To be a bit shocked about a friend giving her six month old cake?

[ElphabaTheGreen]

At lunch today, a friend ordered a piece of Victoria sponge for pudding, sliced off a fair chunk (jam, buttercream and all) and fed it to her six month old, after this baby had had some kind of veggie mush, fruit purée, a petit filou and a rusk.

I have an 8mo and all this (esp cake) strikes me as sugar overload or AIBU and would other people do this?

(I said nothing to friend, by the way, and I'm reasonably sure my face remained neutrally arranged...just wondering if I'm being PFB about what I give DS.)

[ElphabaTheGreen]

Fakebook Current first aid advice is that you don't reach in to a baby's mouth to retrieve food as you run the risk of pushing the food further back and turning plain old gagging into full-on choking. You let them gag it forward and spit it, or resume chewing it.

[amazingmumof6]

BartletForTeamGB - take it up with top nutritionists Amanda Ursell, Suzannah Olivier and the like

[SolomanDaisy]

I don't believe a 6 month old ate all that food. I can't believe they would be able to.

Someone mentioned the recent thread about an obese 5 year old - that was deleted for hairy handedness. Just thought I'd mention it.

[ElphabaTheGreen]

I was wondering what happened to that thread...

[NaturalBaby]

Ds2 ate most of my Magnum ice cream at 7months.

It isn't exactly the best start in the baby's life to be consuming so much sugar IF this is what the baby is eating most days. On occasion my dc's have had fruit, rusk and cake in one meal but mainly when we are out for convenience and to keep baby happy (i.e once a month or so).

I can't help judging when I see babies or small children eating junk food but my dc's eat more than enough so I'm slowly loosening the judgy pants.

[amazingmumof6]

BartletForTeamGB and name calling makes you no smarter

[BeyondTheLimitsOfAcceptability]

She is BVU to waste cake on a baby.

She needs to read the threads about prime steak for parents and value sausages for the kids!

[ballinacup]

Sterile food?

it was all I could do to stop the DSs from licking the soles of shoes at that age. Quite clearly I am a terrible parent.

[ElphabaTheGreen]

SolomanDaisy She definitely did eat all of that food. I was watching in some disbelief. She got given a bottle immediately afterwards as well (with friend saying she's in trouble with her health visitor because her baby isn't taking in enough milk...I wonder why). Needless to say, baby barely touched bottle.

My DS has very little interest in solids so I'm not used to seeing what babies 'normally' eat but I was rather amazed at how much this child was able to put away.

[BeyondTheLimitsOfAcceptability]

Oh and never mind sterile food you do know that you don't have to sterilise bottles to 12m, don't you...? In fact, a lot of HCPs support not sterilising anything, ever... obviously you do have to make sure its clean

[SarahBumBarer]

It seems a lot of food but I think babies at that age eat what they want/need. Ideally of course they are offered high value foods rather than low value but I'm just thrilled when the majority of a spoonful ends up in DD's stomach rather than hair/vest/carpet.

In a million years I would not eat a piece of cake in front of DC's and not let them try a bit. So if I really want a bit of cake DD will also have cake. DD is 7 months. She's also my second of course and I'm just proud we've not yet made it into McDonalds.

[Pobblewhohasnotoes]

Achillea, what on earth is sterilised food??

Formula milk has bacteria in it so water is boiled, bottles are sterilised as parasites can gather on the bottles. Plates and spoons only need to be sterilised for six months. That means unsterile food is eaten off unsterile plates! Can you imagine!!!!

Babies shouldn't eat whole nuts and honey. Grapes are also a choking hazard (they're conveniently airway sized).

When I was a child I ate mud, grass, paint etc. I'm still alive.

Do you follow your kids around with an anti-bac spray and keep them in a bubble?

[stopgap]

Maybe it's because I've give up sugar because of what it was doing to my bodyhair loss, acne, dermatitis, irregular periods, thyroid woesthat I just can't imagine feeding my 17-month-old refined sugar on a regular basis. I'd rather he had chips cooked in goose fat, but I guess that's a whole other thread.

So yes, I would be shocked at seeing a tiny baby fed cake, but a lot of that is down to personal circumstance and having a family tree burdened with diabetes and other autoimmune conditions.

[GiveMeSomeSpace]

OP I know what you mean about not knowing what is normal. We thought our no1 wasn't eating properly because his cousin whos three months younger was easting 3 times as much from an early age (6 months). He's now 9 years and still eats 3 times as much but is a beanpole. They're all different.

[Boomerwang]

DolomitesDonkey I don't know how much sugar is in breast milk, but I know my daughter's formula feed tastes incredibly sweet. All the more reason not to give her excess sugar on top of that.

[achillea]

Pobble OK, bottles are sterilised because of parasites - can't that happen with food too?

I really don't know, am not a scientist, but it figures that if government advice is to sterilise bottles until 12 months it would indicate that harmful bacteria and parasites are dangerous to children under 12 months. I've been looking about for information on this and none of it makes sense to me.

I remember baby food having to be sterile (by this I mean boiled and cooled and as opposed to having sat in a cafe fridge for a couple of days) when weaning or at least very fresh if it was a breadstick or fruit.

[Birdsgottafly]

I'm with beyond on this one.

Teach a baby what cake is and they only pester you for some.

Eating refined sugar is pointless for them, it's a Mum thing.

[nailak]

at 6mo my little ones ate loads and loads, it seemed they just got excited at the fact they were allowed to eat, or eating was a regular part of their lives or something, then after a month or so they calmed down. At 6 months my ds would eat about 4 petit filous and a banana in one go. now at 2 years old he will eat 2 petit filous and be full.

[Boomerwang]

OP although I can't say I'm shocked at your description of this child's fare, I am appalled at all that going in at once.

However, I'd be a hypocrite if I'd said my child never eats stuff that's not good for her, just at a later age than 6 months.

My 10 month old couldn't eat all that in one go. She eats half a jar of baby food or the equivalent in home made food and then one of those little fruit puree pots or stewed apple (no added sugar) and I hope that's balanced enough.

[BartletForTeamGB]

amazingmumof6...

"BartletForTeamGB - take it up with top nutritionists Amanda Ursell, Suzannah Olivier and the like"

Anyone can call themselves a nutritionist. I could if I wanted to! Doesn't 'Dr' Gillian McKeith call herself a nutritionist.

Trust the advice from state registered dieticians. (That is a protected term.)

"BartletForTeamGB and name calling makes you no smarter"

Your list is bonkers and almost entirely unscientific. I didn't say you were.

www.nhs.uk/start4life/Pages/babies-food-variety.aspx

[cory]

achillea Sat 26-Jan-13 22:03:30
"Pobble OK, bottles are sterilised because of parasites - can't that happen with food too?

I really don't know, am not a scientist, but it figures that if government advice is to sterilise bottles until 12 months it would indicate that harmful bacteria and parasites are dangerous to children under 12 months. I've been looking about for information on this and none of it makes sense to me."

Warm formula (and warm milk in general) encourages the breeding of types of bacteria which do not breed on a piece of bread or an apple. This is why we do well to keep our milk in the fridge and not on a sunny windowsill, whereas bread does not require the same treatment. Formula milk is particularly dodgy in this respect.

[ElectricSheep]

SUnshine Yes I was joking.

But when fat=social outcast I think unsterilised cake should be banned for anyone not just 6 month olds.

[Enfyshedd]

achillia - What do you think happens to food when it's air-cooled? It's exposed to bacteria in the air.

[achillea]

But air bacteria is fine (we breathe it after all) but it's when bacteria hits food and then develops on food after a few hours sitting there that it becomes problem.

So if the cake was sugar-free it would have been OK?

I'm not a hygiene freak (by any means) but my dd had terrible gastroenteritis when she was little and it took a very long time to get her stomach back to normal because the gut bacteria had changed, so I know how vulnerable the young gut can be.

[Enfyshedd]

But bacteria in the air can also make you ill?