AIBU in thinking that people that pour tea into their baby's bottle...

[Facebookhurtsmybrain]

ARE CHAVS?

I've just seen a woman in the park pour a cup of tea into her baby's bottle, add milk and then give it to her baby. Is this some sort of chavy behaviour or do normal people do this?

AIBU in thinking WTF

Anyway it's not a baby.

It's a strapping 18 month old.

If this child was 18 months old, I'd be bothered about the bottle, tbh. Not the tea.

It's wise not to give a young child tea because of the risk of aneamia, however if the child is otherwise healthy and well fed it will probably be ok. I drank tea by the bucketload as a kid and still do. It's not poison.

Like hecate and getorf said, it's more common in poorer sections of society where people tend to be less well educated about nutrition. However, it's shitty to sneer and call people chavs.

Plus, 'chavs' are actually normal people! It's pretty fucked up to judge someone as not fully human just because they are poor, dress a certain way and don't have a healthy lifestyle.

I think there are age, class and regional elements to this - ie it used to be common and some older people still think it's normal. Also probably more w-class - none of us naice NCT mums would dream of giving tea to our kids. And regional - I remember taking my dd aged 2 home to south Wales, and was surprised at the number of friends who offered her tea to drink. Mind you they were mostly either elderly or working-class or both, so maybe not a regional thing at all:-)

Seriously, though, tea has no nutritional value so it's just being used as a way of filling a child up instead of giving it something that does have nutritional value such as milk or, er, food. So not a good idea.

Dont use the word chav unless you are one.
Its fucking rude.

Where do we stand on Bovril?

i wouldn't bother tethers

in this heat it'll be really sticky and melty

Hackmum-how do you know any of us 'working class' mums are using tea to 'fill a child up'? I give it to my DD as a drink, simple as-she has 3 meals a day & snacks in between, all very nutritional things to I might add. She also has milk, water & fruit juice to drink. Very presumptuous of you-also very irritating

Bovril that on the other hand i definetly would not put in a bottle

A bottle of lukewarm tea does no harm & is natural, much better than fruit juices and squashes that either have tons of sugar in them or artificial sweetners.
I couldn't care less if anyone thought i was a chav or not tbh, im quite happy with my life and if i want to wear a tracksuit and gold earrings so i shall

I once saw a girl giving her toddler a bottle of lager and black!!

Hackmum I'm pretty sure its's being used as a drink not as an alternative to food. Could be wrong.

I'm as naice and NCT as they come I really am and I cannot believe we are judging people on flipping tea now. That isn't 'naice' at all.

Haha at no nutritional value!! I don't give my baby black tea! It's basically tea flavour milk! You know milk?? The stuff babies live off

Hack mum, honestly!

pumpkin it does do harm it blocks iron absorption, according to the SACN report 2010 25-34% of UK children aged 1.5-3.5yrs are at risk from iron deficiency. Low iron is not always obvious, those "it done me no harm"ers actually have no clue if it has. So if iron is already an issue due to low haem iron sources in the diet, lack of vit c to help absorption etc why give tea to potentially increase the issue when there are plenty of alternatives?

The report also showed the most likely children to be at risk are those from low income or manual labour households, or those of Asian descent.

And I saw this as someone who is fully aware dds nutritional balance is below par, it's a concern.

But if your dc have a normal healthy diet and no health issues i cant see a problem.
Why is it assumed people on low incomes don't feed their dcs healthily in these statistics ? Fruit, veg, carbs &, meat and dairy can all be bought as reasonable prices now thanks to aldi, lidl etc.
All my dcs have had tea since about 18m and its done them no harm whatsoever, and as for having bottles neither have they, dentist say their teeth are perfect

At what age is it acceptable to give children coffee, though?
I remember drinking milky Mellow Birds from the age of seven or so (my mum used to keep the good stuff away from me, until I drank some at a relative's house aged 11) and I'm a bloody caffeine fiend now.
I'm not contemplating giving it to DS or DD (aged 5 and 3) just yet, but DS has asked for a taste in the past and DD asks about it.
A friend has a 15-year-old son and still won't allow him coffee, which I think is extreme, but obvs it's up to them.
Just wondering where, in the murky (like the dregs of my coffee...) middle ground between 5 and 15 it becomes OK to introduce coffee of any strength.

Whaddya fink?

So LST, is it a bit of tea and breast milk or formula? I thought babies were not supposed to have cows milk?

I allowed my pfb a v weak mellow birds from about 5 but she isn't that keen and prefers tea (shes 9 now) and my 6yo dd doesn't really show an interest in tea or coffee yet whereas my 3 yo and 22mo love a cuppa tea (not allowed coffee yet)

BarredfromhavingStella: "Very presumptuous of you-also very irritating."

I do my best:-)

The thing about any drink that isn't water is that it will fill you up and make you less hungry. This isn't too bad if the drink has some nutritional value (milk, for example), but it's not a good idea if the drink has no nutritional value, as your child is less likely to be hungry enough to eat a proper meal later.

HTH.

pumpkin i'm not assuming i'm repeating the report, statistically they are the most at risk group. That doesn't mean all it means more likely there is a difference.

What i'm saying is iron deficiency often goes unnoticed, so you don't know its done no harm I hate the saying, unless they have had their iron levels tested, have they?

Why give something if it could cause issues when there are plenty of alternatives, other than as an occasional treat? I just don't get the logic.

softly it would be more accurate to say it may do harm. Milk in a bottle may harm teeth and is probably best avoided. Fruit juice in any form may harm teeth and is probably best avoided.

Ideally our children would only drink water and herb teas. But since few adults manage this and dehydration is generally fatal quite rapidly compromising here and there is not the end of the world. Of the ways we compromise milky weak tea doesn't seem like the worst crime.

I think I probably would draw the line at lager and black.

Coffee has about 25mg per cup more caffeine than tea (75mg for a mug on average) whereas a can of energy drink has around 80mg, so you may as well stick a can of redbull in their bottle.

and before I sound all preachy btw I know this as I have had severe iron deficiency issues after blood loss and in more recent pregnancy caused by drinking caffeinated drinks whilst eating, I work in food, including health awareness, I should bloody know better

Nope. Just can't get even a smidgeon of outrage on, over this issue.

So bloody what?

minouminou I wondered about the coffee too. Personally I wouldn't worry about giving a little bit to a 3 or 5 year old any more than I'd worry about giving them tea as long as it was extremely weak and milky. (And I was quite sure they were getting plenty of iron, calcium, etc) I think tea is still more commonly drunk than coffee in the UK and we see it as a lesser 'evil' somehow. (Not that either are evil, but hopefully YSWIM)

I started drinking it age 11 as one of my friend's Mum's (whose house I regularly stayed the night at) used to make us cappuccinos in the mornings to have with our M&S crossiants and pains au chocolat.

I'm not sure I loved the taste at first but I felt so incredibly grown up drinking it - at home it was Coco Pops and supermarket OJ at brekkie. Now I like it but probably drink it once a week tops. So it's not like giving it to kids will necessarily start a life long addiction.