To think that babies dont have to have pudding every day?

[Aimee1987]

I got into a disagreement with someone on a weaning Facebook group so want to pool for opinions.
The woman had given her 7 month old chocolate cake after dinner on the advice of her health visitor to increase calories before bed. She also posted a picture of the baby who was not underweight.
I asked why the HV had given that advice as it does not sound healthy to me and got told that babies should have pudding.

So my question is why do we give puddings after meals? Surely it just teaches one of 2 things either eat your dinner to get your pudding (potentially overeating) or dont eat savory and you can just have sweet. Is this not just asking for trouble when they are toddlers and will just start demanding pudding.
By the way I do give my DS( 1) and DSS (9) age appropiate treats but I dislike the association with dinner. So as not to drop feed when I met DSS at 2 every meal was a battle to eat 2 more bites and you can have pudding which really annoyed me so we ended up getting rid of pudding when he was 3/4 and replacing with an afternoon treat that has nothing to do with his dinner.

So
YABU - kids should have pudding after dinner
YANBU - pudding is not necessary after dinner

My DS would have desert sometimes if he was still hungry but I never needed to use it as a reward. Maybe the HV thought that to give dessert would mean a different taste as the baby might be bored?

I don't do pudding often but when I do I serve it at the same time.
Fish / potato / cabbage / 3 chocolate buttons.

Child can eat in any order. There's no reward to eat anything a d no special status given to the chocolate

Anyone else see that Micheal Moseley episode of something where researchers were saying sugar is addictive because it reminds us of breastmilk which is actually very sweet? Not sure what my point is.

Pudding every day? Depends on the baby. Kids do need empty calories sometimes.

#yearinyearout The apple has defrosted ready for tonight's crumble and custard! I'm afraid it's puddings every night at this house for my 3-11s but all homemade and nearly all dinners are 'from scratch' as well. I offered fruit after sandwiches today and, once eaten, the chorus was still "what's for pudding?"! They did not eat chocolate and crisps before 2 1/2 and only drink water and milk so it balances out. We just love baking in our house! But no snacks between meals which is approved by our dentist friend. The biggest thing we are working on is that it is good to feel hungry in the hour before dinner time and that food doesn't just appear on demand.

oops I mean @yearinyearout in my above post!

@Rhapus123

#yearinyearout The apple has defrosted ready for tonight's crumble and custard! I'm afraid it's puddings every night at this house for my 3-11s but all homemade and nearly all dinners are 'from scratch' as well. I offered fruit after sandwiches today and, once eaten, the chorus was still "what's for pudding?"! They did not eat chocolate and crisps before 2 1/2 and only drink water and milk so it balances out. We just love baking in our house! But no snacks between meals which is approved by our dentist friend. The biggest thing we are working on is that it is good to feel hungry in the hour before dinner time and that food doesn't just appear on demand.

Ha I love that 'it's good to feel hungry in the hour before dinner'

Not really a health choice but we don’t do puddings. Fruit between meals and treats like chocolate and ice cream at the weekends. Works for us.

I think if my children were picky eaters I would probably knock puddings and sweet treats on the head but as it is they are dustbins and love vegetables/fruit. I'm more than happy with their diet so I really couldn't care less if they have a wee sweet treat. Last night they had a tiny little cornetto. I personally don't like snacking so they have their 'pudding' after a meal but its often just a pear.

Yes I do, she has to finish all het food first and i'l give her treat time. Will be EITHER fruits, yoghurt, a small cake or a small homemade cookie. I personally crave something sweet after a meal so i can't see the harm in giving it as long as its in moderation and you not putting a whole plate of it in front of them. So portion size it for the size of their little tummies. And this is everyday. They will eventually do it when theyre older anyway and if u deprive them now thy might end up binging when they hav the chance to do it.

Really people- don't make children finish what's on their plates. It stops them from recognising the signals from their stomach saying they're full. They're far more likely to be overweight when older if they learn they're expected to override those signals for a "reward".

My DS usually has something for "pudding" but it's not necessarily sweet - so it could be fruit, yoghurt, plain chocolate or a small piece of cake but it could also be some cheese or peanut butter on a cracker. We don't really do sweet treats at other times of the day except meal times and try to only eat fruit with meals because it's better for his teeth.

Chocolate cake is lovely ( not healthy) but bloody lovely.

Mind your own business.

You can't judge weight on a photo.

My DD is tiny (5th %) and weight gain has been a challenge. She needs high calorie and it's not always possible to get it in via protein and fat because those are slow to digest (think about adult diets that promote weight loss.... paleo/keto etc are not about weight gain...)

So we home make puddings because actually they are good ways to get a mixture of carb, protein and fat in a way a picky eater will eat more of, and we use very little sugar.

Eg home made fruit crumble made with little sugar, fresh custard made with egg and cream (and again a minute amount pf sugar - a fraction of the sugar of shop bought), home made rice puddings, homemade chocolate puddings.

These things are good ways to provide food containing butter, cream, egg, flour, fruit, nuts. It's also better to avoid turning meals into a battle & is important to build positive associations with food with picky eaters.

So take those judgy pants and toddle off.

Mine didn’t have cake til she was 1 and wasn’t right fussed with it! But there was always yoghurt and fruit on offer. Sometimes she’d eat the ‘pudding’ before her meal, sometimes she’d stop her meal, have the yoghurt and come back to the meal. Was quite relaxed about it - which horrified some people!! But, this isn’t your baby so it’s of no concern to you. Just like the acquaintances we had who fed Cheesy Wotsits to their three month old - only became my issue when they tried to give one to my three month old.

so far the one year old eats everything hes given so hopefully he wont go through a refusal stage

Good for you - newsflash: babies vary. My first was like this, ate anything, healthy tastes etc.he changed hugely between 2 & 3.5 then got better again.

DD is a completely different kettle of fish. In ancient times children like her with poor appetites probably would have breastfed more and for longer and relied more on sweet breastmilk for weight gain, modern attitudes to weaning & feeding etc change things.

At the end of the day if people are careful about sugar, home made puddings are no worse than any other food as part of balanced nutritious diet.

Is sweet & sour chicken with rice okay to feed a child? A home made meal cooked with pineapple etc? Yes?

So why isnt rice pudding made with milk and with pineapple added for sweetness okay?

Yorkshire puddings ok?

But pancakes made with the same batter but blueberries added arent?

My son's dietitian asked me to give him a pudding with every meal (things like yoghurt, rice pudding etc as opposed to mars bar). He had been quite ill and was a bit underweight but not noticeably so

My exPIL were obsessed with what DS as a baby had for pudding.

Sometimes he'd just have pudding (apple puree or similar) for a meal, rather than half a carrot puree followed by half an apple puree, for instance, as it seemed less hassle.

They are obsessed with pudding generally, though, and always set the table with the pudding in individual bowls at the back of the place setting, to be consumed after the main course whether they're still hungry or not

Keyboard

Mines dietician also recommended it.traditional stodgy puddings can be calorific and don't have to be sugar laden. It's why school lunches often rely on them, they are an inexpensive and reasonable way to get calories into growing energetic kids.

Many people underestimate that children need far more carbs than adults.

I always give my son a "pudding" but this will usually be a yoghurt or some fruit or something

I do.

Not chocolate cake after every meal but a mixture of fruit, yogurt, raisins, chocolate buttons, biscuits etc

We did, because he was a baby with out of kilter centiles, and skinny.
Infact, as a toddler he had breakfast 1, breakfast 2, snack, lunch with pudding, snack, dinner with pudding, cereal before bed. Feeding him was endless. Hes now 6th centile, aged 11 years. Weve dropped the second breakfast and bedtime snack, and he's very good at self regulating intake, eating masses one day, and much less the next. He regularly declines pudding.
Feed the baby, dont slavishly follow the book.

I'm not British and growing up I never had any sort of pudding during the week but did at weekends or during holidays.when mum baked. But my DP is British and associates them with every meal

I've noticed that this aswell. I'm not British and we very rarely had pudding in school. Max once a month. There was ice cream twice a year and that was a super special day. We also only had pudding at home on special occasions. Yes, there were sweets etc. But not specific after meal treat. My bf is British and his parents always have a pudding after every meal and whenever bf cooks/shops an egg custard tart or a trifle appears after meal. Same at work canteen, in my home country we rarely have pudding where as in the NHS hospital there always was one available. Also the super markets are designed to have small treats as are the meal deals. We dont have any of that. We dont even sell small packs of crisps or little dessserty youghurts.

I'm not saying there is anything wrong with it but it is something I've noticed.

Op what gives you the right to judge and even call out another mother based on 1 photo? Keep your snout out!!

A pudding can be nutritious if extra calories are needed and can boost calcium if they are having less milk. Something like rice pudding or full fat yogurts are good but nothing wrong with cake in moderation either. Without knowing the child's full background and diet, you shouldn't judge based on a picture.