organic baby latte

RitaMorgan · 31/03/2011 07:48

No Skinit, tea - as in Tetley.

scottishmummy · 31/03/2011 07:49

def had tea as a wean,i recall it vividly

GwendolineMaryLacey · 31/03/2011 07:50

This subject comes up every so often and slashes descends into a slanging match where tea = common.

DD used to (and still does) nick the dregs of my cup. Once in a blue moon she wants a cup of her own, which is half milk, half water and my tea bag. She likes it, it's no big deal, it's not an adult drink, that's stupid, whiskey is an adult drink. She has never had it in a bottle but quite frankly if I had felt like giving it to her in one then that's what I would have done. Not really bothered if that raises the eyebrows of those bashing their gums about the evils of caffeine.

Skinit · 31/03/2011 07:50

Well they do say it helps babies with stomach trouble scttishMummy....I expect you think blankets and toys are poncey though.

Grin