My children's diet is my choice

[Alx7]

AIBU to think what my children eat shouldn't be up to other people, or be open to criticism.

No it wasn’t weetabix, it was ready brek and you missed out that the baby was 3 months old when given it along with gravy. The salt was too much for it. I should add that they now have no salt in it even though really it wasn’t their fault.

Op yabu. Of course what you do is open to critism. Just because your the mum doesn’t make it right. Exhibit a above. Having said that, having a low sugar diet doesn’t seem bad but I doubt they react strongly to sugar that they don’t deserve any treats at all.

I can’t find the weetabix thing - I think it was the amount of salt in the food that did the damage. I did see a frightening number of parent who decided to feed their babies alternatives to milk that a nutritionist would not have suggested (so self-diagnosed intolerance or decision to avoid animal milk).

I've just learnt a lot about Weetabix!

As long as your kids are healthy then yes, it's up to you what you feed them. It's very rude of someone to give the DCs food that you have specifically asked them not to. That would really annoy me. She's just doing it to try and make them like her...

I can’t eat weetabix for some reason. Is it sugary?

It wasnt weetabix it was ready brek i think! Something to do with the salt but weetabix with milk is fine for babies as long as the rest of their diet is balanced..

Ready brek has never contained salt or sugar and the 3 month old baby was being fed instant mash and gravy. Weetabix (makers of ready brek sought legal advice on the wrong information):

death salt charges

ByMarketing Week29 Jul 199912:00 am

Weetabix is seeking legal advice following an inquest into the death of a baby from salt poisoning who was fed a diet of “adult food” including mashed-up Ready Brek instant porridge with baby milk.

The inquest held in Doncaster on Monday heard that the three-month-old boy suffered a fit and lapsed into coma. He died five days later and was found to have high levels of salt in his blood and urine.

A spokeswoman for Weetabix says: “If the reports in the daily newspapers are accurate it would seem that the coroner made some misleading comments implying that the salt content of Ready Brek was high. Ready Brek does not contain salt, nor do we add any. We are seeking legal advice.”

At the inquest the Doncaster coroner, Stanley Hooper, was reported to have said: “The baby was fed with adult food, in particular Ready Brek. The adult food contains salt. I conclude ingestion of salt caused premature death of this baby.”

Its not sugary.

If you google baby dies from too much salt you can find examples, they are extreme though.. three month old baby being given adult meals liquified... ready meals... gravy... mash.. cereal is mentioned but not as a singular. The excess salt in adult meals killed it

Age 14: YABU they need a say and you sound overbearing
Age 4: YADNBU tell your mil to back off and you are doing your best

So it really depends on the age.

Unless a diet is causing harm it is no one elses business. If someone fed my son something I considered innapropriate they wouldn’t be caring for him alone anymore.

I've just learnt a lot about Weetabix!

You’ve learnt nothing. That statement was completely incorrect

Oh it’s got sugar in it. Some sugars make me feel really sicky. Weetabix makes me feel ill which is a shame because I used to really like them (with jam).

You can feed your kids whatever you like, within reason.

I’ve only ever heard of issues with diets being too restrictive- not enough carbs or fat because parent is obsessed with low fat and carb diets. This restricts growth. And by low carb I mean no bread, no rice or pasta or biscuits or sugar of any kind, plus no yoghurt or cheese.

Two instances in my friendship group of parents referring to NHS dieticians only to be told that their child is barely consuming enough calories a day to keep moving. Both children severally under weight.

So it does cut both ways. There are lots of people out there who don’t know what a happy medium looks like.

It has salt and too much fibre. Shouldn't be a baby food. Certainly before 1

This is incorrect.

My children don’t go crazy after sugar, to be honest I thought this had been disproved? Either way, you are not unreasonable to limit a child’s sugar intake, for all sorts of reasons.

Nothing wrong with not feeding your children sugar. There is literally no benefit. If anything, even in normal children it’s good. If it causes a bad reaction (not the norm-you may want to seek a diagnosis) then it’s something that everyone should adhere to even if they don’t agree with it. Seeking formal diagnosis may help your MIL that it’s outright harmful (as opposed to merely not good) to them.

Looped up on sugar? Really honestly never seen kids like this. How rarely do they eat sugar and how much does she feed them? Could the reaction be the excitement of having forbidden foods?
I don’t offer biscuits etc every day but banning foods will make them ultra desirable.

I think as long as your child's diet is healthy and balanced to meet your needs, the rest is your choice. The only exception I can see to this is if your child themselves has views about the type of diet e.g. wishes a vegetarian diet in a meat eating family, or vice versa. Even then, I think healthy and balanced, the absolute constituents don't matter so much.

Wolfie - completely agree

meet your child's needs even... and obviously your needs too (financial, convenience eat)

Hi op my parents were like that until my dad gave DS (adhd and asd) a 200g bar of chocolate ontop of a share bag of haribo .
I left ds with my dps that night 🤣
Strange they now stick to approved foods only

Theres 1.6g sugar in 2 weetabix which is hardly excessive!

God I’d be curled up in a ball, shaking down if I had that much sugar.

The chocolate and Haribo not the weetabix! If I have 2 I’d just have she sugar shakes.

How often does this happen?

Incidentally, I thought the link between behaviour and sugar had been disproved?

But obviously it’s not good for teeth.

I rather wish somebody had given my mother advice because she fed us horrible food.

Vegetarian food before this was fashionable. Lots of Textured Vegetable Protein and 'meatless steaks' and sausage rolls made with imitation sausage. Vegetables boiled to extinction. Tinned fruit. Angel delight. Tartex sandwiches. (No roast potato ever passed my lips. Nothing fried.)

We didn't starve. I survived.