Toddler with spicy food

[NumbsMet]

I'll make very clear from the start that I DO NOT prepare spicy food for my toddlers.

DP and I love extremely spicy food. Think naga and beyond. Jalapeños are basically apples to us. DS really doesn't like spice at all.

23 month DD, however, can't seem to get enough of it.

Occasionally, if it's calm, I will prepare myself an easy to pick at snack to eat whilst my DCs eat their lunch. My snack will normally have a shot of West Indian pepper sauce or hot Indian pickle, previously with some bread to dip but now with cucumber sticks or similar. These things are VERY spicy. DS knows to stay away. DD will take her toast, and zip up to the bowl in a split second, dip her toast and start munching.

She coughs and her eyes start watering. The first time this happened I felt awful, but I was hopeful and thought 'that'll learn ya'. It hasn't learned 'er. She now knows what to expect, and insists on dipping. I try to stop her, she screams, she refuses to eat unless I give her access to the chili dip.

So my solution at the moment is simply not to eat my spicy snacks around her, and so I don't. But is this necessary? Is it fundamentally cruel to allow DD to have a tiny bit of (extra hot) spice on her toast if she actually wants it? It doesn't seem to affect her beyond the initial cough, no sore bum, no runny nappies, no tummy aches, no distress. Genuinely pure contentment. Could this just be a genetic preference? As I mentioned before, DS made a similar move once before and he has never tried it again. He hates spice and I will never prepare spicy foods specifically for them until they're a 'reasonable age' to cope with it and request it. DP used to be 'punished' with English mustard so I am very very wary of causing discomfort with food.

WWMND?

She's probably getting the 'chilli high' us chilli heads get

Apparently I was like this as a toddler. Both my parents love spicy food but my mums chilli that would give my dad a bad case of the shits I just wolfed down with no I'll effects I have to make my own hot sauce now as nothing in the supermarket is spicy enough

Being of Jamaican parentage, I was introduced to scotch bonnet peppers at an early age. I remember eating sliced scotch bonnets (on fried fish, yum!) at the age of 3. It never hurt me, or anyone else I know.

Go for it!

I’m of Indian heritage and all 3 dc have had spice from the beginning. I weaned them on curry and rice. Now they’re older, one of them likes very hot food while the other two like it milder. Just get a milder chilli sauce, as long as it’s not giving her stomach issues, she’ll be fine

What about the Nando's sauces you can buy from Tesco? They may have a milder one. I really love them!

Just looked they also do a mild Perinaise!

My kids love spicy!!!! Like DH. Diarrhoea inducing spice! Has no effect on them whatsoever. Me on the other hand can't handle it. The 13 month d loves it too... Although doesn't have it as strong as the others. But the 3, 6 and 7 year old could beat most on a chilli pepper eating contest

Oh, I sincerely apologise, I had no intention of suggesting that we're better than anyone because we enjoy spicy food

You didn’t and anyone who read it that way are likely projecting about their own feelings to spice.

I love flavour and spice and my husband has adapted to my love and enjoys spice but not to my level. Our oldest, 5 isn’t bothered, but our youngest 2.5 enjoys it. He also eats about everything you put in front of him and will go and grab a spoon if he sees you eat anything or help himself. The first time he had something spicy maybe a year old, we just watched with water on hand and he was fine and had another bite. My family in both sides always made food with some type of spice or flavour. My maternal grandmother would put spicy peppers and onions in her vinegars. There was always hot sauces on hand and such. It’s part of our culture passed down from generations. They didn’t make separate food for children and everyone ate the same. As long as there isn’t any gastric distress or pain, it’s fine. Spice is good for you.

One of my dc loves spicy food

I’ll never forget when she toddled over to be and pinched some of my
Jalfrezi with extra spice. I thought she would cry and spit it out. She didn’t, and actually went back for more.

She loves a bit of spice now (she’s 7).

She even eats the extra spicy crisps my dh don’t like because they make him wheeze!

Let her have a bit of spice if she wants to. A small amount won’t do her any harm

It would be interesting and give you peace of mind if you searched Google scholar for any research done into if children's young GITs suffer any damage from eating hot foods. If no evidence, then I agree with others, go for milder.

I am Indian. Culturally we don’t give babies chilli powder / fresh chillies until they are around 2-3. I never realised why until my mother - in - law mentioned babies dying. Apparently the reason why is because fresh chillies not only harbour bacteria / parasites when not processed correctly but can also cause diarrhea and ulcers due to the spice level itself as humans need to get used to it.

I would definitely cut back on green or red chillis if you eat them. If she likes spice then use other things like ginger or garlic for heat.

Darn it, I've just come back from the shops and I've only just seen the mild Nando's suggestion!! That does sound perfect, oh well, I'll have to go shopping again tomorrow

I've been giving this a lot of thought after reading people's responses, and it only just occurred to me to remember that one of my biggest cravings when I was pregnant with them was those huge chillies you get with a kebab, the pickled ones. I would seriously, no word of a lie, ask DP or his nephew to go to the kebab shop for me and buy a 'salad', and request the salad to just be made up of those chillies. After a while, they'd already know to get it ready when he turned up for his kebab order 😂. So I think DD might have had the chilli bug before birth. DS must have been drinking the Capri suns then 🤔

Hi , I come from an Indian family. We were always given spicy food as kids. With natural yogurt and drink of milk to cool our mouths !

My children have always been given fully spiced food too. They are 4 and 2. My Scottish husband never had any spicy food until I came into his life. I find it funny because he doesn’t react as much as I do. Even all these years if I eat something spicy my eyes leak and get a runny nose.

Ah @GrumpyHoonMain thank you for that insight! That's exactly the kind of thing I was hoping to find out from anyone with more experience of the chilli world. I'll take that advice on board, thank you. I have some sweet chilli sauce and soon I'll get the Nando's sauce.

All this is making me want to watch hot ones on YouTube now. I love that show. I think I could not get through all of them

I wouldn't give her sweet chilli sauce. It is very sweet and is more likely to help develop a sweet tooth than help moderate the spices.

You can buy things like mild curry powder, moderate curry powder and hot curry powder.

Go the herb and spices in your supermarket and they are there

I had two of my children in England (my husband is English).

It had been drilled into my head that when my older child was ready for weaning that I needed to start with very simple foods like baby rice to get him used to eating. He seemed eager to eat but he simply didn't enjoy it. This kept on for a while...

One day, when he was a toddler, out of desperation, I gave him a bite from the food I was eating. His face lit up and he was happy and giggled and wanted to eat more of my food. I was eating a bowl of chili and jalapeño cornbread that I made for myself because I was homesick for Texas.

I am Mexican-American so I eat a lot of heavily spiced food and rich sauces. I have no idea why I would think my child wouldn't favor that kind of food either. I suppose I wanted to follow the advice of my child's doctor and health visitor without using my own common sense. I made sure not to make the same mistake with my younger child.

The oldest is 22 now and he eats everything and everything has a great deal of chilis and lots of spice. The younger one has a tolerance for it but prefers more flavored dishes without the heat. Every person has a different palate.

OP, if your baby likes the spice, then let them have it!

I'm half Indian and grew up there. Usually not every part of the meal is super spicy, so the small kids are given the milder things, like rice and daal, or roti and a milder curry. Even babies will be given things with ginger, garlic, cumin, turmeric, cardamom etc in (I give these to my 6mo atm and he has no problem with it), but they tend to ease into the really hot chillies IME, and moderate it with yogurt or coconut milk if needed.

No problem with little ones eating spicy foods at all, half the world do, beginning at weaning.

Enjoy the individuality of your kids, and let them eat what they like ! It's not to everyones taste, but that's what life's about, being an individual, isn't it ??

I put spicy food on my plate so my 3 year old doesn't try to pick at my food. Mean I know but it means when she hears it's hot she backs off to her own plate!

I don’t understand why she can’t have it if she likes it? DS is 3 and has always loved spicy food, so I’ve always just let him eat it.

You started influencing her tastes a long time ago - strong flavours can be detected in the amniotic fluid, and of course in your milk if you breastfed her. I believe there's also an endorphin response to spicy food so this might be a factor.

The reason it's used as a punishment is because if you're not used to spicy food it creates a burning sensation in the mouth which can be painful. Capsaicin is the chemical which creates the spice and is an irritant, which can be more potent for young children as they have more sensitive skin. But it won't be for every child!

She obviously doesn't experience that so there's no reason to keep it away from her, it won't harm her.

Saying you're worried about her choosing to eat it because some parents use it as a punishment is a bit like worrying that it would be bad to let a child play in their bedroom, because some children are shut in their bedroom as a punishment :)

It's about context and you're not forcing it on her but giving her the choice.

You've had good advice so far so won't add to that. But to give another example, my son absolutely loves eating lemons because I love eating lemons. I've been told before it's cruel to let him eat it!! But he asks for it so I give it. I don't feel guilty!

If she enjoys it go for it. My eldest went through a stage of eating wasabi out of the tube like an ice pop and went totally nuts for bombay potatoes from the local indian. It got that they would add some in for her without us asking as she was almost addicted. Now shes near enough 6 foot, eats anything not nailed down and will try anything offered unlike some of her friends who 'dont do spice'.

She still sucks wasabi out of the tube if she gets hold of it.