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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

for thinking it's not ok for my 9mo to have alcohol

61 replies

fetamore · 10/03/2012 01:48

For thinking it's NOT OK for a 9 month old baby to have alcohol. Even if it is licking wine off someone's finger.
Ok, so I'm not talking about a bottle of beer but I don't think I'm being PFB either.

OP posts:
claireinmodena · 10/03/2012 02:13

YA most definitely NBU, i have seen it done and think its outrages! Ok maybe the amount is so small it wont damage the baby for life, but it is soooo unnecessary!

I have seen it done with cocacola too on a much younger baby. Absolutely stupid imo!

trikken · 10/03/2012 04:03

yanbu. my step dad gave dd alcohol after being warned not to by me and he did it when I had to pop to the loo then gloated about it. I was very cross and did have a go at him but very nearly walked out of the house. there isnt a reasob for babies or children to have alcohol and is illegal to give it to them.

Scheherezade · 10/03/2012 05:23

No different to drinking when pregnant...

Parietal · 10/03/2012 05:58

Don't see any harm in a lick of wine from a finger if it isnt happening often. My brother was drunk on champagne at his christening from finger tastes.

tholeon · 10/03/2012 06:57

Read somewhere once that this can actually be quite dangerous. Which isn't what I read about drinking small amounts when pregnant. Would be v cross if anyone did it to my baby. They shouldn't be given anything without parents permission anyway, let alone alcohol.

CailinDana · 10/03/2012 06:58

YANBU. Alcohol is a poison.

DinahMoHum · 10/03/2012 06:59

so i wasnt supposed to put a tot of whisky in his bottle then?

Alibabaandthe40nappies · 10/03/2012 07:02

Scherezade that is about the stupidest thing I've read in a while.

Of course it is different...

troisgarcons · 10/03/2012 07:03

I suppose the recipe has changed but gripe water and the like used tocontain alcohol.

I would be surprised if a babies taste buds would be refined enough to 'like' the taste - I would have thought they wouldspit it out in disgust. Children don't like alcohol as a rule, because its bitter tasting and bitter is (too early in the morning, forget the word) a legacy from much earlier in evolutionary days where bitter indicated poison.

Floggingmolly · 10/03/2012 09:27

Parietal. Can we assume that's a joke? Hmm

SoftKittyWarmKitty · 10/03/2012 11:32

I would go fucking ballistic if anyone gave my child alcohol, and he's a lot older at 5. It's a poison and I'd no more give a child alcohol than I would cyanide.

My friend's DH let their kids drink from his pint at a christening and that was many years ago when the eldest was about 3 and the youngest was a baby. I was shocked at the amount of people who smiled and awwwwed at how 'cute' it was Hmm. I made a 'what are you doing that for' type comment (can't recall exactly what I said, it was ages ago) and he was like 'a bit of beer won't kill them'. Twat.

KateSpade · 10/03/2012 11:36

You are not at all bu
I thought it was out of order when my brother tried to let my dd 5mo lick a bit of his pizza!
But alcohol I'd be Hmm at why they thought it was a good idea?

bobbledunk · 10/03/2012 11:53

yadnbu, I can only imagine myself smashing the bottle over the head of anyone who tried to do that to mine.

Original poster
fetamore · 10/03/2012 11:54

Thank you people!

OP posts:
Gapants · 10/03/2012 12:00

Why do people do that? Is it the taboo factor? What will be next, a quick puff on a ciggie? Madness.

lumpymash · 10/03/2012 12:05

What is the purpose to giving them a taste of it at all?
I've seen people giving sips of beer to a toddler at a wedding because they thought it funny...only for the little boy to vomit everywhere.

Turns out almost everyone in his family had given him a couple of sips here and there so it built up. Angry
They didn't think it was so funny when everyone realised what they'd been doing...then the bride walked through the sick in her dress.

LilBlondePessimist · 10/03/2012 12:12

I just can't understand why anyone would......... what the hell is the point in doing that? Terrible thing for any adult to do! YADNBU!

RedFlagFlying · 10/03/2012 12:14

My Dh's aunty gave my 6 mth old baby a swig of white wine once. She couldn't understand why I was furious. Thick as pigshit, some people.

sashh · 11/03/2012 03:53

A number of years ago I atgtended a wedding in January - the bridesmaids all had short sleved dresses and the photos were taken outside.

As soon as we got to the reception we were met with a tray of sherry (yes it was that long ago) a well meannning aunt gave the bridesmaids a tot 'to warm you up', the problem was several other aunts, grandparents, grown ups - result, one drunk 7 year old bridesmaid.

iscream · 11/03/2012 04:13

In the "olden days" before they had Tylenol and teething gel people would rub alcohol on their gums, so I heard, for teething pain. However it is no longer the dark ages and I would definitely tell off anyone who did that to my child.
I have to hide this thread in case people come along saying it is ok.

And the drunken 7 year old, I would have gone ballistic! Warm them up? First of all, not their child to give booze to, second of all, a cuddle for a minute or two would have warmed her up.

Judester24 · 11/03/2012 07:27

YANBU why on earth would anyone think it's ok to give a baby alcohol???
There is no reason for this at all, some people think babies are there to provide entertainment, and this is a sort of party trick to see if the baby likes the taste. It's just bonkers.

MrsPotter · 11/03/2012 07:34

I fed my 8 month old dd choc philidelphia on toast yesterday and ive felt horrible about it but its nowhere near as bad as alcohol!

troisgarcons · 11/03/2012 07:34

O/T Other cultures - the French for example - allow watered down wine. They don't appear to haved the Saturday night 'fight night' as youths spill out of pubs and clubs, nor to they have the vomiting in the street and girls falling over pised out of thier heads.

Making something taboo only serves to increase interest in it.

And it's perfectly legal in the UK to serve a 5yo wine with a meal in a restaurant.

I remember being given a thimble full of champagne at a silver wedding party - vile stuff, straight in the nearest plant pot. I cannot see, for the life of me, that a child would like the taste of neat alcohol. Its horrible.

Thats why they made alco-pops - all sugar to appeal to younger taste buds.

Debs75 · 11/03/2012 07:51

It really pisses me off too. I have some friends like that and they all think out is hilarious to watch a 9 month old baby glug beer out it's bottle. They are also the type of people who blow smoke into said babies face because they can't be arsed to go outside to smoke. Any wonder I haven't seen them in months.

When did it become legal to serve a 5 year old wine in a restaurant?

troisgarcons · 11/03/2012 07:53

It always has been.

Many peculiar little laws in the UK - like in Chester it's still legal to shoot a Welshman with a bow and arrow after midnight!